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State of the Onion Address
On Thu, 02 Feb 2006 14:42:19 GMT, "Bob Crantz"
wrote: "Scout" wrote in message ... "Bob Crantz" wrote *Why is he calling for more math and science majors? Because virtually every school district in the US, with PhD'd administrators who know zero about technology preparation, are ok with vocational schools filled with special ed students and behavioral problems. The real technicians of tomorrow will hold engineering degrees. Everyone else will just be pumping too much grease into zirc fittings because they can't read the spec sheets. Ken Gray, researcher at Penn State Univ, preaches against the misuse and abuse of vocational schools by their sending districts, and argues that the vocational schools should be populated by the middle 50% (by academic performance) of students. The upper (gifted) and the lower (learning disabled) should be left in the hands of the special education teachers, and not in the hands of the engineers and technicians who've been hired to teach their expertise. Sending schools do tend to keep the gifted students, but purge their classes of problematic kids, rationalizing that kids who can't read and won't do homework can learn hands-on how to build a working robot or program a CNC milling machine. I contend that a competent HVAC technician is better educated than most guidance counselors! Amen! Scout Funny you mention this. I recently attended a charter school meeting where the teachers discussed how they taught mathematics. Many parents were there. Everyone sat around nodding to the importance of math education (like a mantra). Yet, of the parents I knew, not one used math beyond addition and subtraction in their jobs. I asked a few teachers to tell me what mathematics is in one sentence. They couldn't. You should expand your circle of parental acquaintences. I ran a manufacturing plant making a woodworking machinery, had control of design engineering and just about everyone who worked there used math past simple addition and subtraction. Including machine operators on the shop floor who were required to learn advanced metrology, Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing, and statistics for SPC and DOE. Contributing to value add Before that I worked for a company that produced offshore oil field equipment. Ever wonder how the trigonometry to convert the structure designs to welded reality gets done? By some of those parents you don't know. Contributing to value add. Most learning comes from the home, with the school system being a facilitator. These kids would learn mathematics better if they saw the importance of it applied in life. Where will they see that? Mathematics skills, to be kept must be practiced regularly. Then, if one works hard at acquiring and maintaining the skills, they are usually branded as an "overachiever". First one is pushed to accomplish something difficult, then when it is done they are earmarked with some dysfunction and pushed into the corner. When I tell kids on how to become successful, I tell the to look for loopholes and how to beat the system. Travel the road less travelled, think out of the box. I even go as far to say that crime may pay and point out many successful white collar and organizational criminals. Then I point out that lawyers do all this and more legally! Become a lawyer - people will fear and respect you! Most people adopt the attitude that it is better to behave in a manner that you never need a lawyer. The fear is that a circumstantial or random encounter will put you in the position where the sharks can start circling. There certainly is no respect for a profession where the goal is to transfer money from one entity to another and skim 40 percent as it goes by. There is no value added with this process. The best (or least ethical) of this breed do become wealthy. That is not the same as garnering respect. And of course the above is a gross generalization with approrpiate apologies to those few ethical and productive members of the profession. I know several. Become a mathematician - people will laugh! There is some truth to that. They laughed Demming right out of the country. And he organized the Japanese to take over the auto and many other industries. Wonder who laughed last. Amen! Bob Crantz, preparing youth today to run the world tomorrow! And doing a wonderful job Amen! Frank |
State of the Onion Address
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State of the Onion Address
In article ,
Bob Crantz wrote: Funny you mention this. I recently attended a charter school meeting where the teachers discussed how they taught mathematics. Many parents were there. Everyone sat around nodding to the importance of math education (like a mantra). Yet, of the parents I knew, not one used math beyond addition and subtraction in their jobs. I asked a few teachers to tell me what mathematics is in one sentence. They couldn't. I don't think you can blame the teachers. They're struggling to teach the basics. I think part of the problem, however, is low expectations. It's been shown that if you expect more from students, you tend to get more from them. Most learning comes from the home, with the school system being a facilitator. These kids would learn mathematics better if they saw the importance of it applied in life. Where will they see that? True in many ways. My pop was an engineer, master machinest, and inventor. He forced me to learn the multiplication tables, when the school didn't really press the issue. He also asked me to "help" him figure out a trig problem of his when I was in grade school. I'll never forget struggling with the concept, doing the research (which confounded the math teacher I had when I started asking questions about sine's, cosines, etc., and finally coming up with a very strange answer for a dimension (1.00something), which was actually correct. Mathematics skills, to be kept must be practiced regularly. 1+1 = ummmm... Then, if one works hard at acquiring and maintaining the skills, they are usually branded as an "overachiever". In my case, I'm a chronic under-achiever. :-) First one is pushed to accomplish something difficult, then when it is done they are earmarked with some dysfunction and pushed into the corner. Also true sometimes. My pop had to have a discussion with the teacher to assure her that it was ok. When I tell kids on how to become successful, I tell the to look for loopholes and how to beat the system. Travel the road less travelled, think out of the box. I even go as far to say that crime may pay and point out many successful white collar and organizational criminals. Then I point out that lawyers do all this and more legally! Sounds like Robert Pirsig. Become a lawyer - people will fear and respect you! Correct, according to my mom. :-) Become a mathematician - people will laugh! Correct. We always laughed at them in college. -- Capt. JG @@ www.sailnow.com |
State of the Onion Address
In article . com,
wrote: As I was typing, I heard POP, POP which I recognized as high voltage sparks and went into the other room where my technician was working on an electron microscope. We spent a few minutes figuring where a cable had broken down and decided to make a teflon bushing to go around it, fun, fun. At the same time, I am waiting for a sputter system to pump down so I can make an entirely new type of x-ray optic. I am excited every morning when I come to work. Can lawyers say that? Interesting aside... I used to work for a EM company in the valley in the early 80s. We had to go to UC Bezerkeley one day to figure out what was wrong with one of the installed scopes. Turned out some idiot grad student put a small tree frog in it to have a look. You can imagine the results. Another time, there was a small fruit fly that seemed to be destroying crops... called the Med Fly. The company was asked to take some pictures of one in one of our scopes. That was cool. Made the first page of the Mercury News. Interesting place to work. -- Capt. JG @@ www.sailnow.com |
State of the Onion Address
In article , RCE wrote:
wrote in message oups.com... As I was typing, I heard POP, POP which I recognized as high voltage sparks and went into the other room where my technician was working on an electron microscope. We spent a few minutes figuring where a cable had broken down and decided to make a teflon bushing to go around it, fun, fun. At the same time, I am waiting for a sputter system to pump down so I can make an entirely new type of x-ray optic. I am excited every morning when I come to work. Can lawyers say that? I may be one of the few people reading this NG that knows what a sputter system is. I know what you're saying, having made an nerd "interest" into a bill paying business and enjoying it all the way. Designed and built many, many optical coating systems. . Dealt with many lawyers over the years and found that they basically produced legalized versions of documents I wrote. Good luck with your optics/coating business. Just don't sniff too much thorium fluoride. Well, I sure do! I was also around for the first eximer laser ablation system, currently being marketed as Lasix. I worked at Cooper Lasersonics in the day. -- Capt. JG @@ www.sailnow.com |
State of the Onion Address
wrote in message oups.com... 200 years from now, nobody will remember the lawyers. The mathematicians will be remembered as will the scientists and engineers. If you care about society, you would push for fewer lawyers who are an economic drain and for more scientists and engineers who cause economic growth. I hire and fire lawyers and think they are nothing more than hired guns, Few of them are capable of any new thoughts. I am MS Physics, MSEE, multiple patents and small business owner so I think I know what I am talking about. What good is any personal recognition after you are dead? It may financially benefit Dr. M.L. King's family to a great degree, but only very very few mathematicians and engineers will ever be remembered. Who is Filo Farnsworth? Frobenius? I do care about society very much. Lawyers are not engines of economic drain, just as engineers and scientists are not engines of economic growth. Their presence assures nothing, it is the economic system in which they operate that cause or hinder economic growth. Our society rewards lawyers more and more, engineers and scientists less and less. Since the growth of lawyers and decrease in engineers, our economy has grown immensely. We need more lawyers! I also have MS degrees, multiple patents in a variety of fields and own my own business. We need more lawyers! Amen! |
State of the Onion Address
wrote in message ps.com... Furthermore, I have a brother who is a lawyer and a sister who is a lawyer. Both of them are stressed to the max and have no freedom at all. I have far more freedom than them and can go sailing whenever I please. Become a lawyer and you are just a well-off slave. Become an engineer and you can start a hi tek company and do your own thing. In my life I am torn between the three things I love, my work (which is really play), sailing, and family. If you become a lawyer, you have no choice, all you can do is work till you have a heart attack. My lawyer friends bring their kids to my lab to show them that they dont have to become lawyers but can become self supporting and do cool stuff that is fun. Lawyers are in demand, engineers are underemployed. That is the point! |
State of the Onion Address
wrote in message ups.com... As I was typing, I heard POP, POP which I recognized as high voltage sparks and went into the other room where my technician was working on an electron microscope. We spent a few minutes figuring where a cable had broken down and decided to make a teflon bushing to go around it, fun, fun. At the same time, I am waiting for a sputter system to pump down so I can make an entirely new type of x-ray optic. I am excited every morning when I come to work. Can lawyers say that? Was it multipacting that caused the arcing? Do you use a tiecoat on the sputter target? The lawyers are excited too. If your employee got electrocuted, they'd be rich! Amen! |
State of the Onion Address
wrote in message ups.com... Part of the problem is the way math and science is taught as if they were obscure theoretical subjects with little application to real life and this is because most teachers do not understand the subjects. This is even the case in college where the profs are great at theory but have no understanding of how it all applies in real life. I have a turn-of-the-century (1912) college physics text written by Millikan (yes, that Millikan, you know, the electron charge measurement) and it's tone is entirely different from the texts I learned from. My texts were very strong on abstract theory and short on explaining the real world. Millikans text is a great read explaining in detail how steam engines work and the detailed thermodynamics behind them. He explains EM waves and even explains how the spark-gap radio transmitters of the time worked in great detail. Millikan dry labbed the oil drop experiment. : http://www.fofweb.com/Subscription/S...Pin=ffests0352 "Nobel Laureate physicist Robert Millikan (1868-1953) ignored some observations in determining the charge on the electron because they violated his expectations." That's good lawyering if you ask me. Have the evidence thrown out! Today, Math and Physics are taught as if they are entirely theory neglecting everyday real world problems. Modern physics is based upon ignorance of the real world. Invent a new particle for every effect or invent dark matter that one can see or measure, but it comes out in the math! How many people have ever gone around looking at their home appliances looking at the power rating and figuring out how much it costs to run each one. Unless they can measure/know power factor, not VARS, they can't! This excercise teaches the relation between power and energy and some practical economics. How many kids have ever figured out how many calories they burn by running up some stairs? Science has brought them games boys. No need to exercise! Why doesnt this compare correctly to the caloric content of food (one of the calorie units is 1000x the other is why). Last year, I took my 15 yr old son on a long sailing trip during the school year and had him plotting position, figuring out how leeway would change our DR position, and doing coastal navigation. These real world examples give a "feel" for trig relationships that you cannot get just from books. You get the same feel from navigating or a text book. The text does give real world examples. Navigation gives the immediacy, applicability and practice of trigonometry. It is a more entertaining way to learn. Did you know entertainers make more than lawyers! A person who know science, math and engineering can read a psuedo-techie article in the paper and realize when the writer is full of crap. The science crap in the newspaper is not the crap that one should be worrying about. Read the front of today's Wall Street Journal. They make a mockery of Bush's State of the Union initiatives. Then go back and read my original post. It's the crap that men of power espouse that one should be worried about. Amen! |
State of the Onion Address
25 yr old insulation with 25 KV going thru a sharp bend. You can
imagine the result. We just cut the cable, redid the connection and increased the radius of the bend. Normally we do not want adhesion to the piece being sputtereed onto. If we did, we would use Cr to make gold stick. We want the Au (or Pd, or Pt, etc.) to be a release layer for a subsequent electroformed layer. |
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