My house has always been well-stocked with tools, mostly of the muscle-powered variety. Power tools are all well and good, but they don’t work when the power fails.
My idea of a relaxing evening is building models, usually aircraft, classic cars, or science-fiction vehicles. My workbench is notably crowded with knives, files, pin vises, etc., and notably free of power-operated Dremel tools and/or anything containing microchips.
I do use a solar-powered scientific calculator for mathematical formulae. Then I check my work with pencil and paper and/or my old, reliable Pickett N902-T Simplex Trig slide-rule (or “slipstick” in Heinlein’s words).
Right now, I’m looking for a “new” car, as well. I’m seriously thinking about a 1970s Chevy or Dodge pickup- which if need be, I can fix with my Swiss Army knife. Which, BTW, is something I never leave home without.
Anyone who regards this as an atavism would be well-advised to read the short story “Day of the Moron” by H. Beam Piper. And then read it again.
(You can get it for free, online, at Project Gutenberg. Or, better yet, in the out-of-print book “The Worlds of H. Beam Piper”, edited by John F. Carr. Real books don’t need the Internet.)
clear ether
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