Guarding the Wall: tunnels, bridges and tendrils

[alice wellintown]

So the carpenter, with an eye to take measure, a rule of thumb, cuts studs
to blocks, then shaves or shims them in place, the hammer an extension of
the arm is a flexible tool, its business end may be reversed as the skilled
craftsman wields it, so that its head and claw and handle, every inch of it
is put to use by a master.

So the scientist in the field, must be skilled and brave, must eye and take
measure; not in a lab of calibrated certainties, but in a dynamic and
dangerous environment where failure is real, where the fashioning of tools
is genius.

So not the scientist of modernity who is educated out of risk, who sends
prefabricated blocks to the carpenter, a nail-machine, an efficiency and
budget report to his industrial and business partners.



On Sunday, April 21, 2013, Monte Davis wrote:

> > The rule of thumb is a powerful method of ordinary men and women, but
> the scientist would dismiss it as feeble minded or superstitious, not
> scientific.****
>
> Not just wrong; *hilariously *wrong. Keep it up!****
>
> ** **
>
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