nuckolls.bob(at)aeroelect
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 Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2010 9:39 am Post subject: Make A Contribution Today! |
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At 02:18 AM 11/9/2010, you wrote:
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Each year at the end of the List Fund Raiser, I post a message
acknowledging everyone that so generously made a Contribution to
support the Lists. Its my way of publicly thanking everyone that
took a minute to show their appreciation for the Lists.
Please take a moment and assure that your name is on that List of
Contributors (LOC)! As a number of members have pointed out over
the years, the List seems at least as valuable a building /
entertainment tool as your typical magazine subscription!
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I will suggest it is even more valuable than a magazine.
Magazines are edited and published by entities who measure
their success in paid subscriptions. Their end product is
to get paid for having sent X-pounds of paper to your mailbox
and getting paid for it. Whether or not any particular
issue has information of immediate value to your building
efforts is a dart-throw. On the Lists, we measure success
by how many new airplanes fly, how many dead alternators
are resurrected, how many hard to find parts have been
chased down.
This is the reason why I consider the Aero-Electric List
to be a necessary extension of the book. The book, like
a magazine, can only cover the unchanging fundamentals and
introduce the reader to the language and the occasional
'project'. The List builds on that knowledge to assist you
in closing your eyes, seeing something that does not yet
exist . . . and going out to the shop to build it.
The List-Servers are interactive. You can ASK specific
questions and get multiple-answers back within hours.
The List plugs you into the collective experience and
knowledge set of many individuals. If your own $time$
is worth anything, just consider how much of your $time$
has not been expended to reinvent a wheel or research
un-useful options. More important, when something DOESN'T
work you're about 1000x more likely to get meaningful
assistance here than with any magazine. Compare your
proposed project with the wiring in a Tri-Pacer . . .
is that "good 'nuf" for one of those marvelous OBAM
airplanes?
Finally, the List contributes to a kind of education that
you cannot get in modern educational settings. In ancient
times, a prospective tradesman applied to a guild to
apprentice with a master craftsman. That master KNEW that
diversion of his/her attention from the tasks at hand
would reduce the return on investment for their own
$time$.
It was a decision that came with some risks. So entry
was selective and the demands on the student great.
But if you could cut it, you emerged with a knowledge
and skill-set that was available to a very few.
Your participation here on the List makes no demands and
has no consequence for missed expectations. Yet it adds
to your own knowledge and skills in ways that go beyond
the crafting of airplanes. So if you've not done it yet,
do it now. All those byte thrashers in Matt's back room
cost money to buy, $electricity$ to run and $hours$ to
maintain. A paltry 1-1/2 cents per day, $5 total from
from each of 1800+ AeroElectric-List members would go
a long way toward keeping the Matronics fires lit.
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch so we're either
supporting participants or moochers. Just because it's
open-source does not mean that its creation and maintenance.
doesn't cost somebody's $time$. Let's do what's necessary
not just to keep it going but to make it better. That's
the way folks who love airplanes do it.
Bob . . .
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