Long Time Ago

I was assigned to Electronics Technician school in 1961 after Navy boot camp. The training was scheduled for 38 weeks, and each week covered some specific aspect of electronics – the state of the art in the early 1960s.

Somewhere in the middle of that training was a week on vacuum tubes, which were soon to be obsoleted by transistors. That week’s instructor was a Chief Petty Officer whose temperament was a bit hot at times. I would ask dumb questions and he would give terse answers. Once, a question from me caused him to throw the piece of chalk which lived in his right hand against the wall, pieces flying everywhere.

 

On Friday, I made the highest grade in the class on the vacuum tubes test. Chief Whatsisname was so pissed! 

 

I had to pass the weekly exam in order to advance to the next subject. Failing the exam meant re-taking the same subject next week, i.e. flunking. We called it getting your cherry broke. Mine never did get broken (insert your own joke here).

 

Sailors were issued 3 kinds of uniforms: Dress Blues, Dress Whites, and dungarees. In ET School we all wore dungarees. And a name badge. Instructors didn’t have to memorize student names, and they didn’t give 2 shits about first names – only last. My name badge probably said HYDE, GP (this was long before my name changed). The badge was part of my uniform.

 

Somewhere around Week 30 a few of us were sufficiently emboldened to personalize our name badges by drawing a red cherry prominently on the white badge. We all knew that unauthorized alteration of a Navy uniform was a punishable offense, but we did it and the powers that be (and there were many) let it slide. The cherry was a source of pride.

 

Some years later, I would step over the Navy’s behavior lines while thinking “What are they going to do – send me to Vietnam?” But that was later.

Common Sense

We have all heard someone say "Well that guy has no common sense."

OK, so what is common sense?

My mother, who has gone to meet her maker, and who would not ever be included in the Top Billion Wisest People list, had a saying, "[insert name here] doesn't have enough sense to come in out of the rain." 

I am not on that list either, but I long ago rejected my mother's definition and continued my search for a better one. Someone who did make the list suggested this definition:

Common Sense, defined: Practical and generally applicable problem solving skills derived from a broad base of real-world knowledge and critical thinking skills.

Adopting the definition above seems reasonable to me. Until and unless someone can show me a better one.

Not that it means anything, but sometimes I don't come in out of the rain.

Coincidence?

Michelangelo died in 1564. That same year, William Shakespeare was born.

What if Michelangelo was reincarnated as Shakespeare? That would make sense, given the creativity embodied in each of those dudes.

Or it could be coincidence. But I doubt it. History just doesn't work that way.

I should know - I have a high school diploma.