today in the wood shop...

Over 100 box sides waiting next step.

I have begun work on a large corporate gifts order the destination of which will remain anonymous, as is of necessity the nature of such things. There is no reason to spoil a surprise. In any case, it involves 300 boxes, and the opportunity to put another person to work who is attentive, a hard worker, friendly to be around, and enjoys working with his hands. Four hands can lighten the load, make production work less daunting, more fun, and go more quickly. It also allows me to share some of what I've learned about box making.

At one time, not long ago, it was proposed that we cease being a manufacturing nation. We were to be a "service economy," and then when folks realized that the high point of that would be to flip burgers, we (meaning the minds at the top) decided our nation would become "an information economy" in which we would thrive (those at the top) by trading bits of information and gaming modules that would keep the masses (those at the bottom) endlessly and mindlessly entertained at little cost. Schooling would be about keeping kids off the streets and safely under control and not about raising human capacities and interests. Who cared if the kids were geographically challenged, knew nothing about world events and cared nothing for mathematics or science?

All I can say is crap on that.

Human beings enjoy making things, real things, if given the chance to understand the inclination. Making 300 boxes could be regarded as a task and a chore or a challenge. Only a nation of idiots would fail to understand the human need to:

Make, fix and create...