Super article

[Sberry]

Here is a super piece written about the hand and relates a bit to Tankee teaching his kids the welding.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/gergen/d...gen_12-31.html

[evaporator]

Well, the hand article is definitely related, but Sberry, I noticed you are also listing Ford Truck in your interests, so I thought I'd throw in a picture of my 63, now gone, unfortunately...

[ralenr]

Thanks for posting the link.

It speaks directly to some of the things that I have expressed to others when thay ask why I enjoy spending time in the shop rather than doing other things.

It may also explain why I have tool-itis. A fine tool in the hand, put to proper use, is truly a joy.

Allen

[Brand X]

Originally posted by Sberry27
Here is a super piece written about the hand and relates a bit to Tankee teaching his kids the welding.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/gergen/d...gen_12-31.html

I been trying to find that story since I first saw it on TV.


Very interesting stuff.

[Brand X]

I can also put some of this in simple terms for you ford guys. Let say you are working on that old ford truck,and you are under the dash putting a nut on a bolt. Now you are reaching way up where you cannot see what you are doing, in you mind you can see the nut and the bolt though you hands.That is just one part of it but when I do things like that, I think of this article and I want to go find that book.

[Tankee]

Thanks for the link. My wife and I we both raised that way. I grew up in my dads autobody shop and on our farm so tools and fabrication were and are a way of life. My folks always let me "build". I can remember when I recieved my Mech engineering degree they were so proud but did not critisize on bit when I walked away from it to be back in the trades. I let my kids explore with my guidance to keep them from serious harm.

Heres a pic of our boy on our latest project of rebuilding an OLD boat trailer and making it into a tilt flatbed for a friend. Of couse he had to take of his face shield to look cool for the camera

[System-f]

I guess that explains what I haven't been able to explain. Why I am so unhappy working at my job. I always am excited to got home and fabricate something out of metal, or mess with something electrical. I always loved building computers, but couldn't stand the actually software side of them.

[MM251]

Great article. Thanks for sharing it. I am a teacher. People wonder why some kids don't do well in school. They're starving for hand work and we force them to sit at desks all day.
No wonder we have problems in school.

Put 'em all in shop!

[BadDog]

I actually love my job most of the time, and I'm a "Computer Scientist" with a degree in the same. Mostly I make my living programming, consulting on programming technologies, and teaching advanced technologies to other programmers.

But I initially worked in the trades, spent time drafting, ran my own auto body business repairing totals after teaching myself body work, restored my first car (a 'Cuda basket case from a junk yard) when I was 15, built a $15 Honda 125 from a yard-sale that came in cardboard boxes when I was around 12 using a service manual, etc.

Sadly, MANY of the people in my industry can't think their way through anything if it's not a "textbook problem/solution". It's almost like they think they should be shown the answer to any problem before they are asked to solve it. It's like they never learned to think in school, they only learned to memorize and regurgitate for a test. And the advanced degrees are often the worst. I had to fire a guy who worked on my team years ago who was put on my team by "management" without my review due to his "stellar background". He had a "Masters" in Computer Science and was working toward a PhD, near 4.0 GPA, involved in all the right stuff, but utterly useless in a non-academic job. He was so bad he was literally dragging the whole team down with clueless questions he should have been able to figure out on his own. They were so bad you didn't even know where to start, and he provided an over-all net contribution to the team that was well off to the wrong side of zero. On any team I'm in charge of now, I will rarely even agree to interview someone who has never worked outside academia or never worked in any field but computer related.

You also might be surprised to know that this view is nothing new even in the brain related fields. I once worked for Microsoft for a few years back in the mid 90's. As you may have heard, MS is notorious for painfully difficult interviews, and it's atleast somewhat true. When I submitted my resume, it was one among literally thousands. The school I attended was a back woods college in N. Alabama where I graduated with a good, but not stellar GPA. I also had little practical experience programming outside the academic world where I had worked to pay my way through college while supporting my family of four. But my resume also included information on my background in diverse other fields including auto-body/mechanics where I explained how I felt the thought processes required for dealing with the multiple complex and modular systems of an automobile helped prepare me for dealing with complex software at a component based level. When I got my interview (actually it was 4 back to back interviews that took over 9 hours in a single grueling day) I was told more than once that this single point on my resume had contributed more than any other factor in getting me the interviews. By the end of the day I was extended offers for 2 of the 4 departments I interviewed with. Three weeks later I was living in Redmond and starting work for Microsoft.

Anyway, after all of this, and even though I love my job, the only way I can stay sane is spending time in my "shop", building my buggies or random other projects just so I can go out on the week end, break them, and put them back together again… My wife (along with most of the rest of my family) thinks I'm insane. I think they may be right…

[Silverback]

Hey BadDog, you mind sending me an email, I’d like to ask you a question offline.

[Sberry]

David Geaslin from Texas makes a point (not a direct qupote) about MBA and accountant types ruining the manufacturing base in this country. They are being put in charge of operating or buying companies they dont have a clue about. First words out of their mouth is "save money" This beomes the whole focus. Here is another good page. http://www.managingmaintenance.com/

[wlbrown]

SIR,
that is a mighty fine looking truck.
if i remember correctly, the 63 had a straight axle
on the front.
the twin "I" beam came in about 67. i had a 68 ford
truck, and it had twin "I" beam. it was a running fool.
good luck with your projects.
wlbrown
wright city, mo.

[Zrexxer]

63 is indeed a straight axle, but I think the twin I-Beams started in 1965.

[morpheus]

very interesting article. explains much about why my wife can't use most tools. she's intelligent and understands how they work but even with much instruction and examples by me she can never get the hang of many things, using a cordless drill for example to put something together just "tight enough"

[Aaron]

Dude's a fruit.... His dad may have been a monkey, and his hands may have taught his brain to think, but keep me out of it....