[TriEmbed] Learning (Electronics Engineering) Curve

[Terry King]

QUOTE:
For one thing, university bookstores need to start carrying maker products to reduce the
engineering learning curve.
/QUOTE

I am VERY happy to say that every incoming Electrical Engineering and Computer Science student at
the University of Connecticut goes to the campus bookstore and buys this kit:

http://arduino-info.wikispaces.com/YourDuinoEngStarter

I sold them 800 of those kits last year and they just told me another 800 this year. Some other
Universities use it also.

This is my happy revenge for 1960 when I dropped OUT of Uconn because I realized they weren't
going to let me TOUCH anything electrical until Senior year.  So 55 years later, it's the way I
wanted it to be back then :-)

100 years ago, A. C. Gilbert patented the erector set: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erector_Set

My friend Mark and I called him ..'the Old Man'.  Mark's father Dick was Sales Manager of AC
Gilbert and on weekends we'd go down to the idle factory. The Old Man would be puttering around in
the back, Making Things. There were bins and bins of PARTS to make American Flyer Trains and
Erector Sets. Sometimes the Old Man would pull some part out of a bin, hand it to us and say "Hey
Kid, What's That?".  "Uh, we'd say. that's an armature for something.. maybe a train engine".  
"OK, so what's THIS?" Another part.  The Old Man gave us PARTS, He never said "I'm going to teach
you something." He and Dick would look at us and laugh.  We would make stuff out of parts. Mark
put together the 'truck' of an American Flyer Diesel Locomotive that we ran by itself on the
tracks in Marks bedroom. It went like hell, especially after we put two transformers in series.

I was years later before I realized how much people like the Old Man and my Dad's Ham Radio
buddies went out of their way and put stuff in the hands of us kids. I am SO happy to be building
Erector Sets in the Science Fiction Future of 2015.

Anything we can do to get Real Stuff in the hands of kids and adults is what matters.  If you have
any ideas on how I can help with that, let me know.

Regards, Terry King
...In the Woods in Vermont USA
terry at terryking.us

-The One who Dies with the most Parts LOSES. What do you need??