[greymule]

The only thing I have to say about your friend is, "so what!"

He has a high IQ and attended a "top 25" college. Oooooohh, should I be impressed?

No. Many people test high and attend good colleges. You and I undoubtedly know quite a few. We may have done the same things ourselves. I cited those things simply as evidence that the guy is not stupid.

Give me a break! My cousin is working on his 20-something year in college as a professional student and does very well for himself, on campus. Take him out into the real world and he is totally useless.

I know folks working on their PhD's that need a pencil and paper to subtract 77 from 100 and still not get it the first time.

Yes, there are those people. Bell Labs had a theoretical physicist who made all kinds of important discoveries and even won a Nobel prize, but they had to have someone travel with him so he wouldn't get lost in the airport. They had another genius who, when he walked, always did so backwards. They had to tell him it was time to go home, or he'd work night and day, unaware of the time. And supposedly Einstein used to forget where he lived and the police would drive him home. My friend is not like that. The U.S. Air Force would not have let him fly B-52s if he was. Incidentally, the only reason I know his test scores is that I went to school with him and saw the postcard when it came from ETS. I've never known him to brag about his achievements, show off his knowledge, or disparage the comments and opinions of people who know less than he does.

And he freely admits his inferiority when it comes to grasping the DP/FLEX whatever rule.

I'm sorry, but testing intelligent and being smart are not necessarily synonymous and in the real world the distance between the two can be as vast as it may be narrow.

It is impossible to score high on tests accidently. Nobody who scores high is stupid. However, such a person can be brilliant in certain areas and remarkably weak in others. But these people are the exception, not the rule.

As for the ASA rule book, I don't expect it to be well written. But it shouldn't be so badly written.