I understand. I worked with Dave for a while. Nice guy. Totally incompetent. Had a degree in engineering. Couldn't hold a job. Sad.

Why would you call this person "stupid" on an internet forum. Seems to me the poor man has had a string of bad luck his intelligence or educational background has little to do with it. You say he is a nice guy don't you think he deserves a little more respect?

Poor lad. I have a stupid, mentally crazy neighbor and all folks on this street know of his odd antics. Id trade you up for your neighbor over my psyco neighbor in a second....

"He's not really competent at anything, and I can't count the times I've thought, 'How can you be so stupid?'" Is more of a comment about me than about him. It is what I thought at times, not what I ever said about him. He isn't stupid, but he does some boneheaded things.
And you are right, it has little (but some) to do with his string of bad luck.
However, this spring he did let some random guy give him an estimate for remodeling his bathroom - $2200 half up front in cash. Daniel gave him $1100, no receipt. The guy walked out the door and has not been heard from since. And he let two convicted felons stay at his house for a week. MrWD kept telling him not to trust them, to kick them out. Instead he loaned them $200 and now his safe is empty.

I thought the IQ article was an interesting read. I took the article as referring to the thiefs and not the friend.

Ditto.

Trust and or mistrust in others does not seem related to intelligence, rather empathy or compassion.

There will always be people of low character to take advantage of compassion, sadly.

Sorry to hear about your neighbor.

One opinion.

Editorial
Clever sillies: Why high IQ people tend to be deficient in common sense
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306987709005556
Why do clever people do stupid things? Psychologists split on 'link' between IQ and lack of common sense
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/why-do-clever-people-do-stupid-things-psychologists-split-link-between-iq-and-no-common-sense-a6921361.html


Google: Difference between intelligence and common sense.

Going to get a lot of different answers and explanations.

You perhaps didn't intend the opening sentence to be insulting or comical but simply scientific.

Somehow it is all three, and that is not intended to be insulting or comical either.

I just skimmed the paper, looks like an interesting read that I will get back to later.

I've worked in a hardware store. My takeaway - even though you might know how to calculate the speed necessary for two particles to crash into each other to split an atom doesn't mean you know how to assemble a nut onto a bolt - or even know which is the nut and which is the bolt.

We all have our place in the world.

I can't wait to find mine.

Patrick, you're a truly nice neighbor. D was lucky the day you moved in.

Yep, raw intelligence and common sense are definitely not the same thing and frequently don't coexist in the same person. So many other qualities in a person also affect decision making, like laziness, stubbornness, ego, etc.

I agree that the guy this thread is about suffered a bout of terrible luck and WD's description of him didn't really have much to do w that except when he got to the empty safe. The poor guy did that to himself by being extremely naive in letting criminals stay in his house. I have a policy about being other people's victim...I don't allow it. I've paid for motel rooms for people down on their luck multiple times but no one stays in my home unless I specifically invited them and want them here. I don't even tell random acquaintances exactly where I live.

If I do let someone in my home, they are a trusted friend. I happen to have quite a lot of valuables plus guns and sometimes cash in my crib, so if a bad person ever got in, they would have hit pay dirt. I trust my real friends 100% and everyone else on a sliding scale. Don't ever let strangers or people you have questions about into your home. It's an avoidable bummer that is completely unnecessary. Help people in other ways, if you want.

Sounds like a good chance of the perps facing some rural Ohio pokey time. Keep us updated!

With all due respect, the neighbor guy is a total idiot.

Without wanting to pile on since I don’t know the guy and he’s done me no harm - the thought that his wife was a DA for years but yet he *still* lets two skells stay overnight does point to a person that has more empathy than sense, regardless of his qualifications.

Emotionally vulnerable lonely people perhaps suffering a bit of depression might seek the company of others that will not judge them, will not challenge them, and will not seek to fix them and point out their flaws.

When a person lets a loser (or two) into their life it elevates them because they are more sorted than the loser, and can feel better about their own situational in a relative manner.

Irresponsible losers can be fun to be with, like a pet that accepts you unconditionally.

The losers may not judge you (or this neighbor) because in a straight on contest they know they will fall short, so they do what they can to stay ahead of consequences resulting from their poor decisions.

I am getting into a lot of amateur psychology with this, but in short I think given the short end of the stick the neighbor has been given he needs professional help sorting though the mess. I know that I would.

https://www.verywellmind.com/thmb/1g...98dc4c7827.jpg

https://moderntherapy.online/blog-2/2019/4/16/how-does-psychiatry-differ-from-psychology
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/c...g?format=1500w

How to Choose a Therapist and Prepare for Your First Appointment
https://rightasrain.uwmedicine.org/mind/mental-health/how-to-choose-a-therapist
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1608661212.jpg
What can he lose that hasn't already been taken?

Mental Health in America
https://onlinedegrees.bradley.edu/blog/mental-health-in-america/

Sounds like a David Eddings book.

I once worked with a guy that had the worst luck I had ever seen . We kiddingly said he was born under a Polish black cloud 😊 . Anything that could go wrong did for Larry . Didn't matter if it was house/car/appliances/children if it could go wrong it did .

To the OP I hope your neighbor can turn it around and law enforcement can come through for him .

A lot of truth here. She used to try to help the very people she put in jail after they got out. She was selective about who she helped, because she knew them when she put them away. She has a sense for the ones that were salvageable. They even formally adopted one of them. He has taken on the mantle of helping criminals, but he doesn't have the discerning filter she had. He gets a call about every month, "I just got out of jail/prison and I don't have a place to stay." His answer too many times is "Sure, come on over." Crazy, just crazy.
He and MrsWD are good friends - coffee and cigarettes every morning and a "Coke and a smoke" every afternoon. She tries to counsel him but he won't listen.
There have been 2 problems in the past with D's "orphans" but this one takes the cake. MrsWD is freaked out. She wants security cameras and a 380 ASAP.
I'm looking at the Blink system and trying to talk her into a bigger gun. She tried the shotgun but it's too much for her. We are going to test out pistols for her in a couple of days.
Today, just like with the time I was robbed, he kept noticing things that were gone. His garage door openers were gone. The key to his barn was gone. The couple is clearly planning to come back. So I spent this afternoon breaking into his barn so I could change the lock. I told him to unplug the garage door opener and he pushed back with, "No, I can just slide this lock thingy over ..." I had had enough, I told him, "Daniel! Unplug the damn door opener AND slide the lock thingy and stop arguing with me. I don't want to come over here and find you dead!"
The guy just doesn't know what he doesn't know.

And tomorrow I need to go over and install his new toilet before he ruins it. :(

My wife prefers an AR to a shotgun. I joke about accuracy by volume but she’s quite competent with one. Last time we were at the range she took off the eotech and popped up the iron sights - she said it made it too easy. My response was ‘that’s kind of the idea’.
If your wife isn’t carrying it around you might want to try one.

10 Early Signs and Symptoms of Alzheimer's
Decreased or poor judgment
https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/10_signs
There might be additional problems, or could just be stress taking it's toll.

Sounds like you are doing all you can and more, very commendable.

Have you told him no more ex-cons or you and the wife are moving away?

It might come to that.

Do you have a dawg Patrick? If the missus is worried .... GSD ;)

As far as spoons.... a shotspoon loaded with Fiocchi defensive load buckshot is tame in recoil by comparison to others.

Best to you and your friend....

At some things. I have doctor and lawyer friends like that. Definitely not idiots, but not mechanically capable or worldly.

For sure on that. Like he would listen.