> > But worse still is the fact that back in the early years of this century,
> > it appears that boys - say about 12-15 years old - were expected to try
> > woodwork, metalwork, using a lathe, wiring electric lights, bells,
> > telephones, etc, making induction coils, etc, etc, etc. Things that I bet
> > few boys ever try today. And yet, today, it could be made a little easier
> > for them.
> There's little need to make coils these days, and wiring electric lights
> isn't very fun when one can play around with things millions of times more
> complex.
ANd don'T forget the safty issue - until the 30s the sensitivy
to electric danger has been very low - or to say it in another
way, electricity in toys was general unsafe - just remember old
electric toytrains, like Märklin, they operateded at 110V with
open metal connections light bulbs where used as resistors to
lower the speed (voltage). In this Context, a book, telling a
12 year old boy how to work on light equipment is understandable.
For the today thing: at least I had such manual things at school,
and, AFAIK, is still told if you ar in an aprobiate school.
> > There is the secondary issue with the Mindstorms kit that I don't like
> > things that are tied to PCs, but that's another matter.
> Indeed. Since when do I need to upgrade my computer to use LEGOs? (I would
> have to -- the PC software has rather hefty system requirements)
Of course you need a Pentium 2 to get the brighter colours on
you LEGO bricks :)
Ciao
Hans
--
Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut
HRK
Received on Mon Dec 21 1998 - 09:52:21 GMT