NYCPHP Meetup

[Webmaster]

OK OK, STOP giving Peter LSD guys... :P

Peter Sawczynec wrote:
> Think of the quickly growing popularity of tags on the internet which
> show graphically the (expected and often unexpected) relationships
> between ideas and concepts in the results of a topic search. 
>
> Or think of the movie Cube (also Cube 2, Cube 3) which is essentially
> about some mathematical construct that shows that when you are
> positioned inside a cube that theoretically all six of the inside walls
> of your cube are simultaneously acting as the outside wall of a whole
> set of cubes that are all pressed against each of the walls of your
> cube. And all those cubes have more cubes pressing against their walls.
> Creating this infinite expanse of cubes that are all interlocked by the
> touching cube walls.
>
> I forget even the theoretical purpose of this infinite cube construct or
> why scientists have devised it, but it does seem to vividly show how
> everything is connected rather infinitely and complexly. And that nature
> is infinitely complex and interrelated at all levels from micro to the
> massively macro scale of super complex galaxy groups that are bonded by
> gravitational pull. 
>
> Bear in mind there is a known psychological profile that shows that some
> people really don't want maximum success, that they purposefully
> self-sabotage their maximum career success because they have deep
> personal feelings that are at odds with their ambitions. Commonly, as it
> turns out, on a deeply personal level many people really just don't like
> the constant responsibility associated with maximum career success.  Or,
> of course, many people have serious issues with money: they feel it is
> dirty, not a noble objective, very material and that the desire to gain
> heaps of money is a bad reflection on their otherwise more pure personal
> ethic. And if money was a bitter family contention when one was a child,
> those bittersweet memories may make many like kryptonite in your hands. 
>
> The net net of this note is that this webmaster test discussion quickly
> uncovered how everything that is going on in one's life is all
> intertwined: business choices and paths, education history, friendship
> model, the feng shui of your home and neighborhood, even your health
> issues and how you eat, how you decide to express and present yourself,
> even how you deal with your sleeping dreams: all these matters are
> interrelated and affecting the moment by moment outcome of everything in
> your life. (Did you know it has been shown that people who sleep next to
> each other affect the content each other's dreams, even causing each
> other's dreaming to start and stop in harmony.)
>
> One may need to look into many aspects of their life to find where is
> the crux of the current obstacle/problem/issue(s) at hand: is the
> stumbling block here in the task that is before me or over there where I
> never eat right at breakfast and then I cannot concentrate. Or eating
> too little for extended periods makes me somewhat grouchy and sharp
> tongued causing me to appear flinty with coworkers when not intended. Or
> is a toothache I don't correct distracting me at all times... 
>
> The webmaster test thread shows clearly how everything (seems like
> everything) is interrelated and you cannot discuss or look for the
> answer to an issue within a single sphere of life/business. Look a layer
> up or down, look a strata to the left. It is all a sliding scale of
> grays, even what appears black and white is just real dark and very
> light gray.
>
> Peter  
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: talk-bounces at lists.nyphp.org [mailto:talk-bounces at lists.nyphp.org]
> On Behalf Of David Krings
> Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 11:43 PM
> To: NYPHP Talk
> Subject: Re: [nycphp-talk] Re: OT: webmaster test
>
> Christopher R. Merlo wrote:
>   
>> On Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 5:02 PM, David Krings <ramons at gmx.net 
>> <mailto:ramons at gmx.net>> wrote:
>>
>>     A university is supposed to train interested candidates in a field
>>     of choice with the goal to make them subject matter experts in
>>     
> that
>   
>>     field.
>>
>>
>> That's actually not true, and your apparent belief in this untruth is 
>> probably what has led to your seemingly very strongly felt distaste
>>     
> for 
>   
>> university education.
>>     
>
> Huh? I got two university degrees and did so voluntarily. So what you
> say is 
> clearly not the case. My point is that someone who for example takes a
> BSEE 
> program at Alfred State College is required to have 132 credits for 
> graduation. From those 132 credits 60 credit hours are for liberal arts 
> classes and other sciences that are non-major. Not all of those may be
> totally 
> off topic, but I don't get why a BSEE student has to take american
> history 
> again or take an arts course (or even more than just one). The 13 years
> K-12 
> ought to have covered that. I also think that a high school graduate
> should be 
> capable of properly expressing thoughts in speech and writing and not
> needing 
> yet another round of English courses. I got my BSEE degree at a non-US 
> university in a seven semester program with a total of 154 credits and
> as 
> mentioned before only 3 courses were not that much related to
> engineering.
>
>   
>> The purpose of a college or university is to provide the student with
>>     
> an 
>   
>> education, so that the student may go on to contribute back to
>>     
> society.  
>
> Ah, c'mon! Reading books to children or planting trees or donating blood
> or 
> driving people to their doctor's appointments - that is giving back to 
> society. Getting a university degree is for the sake of getting a better
> job 
> with better pay and ideally get some more exposure to a subject that one
>
> likes. How does getting a degree in finance and becoming a greedy
> investment 
> banker give back to society? I can see getting a degree in social work
> being 
> something that gives back to society. Or do you mean that graduates get
> better 
> paying jobs and thus pay more taxes and that helps funding government
> programs?
>
>
> I agree with the rest that you wrote and I don't think it collides with
> what I 
> wrote earlier. My point is that compared to other countries US
> universities 
> focus way too much on a broad education rather than on transferring 
> specialized skills and knowledge of a specific subject. And I think that
> is 
> why foreign workers especially in IT have an advantage. I'm not saying
> that an 
> extra writing course is useless or that art history is utterly
> unimportant, 
> but I think that is something that shouldn't be part of a university
> program.
>
> David
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