Where is the air coming from

[CJDave]

[img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] Pat, whenever I read your posts it reawakens my technical past. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] IN FACT, your posts have been a huge help in jump-starting some long-dormant areas of technical expertise and THAT has helped me transition into substitute teaching. These kids nowadays are SMART;...... those that are paying attention that is.......so I have had to really push on my brain to teach advanced math and so forth. Thanks for the occasional shot of 180-Proof Chemo-Physo-Hydro-Engineer'n. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Pat]

CJDave, Thanks for the kind words. It is no small wonder that someone like me who was schooled back before the periodic table when the only elements we knew were Earth, Air, Fire, and Water (we were debating the existance of Phlogiston) could be of use to "modern" thinkers.

Think of any assistance that I may have been as a Federal Tax rebate. I have degrees paid in part and others paid entirely by Federal monies and I am happy to "give back" a little to the taxpayers who so generously contributed to my educational experience.

What grades do you sub in and what constitutes "advanced math?" I suppose differential and integral calculus and analytical geometry are high school topics now. Do you do tensors? Would a math student know about CURL (not related to surfing) and are they into "OPERATORS?"

I never thought of myself as a mathematician so it was a sobering thought when I realized that the required math courses for a physics major exceeded a math minor and came within a couple courses of a math degree. I always thought of math as a neccessary evil in the study of physics (the true father science) That may have been one of the reasons I was later led astray into computer science and got a masters in software engineering. There were no additional math requirements for the MS in software engineering.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[CJDave]

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Seven thru twelve, Pat. They have Geometry, A Geometry B, Algebra I and Algebra II. In Alg.II, the kids do quadratic equasions and pre-calculus. I love to teach geomertry, and have used it a LOT in design work and so forth so that's easy. I really had to crack the book to restart the advanced-advanced-advanced Algebra engines that have set idle for quite a while. History is my favorite subject to teach, then comes biology, then the maths. All the time i was workin' it was in the back of my mind to do some teachin' when I retired, but I was thinking Community College level technical stuff, like Hydrodynamics or Fluid Mechanics. This local Middle School- High School sub thing sort of just happened and it so happens that it is a good fit; just 8 miles away....six if I go on the gravel....and I'm home by 3:39 in the afternoon. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] I have to tell ya, Pat, I sometimes feel like a cave man among these kids. I graduated hi skool about the time their grandparents did.....1961. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

[Pat]

CJDave, I too graduated in 1961. I have been going to school off and on forever, it seems like. My last bout of grad school was finished in 1994-5. This was for a piece of paper labeled "Instructional Technology" and is about engineering training solutions to fit the extant requirements. Lots of emphasis on computer based and computer assisted training, distance learning, video production/editing and such but still covered the traditional paper based approach. My classmates were all "into" teaching or were teachers looking for promotional opportunities or professional advancement. I was the only person in any of my classes from a science and engineering background and was virtually always the oldest one in the classroom, instructor included, but soon learned I could provide fierce competition as I held a perfect 4.0 throughout the program. I was amused by the protestations of those in their 20s and 30s when I set the curve for them.

I have taught sailing, seamanship, small boat handling and various Coast Guard courses for Coast Guard volunteers as well as Coast Guard sponsored public education courses which had a few teenagers in attendance but was mostly adults. I taught software engineering and senior projects classes for computer science majors in university night classes but the demographics were mostly adults not kids fresh out of high school. I have a ground school instructors certificate but have never pursued it as a paid endeavor, it was just something the USAF prepared me for so I took the civilian test to get another piece of paper to hang on the wall some day.

Frankly I don't think I would be a good candidate for a highschool setting as I have never tried to teach anything to people who didn't want to learn and my requirements for order would undoubtedly cause friction.

My hat is off to those who can succeed in todays circumstances. I have never studied nor practiced pedagogy and think I shall leave it that way. Every time I think of how I might volunteer to give some help at the local high school, I have a hundred visions of all the possible nightmare outcomes and soon get over the thought.

Again, congrats to those who can do it!

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[CJDave]

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] But the real question is, Pat......can you straight-splice a one-inch manila rope? [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

[Pat]

CJDave, Different ship, different long splice. One of my favorite topics to teach in public education classes for boaters was marlinspike seamanship. I might fiddle with my fid for a while but I think I could git 'er done. Don't ask me to splice steel wire cables without an instruction book as I am no professional rigger.

I can tie a bowline around my waist with one hand while holding the standing end taught with my other. I was shown that trick by a lady in her 70's who had to master it before she would be permitted to go on a particular Outward Bound expedition that involved some mountaineering. I immediately saw the life saving potential and added it to all future classes.

Do you know the difference between a cowboy and sailor boline? HINT: Think naval (not navy naval but belly button.)

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[CJDave]

[img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] "Fiddle with my fid." .....I like that...heh heh. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] I struggled for years with rope work until I got my hands on a copy of the book: "The Marlinspike Sailor" after that I was a pro. I knew a guy who could do wire rope, and even watching him I couldn't get the hang of it. Of course hydraulic squeezes and sockets have made wire rope work easy, but with manila or synthetic you still got to know what to do! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] I borrowed a rope from some guys a while back and just as a joke I spliced in in a circle. I have an exposed aggregate sidewalk and find it handy to "roll" the splices and eyes on that surface with my boot to make them blend better. On our rigs we used 40' of one-inch Phillipine Manila (3-foot fibers) spliced in a circle to spin the pipe using an eleven-inch capstan (cat) head. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] I have no idea what the answer to your question is. However, having grown up in the Cowboy Capital of oakdale CA, I know that as soon as you take the cowboy off the horse he is in trouble because there is no one left to do the thinking. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] Cowboys are a class all to themselves, and they need to be kept away from all except the simplest of machines.......a hay hook is even a challenge for some of them. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

[Pat]

CJDave, I thought rolling a splice on the deck was standard practice... Excellent book. There are lots of "little cheap paperbacks" but you have THE BOOK. The casual boater's bible, "Sailing Seamanship and Small Boat Handling", has enough of the basics of marlinspike seamanship for most folks but you have a better reference.

Like belly buttons, there are "innies" and "outies" with bowlines. They have the same properties of easy to tie, don't slip, easy to untie after being pulled tight, and are nearly equal in percent of breaking strength retained of the original line strength. In one the end of the line comes out on the inside of the loop and with the other on the outside. Supposedly, sailors typically prefer the one and cowboys the other.

I like that "no one to do the thinking after the cowboy departs the horse" comment. I resembled that remark when I was cutting stock as the horse was definitely the brains of the team and I was a passenger with upper management and strategic planning respopnsibilities but virtually no tactical desicion making responsibilities.

You can always tell when someone has "discovered" the joys of marlinspike seamanship... every random piece of twine or loose line in sight has a knot in it, sheep shank, sheet bend, some hitch, or if three strand the end is back spliced.

Something else I don't do... rope tails on steel. It is hard to substitute for that as most substitutes won't make it through multipart tackle or even a simple pulley or fairlead or will jam up on a halyard winch and be the source of dangerous jams.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[CJDave]

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] I had a rig with 450 feet of 1/2" wire rope on the six-part main line. When it got time to replace the cable the guys at the cable shop just welded the new stuff onto the end of my old line and presto! The new cable was through the blocks and up to the drum......a neat trick. We used a "ropey" cable that had 27 groups in it. Nice and soft, but it took large diameter thimbles and pulleys to keep it from popping open. The real advantage was that even with a six-part lacing, the friction was real low so the empty block would spool down without having to weigh more than about 275 lbs. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]