Roger Nelson wrote to Roy Witt:   
      
    PQ>>> This sounds very much like 1940s-ish SF.  (Quite similar to the   
    PQ>>> hype surrounding breaking the sound 'barrier'.)  Send more, over...   
      
    RN>> I was a voracious reader back then and read anything that looked   
    RN>> interesting, from murder mysteries, WWII stuff and from Sci-Fi to   
    RN>> Elementary Physics, which, believe it or not, was easier for me to   
    RN>> understand than Algebra 101.   
      
    RW>> Algebra is nothing more than learning how to manipulate   
    RW>> mathematical formulas. The real test comes later when you take   
    RW>> Geometry, Trigonomitry and so forth. I got As' in Algebra, but I   
    RW>> only got Bs' in the rest. Even so, I can still manipulate a   
    RW>> mathematical formula today.   
      
    RN> I was a flop at Algebra, but it's a story which is both long and   
    RN> boring.   
      
   Mathematics never interested me and the Algebra class was the first that   
   did. My father was used to seeing Cs and C+s, but never an A...He gave me   
   a dollar for that...then Algebra got to be so boring, my grades fell off   
   and I passed the course with a C...never opening a book to study.   
      
    RW>> It's funny how you lose the ability to do things if you haven't   
    RW>> used them for a while. I used to be a whiz with a slide rule, but   
    RW>> couldn't figure out how it would work today. All thanks to the   
    RW>> invention of the electronic calculator.   
      
    RN> Just like muscles atrophying.  My dad, who died when I was 6, taught   
    RN> himself to read a slide rule and began to get contracts in New   
    RN> Orleans building roads and other things.  He was a cabinet maker when   
    RN> I was born and none of that rubbed off on me, but I did inherit his   
    RN> fondness for mechanical things, especially car engines.   
      
   Heh! My GGrandfather was a carpenter by trade and so was his eldest son,   
   my grandfather. They both worked in the Philly ship yards during WW1. None   
   of their skill was inherited by my father or me.   
      
    RN>   I was at my doctor yesterday and upon leaving, the clerk had to use   
    RN> a calculator to figure out how much I owed for yesterday and my two   
    RN> previous visits.  As she was reaching for her calculator, I blurted   
    RN> out the amount and she verified it.   
      
   8^) I used to be able to do quick math like that in my head too. No   
   longer. The calculator has taken over my brain activity.   
      
    RN> It's good to keep the brain active as one gets older because one   
    RN> never knows when it will come in handy. (-:   
      
   I do that by designing things to make in my head. Transferring those   
   ideas to paper is a chore. Writing CNC programs to make them is too.   
      
   Lately I've been making tooling to machine AR-15 parts and assembly   
   fixtures to hold parts for machining and pre-assembly. Trigger, sear and   
   hammers are a real problem to assemble in the gun, but easy to transfer   
   once assembled outside of the gun...   
      
      
            R\%/itt   
      
      
   --- GoldED+/W32 1.1.5-31012   
   --- D'Bridge 3.92   
    * Origin: Lone-Star BBS - San Antonio, Texas - USA (1:387/22)