Steve: *" I still have a coal-fired forge and an anvil, both probably manufactured 100 years ago, that I can shape and even temper iron and steel with (and aluminum if I'm incredibly careful), but I do not and never will have the skills required to do it well, and certainly not to replace what modern industrial processes can achieve... barring a full apocalypse, it is merely a quaint "hobby" that might afford me the opportunity to turn out some rustic items others would mistake for "art", or more often, repair the various related tools I might *use*in my forge... though in most cases a strap and some bolts or rivets makes more sense than trying to re-weld a broken connecting rod, or lever. " *
Do you watch "Forged in Fire" on the History Channel? TJ ============================================ Tom Johnson - [email protected] Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA 505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h) *NM Foundation for Open Government* <http://nmfog.org> *Check out It's The People's Data <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Its-The-Peoples-Data/1599854626919671>* ============================================ On Thu, Aug 13, 2020 at 12:00 PM Steve Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > I actually knew someone who lived near the Embry-Riddle location in > 2000/2001 where several of the 9/11 pilots learned to fly well enough to do > what they did. She had friends (go figure) who worked at a strip-club who > claimed these "boys" were regulars there. It was pretty creepy 2nd order > connection. > > My uncles were both pilots in WWII but the older was trained up on the > newfangled idea of a helicopter and proceeded to become a test pilot for > Sykorski. He was forced into retirement (chief test pilot) to a desk at > 65. Nobody wanted to ground him, but "rules is rules" and in fact his > health degraded acutely and abruptly and he died just a few years later. > His family insists it was from "heartbreak" from being grounded. > > I have a "young" friend (now 40s) who was just finishing up his commercial > certification at Embry-Riddle Prescott on 9/11 and claims that the bottom > not only dropped out for commercial pilots for the next couple of years, > but has "never recovered" and he has been making a living as a bartender > ever since. Perhaps it is time for him to revisit. > > My ex brother-in-law left his career in the Air Force to become "a bus > driver" and recently was retired (for age) from Delta. Even 30 years ago > things were incredibly automated. I see no reason that airliners won't be > entirely automated and teleoperated in the next 20 years. The > risk-profile of such things is evolving as self-driving cars (and more > aptly? Semi-tractors?) emerge. > > The hyperloop game is going to change long distance rapid-transit > eventually. I don't believe anyone is planning for underground > "ballistic-trajectory-velocities" quite yet, but mag-lev-centered, > evacuated tube, zero-grade velocities could still be pretty impressive, and > energy consumption as well with magnetic (regenerative) braking. The > earliest days of railroading involved gravity-trains often with empty > return cars being towed by animal power. Yet others used water from the > high-side source as "ballast" and if the up/down routes were mechanically > coupled, the extra weight of water plus load would allow the empties to be > returned "for free". > > Regarding Dave's friend's drug conviction, Denzel Washington's (one of a > series of flawed) character in the movie Flight is a drug-addled pilot who, > by implication in the story, actually achieves a heroic manouver *because* > he's still jacked on the cocaine he snorted to lift himself out of his > alcohol hangover. The setup is that a jackscrew controlling horizontal > stablizer breaks, forcing the nose of the plane down with no recourse... > Denzel's character quickly recognizes the futility of the situation and the > *opportunity* of rolling the dive into an inverted orientation such that > the forced "nose down" is now "nose up". > > Popular Mechanics (of all places) had an article on the plausibility of > the Cocaine effects supporting the story (rather than the mechanics of > inverted flying). > > I suspect I could get work myself using my 40 year-stale FortranIV > experience on "mission critical" systems already old at that time, but > still in some sort of service. I did a huge senior project on a FortranIV > system for simulating exo-Terran atmospheres (e.g. Mars) which might well > be still be in service? Fortunately my COBOL/RPG experience is so slim > I'd never be tempted to try that domain. > > I'd like to believe that the myriad "stale skill" job opportunities > (demands) we see today are going to be yet-more-fully deprecated. I still > have a coal-fired forge and an anvil, both probably manufactured 100 years > ago, that I can shape and even temper iron and steel with (and aluminum if > I'm incredibly careful), but I do not and never will have the skills > required to do it well, and certainly not to replace what modern industrial > processes can achieve... barring a full apocalypse, it is merely a quaint > "hobby" that might afford me the opportunity to turn out some rustic items > others would mistake for "art", or more often, repair the various related > tools I might *use*in my forge... though in most cases a strap and some > bolts or rivets makes more sense than trying to re-weld a broken connecting > rod, or lever. > > Meanwhile, the discussion of how our "first programming language" defines > us, I believe that my earliest "programming" experience was more "analysis" > of the circuitry of pinball (and vending) machines in my friend's father's > workshop where he repaired them, and there were always an array of pinball > machines in various states of repair, with all the guts open for inspection > while operating. Very much an analog/digital hybrid system while the > older vending machines were essentially all "rod logic" (albeit simple). > Later, at my first employer (radio station) I learned the ins and outs of > automated infinite loop carousel "programming" which was a hybrid of relay > and mechanical (rod/gear/lever) logics. The "programming" was really > simplistic, involving inserting "shorting pins" in matrices to define > priorities and timing to get the "right" mix of commercials, PSAs, and a > diversity of music played during any given period (usually a 4 hour > shift). I can't say how much it influenced my later understanding of > "computer programming" which I was being introduced to simultaneously by > our Driver's Ed teacher who had somehow wrangled a PDP-x rack into a small > room with a teletype/paper-tape-punch. He didn't really have a clue, he > was learning BASIC along with us, following a simple set of "sample > programs" listed in what I think was the "owners manual" for the machine. > > Ramble, > > - Steve > > Does it include lessons on how to land the plane? > > —Barry > > On 12 Aug 2020, at 21:53, Frank Wimberly wrote: > > I just got an email from a flight training program offering me a nine month > course to get a multi engine commercial license. They don't read the Friam > listsrv, I hope. I'm too old in any case. > > --- > Frank C. 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