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natonian_moose_luver
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Name: Nathan
Country: United States
State: Texas
Metro: Austin
Gender: Male
Interests: moose, aircraft, rock climbing, cello, music, friendship, good texmex, graphics design and modeling, God
Expertise: moose, chicken fried steak
Occupation: Student
Industry: Engineering
Message: message meEmail: email me
Member Since:
5/4/2003
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| so...aparently its the new xanga
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| what i dont understand...couple of thoughts occurred to me when reading the news and some blogger comments on CNN's Anderson 360 blog (which I find to be quite interesting.. though comments.. make me despair sometimes)...
so first.. on how Iran and Syria are blaming the Israel/Lebanon conflict on the United States...
does it strike anyone else as ironic that these nations that have been whining for the past year or so about how America has no right to meddle in the affairs of other nations and complain about how we're trying to influence and impose our will on the rest of the world (complaints that are not exactly without merit.. but I digress) now lambaste the lack of American intervention, pinning the blame on America for not meddling... sigh politics drive me mad...
and then there were the blogger comments on topics of national security and the threat of terrorism... and yeah, every post someone or another brings up something about "stupid Bush" and "American occupation of Iraq" in some form or another, whining and complaining about problems in their sector of the states and how the Republicans we voted into congress are now screwing us over and how its our fault and we're reaping what we sowed...(incidentally... there's almost always one or more comments attacking Christianity in these comments as well.. .sighs)
my first reaction to all these complaints is noting how they are all criticism, but there is nothing constructive about them. I was taught at a young age that when you critique someone's writing, do so in a manner that is constructive.. suggest something or some way they can improve it... if you cant think of how to fix it.. perhaps bring it up as something that strikes you as odd, but don't just scratch it out and leave it at that.. no one learns anything from that except that you apparently didn't like that section of their writing.
I think this should apply to all critiques, not just on writing. the process not only helps the one you are commenting on, by giving them an alternate solution or at least identifying a problem that can then be responded to... but also helps you in that you must identify what it is that is bothering you about a particular thing, thus teaching you something about yourself.
as humans we have the urge to assign blame when things go wrong.. its part of our fallen nature (if you notice, the first thing Adam did after the fall was point the finger at Eve, who proceeded to point the finger at the serpent...)... but when has this ever been constructive?...
People are always expressing their discontent with government, religion.. the weather... whatever. And they have the right to speak their mind, and expression of emotions is beneficial... but to do so in a manner that is not constructive is a waste of energy... It always saddens me when "open-minded individuals" accuse people of opposing viewpoints (be they conservatives, liberals, peoples of other faiths, lifestyles, ethnic backgrounds, nationalities) of being "close-minded"... strikes me as very hypocritical....
That is not to say that there is no Truth in the world... I am not endorsing any "what works for you.. works for you, and what works for me, works for me" post-modern philosophy... the evidence of Truth can be found in the very existence of the concept of something being "good" or "bad".. "right" or "wrong"... I guess I am just tired of reading all these criticisms on the government, the weather.. whatever...
I think we can all agree that the current state of the world is really messed up. And we can all find things that one administration or another has done that we dislike or disagreed with. Anyone would be hard pressed to come up with the name of someone they always agreed with, or someone who's actions they completely agreed with (aside from themselves.. and many times that wont even cut it...)... but also know that I as of yet cant come up with any viable solution to any of these problems.. and while coming up with such a solution is not my responsibility (phew..).. I don't feel right critiquing how things are being handled without having some other alternate solution that would work better in hand...
I guess... well if posting online comments about how "bush sucks" and "*people of certain party affiliations* are stupid" and "*people of certain beliefs* are idiots" makes you feel better.. they serve some purpose? but all in all.. what will it do? aside from making the particular group (or supporters of this group) become more embittered against you and less willing to listen to your opinions... which in turn will make you more embittered against them and less willing to listen to their opinions... and so-on, and so-forth...
sighs... we need more happy news in the world...
in random other news.. i have been having great difficulty typing the word "opinion" recently..
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| so there's this spider in my bathtub..yeah found him (or her i guess?) there like a week or two ago.. hanging
from the drain plug plate thingy, which is located beneath the faucet..
at any rate.. the first day the lil feller went up his web a bit but
was still hanging down.. and i was trying to not splash him but didnt
do a very good job of that =\ so he was freaking out and found his way
up to the plate finally and i guess hid out under there... now when i
go in and turn on the water he heads straight up for the bottom of the
plate...
heh random observation.. just thought i'd post about that
also.. went to the arboretum last week with bernie, who i havent seen
in like 8 months (was good hanging out with ya moesky!) which was
cool.. and managed to spend over 60 bucks on books =\... 4 cs lewis
books (the four loves, mere christianity, skrewtape letters, and the
problem with pain.. or something like that) and the newest orson scott
card book in the ender's shadow series, Shadow of the Giant... which i
had remembered hearing about sometime back in like may.. and then
thinking i might have dreamed about it.. but yeah its a real book...
at any rate.. it was good, a very fitting finale.. much better than
shadow puppets.. which.. really wasnt so good =\... anyways the
combination of that book and all of the problems going on in the middle
east right now.. got me thinking.. coz see in the book card presents
his theory about humanity... and how it could become unified as one
planet...
'coupla interesting points i remember right now.. almost a week after
reading it (shoulda posted right away.. but.. thoughts werent very
cohesive... they still arent but mreh..)
- we all mostly think about ourselves and personal ambition/gain
until we fall in love and then start caring about someone else.. thus
entering into humanity as whole..
- wars are outlets for those who are so ambitious that they cant
imagine anyone being better than themselves... they use things like
national pride and religious sentiments for their own personal gain..
well at least.. i think the second one was there.. but i know the first
one was... dunnos might need to re-read.. i know i had more thoughts on
this...
also.. been watching band of brothers (DVD set on loan from Scott..)
which is a fabulous mini-series... yes war stuff.. but.. yeah.. its
just nutz.... thinking about what these men did.. it's about a company
of men.. all volunteer, Easy Company of the 506 Parachute Infantry
Regiment of the 101 Airborne... and their experiences in World War II...
it was an extraordinary time, and extraordinary times call for ordinary
men to do extraordinary things... makes me wonder.. what extraordinary
things will we be called to do in our lifetimes?...
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| occupationsso i work at a civil engineering software company (very small, less
than 10 people total), and my job is to test out a new program that the
company is trying to market (they didnt design it, but they're like the
american distributor of the program, or one of the american
distributors, or something..) by modeling different structures in it
and then analyzing them (it's an analysis program..)
today at work, we came across a sort of issue with springs and
coordinate systems.. i wont bore you with the technical details
(which.. to be honest, i dont fully understand myself beyond a very
elementary level)... at any rate.. my boss (who runs the company too..)
ended up calling over two of the other engineers (there are.. umm.. 4
total including my boss? and i think one was out today..) over to talk
about the problem... so yeah i was basically sitting there for
maybe about an hour while these three guys with PhD's in civil
engineering were discussing this issue.. and trying to input something
useful here and there... and.. yeah.. i mean i could follow it...
conceptually.. i guess.. but... yeesh i felt pretty insignificant..
hehe...
anyways we basically concluded that the problem would be best solved if
we addressed it in a different coordinate system.. and then i had to
try to figure out how to do that in the program.. (it can be
implemented.. but not as easily as i woulda liked.. sighs.. oh well
something to do tomorrow..)
so gary and i were talking today about soccer, and how european (and
imo all the other countries around the world besides the U.S.) get very
excited about it... and this got me ranting a bit about national
identity and soccer as a global unifier... then a bit later we started
talking about wikipedia and how accurate it is, since its a user-based
resource.. and that got me ranting a bit about internet communities,
pooling collective resources (in this case, expertise about certain
subjects), and how social interactions are being changed through
technology... the rise of online social networks..
at any rate, it made me wonder a bit.. because i do find these things
pretty fascinating.. social behavior on a macroscopic level... dunno..
liberal-artsy things... and i mean i enjoy engineering too.. and have a
decent amount of technical training.. the whole creation aspect of
design.. modeling... but.. sighs i dunno if i'm cut out for what or
where i should be focusing or what i should be pursuing as far as a
future career goes.. coz they say follow what you like.. but.. i like
alotta things :P
on a closing note.. today's little conference about springs reinforced
what dr. maughmer always told us about engineering... all we really do
is make good guesses :P
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