Everyone has a few rules of thumb circling in their heads. Helps to simplify complex things or to behave according to established pratices (like "Don't you show a boob at the SuperBowl" maybe?).

What's your ruling rule of thumb ?
- Always reply to emails within 24 hours
- Never ask more than 3 times. Then turn to Plan B
- Always show up 5 minutes early to a meeting
- Reserve 30 % of your time for business development
- Never put more than 2 emoticons in a post ;)

graemlins/heybaby.gif

- Never turn around to answer a question when at the urinal
- Always say thank you after good sex

never pee into the wind

never trust anyone who says "trust me"

In teaching, as in Life, expect the unexpected each day.

At times, be optimistic about your pessimism, and pessimistic about your optimism.

Let sleeping doxies sleep..........or be prepared to take them outside.

Everything in moderation.

Presentation is everything. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Cheers

smile.gif

thumbs are lousy rulers ;)

Thumbs are better "rulers" than the Bush family.

"We have nothing to fear but fear itself."

We ALL need to work hard to make "government of the people, by the people and for the people" actually work.

As a rule ... I use 12 inches

Rules of thumb:

1. Don't hit it with a hammer.
2. Live to serve.
3. Take time for yourself.
4. Try and see where other people come from.
5. Be honest, and don't be afraid to question.
6. Never send spam.
7. Never forward chain mail.
8. Never forward chain mail.
9. Never forward chain mail.
10. Don't jump to conclusions.

Now if I could only follow these rules (well I always follow 6 thru 9), I might do a little better.

Where does "Rule of Thumb" come from? Under old English law, a man could not beat his wife with a birch rod thicker than his thumb graemlins/nuts.gif
Hence the expression.

My rules of thumb?

1) If it looks to good to be true, it probably is.

2) If it walks like a duck and looks like a duck...then it's probably a duck (my version of Occam's razor).

3) Sometime's truly smokin deals are available because too many people are carefully observing the first two rules on this list...and they are all missing out on something good.

4) Figuring out the difference between rule 1 and 2 and the great deals that can be had with rule number three is what seperates the eternally impoverished from the people who are regularly featured on the Biography Channel.

5) Go with your gut feeling on any situation...listen to that "little voice" that tells you when something is right and listen VERY CAREFULLY when it tells you that it is terribly wrong. Let your brain add some input, but never let it override your gut feelings.

6) {For the guys only}... Never think with your dick. It has only one eye and no ears. It also has a one-track mind, and it will get you into a world of hurt so fast that it will make your head spin. If you think with this particular head, you will end up paying for it for the rest of your life.

7) {For the girls only}...When you meet a "bad boy" who catches your eye and who has more than just a few rough edges...and who you honestly think you can "tame"....

Think again. You will never have anything more than a fleeting claim on this person's limited attention span. Run, don't walk, away from this guy, no matter how exciting he may seem to be at first. I will say it again....RUN AWAY! At high speed.

Because it will all end in tears, eventually. Promise.

8) When you are buying anything...especially a big ticket item like a car or house...say very little, but poke around a lot and pretend you know what you are doing, even if you don't have a clue. At some point the seller will think you are on to something and will confess to you all of the faults in the item that they are selling.

He will actually point them out to you. In detail.

Listen very closely when the seller does this and then carefully observe Rule #5.

9) Anyone who advertises ANYTHING that includes the words "must sell" in the ad is telling you that you can have it for a fraction of the asking price if you make your offer at just the right moment. (if the ad says "Must Sell by Tuesday!" then call them wednesday morning and offer them half what they were originally asking. Be aware that you MUST have cash available for this to work properly.

Take full advantage of this, for they are telegraphing to you the fact that they are a total idiots, and are ripe for the picking.

Okay...that's nine examples of my best "Rules of Thumb"

I have another ten or so that I do not care to share with anyone. These are the very BEST ones, but they are not for public consumption.

Trust me on this.

Trust me on this.
macnutt,
that would be #10, eh? :D

Read the list again, Michael.

Then PM me. I MIGHT just share the best stuff with you. I have spent a lifetime figuring this stuff out the hard way, while living in all sorts of places on this planet. I only share it with people I truly respect. You are one of that rarified group. :cool:

The other 99.99% of the population can go f*ck themselves. They need to take the time and effort to figure this out for themselves. The vast majority of them are not even remotely close to figuring out where to begin on this convoluted journey, from what I have seen.

Most Canadians have been so insulated from the true reality on the rest of this planet that they are like children living in a grown up world. Truth and reality will rear its ugly head all too soon...and will run up and bite them all on the butt one day very soon. Shock and outrage will reverberate thoughout this land.

THEN...and only then...we Canadians will all begin to look at everything with our eyes truly open. It will be the first difficult step on a VERY long and hard journey back to reality.

Trust me on this.

[ February 05, 2004, 04:08 AM: Message edited by: macnutt ]

1. Don't wait for your ship to come in. The sure way to get ahead is to go down to the shore everyday and meet a row boat.

2. What comes around, goes around.

1:
The race does not always go to the swiftest;
The battle does not always go to the strongest;
But they are always the guys to bet on.

2.
Often a bad decision is better than no decision at all.

3.
When push comes to shove, shoot.

4.
Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

5.
Interchangeable parts aren't.

And, just for fun:
"Fat, stupid and lazy is no way to go through life."
(Dean Wormer to Flounder in "Animal House").

If you have trouble removing a part, force it.
If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway.

There is only one substitute for cubic inches, and that's cubic dollars.

It's always later than you think.

And one for MacNutt:
"Everything government touches turns to ****."
-Keith Richards

As a rule of thumb, people will:

usually forget what you say,
often forget what you do,
never forget how you made them feel.

Makes me feel a little nervous, looking back through my days.

My "rule of thumb" is to NOT ask my girlfriend - "what's wrong"

Rules of thumb.

- When dining at a really good restaurant, get a full and complete meal (appetizer, main, dessert, etc.) and don't worry about the price.
- Tip well. Good service gets better when it is appreciated.
- A little please and thank you goes a long way.
- Save blaming and fault-finding until after the crisis has passed.
- You are responsible for how you feel, and more importantly, how you act upon those feelings.

The first rule is by far the most fun. smile.gif

"Never interrupt a fool"

Never trust one who says "Trust me on this", especially when it is flogged to the point of a boring and constant annoyance.

Never trust those that claim to know what's real.

Live now. (get a life) ;)

1. Never trust anyone who doesn't trust you.

2. Avoid anyone who thinks he's smarter than 99.99 per cent of the population.

1. If it doesn't move use WD40.
2. If it moves too much use duct tape.

Bury the hatchet, but never forget where.

Don't ask questions if you don't particularly want to hear the answer (especially useful with S.O. relationships). (;->))

Also, Chealion's advice re chain letters/email makes grand sense to me.