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A Day of Heroes
I have only made three off topic posts since I started here. I ask therefore a little forebearance from the moderators. I'd post this elsewhere, but this is a 'geek' post, and I don't know of a better place.
I'm from Baton Rouge, LA. Today, my school plays for a share of the national title of college football. Like all American males, and a good deal of the females, I have an abiding passion for football. I admit that I love the idea of team gladiatorial combat, albiet that I prefer the largely bloodless pursuit of moving an inflated pigskin around a grass field. Today, two teams will meet in simulated combat, display impressive atheletic ability, someone will take on the persona of a hero, the victor will be recorded on a roll for posterity, and everyone will watch and cheer and show great and possibly even fitting emotion.
This is all well and good. It is fundamentally American.
But if any name is to be remembered today, I would prefer it to be Steve Squyres. Steve is not going to play in the National Championship. Steve isn't even from LSU or Oklahoma. Steve is from Cornell. And to my knowledge, he isn't even a noteworthy football player. Steve is a scientist. More to the point, Steve is a space scientist who is the principal scientific investigator for all Mars rover missions.
Steve is a NASA egghead, and today the NASA eggheads claimed a greater victory than that which will be won on the football field tonight, and which deserves far greater interest, far greater applause, and far greater place in the history books than any atheletic accomplishment that will take place on even this very accomplished day.
You see, football is about the moment, but science is about our future. I play games like Vendetta because for now they are the closest nerds like me can get to being out among the stars. The eggheads today are securing our future, inventing the technologies that will be used for things we can't even imagine yet. I'm writing on a computer - a tool which was largely researched and developed from its primitive form in order to take man to the moon. Where that initial research not invested for that seemingly impossible goal, it might still be a few decades yet before anyone got around to spending the money to develop 'desktop computers'.
Seemingly trivial goals like getting to the moon, making games, or even playing football reap benifits far beyond the momentary thrill of victory they get. Bill Gates once said that he doubted anyone would ever need more computing power than a 486. That seems laughable until start asking what they needed all that extra power for. Certainly not for word processing. It is my opinion that the principal driving force in the PC market for more computing power has been the gamers. Without them, the only market for high performance would be a few CAD engineers, graphic artists, and computer programers. Without gamers, noone could afford Pentium 4's or high end graphic cards because the demand just wouldn't be there. Seeminly 'useless' pursuits create drive for new technologies, new understanding, and which ultimately makes it possible for every to by cheap computing power, cheap synthetic materials, and other things we take for granted. Football, though it is principally an atheletic pursuit, has been the driving force behind improved sports medicine (which is why the otherwise academically uninspiring University of Alabama is among the world leaders in this field) which ends up helping anyone that gets injured for any reason. People talk about jobs going overseas as newly developing economies start doing what we once did cheaper and better than we do it, just as we at one time did those cheaper and better than those that came before us. As long as we got heroes like Steve Squyres advancing the frontiers of understanding and trying things that haven't been tried before, you can be sure that new jobs will be created to do things that nobody has done before, and that somewhere people will be out living that American dream of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Even on days, like today, when a portion of that dream is being carried out on the soil of another planet.
And I would argue that space exploration is about the least useless pursuit we could engage in, but this post is going to be long enough as it is.
We eggheads maybe outnumbered, but I hope that today there will be as many people aspiring to geek greatness as are aspiring to conquer the gridiron and toss an accurate pigskin.
And for all those geeks out there that are and might be listening, I just wanted you to know that someone is cheering for you.
I'm from Baton Rouge, LA. Today, my school plays for a share of the national title of college football. Like all American males, and a good deal of the females, I have an abiding passion for football. I admit that I love the idea of team gladiatorial combat, albiet that I prefer the largely bloodless pursuit of moving an inflated pigskin around a grass field. Today, two teams will meet in simulated combat, display impressive atheletic ability, someone will take on the persona of a hero, the victor will be recorded on a roll for posterity, and everyone will watch and cheer and show great and possibly even fitting emotion.
This is all well and good. It is fundamentally American.
But if any name is to be remembered today, I would prefer it to be Steve Squyres. Steve is not going to play in the National Championship. Steve isn't even from LSU or Oklahoma. Steve is from Cornell. And to my knowledge, he isn't even a noteworthy football player. Steve is a scientist. More to the point, Steve is a space scientist who is the principal scientific investigator for all Mars rover missions.
Steve is a NASA egghead, and today the NASA eggheads claimed a greater victory than that which will be won on the football field tonight, and which deserves far greater interest, far greater applause, and far greater place in the history books than any atheletic accomplishment that will take place on even this very accomplished day.
You see, football is about the moment, but science is about our future. I play games like Vendetta because for now they are the closest nerds like me can get to being out among the stars. The eggheads today are securing our future, inventing the technologies that will be used for things we can't even imagine yet. I'm writing on a computer - a tool which was largely researched and developed from its primitive form in order to take man to the moon. Where that initial research not invested for that seemingly impossible goal, it might still be a few decades yet before anyone got around to spending the money to develop 'desktop computers'.
Seemingly trivial goals like getting to the moon, making games, or even playing football reap benifits far beyond the momentary thrill of victory they get. Bill Gates once said that he doubted anyone would ever need more computing power than a 486. That seems laughable until start asking what they needed all that extra power for. Certainly not for word processing. It is my opinion that the principal driving force in the PC market for more computing power has been the gamers. Without them, the only market for high performance would be a few CAD engineers, graphic artists, and computer programers. Without gamers, noone could afford Pentium 4's or high end graphic cards because the demand just wouldn't be there. Seeminly 'useless' pursuits create drive for new technologies, new understanding, and which ultimately makes it possible for every to by cheap computing power, cheap synthetic materials, and other things we take for granted. Football, though it is principally an atheletic pursuit, has been the driving force behind improved sports medicine (which is why the otherwise academically uninspiring University of Alabama is among the world leaders in this field) which ends up helping anyone that gets injured for any reason. People talk about jobs going overseas as newly developing economies start doing what we once did cheaper and better than we do it, just as we at one time did those cheaper and better than those that came before us. As long as we got heroes like Steve Squyres advancing the frontiers of understanding and trying things that haven't been tried before, you can be sure that new jobs will be created to do things that nobody has done before, and that somewhere people will be out living that American dream of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Even on days, like today, when a portion of that dream is being carried out on the soil of another planet.
And I would argue that space exploration is about the least useless pursuit we could engage in, but this post is going to be long enough as it is.
We eggheads maybe outnumbered, but I hope that today there will be as many people aspiring to geek greatness as are aspiring to conquer the gridiron and toss an accurate pigskin.
And for all those geeks out there that are and might be listening, I just wanted you to know that someone is cheering for you.
do i get twice the cheers cause i'm a geek AND i play football?
No. You get cheers for one or t'other. You pick. :P
Erm... I think I get it...
Summary: Steve Squyres is a nerd, and nerds rule, because they make stuff better.
:P
Summary: Steve Squyres is a nerd, and nerds rule, because they make stuff better.
:P
"do i get twice the cheers cause i'm a geek AND i play football?"
No, but you maybe get twice the satisfaction.
No, but you maybe get twice the satisfaction.
...wow... that was long and great.
just curious Sam, what position?
just curious Sam, what position?
Defencive line.
Defencive, eh? Next thing you tell you have 100m wireless cable.
(Mocking Americans about their spelling is just priceless)
(Mocking Americans about their spelling is just priceless)
Lol, Blitz. Mocking non-Americans about their punctuation is just as fun! (When you have sentences inside parentheses, the period goes inside them as well.)
Celebrim, excellent post--you have very good style and prose. Are you a journalism/literature major? Just wondering.
/me hugs his copy of "A Beautiful Mind," "geeks rule!"
Celebrim, excellent post--you have very good style and prose. Are you a journalism/literature major? Just wondering.
/me hugs his copy of "A Beautiful Mind," "geeks rule!"
They should show this stuff on tv here, nobody is interested in science anymore :( -- altough we do now have a Discovery HappyMeal here! ha! that should teach them >:)
"Defensive" by the way is the proper American spelling.
"proper American spelling" being an oxymoron unto itself.
As are "worthwhile election candidate" and "government intelligence".
"Defensive" by the way is the proper American spelling.
Yeah, I live in an ex-british colony (New Zealand) so our spelling and language is "The Queens English". A year or so ago, I had a tutor at University who had just moved here from the US. In my first report for her, she corrected all my spelling mistakes... it was quite funny at the time.
Yeah, I live in an ex-british colony (New Zealand) so our spelling and language is "The Queens English". A year or so ago, I had a tutor at University who had just moved here from the US. In my first report for her, she corrected all my spelling mistakes... it was quite funny at the time.
There are alot of differences in minor differences in spelling between Webster's and Oxford's, but I don't believe 'defensive' is one of the them.
Still, I don't believe even the English still pronounce 'nation' as 'Nat-e-on', but instead use Webster's practice of saying 'Na-shen' (as in the Old English 'nacioun') despite the fact that the word uses the Norman French spelling and was pronounced that way by educated Englishmen for quite a long time. And in any event, its ridiculous to blame Americans for their poor spelling considering the hodge-podge spelling systems were inherited from the English and have undergone only the most minimal amounts of simplification in America leading to what should be the expected result that Americans - like all English speakers - are on average pretty atrocious spellers. And we won't even discuss how badly the language is mauled by the poor folks that have to learn our dear chaotic language.
But I'm not complaining. English's ability to adapt to pretty much anyone's native tongue and be recognizable, and its willingness to readily adopt foreign vocabulary is its secret strength which makes it so readily a ligua franca. We could have a long debate just among English speakers about what word 'ration' rhymes with, and how to say the word 'hour' but unlike some other languages most English dialects are readily understandable to any other English speaker. And English's wide range of consonate and vowel sounds plus it diverse linguistic heritage gives it a range and subtlty which is simply unparalleled in any other tongue. As a writer, its alot of fun to make use of English, because there is a word for almost every shade of meaning and a metaphor for every hue of thought. There is a poetic asonance and alliteration for almost every concept I turn my mind, so that I can make even blank prose sing. And the whole of the language doesn't stay dead, but throbs and pulses daily with new life like some vivant philantrophist on vacation in an exotic land.
But as for the insinuation that we Americans are stupid, I don't think it deserves a response.
Still, I don't believe even the English still pronounce 'nation' as 'Nat-e-on', but instead use Webster's practice of saying 'Na-shen' (as in the Old English 'nacioun') despite the fact that the word uses the Norman French spelling and was pronounced that way by educated Englishmen for quite a long time. And in any event, its ridiculous to blame Americans for their poor spelling considering the hodge-podge spelling systems were inherited from the English and have undergone only the most minimal amounts of simplification in America leading to what should be the expected result that Americans - like all English speakers - are on average pretty atrocious spellers. And we won't even discuss how badly the language is mauled by the poor folks that have to learn our dear chaotic language.
But I'm not complaining. English's ability to adapt to pretty much anyone's native tongue and be recognizable, and its willingness to readily adopt foreign vocabulary is its secret strength which makes it so readily a ligua franca. We could have a long debate just among English speakers about what word 'ration' rhymes with, and how to say the word 'hour' but unlike some other languages most English dialects are readily understandable to any other English speaker. And English's wide range of consonate and vowel sounds plus it diverse linguistic heritage gives it a range and subtlty which is simply unparalleled in any other tongue. As a writer, its alot of fun to make use of English, because there is a word for almost every shade of meaning and a metaphor for every hue of thought. There is a poetic asonance and alliteration for almost every concept I turn my mind, so that I can make even blank prose sing. And the whole of the language doesn't stay dead, but throbs and pulses daily with new life like some vivant philantrophist on vacation in an exotic land.
But as for the insinuation that we Americans are stupid, I don't think it deserves a response.
"But as for the insinuation that we Americans are stupid, I don't think it deserves a response."
Bah... You know we are, as a whole... Lots of smart people, but way too many idiots...
/me nudges the thread towards off-topic
Bah... You know we are, as a whole... Lots of smart people, but way too many idiots...
/me nudges the thread towards off-topic
No further nudging was needed. We've been plummeting for quite some time.
I'm with Celebrim on this one.
But how does lieutenant end up being pronounced "left-tenant"?
[locked]
I'm with Celebrim on this one.
But how does lieutenant end up being pronounced "left-tenant"?
[locked]