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| I recognize this is another rant, but today I went to an ASCE - sponsored talk. I must say that some of the people at USC are the kindest and most helpful people I have encountered on any campus, when it comes to giving directions to a particular location. But I digress. The talk was about the reason why gas prices should increase. So, with my environmentalist all-ears up to the plate, I went to give it a listen. But the atmosphere could not be more reminiscent of the few things I hated about college. Cliques, phony people, and dress clothes. A lot of them - students from regional colleges - showed up wearing dress attire. I'm not sure what that was about, but I figured most of them would have jobs and just got off work or an internship. Suffice it to say though, that any profession which judges a credibility of merit or technical competence by exterior appearances - or even suggests a relation between the two - is just plain wrong.
I found myself thinking "Is this a business meeting? Maybe I don't belong here." Business and politics are the two most superficial and morally degenerate professions, so naturally, they would invariably have to put on an excellent decor on the outside. This is not to suggest that formal attire is bad. I just personally think that it is superfluous in certain circumstances. A bunch of loud youngsters - younger than even myself - chatting in a room with the usual clique demarcations shouldn't all be wearing such clothing. It was a little bit disturbing to me. Even I was only wearing semi-casual. This whole fashion crap has me wondering where peoples' morals have gone.
So there I was, as naturally the loner that I am. Future general advice: when in a room of cliques, leave immediately.
I am finding that sometimes it is difficult to communicate with certain friends, only to later think that they were perhaps never really your friends in the first place. It is likely a product of my social incompetence with members of the opposite sex, and it is never intentional. I'm sure these people must frame me next in virtues to Satan himself, with diabolical plans to pilfer and cheat all of womankind just because I didn't return certain phone calls or let them know I was moving out of San Diego. Anyhow that was long ago. It pisses me off, and when I can't do anything to influence them, it makes me depressed as well. | | |
| I am fervently trying to develop my transportation. Today I received a flame-war-like email, from a developer of a similar transportation technology trying to attack me personally. This is hurtful, but it is a useful glimpse and wake-up call at the dirty, underhanded, immoral, and disgusting nature of the business jungle that may lurk beyond my horizons. Erik Olin Wright's statement on political struggle is applicable to the business jungle as well: victory is not possible without hard-fought victories and losers who will have to pay.
Generally, the business (capitalist) jungle contrasts greatly to the scientific world. The latter generally has much less dishonesty and greater courtesy in communication and discourse. I had the privilege last month of meeting the esteemed climate scientist Michael Mann on a talk at Long Beach. He is very courteous, amicable, and a kind-hearted person. These are exactly the traits that more aggressive professions (law, politics, and business) would attempt to take advantage of. The smear and distortion played out by those latter groups amounts to nothing short of my contempt. As a result, moreover, the American public is confused about the reality of man-made climate change, more so than many European, Latin American, and East Asian countries. They identify man-made global warming as a fabrication by Al Gore and the liberals, even though he was interested in climate change before he went into politics. The whole American discourse over man-made global warming is, in the late Stephen Schneider's words, a cacophonous, fraudulent debate.
I find it odd that scientists are accused of a worldwide conspiracy when they generally have more trouble communicating. Dr. Mann himself filled his speeches with "umms," "uhhs," and stammers. Scientists aren't meant to be rhetoricians, but more than adequately compensate for the lack in verbal skill with quantitative reasoning. The people who communicate well - lawyers, politicians, and businessmen - are more likely to form conspiracies. This has happened in the past, with a prominent example being Los Angeles' transportation infrastructure. But accusing scientists of a worldwide cabal is just a smear attempt and completely fraudulent.
Their aim is not to be accurate nor to be honest. It is to buy time to create straw-men arguments, sow confusion, and continue the cacophony so that by the time they are proven wrong (time and again), the innuendo is sufficiently inculcated and the echo chamber self-sustaining. That is how the denialist canon works. | | |
| This year is the first time I will deal with holidays closer to my ideological leanings: buy nothing to fight consumerism, materialism, and capitalism. It is along the spirit of celebrating a holiday through sincere emotions, rather than material desire. The film "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" is also along this line of thinking. | | |
| Completed a century last Thanksgiving break. It set a new personal distance record (131 miles) and a new average speed (15 mph), significantly higher than the last two centuries on December 2008 and August 2009. I am now absolutely convinced that with my relatively poor native physical stamina, I cannot possibly do these centuries without the use of a sub-20-lb. road bike.
Work is taking too much time out of my life. Sometimes I feel as though I should quit, because the commute both ways is about 1 hour each way. A former co-worker who left for work closer to his home now has 1 hour extra time each day to spend on sleep, food, chores, or other work. For me, I want to spend more time to dedicate to my transportation plan. But how can I do it? I'm still trying to figure it out.
There are plenty of reasons why I should jump ship to other walks of life, too. Pursuing further education is one of them, because that will slow down time just a bit. It feels that time has passed far too quickly when one works. Every day is the same old routine. In a way, it's a bit like returning to the old high school regimen. The college life was way better. It seems that professors have it that way too. | | |
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