On Feb 21, 2011, at 10:55 AM, Paul Bowers wrote on behalf of Brad  
Bennett:

> > I have noticed many discussions recently on how
> > worthless us newbies (anyone south of 55 or so) are to the industry
> > since we don’t know how to draw on a board or use Mylar or linens to
> > draw on or better yet cave walls or stone tablets.


Bennett really missed the point big time, trying too hard at being  
worldly, perhaps. The discussions, at least the ones on  
pipingdesign.com, are aimed at newbies who think that running CAD  
software makes someone a designer. Software is a tool, like a hammer  
or an eraser shield. Skill with tools is important, but no tool is  
worth a damn without the physical and math background and the  
organizational and critical thinking skills that go into using it.  
Too many beardless wonders think that if they've made a picture,  
they've made a design, like I did when I was a kid making cool  
airplane sketches on graph paper. We get posts on this list all the  
time from people calling themselves designers but who haven't an idea  
how to specify materials or valve types or do even the most trivial  
sizing calculations, let alone make a business case for economic  
viability. It takes a while for your average newbie to understand  
just what goes into a design--eraser shields or drawing boards have  
very little to do with it. Good designers tend to be older on the  
average, just because it takes time to make enough mistakes and pick  
up the organizational skills to get a handle on the job.


> > Take Stephen Hawking for instance, without that computer he is just  
> > a really smart
> > mute so how would you know he is smart?


I think Bennet would know, just by talking to him for 15 minutes…  
Granted Hawking speaks using a computer, but without it he'd still be  
just as smart. Conversely the world's greatest communication tools  
won't make an ignorant person communicate anything useful. I claim  
that rapidly communicated garbage is still garbage. Anyway I doubt if  
Hawking gives a damn whether anyone knows how intelligent he is. In  
fact I'd say that's a pretty good measure of intelligence, whether in  
cosmography or engineering practice.


> > So one’s intellect is directly dependent on that being confirmed by  
> > others so one must be able to
> > transfer that knowledge.


 Irrelevant baloney. Intelligence exists independently of  
confirmation by others. In fact confirmation by others may just be a  
sign that everyone's equally ignorant. Galileo's and Copernicus'  
observations and their conclusions certainly weren't confirmed by the  
authorities of the time--but it turned out the authorities were  
wrong.   When Einstein developed the theory of relativity few  
scientists and fewer laity understood what relativity meant. Lots of  
people still don't. Doesn't matter--Einstein would have been right  
with or without confirmation.


> > So remember when you
> > hate on youth there seniors that someone has to help you box that crap
> > up in your cubicle and carry it to your 86 Tempo in the parking lot.


No one's hating on youth even ignorant youth. For my part, I'd be  
very grateful to any kid who'd box up my crap as long as he kept a  
civil tongue in his head and didn't try telling me what my job is.

Christopher Wright P.E.