Winch
I'm excited about the miner rescue in Chile, I really am. As excited as anyone without a television. I've been following it avidly, and have no problem with people getting into other people's lives -- it's a lovely human trait, sympathy.
BUT
wouldn't it be a grand thing if, all over the country -- no, all over the world -- in schools everywhere, teachers had pictures of all the equipment used to perform this amazing mechanical feat? If they had brightly colored close-ups of the winch and pulley, if they discussed how a half-mile steel cable is formed and tested, if they held contests to see who could create the best capsule for carrying an egg over a hundred yards of bumpy rocks? If they talked about the processes, how they figured out where to drill, how they decided what type of drill to use, what the advantages were of the various choices? What's a video feed? How does it work? Wouldn't all this be worth a few days of study? I think today should be declared, for all time, International Engineering Day (all right, YOU come up with a sexier name for it) and instead of thanking GOD (who, let's face it, had a hand in locking those boys in the oven for two months), let's give a big hug & smooch to friggin science.
Wouldn't it, though?
BUT
wouldn't it be a grand thing if, all over the country -- no, all over the world -- in schools everywhere, teachers had pictures of all the equipment used to perform this amazing mechanical feat? If they had brightly colored close-ups of the winch and pulley, if they discussed how a half-mile steel cable is formed and tested, if they held contests to see who could create the best capsule for carrying an egg over a hundred yards of bumpy rocks? If they talked about the processes, how they figured out where to drill, how they decided what type of drill to use, what the advantages were of the various choices? What's a video feed? How does it work? Wouldn't all this be worth a few days of study? I think today should be declared, for all time, International Engineering Day (all right, YOU come up with a sexier name for it) and instead of thanking GOD (who, let's face it, had a hand in locking those boys in the oven for two months), let's give a big hug & smooch to friggin science.
Wouldn't it, though?