So I have been thinking a lot about discipline. Not in the sense of punishment. Punishment is about an authoritative person or structure enforcing submission of someone who is subject to their power. There is probably a time and place for this type of discipline – such as in a functional accountability system – but …
I took my first chemistry course as a junior in high school (Grade 11). I think that was pretty common in the U.S. for most people in my generation. I guess chemistry was still an elective in most high schools in the early-90s. But it was an entrance requirement at most colleges by then – …
My mom wanted her ashes spread in the river at her favorite campsite. So after the memorial service, my family and some of her close friends made the trip south from Havre, into the foothills of the Bear’s Paw mountains. Actually, now that I think about it, I am not certain whether that particular campsite …
Articles about guitarists inevitably take a turn toward describing their “rigs.” It’s usually in connection with discussion about their “tone.” When I was first learning to play guitar, I remember reading articles and feeling like I should understand what “tone” was – and knowing I didn’t. Not really. So I took the authors at their …
In today’s installment of Adam Savage’s One Day Builds, Adam re-created the first thing he ever engineered with a releasing mechanism: a ping pong ball launcher. He first made one as a 16-year-old high school student. It involved 3 rubber bands, a spoon, a length of coat-hanger wire, a hinge, some twine threaded around a …
Read more “On Reunions with Lost Selves – or – Whimsy v. Vogons”
I woke up yesterday thinking about what I wanted to write. And today, same. Yesterday I stayed in bed for a while, enjoying being able to puzzle through ideas under the warm sheets, knowing it was -15F outside. Today, I didn’t lounge – even though it was even colder outside. I got out of …
I am not entirely sure when hacking became a good thing. Hacking computer software or systems used to be considered a nefarious endeavor. For the most part, it still seems to be – though there are a handful of people who seek to use this superpower for good. Comedians refer to people who recycle tired …
My office door isn’t plumb. That bugs me. It isn’t far out. You can’t see it. Really, its only noticeable if there is weight on the coat hook on the back of the door. Because then it falls partially-closed. Not fully-closed mind you. Not even mostly closed. Just closed enough to look sloppy. If my …
Garage Monkeys. That is how Pirsig and Crawford describe them. Each writes about a different species: Pirsig about repair techs who lack arete and Crawford about the middle managers who stand between vehicle owners and vehicle repair techs. They are adjacent parts of the modern automotive service-shop organization and both offend something at my core. …
Eddie Van Halen died a couple of weeks ago. What follows is, I suppose, something of a tribute to him – though that is not why I wrote it. I had actually written this more than a year ago and it has been waiting for me to make space to do something with it. It …