Throwback THURsday. (Doh! +bump)......... (or, "Call Me Donald.")

Hat tip:  Tom and Mom (with an assist from Myles.)

ADDED:  And it goes without saying... big hat tip to Dad*.  We never got to design and build a pinewood derby racer together, but we built efficient bridges**, measured by the end weight of the structure (here, balsa wood and glue) and the capacity held.

Glynn bridges never held the most, necessarily, but we always won on the efficiency score = lesser loads on more compact lightweight frames.
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*  Did your Dad have a have a vise mounted in the basement workshop, to perfectly hold a balsa wood structure while the glue dried overnight(s)?  Mine had the tools, the knowledge, and most importantly, the patience (and hereditary fine motor skills!) to direct and oversee production, teaching me more via that contest than I ever got out of a physics text.  (Loved the Mr. Feynman books, though -- Surely You're Joking; and What Do You Care What Other People Think?)

** The bridge is tested to collapse, so every advancement in competition meant a new bridge built, better than the previous round, learning and adjusting designs.  I included one of my "crushed" shattered bridges (2 clean chunks, with the break in the middle) to accompany one of the three essays I wrote about in my Northwestern application;  I'm convinced that helped get me in to Medill in 1986:  a journalism major, with the typical high school newspaper/yearbook editor positions, but with hands-on physics experimentation and experience in competition at IIT too.

Thanks, guys, for helping me learn to compete... and teaching me how to open doors, and windows, for myself.  You are loved, never forget it.

IN OTHER NEWS:  Yesterday kicked off the Year of the Monkey in the Chinese new year... May she be good to us all !!!