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[Maximus]

Originally Posted by leibstandarte10

Exactly my point. Calculus is useless to probably 90% of people.

Calculus!!

The word itself it too scary for me!

[bonehead]

Ok, make a list of things one can do with a kidney stone that you can't do with calculus.

[leib10]

Make urinating extremely painful.

[bonehead]

Originally Posted by leibstandarte10

Make urinating extremely painful.

Drinking gallons of coffee while pulling an all nighter while studying for a calc exam makes one dehydrated and yes, hurts to pee. NEXT!

[leib10]

Just finished reading an article about Erich Hartmann. I have nothing but the utmost respect for him as a soldier and a man, for what he did in war and what he did when illegally incarcerated by the Soviets for 10 years.

[RustyBattleship]

I originally hated math (except geometry) in high school because the Algebra teacher had absolutely no idea what practical applications it had in real life. However, in Physics class I excelled because I could "see" the math working inside the structures of levers, wheels, block and tackle, etc.

There is a difference between a mathematician who only knows ways of juggling numbers around that are totally meaningless. But then there are engineers and practical scientists that use math to build things and explain how and why things work.

I invented an engineering formula myself because I had a couple of steel rings on my desk that had undergone strength tests. One stretched a quarter of an inch and the other did not. Rourke's Formulas for Stress and Strain had no formula estimating the strength of a steel ring in tension. Engineering books by Shanley and Timoshenko had a meaningless formula because they admitted that for some strange reason the rings were always much stronger (when tested to destruction) than their formulas said they sould be. Taking other tests done on steel rings back in 1947 I started putting the numbers together and BACK engineered them. One engineer in my office suggested using the modulus of PLASTICITY instead of ELASTICITY that the "standard" formulas used. Of course. When trying to stretch a CIRCULAR steel ring, you are not actually trying to pull it apart as with a long link or elliptical shape. You are compressing the sides into each other. There were also two "K" factors included and I found by swapping them I came out with a formula that was within 5% of all rings tested to yield failure (not breaking, but permanent stretching).

So, teach the right kinds of math to the right kinds of people who would benefit most from it. If a student loves science class and likes to blow up rockets on the football field, lead him in the right direction of thermo-dynamics and structural strengths. If the student only likes to bake cakes, send him or her to chef's school (NOT just home economics).

[kNikS]

Originally Posted by leibstandarte10

I have a bad tendency to get kidney stones. I seem to be passing one today.

Fnck man - if there is anything that makes me sick those arestones getting out of d!ck!!!!!!!

My father is also in your club.. he had one egg-sized few years ago. Off course, that one needed interevention - didn't go out on its own. However, I prefered to stay pretty uninformed about that matter.

[PubFather]

Originally Posted by kNikS

Fnck man - if there is anything that makes me sick those arestones getting out of d!ck!!!!!!!

My father is also in your club.. he had one egg-sized few years ago. Off course, that one needed interevention - didn't go out on its own. However, I prefered to stay pretty uninformed about that matter.

Egg sized kidney stone!!! heres hoping i never get anything like that.... rather do astrophysics with an abacus...

[RustyBattleship]

This thread also mentioned history. I love history, but ONLY if it was written by Harold Lamb. He writes it as a novel, love story, adventure story, mystery story. It is not cut and dry with meaningless dates except as needed for comparisson as to what the rest of the world was like then.

But the biggest problem with schools is that they are stuck on teaching history starting with the dinosaurs and cave men. This is their "required" program in Elementary School, Junior High School, High School, Junior College and Senior College. By the time they get up to the 20th century, the semester has run out.

I realized this several years ago when we were having a family discussion and the phrase "Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what YOU can do for your country" was quoted. I identified that as the acceptance speech by John F. Kennedy when he was elected President. Our daughter, who was in Junior College by then, said, "You know Dad, I've heard that speech many times before but never knew who said it."

BOOOOIIIIIINGGGG! What the hell is wrong with schools today? It turns out that, with luck, students might have enough time to get past the Civil War and maybe have a couple of hours left for a brief descripton of the Spanish American War.

No time for the Boxer Rebellion, First World War, depression of the 1930's, Second World War (and why WW I Treaty of Versailles caused it), invention of Penicillan, popularity of affordable Television sets, Korean War, invention of Salk and Sabin vaccines, Cuban Embargo, Viet Nam War, Race for the Moon, the transistor that led to the micro chip and today's computers and cell phones, etc. It is my firm belief that most of the events that happend in the 20th century have had more of an effect of who we are, why we are and how we are more so than all of the preceding centuries. Rome's conquest of Europe has no meaning to us anymore and Greek philosophies are only of interest to philosophers who have nothing else better to do ("Honey, when are you going to fix the fence?" "As soon as I get done doing a treatise on Plato vs Socrates")

[kNikS]

Originally Posted by PubFather

Egg sized kidney stone!!! heres hoping i never get anything like that.... rather do astrophysics with an abacus...

Sorry, it was a bladder.. I think... And believe me, I don't want to check.

Or to check my chances to have some... drinking those mineral waters regulary.

[leib10]

Yep, they run in my family too. My mom, grandma, and grandpa all get them. I've never had one that requires that sonic shockwave treatment, but my grandpa has.

Anyway, I want this shirt sooo bad:



The guy in the picture is Dexter Holland, lead singer of The Offspring and one helluva cool guy.

[kNikS]

Originally Posted by leibstandarte10

The guy in the picture is Dexter Holland, lead singer of The Offspring and one helluva cool guy.

I was quite delighted with Offspring when I was younger... but I litteraly don't listen to music anymore...

[RustyBattleship]

Originally Posted by kNikS

Fnck man - if there is anything that makes me sick those arestones getting out of d!ck!!!!!!!

My father is also in your club.. he had one egg-sized few years ago. Off course, that one needed interevention - didn't go out on its own. However, I prefered to stay pretty uninformed about that matter.

I have heard of GALL STONES getting that big, but not KIDNEY STONES. I had to pass a kidney stone once. It was about the size of a full pepper seed. Coming out the final few inches of the urinary tract wasn't too bad as I knew I was finally getting rid of the damn thing.

But it was the excruciating lower back pains before as it began its blitzkrieg on out of the kidney.

One nurse wasn't too sympathetic and said, "Now you know what it feels like for a woman to give birth to a baby. Both are just as painful".

She made the mistake of saying that in front of my mother who strongly admonished her, "Bull. I've had three sons AND three kidney stones and the stones are MUCH worse."

[sappersgt]

Originally Posted by RustyBattleship

I have heard of GALL STONES getting that big, but not KIDNEY STONES. I had to pass a kidney stone once. It was about the size of a full pepper seed. Coming out the final few inches of the urinary tract wasn't too bad as I knew I was finally getting rid of the damn thing.

But it was the excruciating lower back pains before as it began its blitzkrieg on out of the kidney.

One nurse wasn't too sympathetic and said, "Now you know what it feels like for a woman to give birth to a baby. Both are just as painful".

She made the mistake of saying that in front of my mother who strongly admonished her, "Bull. I've had three sons AND three kidney stones and the stones are MUCH worse."

I had a friend with kidney stones. He used to carry a prescription for Demerol in his wallet in case it got REALLY bad. One day I got a call from the police asking me if I would pick up his car. He had started to pass a stone while driving. Pulling over he almost ran over a cop who was giving someone a ticket. Luckily the officer was very understanding, calling an ambulance (and me). He finally did some kind of aquatic sonic wave therapy and was cured (for now).

[kNikS]

Originally Posted by RustyBattleship

I have heard of GALL STONES getting that big, but not KIDNEY STONES. I had to pass a kidney stone once. It was about the size of a full pepper seed. Coming out the final few inches of the urinary tract wasn't too bad as I knew I was finally getting rid of the damn thing.

But it was the excruciating lower back pains before as it began its blitzkrieg on out of the kidney.

One nurse wasn't too sympathetic and said, "Now you know what it feels like for a woman to give birth to a baby. Both are just as painful".

She made the mistake of saying that in front of my mother who strongly admonished her, "Bull. I've had three sons AND three kidney stones and the stones are MUCH worse."

ROFL

My mother had a gall stone about a 2cm in diameter... those are a bit less disguisting.. though I guess that they're not less unhealty.

But having a egg-sized stone in your bladder is certainly one of the few things that ultimately scares the sh!t out of me. Or imagining a pepper seed getting out...