On Thu, 25 Jul 2002, Mark Beckwith wrote:
> I can't help thinking that kids today are more web-fluent than we were ever
> magazine-fluent. All the kids I mentor (about 5 whiz-kids) do things with
> their hands on a keyboard and mouse that I can't even follow because it
> happens too fast, and every last one of them types faster than any of us
> ever did in High School.
>
Yes, but can they string up a 40 meter dipole? Solder parts onto a PC
poard? (I won't even say surface-mount IC's.) Replace a water pump on an
Intrepid? (I replaced a water pump on a 1963 Chevy when I was 16, but
replacing one on an Intrepid may well be impossible :-)
It is true that computers have become an important part of many peoples'
lives, but there is still the real world out there and I still believe in
Robert Heinlein's long list of "things a man should be able to do" - to
quote him, "specialization is for insects."
>
> PS. Tree, if you don't want to get too close to the lighter fluid with the
> match, you can do this really cool thing with a match and a can of WD-40.
>
Someone showed me that trick once as a possible self-defense device. I
guess as long as the spray is blowing the flame AWAY from the nozzle,
you're OK, but you have to watch it when you stop spraying. :-)
73, Zack W9SZ
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