This should be the opening for one of those stupid "blah blah blah- my life is so profound, here's why:" posts that compose some absurdly high percentage of all the contents on the internets (the s is intentional), but I can't bring myself to be that self-absorbed (will someone with advanced training in logic please inform me of whether or not that statement is a non-sequitor?) (also, never let it be said that I ever let the opportunity for a good parenthetical remark go to waste).
In deference to the above, please imagine the following conversation taking place in Victorian England:
"I say old chap, I do believe I have stumbled across the difference in education between the humanities and the sciences!"
"By Jove, lets hear it: Please good sire, do continue!"
"Of course my good man, its quite simple really. The further one advances in a humanities field, let us for the sake of discussion say, political science, and although I realize some may take offense at such a characterization I will continue unapologetically in my stereotypically English fashion. The higher one advances in the realm of the sciences political the more opinions one is apt to hear. In fact it is extremely difficult to engage in philosophical discourse with anyone who is not an expert. Consequently, much of one's work consists of sifting through the multitude of diverse and similar opinions and forming one's own composite thoughts to be rendered in eloquent language and published in well respected printed works.
On the other hand, when one advances to the higher levels of science, the fewer opinions one tends to hear. In fact, rise far enough, and nobody is an expert. One's thoughts must be distilled from instinct, and pried from the grip of Nature's laws. To illustrate the point, imagine two scientists, let us say they are both optical physicists, having a conversation about their respective fields of research. Both can have spent their lives studying the same physical laws, both can have a vast understanding of the known physical phenomena, and both are very nearly in exactly the same field, but neither one has the slightest clue what the other is talking about. Even when they write down their ideas the situation is almost hopeless because all the letters in the Roman and Greek alphabets and all their multitudinous permutations are insufficient to express even the most basic physical constants science has discovered. As a result, neither one is able to ever fully come to terms with what the other is saying, and in all discussions there will always be a teacher and a pupil. Compare this, my dear man, with the combatant nature of political discourse, where each side is buts its own army, attempting to vanquish the foe's stronghold of reason with a fusillade of arguments."
"Dear Lord, I think you're on to something. Come, let us share a brandy and discuss it further..."
More on this to follow...
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Hehehe...
So the last mythbusters episode featured an attempt to break glass using a sonic boom. They failed and naturally their message board is full of attempted explanations. Its hilarious, no one is even close and it serves as a reminder of the dark side of the internet- its an enabler, but mostly it enables idiots to propagate their stupid opinions. If you're interested in having a laugh, take a look, I think the url is: http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9401967776/m/11219196101 Of course, you could save your valuable time and not both to glance at it (I wouldn't have, I don't regularly visit that or any internet forum, but one of they undergrads I do research with mentioned it). Basically its a bunch of idiots ranting about whether or not sonic booms are continous or not, any why are why not they would break a glass.
I find it laughable because the answer is quite simple to anyone who's ever take a compressible fluids course.
So, with this particular instance of idiocy serving as a case study, it is safe to conclude that the internet is full of morons, none of whom should be taken seriously unless you can meet them face to face. (In fact, you could say the same thing about this blog.)
I find it laughable because the answer is quite simple to anyone who's ever take a compressible fluids course.
So, with this particular instance of idiocy serving as a case study, it is safe to conclude that the internet is full of morons, none of whom should be taken seriously unless you can meet them face to face. (In fact, you could say the same thing about this blog.)
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Going to another school
My thoughts on the educational system (hang in there, not as preachy as you think): We damn well better get it right, because the advanced educational experience (especially college) basically shapes our personalities. At least it shaped mine, and I'm pretty sure I am not the most malleable person (in fact I think I would be diagnosed with some sort of repressed emotion syndrome if I ever let a psychologist near me) but in any case, I have just now come to a realization regarding my time at Gonzaga and college in general:
Going to another university after finishing up at your first one is kind of like dying and then waking up in a place that is neither heaven nor hell. This is especially true for grad school.
The idea behind this statement (along with several---- 10 I think?--- beers) is that whatever one person chooses to do in their life their actions and their personality will be shaped by where they went to college and their social interactions in that school. At this point if i actually cared about this being a decent and respectable journal i would offer evidence for my position, but hopefully you can see where i'm going with this. This is especially true for a school like Gonzaga. I know I was never all that into the prevailing social spirit of the school, but now that I'm at the University of Illinois I am realizing just how many things I took for granted at Gonzaga are not true at Illinois and vice versa. This is not a bad thing, its just made me feel like I've been tripping out for the past four weeks (note for the person to whom I told living in another country would not seem that weird to me: I still believe its true- the complete difference would be fine, its all the eerie similarities coupled with slight differences that are getting to me) (second note to any federal authorities who may be monitioring this post for things such as future security clearance consideration, etc. I have not in fact ever used illegal or proscibed substances as of14 June 2009). I think this may be why so many people who go to grad school end up in academia, because they have adapted to the ever changing conditions and fundamental variations of principle that come attached with such switches.
I'm pretty sure I can't deal with that. This is why i fully intend never to end up in academia (yes I realize I may be eating those words with a large helping of gravy later, but wtf right?). Until further notice (screw it, consider this statement qualified, I'm too lazy to spell it out) I will regard myself as a product of Gonzaga. I'm grateful for what the school has done, and grateful for what it has taught me. I hope that will outlast the festering cynicism grad school is sure to bring, but only time will tell.
Imaginary Transition.......
On a technical note, I find my research quite interesting. We're in the process of building a electrothermal plasmadynamic thruster, and no I do not really understand what that means. We did get a very rough prototype to work though, and as the professor who I'm working with tells us its the first time anyone anywhere has ever fired an electric thruster in non-vacuum or near vacuum conditions. in fact, I was rather astonished that the first time we tried to do it it worked- no fuss, no mess, just flip the switch and bingo, success. If only life were this easy in all respects. Anyhoo, they're will probably be a paper or two associated with it, so whatever, I'm happy with that.
More to come later.
Going to another university after finishing up at your first one is kind of like dying and then waking up in a place that is neither heaven nor hell. This is especially true for grad school.
The idea behind this statement (along with several---- 10 I think?--- beers) is that whatever one person chooses to do in their life their actions and their personality will be shaped by where they went to college and their social interactions in that school. At this point if i actually cared about this being a decent and respectable journal i would offer evidence for my position, but hopefully you can see where i'm going with this. This is especially true for a school like Gonzaga. I know I was never all that into the prevailing social spirit of the school, but now that I'm at the University of Illinois I am realizing just how many things I took for granted at Gonzaga are not true at Illinois and vice versa. This is not a bad thing, its just made me feel like I've been tripping out for the past four weeks (note for the person to whom I told living in another country would not seem that weird to me: I still believe its true- the complete difference would be fine, its all the eerie similarities coupled with slight differences that are getting to me) (second note to any federal authorities who may be monitioring this post for things such as future security clearance consideration, etc. I have not in fact ever used illegal or proscibed substances as of14 June 2009). I think this may be why so many people who go to grad school end up in academia, because they have adapted to the ever changing conditions and fundamental variations of principle that come attached with such switches.
I'm pretty sure I can't deal with that. This is why i fully intend never to end up in academia (yes I realize I may be eating those words with a large helping of gravy later, but wtf right?). Until further notice (screw it, consider this statement qualified, I'm too lazy to spell it out) I will regard myself as a product of Gonzaga. I'm grateful for what the school has done, and grateful for what it has taught me. I hope that will outlast the festering cynicism grad school is sure to bring, but only time will tell.
Imaginary Transition.......
On a technical note, I find my research quite interesting. We're in the process of building a electrothermal plasmadynamic thruster, and no I do not really understand what that means. We did get a very rough prototype to work though, and as the professor who I'm working with tells us its the first time anyone anywhere has ever fired an electric thruster in non-vacuum or near vacuum conditions. in fact, I was rather astonished that the first time we tried to do it it worked- no fuss, no mess, just flip the switch and bingo, success. If only life were this easy in all respects. Anyhoo, they're will probably be a paper or two associated with it, so whatever, I'm happy with that.
More to come later.
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