the happiness, excitement, and general contentedness thread

[bigchiefbc]

Alex is seriously one of the smartest people I've ever met. I highly recommend his blog if you're into science, engineering, sci-fi and video games. We went to college together and were roommates for a year. We spent most of that year having ridiculously esoteric and fun arguments about science, religion and politics

[bob the r0bot]

Just finished the school year.

[jfrey]

Alex is seriously one of the smartest people I've ever met. I highly recommend his blog if you're into science, engineering, sci-fi and video games. We went to college together and were roommates for a year. We spent most of that year having ridiculously esoteric and fun arguments about science, religion and politics

His blog on Forbes, or does he have a separate site?

I'm always down for some learning. I started taking lessons in speaking Chinese yesterday in exchange for English lessons.

[D.o.S.]

Ugh. I liked the original Oatmeal comic, but I preferred the Forbes article because it seemed fair and balanced. Then the oatmeal guy comes out with a pathetic, aggressive 'rebuttal' which concedes most of the factual corrections and ignores some other points to suit his idol worship: for instance when challenging "not an ignored god-hero" he leaves "god-hero" alone? Really? And brushing a lot of criticisms away with "oh well Tesla was crazy by then anyway so it doesn't count" is not a solid argument. I don't understand why he's so averse to the idea that Edison wasn't the devil and Tesla wasn't perfect, and while I know it's all exagerrated for humour, I didn't find that funny in the slightest.

I think what pissed me off more than anything though was the 'as a geek' bits. Don't do that. You may as well say "As a strong black woman, I admire tesla"; it's irrelevant and implies that you're speaking for a group of people, some of whom may not want to be spoken for.

And the idolisation of Tesla for working alone while Edison hired other people to help and work for him is just romantic nostalgia for 'a purer age' or whatever. Fuck that.

Also all the aggression, when the Forbes guy just wrote an interesting, researched article which didn't take sides or insult anyone.

A lot of it is the geek/hacker/techie archetype of the iconoclastic solitary genius fixing all of the worlds problems behind a curtain somewhere. It's really really retarded because most (Einstein was an exception) of the major discoveries in the last couple hundred years were made by a team of people working for either 1.) a large company 2.) a government or 3.) a university that was sponsored by said government

TANGENTS AHEAD!

If you're interested in the Manhattan Project at all, one of my favorite poets/writers/ideas guy was working on it, and had some cool things to say about the process:

NSFW: show

Nurenberg: What was your inside view of The Manhattan Project?

Porter: The Manhattan Project was spread all over the country. There were so many people employed upon it that it was a close approximation to a WPA for scientists,

I started off with it as part of the contingent of the Physics Department at Princeton University, Albert Einstein was across the way. I was the liaison between him and an experimental group in the Physics Department. I got to know him pretty well because my job required me to be in personal contact with him.

His function had to do with him developing some of the theory we were using. We were separating uranium. I would ask him for suggestions for reinterpreting his theory into practical terms for use His role was that of a consultant and. highly sophisticated super intend ant in charge. But he wasn't always required to be physically present. He would tell us things like, 'Here, do this. And if that doesn't work, then here, try this.'

Nurenberg: Was Einstein aware of what the end result of this project was going to be.

Porter: Yes, he knew what the results were going to be. This was a very serious matter with him. He was well versed in the knowledge that this thing was going to produce incredible amounts of energy.

Nurenberg: How did Einstein reconcile this with his pacifism?

Porter: Most of us were pacifists. We were also stuck with the problem of board and rent, and buying shoes for the baby. I was publishing Murder the Murderer at my own expense and jeopardy at this time. . i

Nurenberg: What part of the chain of process of this huge project were you involved in?

Porter: I was in at the very beginning. I an an experimental physicist and it was my function to take Einstein's theory and apply it to the molecular structure of uranium. My part was to separate the plutonium from the uranium by separating the uranium into its component parts. My job was also to train and supervise people in the science of this separation.

But while I was doing this, I was aware that the talent I and the others had could be converted into more peaceful and useful functions. And I have devoted a large part of the rest of my life, from 1945 on, to demonstrating that this is so.

Nurenberg: What happened to the uranium when you were finished with it?

Porter: In this case, we shipped it off to New Mexico where it was put into a Bomb. From there it went on to the island of Saipan, and then eventually to Hiroshima and Nagasaki where it was dropped.

Nurenberg: Who had the ultimate authority over whether the bomb was dropped or not?

Porter: President Truman, as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, and he ordered it dropped.

Nuremberg; When the bomb was dropped, what was the reaction of the American public?

Porter: The immediate reaction to the explosion of the bomb was a combination of relief and total horror. There was relief that the war was over; but many people, including myself, were not sure that it was over in a fair and honorable way.

The problem was this unleashing of one of the most horrible gadgets that man has ever devised upon innocent civilian citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There are a number of things which could have been done historically, in retrospect. For example, having dropped one, was it necessary to drop the second? And historically, was it necessary to drop any bomb?

The truth is that when the bomb exploded, it was necessary for the government to explain to the American people where this staggering sum of money went. And the easy way to do this was to say, 'Well, we made a bomb, and now we will give you atomic power.'

http://www.panmodern.com/bern_nurenberg.html

[bigchiefbc]

Alex is seriously one of the smartest people I've ever met. I highly recommend his blog if you're into science, engineering, sci-fi and video games. We went to college together and were roommates for a year. We spent most of that year having ridiculously esoteric and fun arguments about science, religion and politics

His blog on Forbes, or does he have a separate site?

I'm always down for some learning. I started taking lessons in speaking Chinese yesterday in exchange for English lessons.

I meant his blog on Forbes. He did have his own site at one point, but he's basically been blogging on everything he normally would over at Forbes.

[coldbrightsunlight]

A lot of it is the geek/hacker/techie archetype of the iconoclastic solitary genius fixing all of the worlds problems behind a curtain somewhere. It's really really retarded because most (Einstein was an exception) of the major discoveries in the last couple hundred years were made by a team of people working for either 1.) a large company 2.) a government or 3.) a university that was sponsored by said government

Exactly, for at least a century that's just been a romantic notion, while proper work gets done by dedicated teams of smart people, not a single genius. And because a lot of people have this idea, you still get stuff like idolizing Tesla for supposedly being an isolated genius inventor or ignoring the contributions made by lots of people behind the scenes in ANY major discovery/innovation.

[jfrey]

A lot of it is the geek/hacker/techie archetype of the iconoclastic solitary genius fixing all of the worlds problems behind a curtain somewhere. It's really really retarded because most (Einstein was an exception) of the major discoveries in the last couple hundred years were made by a team of people working for either 1.) a large company 2.) a government or 3.) a university that was sponsored by said government

Exactly, for at least a century that's just been a romantic notion, while proper work gets done by dedicated teams of smart people, not a single genius. And because a lot of people have this idea, you still get stuff like idolizing Tesla for supposedly being an isolated genius inventor or ignoring the contributions made by lots of people behind the scenes in ANY major discovery/innovation.

While this is true, some people do just a little more, or go a little further, or grasp things in a different way - such that their science, or math, or engineering, becomes almost an art. It's hard to not admire those people. And even if there are a lot of people below them, there's only one of them you know?

[bigchiefbc]

A lot of it is the geek/hacker/techie archetype of the iconoclastic solitary genius fixing all of the worlds problems behind a curtain somewhere. It's really really retarded because most (Einstein was an exception) of the major discoveries in the last couple hundred years were made by a team of people working for either 1.) a large company 2.) a government or 3.) a university that was sponsored by said government

Exactly, for at least a century that's just been a romantic notion, while proper work gets done by dedicated teams of smart people, not a single genius. And because a lot of people have this idea, you still get stuff like idolizing Tesla for supposedly being an isolated genius inventor or ignoring the contributions made by lots of people behind the scenes in ANY major discovery/innovation.

While this is true, some people do just a little more, or go a little further, or grasp things in a different way - such that their science, or math, or engineering, becomes almost an art. It's hard to not admire those people. And even if there are a lot of people below them, there's only one of them you know?

Yes, occasionally there are singular talents. But even they build off of the work of others, and without that base, their discoveries never would have occurred. "If I have seen farther, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants" (Isaac Newton)

[coldbrightsunlight]

Yeah, I'm not denying that some individuals do contribute more than others, and they deserve admiration and recognition for it, but not blind hero worship. It's good that people don't seem to care that much about individual contemporary scientists, I'm not sure why they feel so strongly about long dead ones...

[D.o.S.]

Job interview on friday. Woo!

[adrianlee]

Job interview on friday. Woo!

Just had my 2nd for the same job today!

Mojoz sent, bro.

[Achtane]

Job interview on friday. Woo!

Just had my 2nd for the same job today!

Mojoz sent, bro.

'grats dudes.
Good luck.

[adrianlee]

Job interview on friday. Woo!

Just had my 2nd for the same job today!

Mojoz sent, bro.

'grats dudes.
Good luck.

Thanks, man. The only real beef i'm having is that i was initially lined up for a 9-5 M-F. Now, it appears that its going to be 2-10 m-f. Which, really puts a damper in my personal life. Band practices would be all fucked up, i'd get to see my girlfriend even less than I already do. Kind sucks. I don't really know how to handle asking them to accommodate for the 9-5 without seeming unprofessional or a whiney bitch.


Any halp?

[Achtane]

Job interview on friday. Woo!

Just had my 2nd for the same job today!

Mojoz sent, bro.

'grats dudes.
Good luck.

Thanks, man. The only real beef i'm having is that i was initially lined up for a 9-5 M-F. Now, it appears that its going to be 2-10 m-f. Which, really puts a damper in my personal life. Band practices would be all fucked up, i'd get to see my girlfriend even less than I already do. Kind sucks. I don't really know how to handle asking them to accommodate for the 9-5 without seeming unprofessional or a whiney bitch.


Any halp?

Mmm, that does suck. I need help with situations like that as well; if I'm nearly in for a job, it feels like "well I've gotten this far so I'll take what I can get and try not to fuck anything up for a while". So I feel powerless to "haggle" in that way.

[Grrface]

Job interview on friday. Woo!

Just had my 2nd for the same job today!

Mojoz sent, bro.

'grats dudes.
Good luck.

Thanks, man. The only real beef i'm having is that i was initially lined up for a 9-5 M-F. Now, it appears that its going to be 2-10 m-f. Which, really puts a damper in my personal life. Band practices would be all fucked up, i'd get to see my girlfriend even less than I already do. Kind sucks. I don't really know how to handle asking them to accommodate for the 9-5 without seeming unprofessional or a whiney bitch.


Any halp?

Honestly, say what you just said, sorta. Let them know that this was not the position that you were initially interviewing for, and that it would be preferable to have the original shift. If they can't give you all of the days, offer to compromise with them, and argue for the days you and your girl hung out and band practices. It's still a negotiation until everything is finalized.