[ExI] roboburgers to go

[MB]

IMHO Eugen is right on the money! Magic will fail us if
push comes to shove.  Someone has to maintain the magic
machines.  Somebody must create the makers.

Yes, to taking apart things - and putting them back
together. It trains the mind in how to think about
"stuff". My nephew took apart our (mechanical) kitchen
timer when it didn't work right any longer.  All those
little pieces, and what they needed was oiling!  He put it
back together and it worked.

Try mechanical clocks, watches, things like that. Find an
older computer (one you're using as a door stop) and take
it to pieces. If you're like me you have a (several?) box
of parts and it would be easy enough to make something
turn on and run - not like new ones, but working at
command line. There is *nothing* wrong with knowing things
like that.

There's always repairing furniture - regluing legs on
chairs and such. Learning how brakes work on cars.  My son
now teaches a class in brakes at the local community
college, in their automotive tech division. He *is* a
mechanic - there's lots of stuff that needs to be done on
site, not all can be fixed in China.  And it is *not* all
computerized.

Nothing is wrong with learning how a carburetor goes
together, and it's easy to find pieces and parts for old
engines.

Please don't discount learning to add, subtract, multiply
and divide. Reading and writing. This year where I live
the state has decided that the children really should
learn to read and write cursive - not knowing was a
handicap!  Duh!

I presume the children know how to deal with money (loose
change), but the other day in the store I watched a
(local) woman struggle to pay for her purchase. She could
manage to count out the $6 but the 37 or so cents was
utterly beyond her.  What she was buying required ID and
she showed her driver license.  It just made me sick to
watch, and the clerk had to count out the change for her.
:(  Gee whiz.

Regards,
MB