On 28 Nov 2006 14:16:47 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@ts-aligner.com wrote:
Only thing that has irritated me about you is your paranoid attitude that everyone is out to get you, and it's manifestation as a willingness to attack like a bulldog at the slightest provocation. I'm not terribly insulted by you- I'm arguing with you, because I can take a punch on the chin. Sometimes, that leads to a cold beer and some frank conversation that clears the bullshit out of the air- and sometimes it leads to this.
Nope. Nor am I a lawyer, judge, constitutional scholor, or college professor. I also do not hold a medical degree, skydive, sew or ballroom dance. I make useful items out of wood, metal, and occasionally masonry materials- that's it. However, I am a person capable of actual thought- and more often than not, that's more useful in dealing with reality than memorized expertise from a textbook.
No- but I get by, and do well enough at it. I use what is needed to do the job at hand. When that's a mic, I use a mic. When it's a dial indicator, I use a dial indicator. And I know enough to know what tool I need to measure the part in front of me properly, as well as visualize offsets, write G-code programs (without CAD, even), and set up machines for precision work. Sometimes, I even use something demeaning like a rule or a square. I've even been known to lay out a blank with some red dye and a caliper from time to time.
[shocked silence from the audience]That's the result of on the job training, as opposed to taking a voc. school course on the subject. Guaranteed, I can learn whatever I need to know when I encounter a new challenge faster than you can blink- that's worth more than your bombast.
Never said I was- in fact, I didn't even know the term until you started tossing it around willy-nilly. But that doesn't prevent me from knowing when something is not called for. I could align all the books on my shelves to make them flush with the front using a straightedge and feeler guages, but that's.... insane. And even though it's nuts, I'd imagine that you'd still chime in about my sloppy trial and error book alignment technique, and declare that a dial indicator would make the bindings align more evenly.
Nope, working knowledge only. I add to it as needed for the job at hand. I've worked an alloy or two, and know how to get them to do what I want. Sometimes, I have to use something new, and then I learn a little more.
I'm not? I'd be willing to go toe-to-toe with you on that score. Considering the range of skills involved and the general level of ability in the population, I'd feel very comfortable calling myself an expert in at least a few areas of it. I'd even go out on a limb and guess that I know more about it than you. Can't say for sure, of course- but I'm not the one applying micrometric precision to a product of a living organism. You forgot the soul of the tree, Ed- why not just focus on metal, where that soul doesn't matter a bit? Iron and steel don't care how they are worked.
Nope. I'm not even an expert consumer. Whenever possible, I make my own things. Though I did manage to do well by myself for a long stretch of time contracting- does four years count for anything, or is that just goofing off? Still be doing it today, if I was willing to risk everything while networking to establish myself in this area- but I'm not.
Almost kind of wish you did show up one day, you could see how wide you've been of the mark more than a few times. Sure, I've made some deadly written gaffs in the quest make a point, but we all make mistakes.
No- I'm not really an *expert* at many things. Expertise implies specialization, and I am a rabid generalist. I learn what I need to do a particular task I'm taking on, and then get on with it. Once I've learned it to my satistfaction, I move on to another challenge. When I see someone struggling to figure out something I've already done, I try to share what I learned by doing that thing a time or twenty. They can take it or leave it, and if they leave it, I feel no need to "call their motives into question."
I'm sure I could become an expert machinist just to argue with you on a woodworking newsgroup, but that's not a very good motive for doing something. If I were going to specialize in it, I'd have to like it more than I actually do, and be willing to devote single-minded attention to the subject for years. Something I have done with woodworking, despite your claim to the contrary- I've still got my first scar from when I was seven or eight years old, and trying to figure out how to whittle articulated chains like the ones I saw in the "Paul Bunyon logging camp" with my little Old Timer pocketknife. Got a little pineywood sap in my blood that day, and it never did manage to work itself out. Sure, I've asked some dumb questions in the past- they're in the archives for all who care to look to see. I'm 27 years old- everything I learned on were low-end hardware store hand tools, until several years ago when I finally got to a point where I had money and space to start buying bigger and nicer equipment. When I got that equipment, I figured I had better ask around a bit before I managed to chop a hand off on my new toys. Truth be told, my shop and projects today would make a lot of far older men more than a little green around the gills- but I still remember picking up sticks and whittling them with a pocketknife while I blue-skyed about making something "really nice" someday. So when I see you prattling on about how anyone who doesn't have a million dollar shop adjusted to machine shop precision can't do a damn thing worth doing, I get more than a little irritated on behalf of that kid standing behind me that still has only a pocketknife and a bit of determination.
I run metal working machines to pay the bills- I make parts to fit specs as quickly as I can to keep the money coming in- and so far, that's been working pretty well for me. The boss says I'm the best machinist they've got- and I'll have to admit that I'm more convinced by that (when real life, and the shop's cash flow is involved) than worrying about whether or not Ed from the Wreck has approved my credentials. No, I don't often measure in tenths- go on and sue me. In spite of your scorn, I'm not going to run out and buy new equipment and change the company's (sucessful) business model so that I can run with big dogs like yourself. I'm fine with making useful things that people actually need- and the customers are delighted to let me make those things for them. And, in case you hadn't realised, you've mentioned nothing but dial indicators in *any* of your posts. I've been avoiding that, but there it is. That the only measurement tool there is, Mr. Metrology? Someone is not in the *real* world- are you sure it's me?
I'm tired of the damn flame war that you keep rekindling in thread after thread with little or no provocation. Lots of folk roll over for you quickly enough, and I just decided not to. Sort of like not just looking the other way and walking along when a kid is getting mugged by a bully.
With you, Ed- I'm not. Not anymore. I have always been able to align and adjust my woodworking equipment just fine on my own. If I want to add a dial indicator to the mix somewhere down the line, I imagine I can figure that out on my own- even though I have not recieved the acclaim of "experts" in the field of metrology.
To close, I'll remind you of your response to Tom Watson:
"While you might have your finger on the pulse of the Wreck, your judgment of my attitude and my abilities is very subjective. Until you actually meet me, see what I can do, and examine my work, you really are basing your opinion on very little evidence. You may believe that I'm behaving in an "elitist" manner, but many would believe that I'm being very helpful. Perhaps I should start writing in parables, then I would very clearly be demonstrating an "elitist attitude."
Perhaps you should heed your own advice. A man's value is in his works, not his words- might want to know the work before you go judging his "expertise."
Like you said, we've dancing in circles. Feel free to get the last word in, I've said my piece. I really did try to see your point, and there were some very good points you made- but you've got this so worked up in your own head, you can't see the shop for the swirly brownian motion of every mote of sawdust.