Window moldings, engineers and one physicist

By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist

I was sitting in the dentist chair the other day and looking at the window on the horizon, just beyond my feet. My eyes went to the molding surrounding the window, causing me to ponder several things.  

Who came up with that molding design? How many linear feet or miles of it have been produced? Where was it first made? Was it first made with a router head or a specialized block plane? How many router heads of that shape have been made since the first one?

My eyes went back to the window itself. I thought of Herbert Hoover, the former president. Did you know that he was the Commerce secretary under Presidents Harding and Coolidge? In that role, he did many things to help reduce the costs of a plethora of items even to this day.  

He standardized the size of windows and doors. He did the same thing for fasteners – screws and bolts. He touches us in many ways. He was educated as a mining engineer at Stanford and always thought like an engineer.  

Not long after he became president, the stock market tanked and ushered in the Great Depression. Hoover was blamed for it, and the voters couldn’t wait to get rid of him in 1932.

Elon Musk is not an engineer, but a physicist, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. Physics is a cousin to engineering. It is obvious Musk thinks like an engineer but has far more flamboyance.  

Do you know what an extroverted engineer is? An extroverted engineer, when standing in front of another person asking for a date, stares at their shoes, not his or her own. 
 
(I threw that in for free.)

I am an engineer but my wife, another engineer, says I am not a real engineer, I am not nerdy enough. I tell her I come from the creative branch of engineering, not the somber branch.

I digress.  

There is a ceremony I have attended called “The Order of the Engineer.” At this ceremony, you take an oath to put the welfare of the general public above your own commercial interests.  

In other words, if you have to take a reduced fee – or no fee – in order to not harm the public, physically or financially, you swear to do so. Along with the ceremony comes a stainless-steel ring you wear on the pinky of your working hand to constantly remind you of the oath you took.  

I  am right-handed, so if you see me, you’ll see my ring on the pinky finger of my right hand.

Yes, Elon Musk is not an engineer, but I think there is a kindred spirit there and a definite connection to Herbert Hoover. Like Herbert Hoover was, many people are upset with Musk, primarily because he is slaying their sacred cows.   

Personally, I think Elon Musk is doing noble work. May he be allowed to continue.

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.