Wright Flyer III de 1905 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Then
110 years ago today, a plan came together. A couple of bicycle mechanic from Dayton, Ohio studied some stuff, worked hard, applied what they learned, and today they made the first powered flight by a heavier than air craft.
They were of course Orville and Wilbur Wright, and they changed the world. And all that I said above was true, and more. They studied bird’s wings until they figured out that they needed an airfoil. They needed an engine with far more specific output per pound than was available, so they made it. they built their models and then built the first wind tunnel to test them. And on and on and on.
The thing was, they had a high school education and maybe a bit of business school. Just average Americans, doing something nobody else in the world had ever done. Once their plane worked, improvements came fast and furiously, but the famous SR-71, still the fastest and highest flying aircraft ever, even though it is now retired, Blackbird which was faster than a rifle bullet, used exactly the same principles as the Wright Flyer.
Average Americans inventing something that had been dreamed of by Kings and Emperors since the dawn of time.
Today, a mere hundred and ten years ago
Now
You can’t get a woodstove, or much of anything else fixed, let alone built. A friend of mine, The Adaptive Curmudgeon had his woodstove break, and no, woodstoves are no longer a steel or cast iron box, with a campfire inside. The EPA fixed that oversight a decade or so ago.
Let’s start with a Curmudgeonly gem of insight shall we
Anyone who refers to ‘homesteading’ as ‘the simple life’ is utterly and irretrievably full of shit. What’s simple is working 30 years in a cubicle while cutting a check for civilization to do your dirty work for you. Going your own way is complex. Fixing your own problems is physically and emotionally challenging. Never forget that a brain surgeon can screw up a vegetable garden.
Yup, he’s got that right, it’s easy to make money and write checks, fix it yourself, I dare you, or even better build it yourself, the Wright brothers did, and you’re smarter than a bicycle mechanic aren’t you?
Here’s how it goes, and yes, I’ve been on both sides of this conversation
Me on the phone: “Hello I’m looking for someone to service a wood stove.”
Other guy: “Where do you live?”
Me: “Mumble mumble mumble”
Other guy: “Where?”
Me: (Saying it clearly this time.)
Other guy: “Hells bells I wouldn’t drive there for all the tea in China.”
Me: “I will buy you all the tea in China.”
Other guy: “No, the boss won’t go for it.”
Me: “I will pay cash. The boss doesn’t need to know shit. I’ll throw in a six pack, two steaks, and plane tickets to Tahiti.”
Other guy: “Can’t do it.”
Me: “For any amount of money?”
Other guy: “You know how it is; liability and stuff.”
Me: “I won’t sue. I will kill any lawyer who sues.”
Other guy: “Ha ha.”
Me: “Capitalism is dead isn’t it.”
Other guy: (Sighing) “I can’t take your money so maybe it is. We’re all screwed.”
Read the whole article, it’ll tell you a good bit of what’s wrong with the world.
So, how do you fix a woodstove, these days? Like everything else, you don’t. You throw it away and buy another one, which will cost more and be made more cheaply than one that broke, probably in China, and will last about 3 days longer than the warranty.
That Wright Flyer? It’s hanging from the ceiling of the Smithsonian, it would probably still work, because it was made to last.
