>the
>sailing of large ships under wind power which has been lost to all but
>a very few as the technology has vanished.
Interesting, though, that elite maritime services around the world still
maintain sail training vessels as part of the required course of study for
command-bound recruits and cadets. What do we think it is that being aloft
or standing a night watch on the Coast Guard's EAGLE, for example, teaches
young officers-to-be that they can't learn on a simulator?
Esoteric skills, yes, but habits of mind and body that will last a
lifetime, whether the officer is at sea engaged in heavy-weather rescue
work, ashore tracking smugglers via satellite, or twenty years out of the
service playing golf, selling widgets, taking the grandchildren for a
sail--or teaching high school history.
Interesting article in THE ATLANTIC
<http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200903/air-force> about the differences
between an F-15 air force and an F-22 air force, with a compelling
argument for the higher tech F-22. But it mentions that the F-15 required
more piloting skill, whereas the F-22 requires less a bit less flying
expertise and allows the pilots to concentrate on fighting. In the context
of this discussion thread, interesting to speculate on what that means,
although one can hear the snorts of F-15 pilots.
But they say the most skilled pilot in the service these days might be
some 20-year-old formerly game-addicted kid flying drones over Afghanistan
by remote control from a cubicle in Nevada or someplace--ENDER'S GAME gone
real. Esoteric skills; what habits of mind are gained or lost from killing
by R/C from a half a world away?
Too much to think about--Peter Gow
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