I made this video of
@npub18x20...zsj2 ‘s mine a while ago for Lincoin Mining (it had other Lincoin tagged text on it to advertise their HK3 expertise and services).
I stripped everything but the music and video and sent it to him in case he gets homesick on his travels.
It made me think though, a true craftsman gets attached to his tools and the equipment he works on. If you don’t, you’re missing an essential element to mastering your craft.
You imbue your spirit upon the equipment you work with and the tools you use.
Any mechanic, technician, artist, or engineer worth his salt has cursed at their tools, praised them when they do the job well, cared for them the same way he cares for a pet. The same goes for the equipment they’re repairing or maintaining.
For myself, I wax nostalgic on the SB-3865 and AN/TTC-42 switchboards and the TA-312 field telephone and the big green tool box we used to have that for some reason smelled like feet, but yet when I come across that stench it reminds me of those days.
When I encounter any old Nortel SONET equipment like an OC-48 or OC-192 in a central office today, I’m flooded with memories of my life at that time.
Today, the familiar clank of my bucket door closing and the snapping sound the door safety chain makes, the feel of my hooks digging into a telephone pole, the thunking sound it makes, and the pull on my leg when I lift it to dig into the next step, the clink and jingle my belt makes on the d-ring when it closes, the weight of EXFO OTDR’s and MaxTest units, the beep of Fujikura fusion splicers and the familiar click and wind of my CT-50 cleaver, give me comfort.
From the mining side of things, the familiar wind of an S9 or S19 still conjures feelings of excitement, knowing (sometimes hoping) that machine will be hashing soon. Blindfold a lot of miners and they can tell you with 100% certainty what brand or model of machine is ramping up… well maybe not the Avalons, but maybe 🤔
Every craftsman throughout human history has these same feelings for their tools, materials, and equipment. From a burnt stick, cherished by a post younger dryas man as he used it to draw pictures of boobs in his cave 12, 000 years ago to the hammer and chisel the mason used to build the walls of Constantinople, to the arthritic artist with a fresh canvas ready to create upon, with painting implements older than his children; each craftsman loves and appreciates, honors and reveres his equipment.
Happy travels Chet, I know the past few years you’ve put into mining are years that are now an indelible part of your soul and that’s what makes you a master of your craft, your tools and equipment are imbued with your spirit.
- Jon
I sign posts on this npub with my name so everyone on NOSTR can distinguish whether of not
@npub1l6ev...dl44 or I am posting
