[Milsurplus] Fasten your seatbelts - ARRL

[David Stinson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sandy" <ebjr37 at charter.net>
Subject: Re: Fasten your seatbelts - ARRL

> The "it's simple and it works" was the hallmark of why they kept AM for so 
> long.

When someone reminds me of the latests "gee-whiz" bit
of massively computer-or-network-dependant gadgetry,
with its thousands of possible failure modes
(every wire connection in the network, for instance),
I remind them of my favorite line
from my favorite fictional character,
"Scotty," the miracle-working engineer of "Star Trek."
It is a "guiding light" to me in matters technical:

Star Fleet had just built the most technically advanced,
"gee-whizzy" ship in history, and was going to chase our
heros with it.  Scotty got aboard and disabled this
futuristic Titanic by removing a small handful of little parts.
When asked by Dr. McCoy how he did it,
Scotty gave the parts to the Doctor and said:
"...from one surgeon to another.
 The more complicated they make the plumbing,
 the easier it is to stop-up the drain."

73 Dave S.