[ARC5] CW/MCW (I'm well away from the original topic)

[J. Forster]

>   For some years I have been thinking about the quality and value of
>   knowledge.
>
>  Tom's question was: "Seeing this talk of BFO's and CW/MCW I have often
>  wondered what is the
>>  real advantage of using MCW other than if your receiver lacks a BFO
>> control?"
> The answers to Tom's Q have led me to understand a good deal about the
> quality of knowledge in our society.
>
> All knowledge is valuable, including knowledge got from books, but here,
> the best answer to Tom's question, came from experienced operators, not
> deduced from a book or theory.

I disagree.

Today there are huge audiences for things like football, basketball,
baseball, hockey, Olympics, and other sports, and the players.

There is also vast coverage of Lady Gaga, Lindsey Lohan, Justin Beiber,
and an endless litany of other twits.

And things like the Iranian Nuke program, government incompetance and
scandal, and other things go essentially unknown.

All knowlege is NOT valuable, IMO.

> That's interesting, because our society is moving more and more to value
> formal education, not experience.

No. They value the credential; NOT the education! Even sales clerks
probably need college for jobs that used to reuire a 5th grade education.
The demand for the credential has driven grade inflation runaway. It is
nearly impossible to get a C or an F today.

> In our modern society we place a great deal of value on "book learning"
> and less on the value of experience, so the engineer with a university
> degree is considered more valuable than a tradesman who has years of
> experience on a lathe or milling machine.

Yes, because an engineer creates a product; a tradesman simply follows
directions.

> I've worked with engineers
> and I've worked with tradesmen, and only the tradesmen can say why drill
> bits should be placed sharp end down in the drill-keeper.  Engineers
> have not idea why this is so, and put drills in the drill keeper sharp
> end up.

Practical experience does have value. Engineers used to have to work in a
shop or lab, but no more. I've seen the messes engineers w/o practical
experience make.

> (Putting the drill-bit in the keeper blunts the drill a little bit each
> time you put the drill in the keeper, right?)
> Why then, do tradesmen always put the drill in the keeper sharp end
> down?

So they don't cut up their hands.

> Our society engages 'experts'  to advise politicians about the best
> course of action, (and we should get the best advice when seeking a
> solution) but often neither the politician nor the 'expert' have  the
> experience to understand the real nature of a problem.

More often, the desired political outcome drives the engineering, even if
physics says it's a bad idea. Iowa holds early primaries, so the corn
subsidies are sacosanct, for example.

> Then,  when a
> politician makes the wrong "call" (assuming he's genuine and not acting
> from self-interest) we blame the politician (politicians are stupid,
> right) rather than seeing that simple questions are often deep, and the
> reason for and answer is not easily understood.

Politicians are NEVER accountable.

YMMV,

-John

=====================

> It was a good question, Tom.
> The various answers I saw here made me think a lot.
>
>
>   73 de Les Smith
>   vk2bcu at operamail.com
>
> --
> http://www.fastmail.fm - mmm... Fastmail...
>
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