{"id":1489,"date":"2015-10-11T23:10:13","date_gmt":"2015-10-11T23:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/?p=1489"},"modified":"2015-10-11T23:34:50","modified_gmt":"2015-10-11T23:34:50","slug":"name-that-thing-other-wonders-of-engineering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/name-that-thing-other-wonders-of-engineering\/","title":{"rendered":"NAME THAT THING AND OTHER WONDERS OF ENGINEERING"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201c\u2026a new kind of engineer\u2026who can think broadly across disciplines and consider the human dimensions that are at the heart of every design challenge.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Holistic Engineering Education: Beyond Technology, pg. 234<\/p>\n

\n

CAN YOU NAME THAT THING?<\/h1>\n

\"Xray1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

1. A hair brush I bought at The 99 Cent Store<\/strong><\/h2>\n

2. New fangled divining rod that finds water in Southern California or buried coins on the beach<\/strong><\/h2>\n

3. Clandestine CIA reconnaissance device with built-in traffic Sigalert Function<\/strong><\/h2>\n

4. 3-D weather barometer. \u201cPull my finger\u2026oo\u2026high pressure\u2026\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n

5. Pacific Crest Trail built-in compass that also predicts the future<\/strong><\/h2>\n

6. Your own personal cell phone tower<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
\"Xray2\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\n

Have you figured it out?<\/em><\/p>\n

This thing is the newest member of our family. It lives in my husband\u2019s right wrist and Craig is playing heavy-metal ukulele these days whether he likes it or not. We have one final appointment with\u00a0Dr. Kodi Azari<\/a>, the hand surgeon, and it is the same routine one expects at a teaching hospital like U.C.L.A. First to appear is the new resident doing ortho rounds. She enters with a burst of warm exuberance and tells us that her name is\u00a0Ro-Q-Something-Something<\/em>\u2026 \u201cBut you can call me Rocky,\u201d she exclaims.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell let\u2019s see your wrist.\u201d She is mightily impressed with Craig\u2019s range of motion. My musician husband is very motivated\u2026 \u201cI wish all our patients were doing this well. Let\u2019s look at your X-Rays.\u201d As she tappity-taps on the computer keyboard the newest films, taken ten minutes earlier, appear. She zooms in for a closer look. And so do we. Like what the hell is that? For the first time we get an IMAX view of the \u201cthing\u201d the surgeon cajoled into the bones of my husband\u2019s wrist.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeautiful,\u201d she exhales. \u201cNo, it\u2019s genius!\u201d She turns to Craig and says \u201cI remember you. I observed your surgery and kept thinking to myself this surgeon is a genius, an artist.\u201d Well who wouldn\u2019t believe a woman named \u201cRocky.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Xray3\"<\/a>All smiles, Dr. Azari joins the party and announces that he\u2019s very pleased with Craig\u2019s progress. And relieved. Because the damage was so extensive. Now it\u2019s on to physical therapy for the next few months. If his wrist appears in one of those fancy orthopedic journals, I\u2019ll let you know. He is only the third patient to receive this metal sculpture. It goes without saying that we are extremely grateful that Craig has excellent medical insurance through his work and by sheer luck, we landed in Dr. Azari’s office.<\/p>\n

And\u2026<\/p>\n

May remind you that all this happened because Craig tripped on a\u00a0plane-jane<\/em>\u00a0sidewalk in front of our busy post office in Culver City. Some sidewalks in Los Angeles arch upward like an A-frame roof on a ski chalet. In earthquake country\u2026 You see them coming and walk thoughtfully over the hills and valleys. But the sidewalk panel that is just a teeny-tiny bit displaced from its neighbor panel\u2026that\u2019s the one to stare down.<\/p>\n

\n

So here is a big shout-out to the scientists, future scientists and the insatiably curious people in the world who find a need and then find a way to fill it, build it, discover the cure, unlock the mystery.<\/p>\n

I meet one of these people at The Los Angeles International Ukulele Festival at the merchandise booth. His name is Jason.<\/p>\n

Teachers and performers who inform and entertain at festivals also want to sell stuff. Like our music\u2026our DNA that we have spread onto a compact disc like butter. But we are off teaching or performing. What to do? Thank goodness high school kids in Los Angeles have to put in so many hours of volunteer work in order to graduate. A swarm of them from Torrance appear on the scene wearing matching blue shirts, bright morning smiles and are ready to do what needs to be done.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m getting the impression they take their work today very seriously. They emit an air of gravitas that I associate more with tired middle-aged folks with a 30-year mortgage, car payments and children.<\/p>\n

About a half dozen oversee their slivers of space at the long merchandise tables and\u00a0sell sell sell<\/em>. They already have my undying admiration since the last thing I want to do on this planet is\u00a0sell, sell, sell.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

\"laengineer1\"<\/a>After The CC Strummers and I open the festival on the big stage in the plaza, I run back to the merchandise table and that\u2019s when I meet Jason. He is leaning into a stack of my \u201cSmile, Smile, Smile\u201d CD\u2019s and arranging it in a beautiful swooping geometric form. Earlier I had plunked them down on the table and disappeared, but Jason, he fills the void. And with stunning attention to detail. I\u2019m thinking he might pull out a tape measure any second to get the width, depth and height just right. This young man stands at the intersection of art AND science.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"laengineer2\"<\/a>\u201cAre you an engineering student? I ask. The young ladies hovering close answer \u201cye-e-e-e-e-s\u201d in surprising unison, like they are his back-up singers or something. This is a treasure of a moment. Oh the sheer beauty of it all and the gifts we bring \u201cliterally\u201d to the table. Jason sells lots of CD\u2019s and demonstrates my Rhythm Rings so ukulele players can \u201cshake and play\u201d at the same time.<\/p>\n

And I miss the whole thing. But at the end of the day I do manage to scoop up the $$ Jason has neatly arranged (in order or denomination) in my Estee Lauder freebie cosmetic zip bag.<\/p>\n

I am convinced that whatever we do, at any given moment, it takes a village. It may not seem that way sometimes, but\u2026 Sure I\u2019m writing this blog on my computer. I\u2019m all by myself. But what about the people who designed this computer and built it and the UPS guy who delivered it? What about the folks who keep the electricity running? What about my teachers\u2014all of them\u2014who are present and accounted for in every word I type? What about my husband who has my back?<\/p>\n

Community<\/em>\u00a0is a marvel. A miracle of engineering.<\/p>\n

\"Uke<\/a>Attention Southern California Ukulele Lovers\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

My next “Ukulele For Beginners” Class starts Saturday, October 17, 2015 in Culver City. Playing this marvelous instrument does the heart good. \u00a0Sign up at Boulevard Music<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n
\"The<\/a>
The CC Strummers, Craig Chee, Sarah Maisel and myself at The Los Angeles International Ukulele Festival. September 2015. Thank you Tammy Martin Cobos for the picture.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201c\u2026a new kind of engineer\u2026who can think broadly across disciplines and consider the human dimensions that are at the heart of every design challenge.\u201d Holistic Engineering Education: Beyond Technology, pg. 234 CAN YOU NAME THAT THING?   1. A hair brush I bought at The 99 Cent Store 2. New fangled divining rod that finds water in Southern California or buried coins on the beach 3. Clandestine CIA reconnaissance device with built-in traffic Sigalert Function 4. 3-D weather barometer. \u201cPull … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[125,124,126,123,127,41,122],"class_list":["post-1489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentry","tag-crumbling-sidewalks","tag-dr-kodi-azari","tag-engineering-students","tag-hand-surgery","tag-student-vollunteers","tag-ukulele","tag-wrist-surgery"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":2,"label":"blog entry"}],"post_tag":[{"value":125,"label":"crumbling sidewalks"},{"value":124,"label":"Dr. Kodi Azari"},{"value":126,"label":"engineering students"},{"value":123,"label":"hand surgery"},{"value":127,"label":"student vollunteers"},{"value":41,"label":"ukulele"},{"value":122,"label":"wrist surgery"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"Cali Rose","author_link":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/author\/crbauthor\/"},"comment_info":3,"category_info":[{"term_id":2,"name":"blog entry","slug":"blogentry","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":138,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":2,"category_count":138,"category_description":"","cat_name":"blog entry","category_nicename":"blogentry","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":125,"name":"crumbling sidewalks","slug":"crumbling-sidewalks","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":125,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":124,"name":"Dr. Kodi Azari","slug":"dr-kodi-azari","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":124,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":126,"name":"engineering students","slug":"engineering-students","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":126,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":123,"name":"hand surgery","slug":"hand-surgery","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":123,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":127,"name":"student vollunteers","slug":"student-vollunteers","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":127,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":41,"name":"ukulele","slug":"ukulele","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":41,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":15,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":122,"name":"wrist surgery","slug":"wrist-surgery","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":122,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1489"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1504,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489\/revisions\/1504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}