Path: csiph.com!usenet.pasdenom.info!weretis.net!feeder1.news.weretis.net!news.swapon.de!news.stack.nl!newsfeed.xs4all.nl!newsfeed2.news.xs4all.nl!xs4all!news.tele.dk!news.tele.dk!small.news.tele.dk!newsgate.cistron.nl!newsgate.news.xs4all.nl!post.news.xs4all.nl!not-for-mail
Return-Path: <python-python-list@m.gmane.org>
X-Original-To: python-list@python.org
Delivered-To: python-list@mail.python.org
X-Spam-Status: OK 0.004
X-Spam-Evidence: '*H*': 0.99; '*S*': 0.00; 'from:addr:yahoo.co.uk': 0.04; 'subject:Python': 0.06; 'lawrence': 0.09; 'received:80.91': 0.09; 'received:80.91.229': 0.09; 'received:gmane.org': 0.09; 'received:list': 0.09; 'subject:language': 0.09; 'language.': 0.14; 'expressions,': 0.16; 'mine.': 0.16; 'nightmare.': 0.16; 'nostalgia': 0.16; 'received:80.91.229.3': 0.16; 'received:plane.gmane.org': 0.16; 'roy': 0.16; 'subject: \n ': 0.16; 'subject:programming': 0.16; ':-)': 0.16; 'language': 0.16; 'wrote:': 0.18; 'manual': 0.22; 'header:User-Agent:1': 0.23; 'satisfying': 0.24; 'visible': 0.24; 'subject:/': 0.26; 'header:X -Complaints-To:1': 0.27; 'header:In-Reply-To:1': 0.27; 'men': 0.31; 'johnson': 0.35; 'there': 0.35; 'mine': 0.38; 'handle': 0.38; 'to:addr:python-list': 0.38; 'rather': 0.38; 'heard': 0.39; 'to:addr:python.org': 0.39; 'received:org': 0.40; 'first': 0.61; 'our': 0.64; 'more': 0.64; 'smith': 0.68; 'watching': 0.68; 'article': 0.77; 'hand': 0.80; 'cow': 0.84; 'received:2': 0.84; 'cutting': 0.91; 'rick': 0.93
X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/
To: python-list@python.org
From: Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Experiences/guidance on teaching Python as a first programming language
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2013 01:25:25 +0000
References: <mailman.3772.1386592239.18130.python-list@python.org> <889721b4-a980-4205-9b1d-a1bedadd7eb3@googlegroups.com> <bgnmurFc5bU1@mid.individual.net> <mailman.3859.1386725754.18130.python-list@python.org> <b64dd8cc-a7b5-47d2-9fe6-d2bd6e432205@googlegroups.com> <roy-74AF41.20060616122013@news.panix.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: host-2-98-205-44.as13285.net
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:24.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/24.2.0
In-Reply-To: <roy-74AF41.20060616122013@news.panix.com>
X-BeenThere: python-list@python.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.15
Precedence: list
List-Id: General discussion list for the Python programming language <python-list.python.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <https://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-list>, <mailto:python-list-request@python.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/>
List-Post: <mailto:python-list@python.org>
List-Help: <mailto:python-list-request@python.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list>, <mailto:python-list-request@python.org?subject=subscribe>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.python
Message-ID: <mailman.4245.1387243529.18130.python-list@python.org>
Lines: 24
NNTP-Posting-Host: 2001:888:2000:d::a6
X-Trace: 1387243530 news.xs4all.nl 2928 [2001:888:2000:d::a6]:37757
X-Complaints-To: abuse@xs4all.nl
Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:62127

On 17/12/2013 01:06, Roy Smith wrote:
> In article <b64dd8cc-a7b5-47d2-9fe6-d2bd6e432205@googlegroups.com>,
>   Rick Johnson <rantingrickjohnson@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>    Dovetails are nothing more than sadistic nostalgia --
>>    they give old men a "chubby" and young men a nightmare.
>
> There is nothing more satisfying than cutting a set of dovetails by hand
> and having them glide together like silk, the first time you test-fit
> them, with no daylight visible anywhere.
>
> Someday, mine will be like that :-)
>

I suspect that your manual skills are rather better than mine.  One of 
my favourite expressions, perhaps because I only ever heard my dad use 
it, is "like watching a cow handle a shotgun".

-- 
My fellow Pythonistas, ask not what our language can do for you, ask 
what you can do for our language.

Mark Lawrence