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Originally posted by SouthernMerc:
The more I hear about all the craziness the govt. is cooking up (I had a friend tell me he had to take off his shoes so they could be searched before he could board a plane...WTF?)...

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The only element that didn't ring true to me was this little gamin girly they made the ship's mechanic. She sort of "intuits" the machinery of the ship -- not with alien powers, but just with a loveable girliness. I didn't believe it for one second, and pictured real mechanics groaning at the idiocy. The actress herself is completely charming. But really -- as an engineer? Bring back Scottie! But otherwise, don't change a thing.

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Originally posted by HKCavalier:
... Here's my plan to make the world safer: Spanish language in high school mandatory. Farsi and Persian Studies in every school.

******Islamic studies in every school. Government funding for exchange student programs with all friendly Islamic nations.******

Just a few programs to promote respect and connection for and with the world would go a long way towards making the world an actually safer place. Just getting Americans to learn a language other than our own would be a freakin' miracle. Bush's cronies are talking about a 40 year process. What could we accomplish if we spent the next 40 years trying to understand one another instead of trying to scare our enemies into submission?

HKCavalier

Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

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Originally posted by HKCavalier:
Here's my plan to make the world safer: Islamic studies in every school.

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Originally posted by BlazingBug:

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Originally posted by HKCavalier:
Here's my plan to make the world safer: Islamic studies in every school.

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I got a question too. Do they have to have Christianity studies in their schools?

Sorry to be a bit sarcastic, but it's not Americans who need fixing. And despite what you think the next statement will be, it's not Arabs either. It's the human race.

We're tribal; we define ourselves by our differences. We've been that way for millenia, and it has never changed.

And it never will.

"Wacky fun..."

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Originally posted by BlazingBug:

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Originally posted by HKCavalier:
Here's my plan to make the world safer: Islamic studies in every school.

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I got a question too. Do they have to have Christianity studies in their schools?

Sorry to be a bit sarcastic, but it's not Americans who need fixing. And despite what you think the next statement will be, it's not Arabs either. It's the human race.

We're tribal; we define ourselves by our differences. We've been that way for millenia, and it has never changed.

And it never will.

"Wacky fun..."

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The fact is we should be worrying about all our own problems before we try fixing others.

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Originally posted by SamuraiX47:
I would have to take issue with her about Kaylee's girlishness and her ability to handle engineering.

Quoting from her blog:

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The only element that didn't ring true to me was this little gamin girly they made the ship's mechanic. She sort of "intuits" the machinery of the ship -- not with alien powers, but just with a loveable girliness. I didn't believe it for one second, and pictured real mechanics groaning at the idiocy. The actress herself is completely charming. But really -- as an engineer? Bring back Scottie! But otherwise, don't change a thing.

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I know at least a dozen female engineers from a reputable engineering college in upstate NY, many of them are just as cute and feminine as Kaylee. Women are quite capable of comprehending engineering and mechanics.
Jaymes

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Originally posted by zoid:
Immediately remove all American troops and other representatives of the US government from Iraq -- maybe Saudi Arabia, too.

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Take the taxpayer dollars saved from supporting a standing military presence in those countries... And invest it in development and infrastructure retooling for hydrogen fuel cell-powered automobiles and other transportation. Explain this to the American taxpayer as "Fighting the Fuel War at Home" or something suitably catchy, but not directly attributable to foreign policy. The published goal: to be totally free of dependence on foreign fuel sources within ten years. Place an emphasis on this national goal on par with WWII's rationing/recycling and JFK's Moon mission efforts. Ad campaign, "You Are Doing Your Part" and government subsidies for fuel cell car buyers.

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Originally posted by KernelM:
Her problem is exactly that Kaylee _didn't_ go to any reputable engineering college (or any kind of formal training about ships at all, as implied in OOG). Whether you believe someone can "intuit" the workings of a fairly complex ship is up to you, but she certainly wasn't implying anything about the ability of women to be engineers.

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Cultivate a pseudo-isolationist stance from the rest of the world and its problems. Remain at a safe distance from destructive and hateful entities. Expel destructive and hateful entities from our borders. Gladly extend a helping hand to those who request it; bugger off as soon as they bite it, and never return. Invest money and own businesses in the Middle East, hire no Americans to work there.

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Oh, and if they attack us again, we go in lickety-split and whack 'em again; then pack up quietly and come back home. Do that enough times -- no rhetoric, just action -- and they'll start picking on weaker Westerners. I don't go for full isolationism: I like T. Roosevelt's "Speak softly and carry a big stick" policy.

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Originally posted by KernelM:
Her problem is exactly that Kaylee _didn't_ go to any reputable engineering college (or any kind of formal training about ships at all, as implied in OOG). Whether you believe someone can "intuit" the workings of a fairly complex ship is up to you, but she certainly wasn't implying anything about the ability of women to be engineers.

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Originally posted by Jared:

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Originally posted by KernelM:
Her problem is exactly that Kaylee _didn't_ go to any reputable engineering college (or any kind of formal training about ships at all, as implied in OOG). Whether you believe someone can "intuit" the workings of a fairly complex ship is up to you, but she certainly wasn't implying anything about the ability of women to be engineers.

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i cant talk for mechanics but dare to say that hardware and the workings of computers a halfway complex, too. and its sad to realize that you learned more in 10 years of just intensively using it and getting to know it than in 6 years of university. sure, you dont know all the fancy academic terms, but you develop a feeling for it. if my machine is acting strange im not digging out old and scripts (usually too abstract and theoretical to be of any use anyway) about operating systems or computers. you just feel where the problem probably is. so i have no problem believing that someone growing up around engines and mechanics also develops that kind of intuition.

at least i learned a lot by doing in my spare time and wasted tons of time with studies at university (but hey, now can i use fancy terminology to describe the complexity of an algorithm. instead of "forget it, do it that way and we will wait for the result til christmas" i can say "ohh.. but its np complete and has a complexity of O(n^10)".. guess what mal wouldnt want to hear ,-) )

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Originally posted by zoid:
Others fear that if we pull out, Germany, France and Russia in particular will rush in and snatch up all the oil in the region. Please see my stance on hydrogen fuel cell cars. How many millions of dollars per day are we spending on the war effort? Put that into weaning ourselves from petrochemicals for the next ten years

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I wrote many parts of this in ironic fashion, in an attempt to point out that while many people vehemently disapprove of the war effort, those same people still want 'peacekeepers' dying there. Having served 14 years of active military duty, I believe the US military has no business being policemen(persons?). It is a misuse of military power; and an abuse of the citizens who volunteer to risks their lives for their country, who now must sit around with targets painted on them when there is no organized government left to defeat.

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This job should be turned over to the UN immediately (if they want it or have the nerve for it), but we should be bringing our men and women home for good, in any case. I know some people want to brace up the area and provide stability, ya-da, ya-da; but the US is clearly too hated for that job, and the US soldier is wrong for any job other than killing enemies. It's a job they do better than anyone else in the world (and I couldn't be prouder of the fact). As policemen and 'peacekeepers', they are forced to stand in the open, in broken ranks, and not fire on suspected enemies until fired on first. We're sending them to the slaughter.

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Others fear that if we pull out, Germany, France and Russia in particular will rush in and snatch up all the oil in the region. Please see my stance on hydrogen fuel cell cars. How many millions of dollars per day are we spending on the war effort? Put that into weaning ourselves from petrochemicals for the next ten years, rather than having a standing army in the Middle East. Let the French, Germans and Russians -- or the entire UN for that matter -- try their hand stabilizing the area. I seriously doubt they'll have substantially more luck.

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The Middle East has been crazy, if not downright murderous and evil, since at least the 1940's. I don't suspect it will get any better, and I always believe it's the best thing for everyone involved to distance yourself from crazy, destructive people and countries.

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Oh, and if they attack us again, we go in lickety-split and whack 'em again; then pack up quietly and come back home. Do that enough times -- no rhetoric, just action -- and they'll start picking on weaker Westerners. I don't go for full isolationism: I like T. Roosevelt's "Speak softly and carry a big stick" policy.

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agree with most of what you said in your most recent post. Sorry I didn't get the irony in your first post. The UN should indeed take over the job (it should have in the first place (and it would have if the US had been more patient)). As it is you might be right and the US may be doing more harm than good, in which case they should withdraw. We just don't know, and it's probably a decision the people on ste should take.

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Not so sure whether you're being serious here, but shouldn't "we westeners" be working together? After all we still are in a strong military alliance. I also don't think terrorism will decrease because of military action, quite the opposite in fact, the more the US demonstrates its superiority the more pissed of everyone else will become. Terrorists aren't envious of your freedom, they're envious of your power, and terrorism is the only way they can still spite you.

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Originally posted by BrownCoat1:

I believe the entire world should be working together to end the threat of terrorism.

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These cowards (no pun intended) have shown that no country is safe from their attacks, and that they do not discriminate between man or woman, adult or child, old or young. This is a threat the entire world should commit manpower and resources toward to hunt down and stamp out.

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We need to stand together to show terrorists we will not tolerate them or their dishonorable tactics.

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Who is to say why terrorists do what they do, be it for religious, political, or simple human greed. Whatever it is, these people need to learn that the world will not tolerate death and terror as a means to arguing a point.

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Originally posted by KernelM:
This is going off-topic now, but you don't study computer science or engineering just to know how to program or fix computers.

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CS and CE is for people who want to actually really understand how computers work, and innovate on that.

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I remember scoffing at big-O notation in high school too, but I learned its importance in determining the relative efficiency of algorithms.

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Quicksort, OOP, structured programming, polymorphism, etc etc.

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Originally posted by KernelM:
Her problem is exactly that Kaylee _didn't_ go to any reputable engineering college (or any kind of formal training about ships at all, as implied in OOG).

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Originally posted by maugwai:
I don't know about you guys, but I never take my car to someone who speaks proper English all the time. Unless they grew up tinkering with engines in the garage, I'm not letting them near mine. I know a dozen redneck boys who never studied anything about cars in a classroom, and they can do amazing things with a vehicle. Engineering is a hands-on job. It's completely believable that Kaylee could learn by tinkering.

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