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Did this get left off the table of contents ?

Thanks for revitalizing a lost art

As this kind of practical knowledge is rarely being taught anymore, I wanted to say Thanks for bringing back and teaching skills not easy to fund these days. In a culture that tends to over- engineer things today, it's refreshing to have somebody from which to learn useful fundamentals. I've dabbled in some time- tested techniques and it's amazing how valuable some of the older practices are. Please keep them coming!

-- Ed

Old Systems

Jack,

I wonder if the current bunch of military officers can use a magnetic compass and a paper map. If our future enemies destroy our satellites, will they be able to find there way around. I wonder if they even have a compass and a paper map.

It is pretty hard to lay out a 30 inch radius curve on a table with a smart phone. Some times a string and a pencil provide a low tech effective solution.

Great article. John ******************************************************

"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history, when everybody stands around reloading"  <>   Thomas Jefferson

Techno-Idolatry

There's an old (55+ years) Isaac Asimov tale about a far future earth so dependent on computers that people have forgotten how to do math until someone re-invents it.

http://www.themathlab.com/writings/short%20stories/feeling.htm

It's downright amazing what you can do with something so simple and cheap as a pencil and a piece of paper.

Or a compass and divider.

Mike