Quote:
Originally Posted by drmiller100
So to the other dreamers out there, step up. TRY THINGS. You learn so much more by TRYING
|
Geeez, here I am again, going off topic. I agree with everything you say, except perhaps for your take on my support of academia. In most respects, I think academia sucks. Completely. Its function (for the most part) is to stamp out droids to fill slots in corporate America, where independent thought is (duplicitously) encouraged by word and strongly discouraged by deed. It is somewhat coincidental that in later life, I've run into one helpful prof after another, and many do all sorts of things (building not one but several aircraft, for example) in addition to publishing reams of academic stuff.
Core values, innovation, "Our most important asset is our people" (of whom we just laid off 10,000 to drive up our stock price)... yada yada -- all that corp speak makes me gag. But again, I've met some guys from Japan who treat hands-on engine work as art. I went to a race prep school at Honda, where a guy showed me how to hone a cylinder the "right" way... by hand, with emory paper. He was making love to the cylinder: slow, smooth, in-out, in-out with carefully matched twist... No surprise that while the American manufactures were complaining about how hard it was to meet EPA standards, Honda was exceeding them and making it look easy.
Then there is the maturity thing. I am a kid at heart, and every bit as susceptible to "immature" acts as you, I'd think. Given that I am still this way at age 61, I doubt that I'll ever grow up in any meaningful sense.
Actually, amazingly, I don't think about sex all the time, but I like this true story: I was working for a huge tire company, and talked with a seasoned industrial engineer about a newby going to interview the plant's best tire builder (fastest production rate, lowest scrap and repair rate). The newby asked the builder how he was able to produce good tires at such a high rate. He said he thought about sex all the time. The newby sought clarification: "Surely you must think about the techniques you use on the job a lot." "No. I think about sex: all. the. time."
The newby wanted stuff like "I repositioned the hot knife holder, and I cut from left to right instead of right to left." But no. Got the truth instead. Where does that fit on the form?
I wish this forum had an "off-topic" facility, like CR4 does. You can vote yourself off topic, and your post is minimized, so can be easily skipped over. It permits jokes, side discussion that are prompted by a thread but which are not really needing their own thread, etc. etc. You have hit on a lot in your short post, and it is valuable stuff about which I might otherwise say more... but I've already posted a ton that has little to do with the original thread topic.
Thanks.