Checking back in after long absense

Everyone should have to pass a course in machining to graduate from high school.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 
picosecond timing   laser drivers and controllers 

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com 
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

I agree. But most shop classes have been eliminated from high schools, and I had to search a lot to find this opportunity. I have had a lathe and milling machine and other such machine tools for about 11 years now, and I learned a lot on my own and from textbooks and YouTube videos and the Home Shop Machinist forum, but it's good to have knowledgeable instructors and access to larger machines like Bridgeport mills and Clausing lathes.

Academicians are focused on career tracks that require liberal arts and science college education and don't understand the importance of more "down to earth" skills like machining, woodworking, auto repair, and the electrical trade. But we have a glut of lawyers and managers, and many of the "skilled trades" are held by older people and "new blood" is needed. We have about 15 people in our class and only about half are under 30. Many are pursuing their NIMS certification which is required for some job positions.

Paul

I know all sorts of professional people, MDs and lawyers and such, who are ignorant and afraid of electricity. Funny.

There'a private high school near us, tuition about $40K, that requires every kid to learn how to weld.

We recently got a Tormach, a fabulous cnc thingie.

My guys can do a SolidWorks 3D design and export it to metal.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 
picosecond timing   laser drivers and controllers 

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com 
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

I found out when I went to college that I attended an unusual high school. In addition to the college prep courses I also had two years of auto mechanics (very handy for getting rides in college by helping other guys fix their cars), wood shop, range management (raising beef cattle), small grains (raising wheat, oats, barley, etc).

The jocks hassling the chess club was different - the top three chess player were starting linemen on the football team.

Ditto. Wood shop, drafting, metal shop, etc.

But, what I was *most* surprised by was our American History and American Literature requirements. Made getting through the "Humanities" electives at school a piece of cake ("Gee, I already *had* all this stuff!")

OTOH, people look at you askance when you work on your own vehicles, do your own plumbing/electrical/carpentry/roofing/etc.: "Why don't you just HIRE someone to do those things for you?" ("Um, how many times have you had the plumber out to YOUR place in the past 6 months? Sinks, toilets, HVAC, etc.? Would you mind sharing with me what those trivial fixes *cost* you??")

[E.g., our roof is 20+ years old and still "robust" while all of our neighbors have had theirs replaced at least once! Not to mention their insurance claims for damage to the interior from leaks, etc.]

In most jurisdictions I know of, *nobody* "has the right of way" in law. The law does not grant right-of-way to anyone.

What the law says, is that under the following conditions you must

*yield* the right of way.

I agree, a lot of drivers fail to carry out this legal obligation (to yield the right of way) properly.

Almost certainly correct. I imagine that the cost, to the school district, of adequate amounts of liability insurance is often prohibitive. If they can't afford new books, or paper for the teachers to write on, then they can't afford $10,000,000 worth of liability insurance.

The fact that a teacher may have been doing everything right, doesn't keep the teacher from being sued, and having to defend him/herself in court (probably on his or her own dime).

Used to be that way... when I was a kid boys had to take (in Jr High School, aka middle-school) 2 years of "shop" courses and girls had to take "home-ec"... at least in WV it was that way... I was one of the few MIT students authorized to use lathes, punch presses, etc., in the MIT Building 20 machine shop. ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    | 
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142     Skype: skypeanalog  |             | 
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  | 
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     | 
              
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Mail trucks (I've seen it on driving tests).

If everyone else must yield, the one left has the RoW.

Snopes says that this is likely false... an urban legend. Many people believe it's true, and I don't doubt that you saw it on a driving test, but it seems to have no actual support in law.

They asked the USPS, and the USPS said they weren't aware of any law giv "Surprisingly, quite a few people will answer the above question by proclaiming that the mail truck has the right of way. However, traffic laws are generally a state matter, and we haven't found any state whose vehicle code specifies that mail trucks have the right of way over all other vehicles, including emergency vehicles. Nor have we found any federal statute that supersedes state traffic laws to establish right-of-way primacy for mail trucks."

There is also apparently significant case law, which declares that USPS employees/driver are not granted immunity from state and local traffic laws. One USPS attorney had attempted to claim such immunity, and there's a good refutation in

So... if you could point us to any specific law or regulation which says that mail trucks *do* have a priority right-of-way (in any state or in Federal law) I'd be very interested to chase down the text and see what it actualy says!

It's not an absolute "right". It's superceded by the requirement that drivers do what's necessary to avoid a crash.

If somebody *should* yield the right of way to you, and does not do so, and you go ahead anyhow when you *could* have stopped voluntarily, and a crash occurs... then you are partially at fault. The claim of "Well, I had the right of way" isn't going to be a defense in this case. Proceeding only when safe, has higher priority than "having the right of way."

I just checked the wording of California's vehicle code (as one example). The whole section on "RIGHT OF WAY" talks about when you must yield... it never asserts that anyone has right of way.

Snopes didn't read it. It *was* on tests.

Ah, my old "nemesis" JT. Well, many of us differ on political and social matters, but it's good to have a venue for discussion of electronics and related issues. I have watched many of the MIT videos on machine tools, and I have learned a lot from them:

I took metal shop, wood shop, and mechanical drawing in Junior High (early '60s), and I probably should have availed myself of more advanced machine tools in high school, but I really wanted to learn electronics, which was not offered. So I took three years of drafting instead, and I really didn't learn much the third year. I really should have taken auto shop, and my best friend's father was the teacher.

Paul

I had the additional advantage of growing up in a radio & TV repair shop, plus it was traditional in the family to repair your own stuff, so, between father and three uncles, I learned all kinds of stuff, including grinding your own car valves ;-) ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    | 
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142     Skype: skypeanalog  |             | 
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  | 
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     | 
              
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.