[PRCo] Committee Work

[Jim Holland]

This is a Very ImPerfect World -- no one individual knows it all nor has 
access to all information - not even with the Inet~!~!~!
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Thus the formation of committees, Good and Bad.     A few ideas on 
Committees follow  (but Very Far From Exhaustive)   and how each of us 
can participate as a member.
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Each Committee Member has a different way of looking at information and 
brings a unique perspective to a situation.     A committee will 
assemble  A~L~L  the information, facts, observations, thoughts, ideas, 
good and bad that pertain to a certain topic and then sift these through 
a set of criteria for the topic to formulate a plan of action, probable 
cause // effect, or possible scenario, etc.     This involves but is 
certainly not limited to dissecting what is available to gain an 
understanding, reading / learning about habits, customs, priorities Of 
The Day // Time in question, and this involves getting into minutia 
which can be exasperating at times.     We should avoid minutia for the 
sake of minutia but the tedium of this approach can still be draining 
and test the mettle of our civility.
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Those who have studied  *-Legible Writings-*  (as opposed to 
Scrawl~!~!)  of the past, those over 100 years old, will still find the 
Grammar, sentence construction, expressions and Many etc.'s a challenge 
and Very Different from standards of today.     But going back to the 
old English practice of Diagramming the Sentence to identify to whom 
pronouns belong, tense of verbs, subj., object, modifiers  --  
Dissecting and tedium  --  and reading about and understanding the 
customs etc. of the day will then bring about a great enlightening & 
Understanding to the study.
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We need to know ourselves as well.     Forget Fast Food  --  the Inet 
and Instant availability of info makes one think that any question can 
be answered in the snap of the fingers  --  or even faster.     We are 
prone to impatience and tend to accept most any quick fix.     Humanly 
we live Very Much By Experience and if an observation is outside that 
experience then it must be wrong or unworthy of consideration.     We 
need to be able to set this And Much More Aside, advance ideas for the 
sake of the idea, and forget personalities.
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When Inet email lists first formed, it was often stated that the person 
who asks a question should monitor the answers and after a reasonable 
time make a summary.     Rarely  I~F  Ever  is this done  --  and maybe 
more rarely do the questions remain on topic.
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In A Small Way, Committee Work is what we were doing in looking at the 
Single Track Wye at 12th Avenue.     We looked at a variety of 
possibilities for the street, direction of travel, problems in the area, 
a few etc.s and at Matt's suggestion we could work back to make an 
Understanding that this could be for Emergency use because any other use 
could be ruled out.
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Please:      lettuce not make minutia of the above -- but constructive 
comments on Good Committee Behavior / Altitude / Approach / etc. are 
always warranted.
-- 
*Jim Holland*

Studying *Pittsburgh Railways Company*

....................From 1930 -- 1950

*Pennsylvania Trolley Museum (PTM)*

http://www.pa-trolley.org/

*N.M.R.A.*

http://www.nmra.org/