Science
Do you remember where you were? I was in high school. It’s strange the most poignant thing that I remember is looking at the pictures in National Geographic and thinking how the photographer gave his life to get those pictures. There were stories of incredible survival; I mean, can you imagine being saved because a giant tree fell on you? I watched the really awful TV movie because it included the footage shot by a geologist as he tried to escape. Perhaps this is why I am a mechanical engineer and not a geologist.

Sewing
Many years ago in the early days of this column, I wrote some instructions which included tearing fabric from selvedge to selvedge. When the column was printed it had been edited to “tear the fabric from salvage to salvage. This article includes a basic glossary.