Moments when a piece of entertainment completely lost you.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 10:00 pm

Yes, we're not sure if engineering attracts gullible people or leaves them ill-equipped to fend off such arguments.

Still, it makes me sad to think like an engineer sometimes.

-Crissa

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 10:58 pm

Crissa wrote:Yes, we're not sure if engineering attracts gullible people or leaves them ill-equipped to fend off such arguments.

Still, it makes me sad to think like an engineer sometimes.

-Crissa

There was a guy I was in several geology classes with. Nobody liked to hang out with him, especially as the presidential election got closer. His favorite topic of conversation was about how much he hated socialism, welfare, and Obama.

Then, we later found he was an engineering major with a minor in geology, and all became clear...

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 12:23 am

In some colleges, it is clear that it is one way: Said type doesn't succeed in science classes, but is able to succeed at applied sciences, and so ends up with a degree in engineering: Applying things other have discovered.

But in others it's not entirely as clear; as many universities have engineering degrees which are so focused to omit much of the background required for interacting with science (and people) beyond their limited scope. Which is understandable with some of these engineering focuses where it is rote memorization of long formula which determines success.

-Crissa

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 2:34 am

Man, you guys know how to make a guy in the mechanical & energy engineering program depressed.

Heath Robinson · Post by **Heath Robinson** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 3:06 am

virgileso wrote:Man, you guys know how to make a guy in the mechanical & energy engineering program depressed.

If it's any consolation, by even acknowleding Salem's hypothesis as being possibly true you're one step beyond most Engineers in the field of doubting yourself.

On that note, whilst I didn't read this today, I feel that the Katawa Shoujo Devblog post about doubt to be instructive reading. Now, if only I could apply this to my life more often.

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 3:13 am

I acknowledge it being a possibility, which is not a good thing to hear about. I'm fairly certain I'm going to retain my atheism and mockery of creationism. The reason I went into engineering was for the better pay compared to going beyond my BS in physics.

erik · Post by **erik** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 6:59 am

If you can justify your beliefs, then it doesn't matter whether you are an engineer or not.

I imagine that the Salem hypothesis is a result of that many engineers do not have to learn how to justify their beliefs (or any basic scientific inquiry tools), only how to implement them.

If they are fed some specious data to justify a belief, and that bullshit is later shown for what it is, then they lack the tools to retain a more accurate viewpoint... or alternatively they can be fed specious bullshit to form incorrect beliefs and never gain the logic and inquiry based skills to challenge those incorrect beliefs.

tzor · Post by **tzor** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 3:42 pm

Bah humbug. I reject your narrow minded 20th century vision of the engineer. Indeed the true engineer of the 21st century is the student-athlete, the intelligent-stud, well versed in all manner of social interactions through the 50/50 male/female student ratio and other improved social media platforms.

Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute wrote:This is the ultimate aim of The Rensselaer Plan – it is about the privilege we have, to educate our outstanding young people through exposure to thinking minds of all ages, and through exposure to research – to enhance their already formidable intellects. It is about having a supportive environment, so that these young people can explore who they are, and decide what they will do with their lives. It is about world-class platforms they can experience, work in, and grow from. Athletics provide an opportunity to develop our student athletes, and to build, and to support, the total Rensselaer community. These are the reasons we have built this athletic village.

Benjamin Fell ’03, a swimmer and civil engineering major, made first team in the at-large category with a 3.96 GPA. (His brother Patrick earned third-team honors with a 4.0.)
Borjan Gagoski ’04 earned a place on the at-large third team for his tennis prowess — and his 4.0 in computer systems engineering.
Susan Gonyea ’03 parlayed her skills as a forward into a slot on the second team for women’s soccer. She earned a 3.89 in civil engineering (architecture minor).

I have seen the future. Yes it is scary

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:47 am

I don't see what participating in optional sports has to do with a liberal education.

You might as well say they're champions are origami or fishing.

-Crissa

shadzar · Post by **shadzar** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 3:57 am

Depends on if it takes up time that could be used for education or if outside of that time. Only 24 hours in a day and all....

Draco_Argentum · Post by **Draco_Argentum** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:29 am

I clicked random names of ID supporters on wikipedia and got bored at 5/5 science degrees. Michael Behe, Jonathan Wels, Ray Bohlin, Richard Sternberg, Stephen Meyer. Theres even biology PhDs in there o.O

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:11 pm

Four of those nutjobs (I'm not sure about Ray Bohlin, but most of those names esp. Michael Behe should be recognizable by any haters of pseudoscience) are members of the Discovery Institute.

Here's all you need to know about those people:

“ Discovery Institute's Center ... wants to reverse the stifling dominance of the materialistic worldview, and to replace it with a science consistent with Christian and theistic convictions. ”

mean_liar · Post by **mean_liar** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 1:00 pm

Now there's nothing wrong with ...

j/k.

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:03 pm

mean_liar wrote:Now there's nothing wrong with ...

Yes, there is.

no jokes.

mean_liar · Post by **mean_liar** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:09 pm

Not even one?

Draco_Argentum · Post by **Draco_Argentum** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:02 am

Lago PARANOIA wrote:Four of those nutjobs (I'm not sure about Ray Bohlin, but most of those names esp. Michael Behe should be recognizable by any haters of pseudoscience) are members of the Discovery Institute.

Well yeah. I happened to be in an article about DI trumping up fake controversy in the science establishment for those four. The point being that ID somehow manages to get scientists on board, Behe is even a biochemist who has apparently done actual research.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:40 am

Yeah, Michael Behe is special.

-Username17

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:18 am

Draco_Argentum wrote:The point being that ID somehow manages to get scientists on board

Well, get a large enough pool of scientists and you get all sorts of extremes.

But importantly the ID movement is an attempt by Creationists to co-opt the good reputation of science itself to cloak their religion in.

They want to steal credibility from science to use for themselves, they go out of their way to try and get, and indeed create "qualified" scientists as their supporters.

Right this minute the ID movement has loyal minions slaving away earning degrees and even more advanced qualifications in many fields, including (occasionally) relevant ones.

And if they suffer a high casualty rate of drop outs and converts to "darwinism", what do the ID folks care? A success rate of 1 in 100 of their agents is more than enough.

tzor · Post by **tzor** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 3:13 pm

Draco_Argentum wrote:The point being that ID somehow manages to get scientists on board, Behe is even a biochemist who has apparently done actual research.

What was the old saying about how you can fool some of the people all of the time? But seriously ID is: a cruel joke, a terrible hoax or an outright insult to the intelligence of sentient beings in part because it is the exact object of what science is. Science used observations to reach conclusions; it does not use conclusions to attempt to corral observations which in turn are used to justify the a priori conclusions.

mean_liar · Post by **mean_liar** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 6:59 pm

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:07 pm

I think I totally missed something there...

mean_liar · Post by **mean_liar** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:30 pm

The comic is an inversion of Intelligent Design: that reliance on some outside creator does not necessarily mean God, and in fact could just be some other intelligent life.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 12:10 am

So I discovered that several animu are on youtube in their entireties. I proceeded to watch all of Death Note, except for the movies.

I am so sick of those two characters that appear in every anime. You know the ones I'm talking about: the white/grey haired aloof guy and the angry red-head guy who always argue and fight yet will help/fuck each other at the end of the day.

I feel they really ruined it. I mean, I like that Light almost lasted a whole episode before getting a god complex, and that the series pretty much separates him from Kira - and makes him the unapologetic bad guy (see: killing Fake L for saying mean things about him). I love the cat-and-mouse game between him and L, and then adding Misa Misa to it is even better - I like her character design, looking the part for a goth yet being all cheerful and bubbly.

Even the memory loss arc was good - by this stage it had to be done in order to keep the story going for a while, because Light was such a dick that people would hate him and stop watching if he didn't do a Face turn for a while.

But the moment L died... that could have been the end of the series. I like L. He eats even more sugar than I do, and he was played really well against Light. And Misa for that matter. His death really took something away from the show, and basically marked the victory of Light. So instead of ending it there they introduced those two standard characters and had them defeat Light. But they will never replace L.

There needs to be a moratorium on those characters showing up in animu. I mean, the only one I tolerated them in was Fruits Basket - and they made up 0% of why I watched that series.

Heath Robinson · Post by **Heath Robinson** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 2:00 am

Koumei wrote:But the moment L died... that could have been the end of the series. I like L. He eats even more sugar than I do, and he was played really well against Light. And Misa for that matter. His death really took something away from the show, and basically marked the victory of Light. So instead of ending it there they introduced those two standard characters and had them defeat Light. But they will never replace L.

Say what? Death Note did end when L died. It's a downer end for sure, but the story is completely over. I have no idea what you're talking about.

erik · Post by **erik** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 2:18 am

It starts up again afterwards, Heath.

Two kids from the orphanage L was raised in take over his job as the world's super detective.

I would link except I am on my iPod and it is hard.