Old Weird Ward
Unless otherwise noted, that which is posted here is opinion, which is protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution. If you don't like my opinions, go somewhere else. Nobody is forcing you to actually read this drivel.
The presumption exists that you can read at all.
That may be a large assumption.
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Sunday, June 19, 2005
- - - - - Disappearing National Resources - - - - -
Some years ago, in the Strategy of Technology, Posonny, Pournelle, and Kane postulated that technology trumps brute force a lot of the time, and that technology is indeed, a Strategic Weapon. With the fall of the Soviet Union, they were proved right. Click on the link, and read the whole thing. Definitely worth the time, and as relevant now as in 1970.
Later, Dr. Pournelle expressed worries that with the export of manufacturing jobs to Thailand or China, that valuable know-how in how to actually build these things was (1) being exported, and more importantly (2), that know-how of how to physically build things here in the US was being lost - the guys that used to know how to do "that" (whatever "that" might be) are now retired or have died of simple old age, taking their knowledge with them.
A simple chore I did today illuminates that worry. I had to change a bicycle tire's tube.
Mind you, I'm 55 years old. I've rebuilt VW air-cooled engines from Bugs, Squarebacks, and Vans. I know (or used to know) how to use a timing light, change a set of points, find a short, fix a flat, and align headlights.
I haven't spun a wrench on a car or truck in over a year.
Once upon a time, a sizable proportion of American young men could lay claim to knowing which end of a combination wrench was which.
I have a set of Snap-On wrenches that I haven't used in three months.
I have a dial indicator that I used to use religiously to tune a two-stroke motor - and haven't touched in ten years.
I have a torque wrench that I haven't used in 6 years.
I haven't touched my timing light in 10 years.
I haven't used my cylinder hone in 10 years.
I have a set of feeler guages that I haven't used in 5 years.
I haven't changed a spark plug in 3 years, and I can't even find my damned plug wrench.
Jayzus, Herkimer, I'm really out of practice!
The solution seems clear to me - I've got to find a pre-1980 vehicle, preferably a pickup, and rebuild that piece of junk from the ground up.
I've also got to find a young fella or two to be my "assistants", so's I can pass the knowledge, and love of making things work along to a new generation.
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