shop time

 I got in some good shop time yesterday, making a box to use to demonstrate a particular kind of hinge for Fine Woodworking. It is made of walnut, involved using a Gifkins Jig to cut dovetail joints. The only problem was that they fitted just a bit too tight, and I should have loosened the fit slightly, following the adjustment scheme, which requires thin paper shims to loosen or tighten the joint. Too perfect a dovetail joint is when a mallet  (over fist tapping alone) is required to assemble the joint.

I will add a bottom to the box, and cut the lid free and then install hinges, a pull and brass feet and ship it to Fine Woodworking for photos to be taken. What I get paid will be poor in relation to the amount of work involved, but any excuse to be in the shop on a cold winter day is a good one.

I have begun to wonder what happens when a maniac stokes anger in a crowd of folks and then use the power they've given him to act against their interests? We will likely learn more about that in the coming months as dawn rises on the read intentions of the man some of the American people voted into the position of despot on chief.

Remember John Dewey? He wrote a book about education and democracy: that the real purpose of schooling was to build a truly democratic society. Children were to learn the fundamentals of getting along with each other, solving problems through working together, and discovering in each other the common threads of human culture.

If you've not noticed, things have changed. Children in modern American schooling are to be tested and launched into competition with each other, and schools too, are told to compete, not for the quality of their kids and how they get along with each other, but to get the best scores in standardized tests. We are in a trumpian wilderness in which fake news drives the political discourse, and crowds of vicious morons have been encouraged to chant, "lock her up."

Psychologists have been deeply concerned about a trump presidency. Their concern is that the man suffers from acute narcissistic personality disorder that would make him dangerous as commander in chief.  You can read about that here.

In the meantime, this will become a lovely box.

Make, fix, create, and change the whole world of education so that others may gain the opportunity to love learning likewise.