Bravissimo! Again, Bravissimo to The White Geek, for his superb article on Mnemonic aids published in the February 2012 Nationalist Times. White Geek shares with us an excellent “Ditty” from the computer programming world that assists engineers with remembering the seven-layer construction of the layered Internet “protocol”: Please Do Not Throw Sausage Pizza Away. Please consult page 15 of the February 2012 TNT for details!

Alas I’m about twice White Geek’s age, and my Mnemonic memories are far more Analog than those of the current generation. Several favorites come to mind.

First there is the classic mnemonic to assist electrical engineers and technicians to remember the color coded resistivity and tolerance values printed (painted, really) on the cylindrical surface of electrical resistors destined to be soldered into electronic components of macro-circuitry, before the advent of universal miniaturization. Three or four "bands" were painted on each resistor to render Resistivity in Ohms: 1) The leftmost band is the first significant figure; 2) The second band is the second significant figure; 3) The third band a decimal multiplier. The “tolerance” values, a measure of the quality of the resistor’s material, measured in percent, were the fourth band. The Mnemonic is rendered as follows:

“Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.” This assists with remembering BBROYGBVGW. In the American era before Political Correctness, say 1920-1972, the word “Bad” was replaced by the word “Black”. This of course today could only be muttered in a whisper in a private workshop! But the new ditty “Bad” makes the mnemonic less memorable and less accurate. After the “GW” there are further Gold and Silver bands, which signify tolerance values of 5% and 10%. No gold or silver means 20%. Check out “Electronic Color Code” from our Liberal friends at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_color_code

To correctly deploy “Spanish” or Standard tuning on a six-string guitar in most modern countries, the Mnemonic “Effort and Discipline Guarantee Better Endings” provide the order of the strings, as one would find them when purchasing from the Martin or D’Addario guitar companies. The notes E, A, D, G, B, and again E. A very 1960’s version of the ditty is again provided by Wiki-p: "Every Acid Dealer Gets Busted, Eventually" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EADGBE

Finally, the system of channel markers in the inland waterways of the United States has an effective ditty, taught to Midshipmen and merchant marine cadets at maritime institutions in North America. To remember the color and shape of a Port or Starboard channel marker, when entering the waterway from sea, one recalls “Even Red Nuns Have Odd Black Cans.” One can see right away that this ditty is no longer acceptable in PC company! On the way back to sea, the mariner is reminded to “leave” the Starboard channel markers to his right: “Black Right Out.”

Thanks again to White Geek, he has brought back to our memories the fine Western tradition of providing Mnemonic memory aids to industrious men in various trades. Bravissimo!