You had a black and white TV, you remember the day Elvis died and when the movie Grease was released.
You meet the first younger employee at work who was not alive when JFK was shot.
(I've been old for a long time.)
When you remember cars that had generators instead of alternators. If they were giving you trouble on the road, for a quick fix you could take a screwdriver and press in on the brushes to get better charging (and make sparks).
Alternators have had brushes as well. The first use of a brushless alternator/starter in a mass produced car dates back a little over 20 years ago with the Honda Insight.
When you remember cars that had generators instead of alternators. If they were giving you trouble on the road, for a quick fix you could take a screwdriver and press in on the brushes to get better charging (and make sparks).
Alternators have had brushes as well. The first use of a brushless alternator/starter in a mass produced car dates back a little over 20 years ago with the Honda Insight.
The alternator ones are pressing on slip rings, so they don't usually spark.
You can stretch the springs on alternator brushes too to make up for the minimal amount of remaining carbon.
You meet the first younger employee at work who was not alive when JFK was shot.
(I've been old for a long time.)
You feel even older when you ask them who was JFK and they do not know
You meet the first younger employee at work who was not alive when JFK was shot.
(I've been old for a long time.)
You feel even older when you ask them who was JFK and they do not know
There are plenty of people graduating from university these days who barely know anything. Knowing who the current prime minister or president might be would be beyond them.
I was hospitalized for an injury a few years ago, and following normal practice the staff would occasionally ask me who the President was, etc. to check for stroke. Once, they asked me what happened on Sept. 11, 2001 and, being a smart-ass, I replied "Well, that's controversial...".
I was hospitalized for an injury a few years ago, and following normal practice the staff would occasionally ask me who the President was, etc. to check for stroke. Once, they asked me what happened on Sept. 11, 2001 and, being a smart-ass, I replied "Well, that's controversial...".
"What is 911?". "Its the taxi booking number for the infirmed."
As a curmudgeon, I continually complain that, in this "Information Age", no one knows anything.
As a curmudgeon, I continually complain that, in this "Information Age", no one knows anything.
"Why do I need to know that? I can look it up when I need to."
"Why do I need to know that? I can look it up when I need to."
This is true. And should be put to good use. What tables and listings of hard facts can't tell you, is the "Why". That's where the effort should be. The "Why" in general does not need better than hand-waving accuracy facts, except for focussed short periods of study, during which maximum effort should be put in getting the right data, to better ground the pondering.
There
is a need for good data, but it first and foremost needs to be understood, not remembered.
"Why do I need to know that? I can look it up when I need to."
This is true. And should be put to good use. What tables and listings of hard facts can't tell you, is the "Why". That's where the effort should be. The "Why" in general does not need better than hand-waving accuracy facts, except for focussed short periods of study, during which maximum effort should be put in getting the right data, to better ground the pondering.
There is a need for good data, but it first and foremost needs to be understood, not remembered.
“Never memorize something that you can look up.”
― Albert Einstein
"Why do I need to know that? I can look it up when I need to."
This is true. And should be put to good use. What tables and listings of hard facts can't tell you, is the "Why". That's where the effort should be. The "Why" in general does not need better than hand-waving accuracy facts, except for focussed short periods of study, during which maximum effort should be put in getting the right data, to better ground the pondering.
There is a need for good data, but it first and foremost needs to be understood, not remembered.
“Never memorize something that you can look up.”
― Albert Einstein
Except basic Times Tables!!!! Kids these days know nothing without a computer, smartphone, calculator, shop-till !!
It is a matter of efficiency. You need not memorize seldom used data. But it it is far faster to remember something than to look it up.There are many constants I find worthwhile to memorize.
Language learning is a potent example of a place where you can look everything up, but memorizing is the only right answer. Apologies to Albert.
Multiplication tables in an age of calculators are kind of a grey area. For the bulk of the population, who never use math unless forced that memorization is wasted effort. I would rather spend the time used to force them to learn these tables to convince at least some of them the value of arithmetic in daily life. For those who figure it out the memorization is something they will figure out is useful.
A very useful feature of my undergraduate education was memorization of a few very useful values, including dimensionless constants.
Two approximate examples, useful in atomic physics and nuclear physics, are h c = 12345 eV Angstroms, and (h-bar) c = 200 MeV fm
I was hospitalized for an injury a few years ago, and following normal practice the staff would occasionally ask me who the President was, etc. to check for stroke. Once, they asked me what happened on Sept. 11, 2001 and, being a smart-ass, I replied "Well, that's controversial...".
Well, to answer the original question, "When you have your first stroke, you know you are old."
I woke up a couple weeks ago, and could not write. it didn't matter how slow I went, all I got was scribbles. I went to the hospital and they verified damage from a previous stroke. Now I'm on cholesterol medicine and anticoagulants. I can write fairly normally, now, and typing is getting easier.
Jon
Language learning is a potent example of a place where you can look everything up, but memorizing is the only right answer.
<snip>
Multiplication tables in an age of calculators are kind of a grey area.
I actually agree. There is sort of a threshold above which more memorizing becomes useless. But I'd say that multiplication tables are below the threshold.
Language is more complex -- first it depends on which language, and second which part. For English, memorizing is pretty much the only thing that works. There are so many special constructs. German, or Latin, OTOH, are much more "learn the rules, or you will not understand a thing". This is called "analytical" and "synthetic" language. The
Wikipedia article explains it much better than I've cared to remember.
Obviously, there is a memory effort in both situations, but it's focussed differently.
A good book on the nature of grammar that I read a couple of years ago (but can't locate now to quote it directly) pointed out that grammar textbooks are not of much use to native speakers of the language, but extremely useful (or necessary) for foreigners learning a second language.
Multiplication tables in an age of calculators are kind of a grey area. For the bulk of the population, who never use math unless forced that memorization is wasted effort. I would rather spend the time used to force them to learn these tables to convince at least some of them the value of arithmetic in daily life. For those who figure it out the memorization is something they will figure out is useful.
Having technical discussions with people who can't estimate quickly in their heads is a slow and tedious activity. Estimation, rather than precise calculation, will always be something we should be able to do in our heads.
Especially on simple estimations, such as if the resonant frequency needs to change by 10%, the capacitor value needs to change by 20%.
Or if a R-C hp filter needs its corner to shift by 10%, what is a 10% increase in the resistor value.
An exact calculation requires a calculator, but is not always necessary.
... when the first computer you used expected input in the form of punched cards.
When your first bicycle had skip tooth chain and replacement chains were readily available in many hardware type stores. I still don't understand why these chains even existed.
When your first bicycle had skip tooth chain and replacement chains were readily available in many hardware type stores. I still don't understand why these chains even existed.
They made perfect sense on a chainsaw. Don't know about bicycles.
Ah. After some ferreting around it appears that had something to do with differing "standards" in bike chains as they evolved to what we see today.
So, then.... It seems I'm not
that old.