Wilt

[antgirl1]

Originally Posted by Mac-a-lacka

Well lets bring it back.
By the way, Wilt is 10 feet tall. (coco card)

Umm....like someone said, facts like that are already burned into every Wilt fan's brains.

[WiltsAKGirl17]

Here?s something that?s been on my mind off and on all day, so I figured I?d throw this out there and see what you guys think.

Today I took the test to get my drivers? license learners? permit. When I was skimming the form you have to fill out to get the temps (assuming you pass the test <crosses fingers that I did>), I saw something that said (to this effect) that people with a visual impairment that required corrective measurements beyond glasses and/or contact lenses could not be issued a license. I think it even specifically mentioned being blind in one eye.

Instantly I thought of Wilt and that got me wondering: because of his wonky eye, would he be ineligible for a drivers? license? I?ve always assumed that his left eye was a glass one, since the pupil rattle around in the eye itself (although in a normal eye, the pupil is an opening in the eye) and that when Wilt blinks, it?s with only his right eye. This being said, I think the DMV would have to deny Wilt a license, despite the fact that he?s certainly old enough to get one. (That, and driving a car with only one arm might be a bit of a challenge?) However, I could be wrong-- this technicality (for want of a better word) may only apply to the State of Madne-- I mean, Alaska.

[BluebottleFlyer]

Honestly...what can I say that hasn't already been said about Wilt? Tall, kind-hearted, basketball-loving, and helpful, polite and apologetic almost to a fault.

[pitbulllady]

Originally Posted by WiltsAKGirl17

Here?s something that?s been on my mind off and on all day, so I figured I?d throw this out there and see what you guys think.

Today I took the test to get my drivers? license learners? permit. When I was skimming the form you have to fill out to get the temps (assuming you pass the test <crosses fingers that I did>), I saw something that said (to this effect) that people with a visual impairment that required corrective measurements beyond glasses and/or contact lenses could not be issued a license. I think it even specifically mentioned being blind in one eye.

Instantly I thought of Wilt and that got me wondering: because of his wonky eye, would he be ineligible for a drivers? license? I?ve always assumed that his left eye was a glass one, since the pupil rattle around in the eye itself (although in a normal eye, the pupil is an opening in the eye) and that when Wilt blinks, it?s with only his right eye. This being said, I think the DMV would have to deny Wilt a license, despite the fact that he?s certainly old enough to get one. (That, and driving a car with only one arm might be a bit of a challenge?) However, I could be wrong-- this technicality (for want of a better word) may only apply to the State of Madne-- I mean, Alaska.

Laws for drivers' licenses vary from state to state. In South Carolina, as long as you can either read the road signs in that little view-finder thingie, or have something signed by an eye doctor, a one-eyed person can get a license, and indeed, I've known a few folks who were blind in one eye and drove just fine. One of the teachers at the high school is a Vietnam vet who lost an eye AND his left arm, so he's more like Wilt indeed, yet he drives. He has a special car in which the turn signal arm has been moved to the right side of the steering column, so he can operate it. I don't know what the requirements are in Washington state, though, but yeah, you are correct in that Wilt is blind in his left eye, whether or not it's an artificial eye. In "Blooooooo!", while he, Coco, and Ed were hiding from the "Cannonball Ghost" in the dark closet, you can see BOTH of Coco's and Eduardo's eyes in the dark, but only one of Wilt's, so even if it is still his real eye, the pupil does not function to allow in any light at all.

pitbulllady

[Mac-a-lacka]

Originally Posted by WiltsAKGirl17

and driving a car with only one arm might be a bit of a challenge…

Wilt is seen driving a both car and semi-truck real easily on "Where there's a Wilt there's a way".

[WiltsAKGirl17]

Originally Posted by pitbulllady

Laws for drivers' licenses vary from state to state. In South Carolina, as long as you can either read the road signs in that little view-finder thingie, or have something signed by an eye doctor, a one-eyed person can get a license, and indeed, I've known a few folks who were blind in one eye and drove just fine. One of the teachers at the high school is a Vietnam vet who lost an eye AND his left arm, so he's more like Wilt indeed, yet he drives. He has a special car in which the turn signal arm has been moved to the right side of the steering column, so he can operate it. I don't know what the requirements are in Washington state, though, but yeah, you are correct in that Wilt is blind in his left eye, whether or not it's an artificial eye. In "Blooooooo!", while he, Coco, and Ed were hiding from the "Cannonball Ghost" in the dark closet, you can see BOTH of Coco's and Eduardo's eyes in the dark, but only one of Wilt's, so even if it is still his real eye, the pupil does not function to allow in any light at all.

pitbulllady

There was little doubt in my mind that drivers' license laws varied by the state. (Off-topic example: In Alaska, if you kill any big game, i.e. moose, with your car, it belongs to the state. I doubt that y'all have that problem in South Carolina?) I'm pretty sure that being blind in one eye actually means that 20% (one-fifth) of your visual capacity takes a hit-- not quite enough to totally disqualify you from driving I'm sure.

Originally Posted by Mac-a-lacka

Wilt is seen driving a both car and semi-truck real easily on "Where there's a Wilt there's a way".

Maybe I was thinking of older cars with a stick shift and a clutch and all those other things that are about as foreign to me as fluent Klingon. (Again with the Star Trek references in a Foster's discussion... )

[pitbulllady]

Originally Posted by WiltsAKGirl17

There was little doubt in my mind that drivers' license laws varied by the state. (Off-topic example: In Alaska, if you kill any big game, i.e. moose, with your car, it belongs to the state. I doubt that y'all have that problem in South Carolina?) I'm pretty sure that being blind in one eye actually means that 20% (one-fifth) of your visual capacity takes a hit-- not quite enough to totally disqualify you from driving I'm sure.



Maybe I was thinking of older cars with a stick shift and a clutch and all those other things that are about as foreign to me as fluent Klingon. (Again with the Star Trek references in a Foster's discussion... )

In South Carolina, if you hit a game animal, such as a deer or a wild turkey, with your car-aside from probably having your car totalled(and I don't even want to know what a moose would do to a vehicle)and possibly winding up in the hospital yourself, the meat is yours if you want it, or anyone else's who happens to come along. I've actually dressed and butchered a deer that was just hit by another driver on the side of the road; he didn't want the meat, so his loss was my gain, and the game warden and a highway patrolman were both standing right there. The game warden loaned me his knife since I can't carry one in my car, lest I get caught with it on school grounds, which is a felony. If no one had come up to collect the meat, the game warden would have taken it to the prison, where it would have been served to prisoners. In Georgia, right next door, if I'd done that, I would have been arrested and locked up for stealing! So yeah, those laws vary a lot, too.

Wilt would have some trouble with a modern stick shift car, since you have to shift gears with your right hand and steer with the left, but he'd probably be able to drive an older column-shift car, like my '51 Studebaker. The gear shifter is on the right side of the steering column, and an experienced driver can hold the steering wheel and shift with the fingers, especially someone with as large a hand as Wilt has! I can shift and steer with my right hand, so I know it wouldn't be an issue for Wilt at all. If you've got a good, smooth shift, it's no problem, and of course, an automatic would be easy for him as well. Also, on the older cars, the dimmer switch is located on the floorboard, and you operate that with your left foot, so the turn signal is the only thing that might prove to be a challenge for Wilt. He'd either have to bump it with his stump of an arm, which would mean leaning way forward, or have it moved to the right side, or have a set up in which that was controlled by a small foot control, too, like the dimmer switch. The teacher here in our district who has lost his left arm and eye used a foot switch for the dimmer(he drives a classic car, though, a '65 Ford Galaxie), and the car is automatic, and has the signal arm on the right side of the column. Wilt's already proven that he can drive, in a DeLorean and a commercial truck, as Mac-a-Lacka pointed out. Wilt just isn't one to sit around bemoaning why he can't do something that other folks would assume would be difficult or impossible for him to do-he just does whatever without worrying about the difficulty! Wilt definitely seems to be someone who responds best when challenged.

pitbulllady

[Lynnie]

Well, I don't know the Washington State regulations regarding driving with one reliable eye, but I do know you can do so up here. I know one lady (who also happens to be a teacher) who has one eye and the other is always covered up with a patch. She always has some kind of fun sticker on the patch as not to look so "scary" to the kids she teaches. And she drives just fine. As for the one arm, I'm sure he'd need a specially made vehicle where all the controls were on one side, if not all embedded into the steering wheel. I don't know of anyone personally who owns such a vehicle, but I've seen them.

On a side note, Wilt's stub isn't totally useless. He could hold his notes with it in "Hiccy Burp", and even wiped the sweat off his face without dropping the piece of paper. He could also play the keyboard with it in "Schlock Star". I'm sure he's done other things with his stub that I'm not remembering right now. So he might still be able to flick simple switches and bars with his stub while driving. Although he still may need them specially made so he can reach them without leaning forward too much.

[WiltsAKGirl17]

Originally Posted by pitbulllady

In South Carolina, if you hit a game animal, such as a deer or a wild turkey, with your car-aside from probably having your car totalled(and I don't even want to know what a moose would do to a vehicle)and possibly winding up in the hospital yourself, the meat is yours if you want it, or anyone else's who happens to come along. I've actually dressed and butchered a deer that was just hit by another driver on the side of the road; he didn't want the meat, so his loss was my gain, and the game warden and a highway patrolman were both standing right there. The game warden loaned me his knife since I can't carry one in my car, lest I get caught with it on school grounds, which is a felony. If no one had come up to collect the meat, the game warden would have taken it to the prison, where it would have been served to prisoners. In Georgia, right next door, if I'd done that, I would have been arrested and locked up for stealing! So yeah, those laws vary a lot, too.

Wilt would have some trouble with a modern stick shift car, since you have to shift gears with your right hand and steer with the left, but he'd probably be able to drive an older column-shift car, like my '51 Studebaker. The gear shifter is on the right side of the steering column, and an experienced driver can hold the steering wheel and shift with the fingers, especially someone with as large a hand as Wilt has! I can shift and steer with my right hand, so I know it wouldn't be an issue for Wilt at all. If you've got a good, smooth shift, it's no problem, and of course, an automatic would be easy for him as well. Also, on the older cars, the dimmer switch is located on the floorboard, and you operate that with your left foot, so the turn signal is the only thing that might prove to be a challenge for Wilt. He'd either have to bump it with his stump of an arm, which would mean leaning way forward, or have it moved to the right side, or have a set up in which that was controlled by a small foot control, too, like the dimmer switch. The teacher here in our district who has lost his left arm and eye used a foot switch for the dimmer(he drives a classic car, though, a '65 Ford Galaxie), and the car is automatic, and has the signal arm on the right side of the column. Wilt's already proven that he can drive, in a DeLorean and a commercial truck, as Mac-a-Lacka pointed out. Wilt just isn't one to sit around bemoaning why he can't do something that other folks would assume would be difficult or impossible for him to do-he just does whatever without worrying about the difficulty! Wilt definitely seems to be someone who responds best when challenged.

pitbulllady

Just so you know, hitting a moose with your car isn?t pretty by ANY stretch of the imagination. It?s never happened to my family or anyone I know, thank God, but I?ve seen pictures.

I?m a little surprised that it would be a modern car that would leave Wilt in a world of driving hurt-- I thought that stick shift was a feature in older cars and rarely seen in newer models. But I?m the same dorkfish who can?t pass a temp drivers? license test, so what does that tell you? But based on what you?ve described, a classic car would definitely suit Wilt-- both aesthetically and practically (the latter being my own opinion, so you may wanna ignore that part).

I?ve never really SEEN Wilt driving, but there?s no doubt in my mind that he can do it. Wilt is, as you pointed out now and time and again, a doer-- he goes, he does, he succeeds. And it?s quite clear that he works best under challenge and pressure. Case in point: GWH, for the most part.

Originally Posted by Lynnie

Well, I don't know the Washington State regulations regarding driving with one reliable eye, but I do know you can do so up here. I know one lady (who also happens to be a teacher) who has one eye and the other is always covered up with a patch. She always has some kind of fun sticker on the patch as not to look so "scary" to the kids she teaches. And she drives just fine. As for the one arm, I'm sure he'd need a specially made vehicle where all the controls were on one side, if not all embedded into the steering wheel. I don't know of anyone personally who owns such a vehicle, but I've seen them.

On a side note, Wilt's stub isn't totally useless. He could hold his notes with it in "Hiccy Burp", and even wiped the sweat off his face without dropping the piece of paper. He could also play the keyboard with it in "Schlock Star". I'm sure he's done other things with his stub that I'm not remembering right now. So he might still be able to flick simple switches and bars with his stub while driving. Although he still may need them specially made so he can reach them without leaning forward too much.

Based on what I?ve seen, I suppose Wilt could go after a DL. (Yay Wilt! Don?t flunk the test by 5% like I did! ) Thank goodness my curiosity?s been satisfied.

Regarding your side note Lynnie? Wilt also waved goodbye to Foofy Woogums and his family in GWH and held a bowl of potato chips in ?Where There?s a Wilt?? with his stubby left arm. Flipping switches would definitely be doable, leaning forward or otherwise. (Just as a weird fan girl note/admission, I love his stubby arm-- it?s cute and it gives him character. xD)

[Mac-a-lacka]

(This post is slightly off topic, Sorry!)
I wish that there would ever be a Wilt/Mac oriented episode.
I kind of like those two as a pair rather then Mac/Bloo, I can't even recall many moments on the show itself that revolve around those two.