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Re: New members introductions - New members Introduce yourselves

pla101prc said:

i dont think it matters, my specialty is politics and governance as well, war is an extention of politics afterall, if you dont think in political terms you'll never understand why sh*t happens

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And my specialty is biochemistry/biophysics/bioengineering, which has absolutely nothing to do with military. I simply love things that blow up.

BTW, any other "cell people" here? I think there is this impression that most natural scientists (not including engineers) are pacifists who don't like military stuff. I know my colleagues looked kind of shocked when I told them I am a military junky (I think I am known as a "violent" man in the department now because of my unique interest :nana::nana::nana.

Re: New members introductions - New members Introduce yourselves

Being a military junky or war nerd doesn't make you a violent person at all. Is a professor of gender studies who studies domestic violence a violent person?

Re: New members introductions - New members Introduce yourselves

Geographer said:

Being a military junky or war nerd doesn't make you a violent person at all. Is a professor of gender studies who studies domestic violence a violent person?

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To a certain extent, it is true since war is a violent business. Studying military is to study efficient ways of killing and destruction. This, of course, includes advanced weapon development and battle tactics (doesn't matter how people claim that inventing an ultimate weapon is to prevent war, the immediate goal is to design something that can efficiently kill). Studying domestic violence is to understand the behavior and the immediate and the ONLY goal is to find ways to prevent it. IMO, it's not the same.

But I don't think my colleagues are serious about thinking me as "violent". It's supposed to be a joke (a paradox) because I look nothing like the type that is typically associated with military.

Re: New members introductions - New members Introduce yourselves

vesicles said:

But I don't think my colleagues are serious about thinking me as "violent". It's supposed to be a joke (a paradox) because I look nothing like the type that is typically associated with military.

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Ah Ha , A Barns Wallis type eh?

Re: New members introductions - New members Introduce yourselves

bladerunner said:

Ah Ha , A Barns Wallis type eh?

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I guess... I'm 34 with a Ph.D., but with a babyface, I'm always mistaken for a college kid. One time, I went to teach a 300-level Bioengineering class. Before class started, students asked me if I was one of those geek fresshmen who finish all AP classes in high school and are taking advanced level classes in their 1st year in college :nono::nono: Needless to say how shocked they were when I stepped on the podium .

And once I was kicked out of a meeting that I was invited to since the secretory thought I was a student trying to sneak in for free food (not that the food was not one of the reasons that I accepted the invitation in the first place).

Re: New members introductions - New members Introduce yourselves

vesicles said:

I guess... I'm 34 with a Ph.D., .

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I had a cousin who boarded with me when he studied engineering at Auckland Uni in the mid 70's.

He was scholastically, in the top 10 nationally at high school, hence there were great expectations of him from his parents.

Unfortunately I introduced him to Go, Bridge, Fishing and Golf. He became so engrossed in these other activities he failed everything and was told by the head of engineering that he was a big disgrace and was denied continued enrolement in engineering.

Not to be deterred he enrolled in computer science, he was so good that the university arranged a scholarship for him at MIT where he completed a masters and a Ph.d . LOcal business had also given him $30,000 towards expenses which is worth $120.000 in todays terms.

He went on to do very well for himself in the software business during the boom yrs in Silicon Valley and has now retired at 52, come back home and gone fishing and all the other leisure activities which cost him his place at engineering school.

My son's finishing engineering this year in mechantronics, but unlike his friends he's not going to do a masters, because he does'nt like engineering, or business studies, therefore he might do IT.

Re: Casual talk...Have fun!

engineering is like a cult... I'm starting to hate engineering myself, especially all the extra crazy stupid non-sense stuff they make us do in addition to all the classes we have to take.

Re: Casual talk...Have fun!

T-U-P said:

engineering is like a cult... I'm starting to hate engineering myself, especially all the extra crazy stupid non-sense stuff they make us do in addition to all the classes we have to take.

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Ok Padawan..what sort of "extra stuff?" Please explain. Thanks!

Re: Casual talk...Have fun!

T-U-P said:

engineering is like a cult... I'm starting to hate engineering myself, especially all the extra crazy stupid non-sense stuff they make us do in addition to all the classes we have to take.

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What sort of engineering are you doing?

A lot of people I know did electrical and yet find it very hard to get jobs.

Re: Casual talk...Have fun!

A lot of people I know did electrical and yet find it very hard to get jobs.

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Way oversaturated job market. I dropped out of EE to study biochem. Couldn't get into BioE