Although our technology has changed a great deal in the last 50 years; surveyors seem to have maintained the instinctual process of apprenticeship. In my mind there is nothing more humanly noble than the transfer of unwritten knowledge by word-of-mouth. As archaic as that may sound, unwritten wisdoms apparently got most of our ancestors through an ice age, the plagues of Europe and a somewhat sloppily executed conquest of the North American continent. Not too shabby. It is hard to believe that George Washington and Lenny Bruce made it through their entire life without Google. The transfer of human experiences with casual conversation is as old as fire. And surveyors are as good as any at the art. I would almost bet that the number of topics touched upon in a five (or nine) beer quaffing session with surveyors probably tops any other profession.
I've been a lot of places in my career. Some I've forgotten, some I can't talk about. And I have probably picked up and related my share of useless information. And that IS what useless information is for; gracing others with the burden of remembering it.
I woke up early this morning realizing there is I have never passed on to a soul a tid-bit of information I picked up years ago. And that is a sin. While info may seem trivial or useless to one person, it may spark a great social axis when bestowed on another. I need to get this one off my chest.
How and why I was there is immaterial, possibly even still classified. But I was assigned some rudimentary surveying tasks at a place very far away and very cold. I was to accompany several military personnel and complete some measurements and records. The reason I called it rudimentary is due to the fact all I was able to carry with me was a measuring tape (US Army - NSN 5210-00-086-4988: tape, measuring) and a field book...but I digress.
After arrival we chatted and got to know each other in the 'off time'...to whatever extent some of those gents would indulge. And how it made it to that location is a mystery for the ages, but I found a 5-string banjo. As I listened to the enlisted and commissioned tell their SE Asia story I plunked on the banjo quietly...with the remaining three strings that weren't broken. A (I believe) Lt. Colonel with the U.S. ANPP came over and sat closer to me. He asked why I didn't splice the broken strings. I told him banjo strings were played very tight didn't lend themselves very well to splices. He proceeded to show me different. He told me stories of knots that had saved men's lives...and taken some, too. His real love and discipline was demolition (what us civilians call "blowin' stuff up") and his knowledge was extensive.
To me a U.S. Army Lt. Colonel in the Army Nuclear Power Program that got that excited over explosions was a little unsettling. But it takes all kinds to make a world...or to blow one up.... And the L-T was able to splice the banjo strings to the point they were not only playable again, but almost good as new. I was amazed. He used a knot he called a Western Union Pigtail. Not to be confused with a Western Union Lineman's Splice, but a 'pigtail'. This diagram is not exactly what he showed me, but close enough.
So I'm passing this technology on to others in the hope that someone may someday use the info for the betterment of mankind.
Transfer complete. 😉
paden cash, post: 390791, member: 20 wrote: I woke up early this morning realizing there is I have never passed on to a soul a tid-bit of information I picked up years ago.
You've passed on more than you think, Paden:beer:
I have a book on my desk of knots. That's not in there. However, I have seen it before in an old manual for building fences. Seems some knots and splices work better for wire, than cordage. My favorite for barb wire is pulling the two end past each other, until nearly taught, then, bending the wire and 90å¡ and wrapping it back on the opposing wire, in the same direction it was being pulled. This knot/splice has NEVER broken and allowed me to stretch/restretch the wire back mighty tight, and in one case, causing the wire to break, but not at the splice. Also, it looks very clean and like the fence builder knew what the hell he was doing. In my case, I'll take all the help I can get. I do remember the fence building manual recommending the western union splice and western union knot.
Much like Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man movie, in the part where the guard asks Marlboro "Where'd you learn to shoot like that?" He replied, "I read a book. It came with the gun." That's about like me and most things. 🙂
Yes, the art of sharing information is way underrated, and in this day if instant information at our fingertips, sometimes we forget that there is knowledge out there that needs to be known just for the sake of knowing it. All discussions with the next group of surveyors doesn't have to revolve around surveying. The guy around here who is up and doing well (He reads these boards, so I better not say to much) and I was visiting the other day about radio signals, and radio wattage levels, and got on the topic of the old border blasters. He did not recall Wolfman Jack. It just was not something in his growing up. I did use google to make sure I got it right, and to play some audio clips, but now he can pass that info on some day when he is sharing to the up and coming guys and gals after him some day. It's just a step in how humans passed knowledge for millennia, but because of technology, we might be looking at a new kind of dark age, should the electricity fail.
My Grandfather West taught me that method to attach wires together for a strong connection.
It could be real tricky to pull off being in the middle of a run of wire and when pulling each end together enough to overlap far enough to make the proper twists and a couple of extra hands, gloves and some really tough pinkie fingers were of help.
Glad to finally put a name to it.
:clink:
I'm at peace with the world now knowing I have passed on some info.
paden cash, post: 390791, member: 20 wrote: Although our technology has changed a great deal in the last 50 years; surveyors seem to have maintained the instinctual process of apprenticeship. In my mind there is nothing more humanly noble than the transfer of unwritten knowledge by word-of-mouth. As archaic as that may sound, unwritten wisdoms apparently got most of our ancestors through an ice age, the plagues of Europe and a somewhat sloppily executed conquest of the North American continent. Not too shabby. It is hard to believe that George Washington and Lenny Bruce made it through their entire life without Google. The transfer of human experiences with casual conversation is as old as fire. And surveyors are as good as any at the art. I would almost bet that the number of topics touched upon in a five (or nine) beer quaffing session with surveyors probably tops any other profession.
I've been a lot of places in my career. Some I've forgotten, some I can't talk about. And I have probably picked up and related my share of useless information. And that IS what useless information is for; gracing others with the burden of remembering it.
I woke up early this morning realizing there is I have never passed on to a soul a tid-bit of information I picked up years ago. And that is a sin. While info may seem trivial or useless to one person, it may spark a great social axis when bestowed on another. I need to get this one off my chest.
How and why I was there is immaterial, possibly even still classified. But I was assigned some rudimentary surveying tasks at a place very far away and very cold. I was to accompany several military personnel and complete some measurements and records. The reason I called it rudimentary is due to the fact all I was able to carry with me was a measuring tape (US Army - NSN 5210-00-086-4988: tape, measuring) and a field book...but I digress.
After arrival we chatted and got to know each other in the 'off time'...to whatever extent some of those gents would indulge. And how it made it to that location is a mystery for the ages, but I found a 5-string banjo. As I listened to the enlisted and commissioned tell their SE Asia story I plunked on the banjo quietly...with the remaining three strings that weren't broken. A (I believe) Lt. Colonel with the U.S. ANPP came over and sat closer to me. He asked why I didn't splice the broken strings. I told him banjo strings were played very tight didn't lend themselves very well to splices. He proceeded to show me different. He told me stories of knots that had saved men's lives...and taken some, too. His real love and discipline was demolition (what us civilians call "blowin' stuff up") and his knowledge was extensive.
To me a U.S. Army Lt. Colonel in the Army Nuclear Power Program that got that excited over explosions was a little unsettling. But it takes all kinds to make a world...or to blow one up.... And the L-T was able to splice the banjo strings to the point they were not only playable again, but almost good as new. I was amazed. He used a knot he called a Western Union Pigtail. Not to be confused with a Western Union Lineman's Splice, but a 'pigtail'. This diagram is not exactly what he showed me, but close enough.
So I'm passing this technology on to others in the hope that someone may someday use the info for the betterment of mankind.Transfer complete. 😉
I learned that knot along with a few other during a fun-filled week in 1983. That was the week 82C students left I-SEE-O Hall to go across post to the "6000" area for all the commo classes... TA-312s, wire splicing, mounting various radio sets in a myriad of vehicles, SOI..... funfunfun. ...
Oral transmission of information is so easily lost. First, someone has to say something. Second, someone has to actually hear it. Then that second guy has to remember it correctly to pass on to the next guy. And so on and so forth...........to infinity and beyoooooooooooooooond.
I have gathered so much of that type of information that relates to the history and goings on within my little part of the world I could probably start talking now and not stop until Christmas if I could find anyone to do the listening part. Fascinating stuff like where the KKK rally that had a few thousand in attendance was held back in the late 1920's. Stuff like the early telephone systems that were maintained by the locals who needed the service, there was no big corporation in those days. Stuff like where this school was located and who taught there and who attended there and how most of them were related to one another. Stuff like why Mrs. Suchandsuch was terminated as a school teacher back about 1951 and the eighth grade boy who really missed her when she was gone. Stuff like why Flatrock post office spent most of its time nowhere near Flatrock Creek.
It would take forever to attempt to put all of this down in some sort of written form that anyone would ever read. If someone would give me a billion dollars to live on I'd spend the rest of my life writing it all down and learning even more along the way.
[SARCASM]You realize that you have now put, not just your life, but all our lives at risk by sharing that classified info..[/SARCASM]
Holy Cow, post: 390836, member: 50 wrote: Oral transmission of information is so easily lost. First, someone has to say something. Second, someone has to actually hear it. Then that second guy has to remember it correctly to pass on to the next guy
And not many professions out there benefit from sitting and listening to the old timers talk about where the paint rock school house sat before it was moved in 1918, or where the Orient and Santa Fe spur ran right up til the flood hit. But I certaily hope we are able to tell those stories and do them justice when we are the old timers, and there is a shortage of stories (at least one that don't involve x-boxes and call of duty games) to be shared.
