Granular education
While watching a band play the Theme From Shaft, on PBS, it all became clear! I’ve finally reached the age where I can imagine myself doing almost anything. Within reason.
A generation ago, I purchased some oversized reference books, known generically as The Whole Earth Catalog. Inside, contact information for so many things. The kind of things that I’ve hardly heard about, let alone having access to the How To required for actually getting my hands dirty. No list here. Find your own copy. The thing that is important is that someone else was willing to share the inner secrets. No need to reinvent the wheel. If I wanted to rock climb, I could order the gear, and if I didn’t die right away (or simply fade away from vertigo), no mountain was safe. Small details about distance were just that.
And now, I’ve made it to the next step. A logical one, really. There’s a TV commercial that says “Just because you can Google it, doesn’t mean you can do it”. Not so fast. Yes, you can. See the second paragraph. However, I no longer see the reason for actually doing so many of those things. I will (probably) never fall out of an airplane, or stuff a dead moose, but the knowledge is available. Thanks to programs such as How It Is Made (or Mythbusters), even the industrial processes are granular. Cool!
And if the reference to music leaves you curious, it’s because I’ve finally managed to separate the instrumental tracks. My violin, or trumpet, or trombone… you get the idea. It’s now up to me to put it all together.
