Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: slippery grasp

Parlando di Arthur C. Clarke, il giornalista del New York Times G. Jonas,
dopo averlo chiamato profeta e promotore dell'idea che il destino
dell'umanità è riposto oltre i confini della Terra, aggiunge :
"Other early advocates of a space program argued that it would pay for
itself by jump-starting new technology."
Io capisco che 'già altri sostenitori di un programma spaziale avevano
discusso sul fatto che avviare una nuova tecnologia sarebbe stato
gratificante', ma chiedo conferma sul concetto espresso.Il testo completo è
qui:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/books/18cnd-clarke.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

 gratificante', ma chiedo conferma sul concetto espresso.
Io la tradurrei così(ma aspetta pareri più autorevoli):
"Altri precedenti sostenitori di un programma spaziale ritenevano che 
esso sarebbe stato giustificato del fatto stesso di spingere lo sviluppo 
di una nuova tecnologia"
In attesa di smentite dai madrelingua! :-)


"Jump-starting" has a very specific meaning in American English. When your
car's battery dies, you can use "jumper cables" connected between your car's
battery and the battery of another car to recharge your battery so that the
car can be started.
I had a big old Ford when I was in Naples which was in desperate need of
generator brushes and a new battery. When I drove at night, the headlights
would start to dim, and I would have to quickly pull off the road and turn
off the headlights before the car stalled. I would have to wait 10 or 15
minutes for the battery to charge up again before I could drive with the
headlights on. One night the car stalled in Bagnoli, when I didn't have time
to pull off the road in time because of the traffic in the area. Naturally,
the battery was too weak to start the car up again. Since many Americans
passed by the area at that time of night, I took my jumper cables out of the
trunk and stood next to the car, so that any passing American would know
that I needed a jump-start.
As I was waiting, a police car stopped, and the policemen asked me what was
wrong. I explained that my battery was dead, but the police insisted that I
should call a garage for help. Then they asked me what the cables were. I
explained how jump-starting worked, and that I was expecting an American
friend to come by shortly to help me, and I was surprised that they were not
familiar with the technique. Most Italian cars were small, and could be
started by pushing, so most people would never have to resort to
jump-starting, but my big old Ford, equipped with an automatic transmission,
would have to be pushed at 30 miles an hour before it could be started using
that technique. Then, to my surprise, the policemen asked if jump-starting
would work with the police car. Of course I said yes, and they proceeded to
position the police car so that I could attach the jumper cables between its
battery and mine. I started the Ford up, removed the jumper cables, and
thanked the two police officers. Then, as I sat in the car with the engine
running, waiting for the battery to charge up enough so that I could turn
the headlights on without stalling, one of the police officers knocked on my
window and asked why I wasn't moving. I explained that unless I charged the
battery for 10 or 15 minutes, the car would stall when I turned on the
headlights. "Where do you live?", one of them asked. "Licola", I answered.
"You don't need headlights. Just follow us to Licola". So I followed the
police car for the eight miles to Licola without headlights in the dead of
night.
Joe from Massachusetts

 that technique.
88, if you want to make up for lost time.
Kiuhnm

 wrote in message
news:47e1568c$0$10618$4faf...@reader2.news.tin.it...

Many manufactures of automobiles with automatic transmissions discourage the
technique of "push-starting" or "roll-starting" (great if you happen to be
on a hill), but I remember the old Ford manual said to push the car with the
ignition on and in neutral, then pop the transmission into second gear when
you reach 30 mph.
I did get a pull-start from a Naples city bus in Licola once. Same old Ford,
same battery/generator problem! There were people on the bus, and they
didn't seem to notice anything unusual about a city bus pulling a car.
Joe from Massachusetts

 didn't seem to notice anything unusual about a city bus pulling a car.
Well, maybe it's time for you to leave that old Ford alone. What do you say?
Kiuhnm

 Same old Ford, same battery/generator problem!
Ford: Fix Or Repair Daily.
I took the hint and got rid of my Escort.
I presume there's a similar ditty for Vauxhall,
but I've not come across it yet :-)
Antonio

 Imagine a jumper connection with such a car...
Indeed ... you'd need heavy cables to hold it down for a start :-)
Or did you mean positive/negative earth ?
Anyway, what'd be difficult about jump-starting such a car?
You need the battery connections the right way round and 
you probably want to be sure that the car bodies are not in contact.
Antonio

 con quel nome.
Opel.
Antonio

 aiuto elettrico è una manovra mooolto sconsigliata.
Dovro` evitare le macchine nuove!
Antonio

 nuova tecnologia"
be', smentite non ne sono arrivate, quindi direi che così è ok :)
much obliged


too long to quote!
Your amazing tales thoroughly fit the Italian 'Commedia dell'Arte', 'Il
Teatro di Eduardo', a sketch by Totò and an old movie with Clark Gable
and Sophia Loren.
I have recalled Vittorio De Sica and Neorealism, Paisà and Sciuscià,
all along the reading of car, jump-starting and police...
No doubt, when somebody happens to be in Naples' area, the weird spirit of
the city gets its supremacy over any personal and contingent factor as may
be nationality or philosophy of life and takes possession of his soul and
mind consequently.
Everything is possible there and meets what Arthur C. Clarke himself thought
of human limits:
"The limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond them into
the impossible".


"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"
Arthur C. Clarke


Many modern cars with automatic transmission simply cannot be
started by pushing no matter how fast, plus if you ever do have
to jump start one you had better be sure to connect negative to
negative and positive to positive or you will damage the alternator
beyond repair.
-- 
Dale Erwin
Av. Circunvalación CEC-2
Urb. Los Girasoles de Huampaní
Lurigancho, Lima 15, PERU
-- Posso resistere a tutto... tranne alle tentazioni
 

 Imagine a jumper connection with such a car...
If I understand correctly "negative mass", I believe that in the
US it is know as "negative-to-ground" which means that the negative
pole is connected to the frame of the car and used as a ground, and
the other, of course, would be "positive-to-ground, which I must
admit I have never seen.



Old cars had metal bumpers, no electronics, and sturdy engines and
transmissions which could take a lot of abuse, so many things were possible
then which are not advisable on newer cars.
Once I was working at a remote communications site on a mountain in western
Massachusetts, and while I was inside the building working, I inadvertently
left my truck's headlights on. When I got ready to leave, I couldn't start
the truck. I had two choices. I could remove the battery from the emergency
diesel generator in the building, bring it outside, use it to jump-start my
truck, and then return the battery to the generator. This would take some
time, so I decided to try another option.
All communications sites are well grounded, with all metal components tied
together at a common ground stake outside the building. Towers and fences
are also tied to this common ground.
The building was surrounded by a gated metal fence. I pushed the gate firmly
up against the sturdy metal front bumper of the truck, and used stones to
hold it in place. I then took the two eight-foot jumper cables and connected
them together to form a sixteen-foot cable. I connected one end to the
generator's positive battery terminal inside the building, and the other end
to my truck's positive battery terminal, and started the truck, thus
confirming that the building had a very good grounding system.
Joe from Massachusetts

 >>> dell'idea che il destino dell'umanitŕ č riposto oltre i

Many British automobiles had positive grounds, but they all switched to
negative ground in the late 1960s. There may still be some old classic MGs
running around with positive grounds, but I think that most of them have
been converted to negative ground.
Joe from Massachusetts

 builiding. 
In the UK it's usually earth for mains wiring connection, although
in electronics it's often ground. It's always "negative earth" for
vehicles though; that being said, it's not often heard these days
because there's hardly any need to say it ... no modern car
uses positive earth afaik.
Antonio

 jump-starting
Non è che tutti i poliziotti o tutti gli italiani non fossero a conoscenza
di questa tecnica.
Molto probabilmente è che quei due poliziotti erano due idioti :-)
Io ho la patente dal 1983 e guida da allora, eppure ben prima che io
prendessi la patente conoscevo l'utilità di viaggiare con due cavi nel
bagagliaio.
Quindi si conferma la mia teoria: avevi incontrato due idioti.
It's not that all policemen or all Italians weren't familiar with this
technique.
More likely those two policemen were two idiots :-)
I got my driving licence in 1983 and I drive since then, but I was aware of
the utility of keeping a pair of cables in the trunk long before then.
This confirms my theory: you met two idiots.
Antonio
--------------------------------
Inviato via 
http://arianna.libero.it/usenet/

 :)  
But It makes you dizzy...
Kiuhnm

 wrote in message
news:151Z92Z176Z5Y1...@usenet.libero.it...

On another occasion, I stopped at a gas station to fill up, and while I was
waiting, I struck up a conversation with an Italian who was driving an
expensive sports car, a Lancia, if I recall correctly. He showed me the car,
and even popped the hood so I could see the engine. Then, as I was about to
leave, the old Ford wouldn't start. I succeeded in convincing the guy with
the Lancia to jump-start my car, after overcoming some trepidation on his
part, and I can assure you from his reaction that he was completely
unfamiliar with the idea of jump-starting..
I worked with many Italians, both military and civilian, and none of them
carried jumper cables.
This all occurred when you were probably about 2 or 3 years old, and the
only automatic transmission I ever saw  in a European car in those days was
a push-button Borg-Warner transmission in a friend's Jaguar. He didn't know
how to drive a standard transmission. In more than six years in Italy, I
never saw any Italian using jumper cables, but often saw one or two men
push-starting a Fiat 500, 600, 850, or even a 1100. It wasn't that difficult
for one man to push-start a "Cinquecento" or a "Seicento" without any help
at all. In fact, if an Italian friend needed help starting his car, it was
actually easier for the two of us to push-start the car, rather than go
through all the trouble of maneuvering my car to the right postion for
connecting the cables.
I don't think the police were idiots, but they may have been a little
gullible, like my friend with the Lancia, allowing a fast-talking American
to convince them to jump-start his car.  :>)
Joe from Massachusetts

 Do you know why Carabinieri always go around in couples?
Because they like each other?
The joke will work much better if you say "in pairs" -
we won't be expecting a completely different sort of
humour by the time we read the punchline :-)
Antonio

 to convince them to jump-start his car. :>)
If they were gullible is very likely they were Carabinieri ;-)


 wrote in message
news:151Z92Z176Z5Y1...@usenet.libero.it...

When I was in Italy, motorcycle police were prohibited from owning their own
personal motorcycles. Is this still the case?
Joe from Massachusetts