Of anxiety nd modelling

[Wardukw]

Perfect...perfection...these are two of the most misleading words in the English language.

Perfection can never be obtained...there is nothing which is perfect and how can something be considered perfect when in no time at all something else comes along which is better .
If something is perfect then it can never be bettered..yet that something always is bettered by something else.
Perfect is a utterly useless word and trying to obtain it will do ya head in faster than you'd believe so don't bother even attempting it 😉
Your life will be so much easier once you realize perfection is just a word and nothing else.

[perttime]

Swedish, and some other languages, has an interesting word for things being right without the stress of striving for perfection:

"
Lagom (pronounced [ˈlɑ̂ːɡɔm], LAW-gom) is a Swedish word meaning 'just the right amount' or 'not too much, not too little'.

The word can be variously translated as 'in moderation', 'in balance', 'perfect-simple', 'just enough', 'ideal' and 'suitable' (in matter of amounts).

Whereas words like sufficient and average suggest some degree of abstinence, scarcity, or failure, lagom carries the connotation of appropriateness, although not necessarily perfection. The archetypical Swedish proverb "Lagom är bäst", literally 'The right amount is best', is also translated as 'Enough is as good as a feast', or as 'There is virtue in moderation'.
"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagom

[zenrat]

Perfect...perfection...these are two of the most misleading words in the English language.

Perfection can never be obtained...there is nothing which is perfect and how can something be considered perfect when in no time at all something else comes along which is better .
If something is perfect then it can never be bettered..yet that something always is bettered by something else.
Perfect is a utterly useless word and trying to obtain it will do ya head in faster than you'd believe so don't bother even attempting it 😉
Your life will be so much easier once you realize perfection is just a word and nothing else.

But that doesn't mean one shouldn't try to improve.

[Old Wombat]

Perfect...perfection...these are two of the most misleading words in the English language.

Perfection can never be obtained...there is nothing which is perfect and how can something be considered perfect when in no time at all something else comes along which is better .
If something is perfect then it can never be bettered..yet that something always is bettered by something else.
Perfect is a utterly useless word and trying to obtain it will do ya head in faster than you'd believe so don't bother even attempting it 😉
Your life will be so much easier once you realize perfection is just a word and nothing else.

But that doesn't mean one shouldn't try to improve.

Absolutely, but preferably incrementally, rather than precipitously.

[Weaver]

Swedish, and some other languages, has an interesting word for things being right without the stress of striving for perfection:

"
Lagom (pronounced [ˈlɑ̂ːɡɔm], LAW-gom) is a Swedish word meaning 'just the right amount' or 'not too much, not too little'.

The word can be variously translated as 'in moderation', 'in balance', 'perfect-simple', 'just enough', 'ideal' and 'suitable' (in matter of amounts).

Whereas words like sufficient and average suggest some degree of abstinence, scarcity, or failure, lagom carries the connotation of appropriateness, although not necessarily perfection. The archetypical Swedish proverb "Lagom är bäst", literally 'The right amount is best', is also translated as 'Enough is as good as a feast', or as 'There is virtue in moderation'.
"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagom

Or as my engineer uncles used to say, "You don't make precision dustbin lids". There's a level of precision that's appropriate for the job, and going beyond that for it's own sake isn't "better", it's just a waste of time and effort.

Had a couple of conversations like this whilst minding the What If stall over the years:

Them (obviously looking for an argument): "These are all wrong 'cos they're inaccurate!"

Me: "So are all the models in this hall."

Them: "What? What do you mean?"

Me: "They're all seventy-two times too small and made of plastic."

Them (sometimes): "But...but <splutter><splutter>" <stomps off>

OR

Them: "Oh. Oh... I never thought of it like that before!" 


The point is, ALL modelling, whether What-If or Real World is an artistic representation of the subject. There are inevitable compromises in EVERY model, just as a function of the medium. Just as portrait painters can't show you the back of the subject's head, so models CAN'T have "accurate" width cockpit interiors (because you can't mould the cockpit walls thin enough) or have every switch & fastener accurately represented on a 1/144th scale. Looking at a model is like looking at the real thing from a distance and even at just ten feet away, things become invisible that you can see clearly from ten inches away.

The "normal" modelling fraternity doesn't make any effort to avoid some inaccuracies, and doesn't judge models negatively because of them. It's just that they have an unwritten, unspoken, largely subconscious consensus about which inaccuracies are accpetable and which aren't. What-Iffers are aware of that consensus and deliberately break it in order to have fun, make people laugh or be thought-provoking. Some people hate having their subconscious assumptions challenged, and that's why they get annoyed with us. That's becoming rarer and rarer though: for whatever reason, more people "get it" these days than ever before.

[PR19_Kit]

That's becoming rarer and rarer though: for whatever reason, more people "get it" these days than ever before.

But we've a long way to go yet. 

[perttime]

"Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection."
Mark Twain

"Perfect is the enemy of good" or:
"Le mieux est le mortel ennemi du bien" (The best is the mortal enemy of the good)"
Voltaire

"striving to better, oft we mar what's well"
Shakespeare in King Lear

[Rick Lowe]

"A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week."
Gen. George Patton.