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adsii1970

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  1. I have that one, too. But on vinyl. Good album. Did you ever have They Nylon Curtain?
  2. That ages me. The very first album I bought was on vinyl. An actual album. Here's a picture of the cover: And my favorite song on that album from all those years ago? (Don't laugh, @Just Jim!) I heard it on SiriusXM yesterday and had to pull out the CDs. I can already see many on the forum cringing already...
  3. Eve 3, Y004 "The slow passage of time, adrift in space." MISSION DAY +21.75 Chapter 86 Now that I'm back in my quarters and Karloff has this watch, it's an excellent time to catch up on the activities of today and yesterday. I know the Committee on Aeronautics and Spaceflight insists that what began as my journal is now the official mission log whenever a vessel under my command is on a mission. Gene reminded me in the last data packet that my journals needed to be more frequent rather than having large gaps between entries. Anything more of a personal nature is required to indicate that it was my "personal log" and not part of the official mission log. I wonder if there is other life in the universe, and if that other intelligent life -- if they have to deal with what we call loodons -- Kermen who make up rules to force others to follow those stupid rules! Our Grand Committee is full of loodons. And unfortunately, Gene and the rest of us in the space program must obey their every rule. Yesterday was relatively quiet. There were a few minor course corrections we had to make. Although Prime Consul Katrine's orders caught everyone off guard, I'm glad our mission has been extended for the sake of our engineering team. The schematics Dr. Angelo provided in the cargo pod specifically for Commander Karloff contained plans for the complete rewiring schematic for the command pod. In the command crew briefing at what would have been late evening KSC time yesterday, Karloff mumbled something like, "Wow, the command deck is supposed to have more lighting?" and with that, touched his communications pad and sent a message for Ensign Triy and Lieutenant Obion meet him on the command deck after the briefing was over. For the next three hours, I watched as nearly every panel and station was ripped apart, new wiring and new interfaces were installed, and sparks would sometimes shoot up from wherever they were working. A few times, Karloff would let out a loud shriek of pain, followed by an unnerving and wicked laugh. But once all the panels and stations were reassembled, Commander Karloff looked at me and said, "Sir, now the moment of truth. Want me to turn on the lights?" And quoting the old texts from the stories of our ancestorial King Tut-Un Jeb-Ahn of legend, I shouted, "May the light of Kerbol shine upon us!" Karloff's smile stretched across his face as he reached down on the primary steerage panel, pressed the internal lights button, and -- a spark shot out! "Now, that's not supposed to happen -- " But before he could finish his sentence, the lights of the command deck flickered from their usual dim glow and began to grow brighter. "Uh, commander," I asked, in a concerned tone. "Our center screen isn't --" "Yes, sir!" Karloff interjected rather excitedly. "Dr. Angelo has new software and hardware I need to install. It will be offline for another thirty minutes. I've already rewired everything under the deck panels that needed to be rewired. Everything that needs to be upgraded now is within the ship's computer or on the screen itself." "Well, commander," I added, "then I suggest you get busy. "Lieutenant Hildi's watch begins in two hours -- " "She'll be done by then, sir." He explained. "According to Dr. Angelo's schematics and instructions, I'll be done in thirty minutes. I don't see any potential problems at this point." And true to his word and the estimate provided by Dr. Angelo, the remaining work was completed in a little less than thirty minutes. The center screen now had features we had asked about in our first after-mission report but was never implemented. We could display the content from any of the screens of the various bridge stations, the external cameras, the ship's trajectory, and communications directly on the center screen. The screen has even more potential, but Karloff said those features would have to be installed once we returned to the Zebulan Kerbin for our major refit. Once Commander Karloff and his merry band of space mechanics were done with the bridge upgrades, off they went to work on computer interfaces within the engineering section. These upgrades were software upgrades with the understanding they would rebalance the engines to conserve our onboard fuel supply. The actual engine upgrades would happen once we return from this mission. Dr. Angelo and Dr. Wernher had included a list of things the next refit would consist of, and at the top of the list was an all-new drive system for the Excursion. The current drive system is highly inefficient, and without a mid-point refueling, we would never have been able to return to Minmus as we are now. We were barely able to return to Kerbin as it was. There will be changes to the superstructure of the ship, too. The slanted docking ports will be removed because we rarely use them. Although it was believed that having docking ports at various angles would allow this ship to be more versatile, it has proven to be more of a design flaw. Other changes will be made, too, such as removing the "podded wings," as we call them, the extensions that hold crew quarters away from the command deck hull. Initially, the Excursion began as a modular design, but those "podded wings" were hard-welded into place over the first few refits. Yesterday's data packet contained information about the shuttle, Jala Kerman. The last time we heard anything about the shuttle was when communication had been lost during the previous minor anomaly when contact was lost as the shuttle began its deorbit burn. Last night's data packet contained information about what happened to the shuttle, where she landed, and her newest mission. It turns out that the shuttle Jala Kerman made an emergency landing at Tulum station without the aid of anything other than radio communications and guidance. Jala Kerman returned to space yesterday afternoon with the first crew of engineers and scientists in preparation for our return in eleven days. This crew, selected by Dr. Angelo and Dr. Wernher, will be doing the bulk of the work on the refit of the Excursion. Yesterday's launch was perfect; as the countdown could be heard on the loudspeakers at the KSC launchpad, everyone aboard the Excursion's small conference room was as excited as I was. I know many Kermen already see shuttle launches as routine, but I do not think I will ever consider any launch that way. "Mission Control, this is Jala Kerman," this was the first time I could hear the shuttle commander's voice above the chatter of my crew. "Request 'go' for roll." "Hey, Captain," Hildi asked, "where's the beep?" She was right! Unlike the previous shuttle launches we had been sent in our data pack, this one didn't contain any beeps. It was then it hit me -- the audio was obvious. The file's audio part was more static-free than we had ever heard. "Well, Ensign," Karloff began, "if you bothered to read all the data packet the Captain shared, you would have read that Dr. Angelo's team has been trying to improve communications between the KSC, the tracking stations, and spacecraft. This is part of the new communications systems." I'll admit, it's a lot of improvement in a week. According to the data packet, this most recent communication upgrade, the same one that the Excursion had installed on our last refit, is referred to as "Phase Two" communications. The shuttles have been retrofitted for now, and all stations and the Excursion have it, in addition to the KSC and New Kerbin City's communications center. Our next refit will see "Phase Three" communications, where we will have direct live video communications, albeit initially limited to just the KSC available. Everything already has this ability, but it is limited to audio-only. There is limited live video capacity, but only in low Kerbin orbit. This upgrade will make it possible throughout Kerbin's sphere of influence and possibly beyond. With the roll complete, the Jala Kerman continued her journey into space. The information in the data packet shows that the shuttle is rapidly becoming too limited in its ability to meet the needs of the space program. When Dr. Wernher initially designed it, his vision was it would be servicing stations in Kerbin's orbit. But Gene saw an opportunity to use it for much more than that. He saw it as a freight platform from the KSC into low Kerbin orbit. We watched and listened as she continued her burn into low Kerbin orbit. Then she reached the second significant milestone of her trip - the four solid rocket boosters were jettisoned and fell back to the surface. Although the chase craft and cameras were focused on the Jala Kerman, we all had watched launches before. Soon, the solid rocket boosters' parachutes would deploy, land in the water near the KSC, and be recovered and sent off for refurbishment. Now, the shuttle and the external fuel tank would continue its journey. The separation happened without any significant issues. We watched as the shuttle rolled away from the now-discarded external fuel tank, shifted its orbit, and prepared for the next part of its mission, the rendezvous, and docking with the Zebulan Kerman. As the following mission report filled the screen, we watched as the crew of the Discovery IV continued their mission to determine the status of the Mün Arch Station. The decision was made early in the station's development to leave a crew landing craft in orbit of the Mün. Unlike the video and audio from the Jala Kerman mission, this one was still full of beeps. But as Karloff pointed out, one-time-use space capsules would not be retrofitted. Only newly constructed capsules would feature the new system. "Discovery IV, this is KSC Control, [BEEP]." It was easy to tell it was Bobak. "We read you. Retraction of solar panels complete. We have received your telemetry. You may proceed with docking with the crew landing vehicle [BEEP]." "Roger, KSC Control." It was the voice of Lieutenant Commander Orvin. "We are now picking up the CLV on our radar. However, we are not receiving any data from its flight computer." "Roger, Discovery IV, [BEEP]." Bobak's voice still sounded confident. "You'll encounter it over the horizon." We watched as the Discovery IV crossed over the terminator, and as Kerbol's light was again visible on the surface of the Mün, the CLV was now in sight. We watched as the two craft came closer together and eventually docked. We listened as Bobak gave the new set of instructions to the crew. They were to land at the Mün Arch Station, see what repairs the station needs, and return to Kerbin. Our mission continues. We did the first of three major maneuver burns earlier this morning on our return to Minmus. I admit the improved lighting on the command deck does make it easier to see what's happening. The improvement to the central screen is quite impressive. Sure, Karloff was able to rig a system where we could see the ship's trajectory on the screen before this update. Dr. Angelo never knew that -- but this new upgrade improves the quality of the display. One of the things about all the space adventure shows we get in the data packets is unless you're orbiting a planet, there's no concept of horizontal alignment. I had a pretty good laugh in the last data packet. One of the Committee on Aeronautics and Space Exploration members became upset at how often the command deck recordings show us flying not with a horizontal orientation of Kerbin. As I relayed the situation to Gene earlier this afternoon, he replied, "What do you expect from a Kerman who has never left the ground!" As we began our burn, I started thinking of all the changes the next refit would bring to this ship. The current configuration has developed from observations of what worked and didn't. The existing command deck is nearly three times the size of the original command deck. We've learned that spaceships must have some form of symmetry along their axis, or the unequal mass distribution causes severe issues. I've also seen my crew expand in size. I now have a crew of five; when we leave orbit next time, we will have a crew of eight. From what Gene has said, the decision to increase the crew's size is based on the need expressed by Karloff for more engineering staff and Hildi's request for an additional person to create a medical team. "Captain," Lieutenant Obion said, "we are coming up on the maneuver node in fifteen minutes." Obion had spent much of today following Karloff around and assisting with updates. Instead of asking to change the rotation schedule, he kept his assigned shift on the command deck. This is another reason for the increased crew size. Longer missions require more crew. With the burn behind us, the next maneuver node will be in another two days. That one will place us on a course to intercept Minmus in four days, nearly a day and a half ahead of schedule. From what the information in the data stick said, Dr. Angelo, Dr. Wernher, and Dr. Haywood are already discussing the next generation of propulsion systems that will be installed beyond our upcoming refit. Gene has claimed these new propulsion systems are nothing more than a hypothetical discussion, but to me, they are fascinating. Dr. Angelo believes that one day, we will be able to travel to Minmus in a matter of hours rather than days and Duna in a matter of days rather than years -- "Captain," I recognized the voice of Triy anywhere. "We have a data packet coming in marked sensitive, restricted delivery." "Route it here, ensign," I said. Suddenly that feeling of uneasiness hit me. These should be the operational orders the Prime Consul mentioned two days ago. The familiar sound of the magnetic locks securing my cabin door could be heard, followed by the familiar glow of blue lights indicating the room was secure. Maxbas was still at the port side botany lab, working on a project involving some growth pods she was sent in the last cargo pod. Although her clearance was the same as Karloff's, I still had to be careful with what information I released to the crew -- including her. As I entered the authentication code, I could not believe the specifics of the orders: These were not just to "go back and see if you can find the alien craft" orders. These were "go back and scan, attempt contact; if no contact, dock and board" orders. Our last encounter wasn't so great. We bumped into the alien craft. This time, we are going to be doing something different. For now, I think I will keep these orders from the crew. The problem I must deal with is how to downplay this mission's dangers without having the crew disregard the risk. Some of the younger members of the crew are already uneasy about returning to Minmus. Maxbas is one of them. If I am not careful in presenting the mission orders to them, I could lose the support of the crew. If the crew does not support this mission, mistakes will be made. This is one mission we don't have much room for mistakes.
  4. Nah, but maybe @AlamoVampire is out and about somewhere.
  5. Several posts have been removed from this thread. As a reminder, the forum guidelines, which we all must agree to as we create a user account to access this forum state: Forum guideline 2.2d: Insults and threats, stalking, bullying or any other behavior construed to be of a potentially rude, slanderous, accusatory, combative or otherwise harassing nature to/of another person; Forum guideline 2.2n: Flamebaiting, trolling or any other messages made for the purpose of stirring up and otherwise getting a rise from users; Just as a reminder, the OP of the post is about the user interface of KSP2, and by extension, it's comparison to KSP1 and other related games and real world examples can be used. It is okay to discuss the merits of your preference and to discuss why you disagree with other's opinions. It is not acceptable to be disrespectful, to troll, or belittle others who have an opinion you disagree with.
  6. Is someone who better not go to a place that serves frog legs.
  7. Don't be. The forum is here to help you get the most out of the KSP experience! It's full of helpful players.
  8. If something is important to you in the forum, always save a bookmark in your browser. That's what I do. I have an entire folder within my bookmarks called "KSP Mod OP bookmarks," one called "interesting threads," and another called "Forum games." The forum software is rather stupid at times. There are a lot of times when we, as moderators, have to move stuff around to keep the flow of the forum/threads/subjects where they go. Otherwise, chaos would reign supreme. Disorder and chaos are never good!
  9. That is as a moderation post, not a “it’s playtime post” and the opening sentence states it quite clearly.
  10. Hey, folks, as much as I enjoy tinkering in this thread, it's time for me to put on my moderator's hat... The object of this thread is to "guess who will reply next," for as long as I've participated in this thread, there have been some who have pinged and some who have not pinged who they think will be the next forum member to reply. That's fine. Have fun if you only ping ONE FORUM MEMBER in your post. However, it is not okay to embed the game OP thread, other threads, or any other links into your post. Please keep your posts ON THE TOPIC OF THE THREAD.
  11. For those interested, I said in the June 2023 Threads of the Month that a lot happened in the last weeks of May and the first week of June, preventing me from getting it done as promptly as I liked. And I said I would post a status update to let those of you interested know what was going on.

    It is no secret that I work as a part-time faculty member at a local community college and a local university. I teach undergraduate and graduate courses; depending on the semester, I may teach four to seven courses. This past semester, I found myself doing the one thing I loathe - I became an administrator temporarily. This was in addition to teaching four classes and taking a graduate course (working on a second doctorate). So, yeah.

  12. Life on the university campus:
    (Spring 2023 Semester, Second posting)

    The best way to sum up this semester?

    Wow, that was one brutal semester.

    Where do I even begin? Maybe once I finish posting grades I can share.

     

  13. 3xnaEvT.png

    And now for something a little different.

    Each semester, I make an effort to get to the lecture hall at least twenty minutes early. This gives students a chance to freely talk with me before the scheduled class starts. From the first day of the semester, I encourage students to speak freely and let's discuss, at that time, the things on their minds. Since this "off the cuff" discussion isn't happening during the scheduled lecture, there's very few topics that the students don't want to discuss. But it is made very clear that this time of discussion is "free thought/free speech" and while you may disagree with what is being said, feel free to debate the content and context of what they say.  However, there's never a reason to belittle or verbally attack or harass someone with whom you disagree.

    Sometimes, the conversations will drift from politics, cultural trends, science, or the latest TikTok challenge. One of the things I was challenged to do by  a student earlier this semester is answer a simple question: why do so many people still continue to play games that are ten or more years old?

    There are many games out there that are what I consider legacy games. Within my collection, I have a few, such as SimCity3000, SimCity4, Civilization III, Silent Hunter 4, and others that are such games. Sure, they are approaching twenty or more years old, made for Windows 98 (or older in some cases), but I and some of you still love them. I think there are more games that I own that are destined to become legacy games over time, such as Kerbal Space Program and Cities: Skylines.

    Kerbal Space Program, from those early days when I played 0.18 as a demo, did something that very few games gave me the option to do. Build my own rocket, launch this goofy, yet lovable alien up, bounce him around for a while (maybe kill him a time or two), and eventually learn enough through trial-and-error and binge watching Scott Manley videos to finally (after two weeks of screaming at the monitor) get Jebediah into orbit and back down without killing him! From there, it was Minmus and then the Mün, and beyond! As recently as Sunday, I fired up my unmodified copy of 1.12 and made a rescue rocket so that Val would not have to remain in orbit alone. :blush: Although KSP will be 12 years old this year, I've been playing it for 11 of those years. And it certainly has been a great experience.

    Why am I so sure that KSP will be a legacy game? The simplicity of its design and the ability for the player to set whatever goal they want. Even if you do play career or science mode, KSP is still a sandbox game as long as you meet certain goals - and that's what makes it a fun game. It's easily modable and there's no shortage of mods to add any level of realism or novelty your heart desires. If you never want to leave Kerbin's sphere of influence, that's perfectly fine; if you want to go to far-away worlds, you can do that, too. Kerbal Space Program can be whatever you need this game to be. That's why I am so sure it will be a legacy game.

    In many of the KSP2 threads there's a theme from some where they can't bring themselves to play the "original" KSP knowing the new game will be out in a matter of days. Not me. There is still a lot of life left in this game. I will probably still play the original KSP when KSP3 is featured as the next installment of the franchise, some ten years from now.

     

  14. Life on the university campus:
    (Spring 2023 Semester, First posting)

    Ah, yes. One of my favorite moments of the original Battlestar Galactica opening credits. And so appropriate for the days before the semester begins. Already I am getting emails from those enrolled in the various classes I am teaching. Some are complaining about the cost of the textbooks. Others are complaining about the time of my scheduled office hours. A few have already begun questioning the number of assignments in the course. And there are even a couple complaining that the course looks "too hard for first-year university students" and somehow I need to re-imagine the course to be more student friendly. I still do not know what that even means.

    This isn't high school any more.

  15. Life on the university campus:
    (Fall Semester 2022, second posting)

    This has been a more difficult semester than usual. I do not know if it is the growing job dissatisfaction I feel or the growing frustration I have with the educational habits and expectations of the younger generation. I am having a harder time not understanding why, when there is so much available to assist students on campus, so many are content to not take advantage of those opportunities to better themselves. Last week, I was yelled at by a student because I failed them on a formal academic research/writing assignment (this project was 1/3 of the course grade). In this student's mind, I should not have graded them on the citations of their sources (which were lacking), the selection of their sources (Wikipedia and Ask.com are NOT academic sources - and copy/pasting from them directly without a citation is plagiarism), nor should I have graded them on the use of standard written English. The student even yelled, "you should be grateful I even bothered to give you the (fill in the blank) assignment! You owe me a 'C' for doing the (fill in the blank) work I did!"

    At the community college there are free services to assist students in nearly every stage of the course project I require in each course I offer. There's the library, which offers a weekly session on how to use the various academic journal research databases. The English department offers a writing center where students can get help - even with citations. I offer to help students during my office hours AND each class has a project paper guide that's a step-by-step guide in how to do the project paper (it even has the phone numbers and emails of the other services offered on campus). But still, there are some students who, no matter how much help you offer them, they refuse it all.

    Frustrating? Yes. But there's really nothing I can do.

     

    1. intelliCom

      intelliCom

      I'm a university student myself, though not in the united states. That student clearly hasn't learned how to take responsibility for their own failings, and I suspect this is a problem with either poor parenting, or low-quality, "everyone wins" kind of primary/secondary education. (Perhaps even drop-outs)

      Maybe their anger is a reflection of their own parents' expectations on them? Regardless, given their use of Wikipedia and Ask.com, they're clearly not suited for essay writing, and likely don't have any interest for the material they are being taught. They probably (I have little context on who they are, and that's understandable) are only going for a degree to either make their parents proud with as little effort as possible, or for bragging rights.

      Quote

      You owe me a 'C' for doing the work I did!

      This definitely comes across to me as an effort = value kind of mindset instead of quality = value. Even if they actually did put significant effort into the assignment (given their choice of sources, they probably didn't), they still needed to write a good essay, at least for a pass.

      You're doing well in enforcing a proper standard of quality for assignment submission, and I have a suspicion that handing over your job to someone else would diminish that standard. I'd feel sorry for any student who fails, but the student in your case clearly did not want to learn; they just wanted to succeed.

      As for newer generations being more infantile than previous generations, I'm inclined to agree. At least once a week, I see some poor kid glued to an iPad while the parent uses their phone. Parents are getting more careless as well. I'm sorry you had to go through that, and I hope your future students can be more grateful for the opportunity to be taught by an expert.

  16. Life on the university campus:
    (Fall Semester 2022, first posting)

    I am looking for an honest man. Education gives sobriety to the young, comfort to the old, riches to the poor and is an ornament to the rich.

    Diogenes Of Sinope
    (about 412 B.C.E. - 323 B.C.E.)

    The new semester is now three weeks old and already full of some interesting observations. Most of the time, when I share my thoughts with you, you are bombarded with my reactions to the bad things I encounter. For much of my life, I have always known that education has been my life's calling; however, it is not without its frustrations. I taught 7th and 8th grade for two in the late 1990s in Allen Parish, Louisiana. While working in that junior high, I decided to get an M.Ed. in educational technology. A few years later, while living in Kentucky, I completed an M.A. in U.S. history, focusing on the early republic years and American foreign policy. After that, I earned a Ph.D. with three concentrations: U.S. history to 1870, U.S. history since 1870, and U.S. foreign policy. I've been teaching at the community college and university level since 2004.

    There's a lot of preparation that accompanies teaching at this level. Sure, most students only see their professor for three hours a week. I spend about six to eight hours a week preparing for that time to prepare for that three hours of lecture time. This semester, I am teaching four classes or twelve hours of lecture time a week. That comes to about 24 hours – minimum – of preparation time for all of my classes. This time is in addition to my advising responsibilities, assignment grading, and other administrative and community relations things that come with being a professor. Please do not think I am complaining. I knew what the duties were when I entered into this profession. I am human, and I grumble, gripe, and complain as anyone else does. I have my good days, and I have my bad days. But I enjoy teaching. There's something about watching someone grasp a topic or concept they didn't understand before. Yes, you really can see it when someone has that "eureka!" moment.

    I am looking for an honest man. If that were the only part of the wisdom of Diogenes, we could stop there. If there is a word of advice I could pass on to every high school or university student, it is this: be honest with your teachers or professors. If you miss class, tell them the real reason, even if it is a stupid one. If you forgot to complete an assignment and you're asking for an extension, then be honest about the reason. Sure, you may get told "no," but you'll walk out of there with respect. There are too many students, both young and old, who want to impress with their great stories of woe. Sure, you may think your great story may play at our heartstrings may get you an extension. And sometimes it works. But eventually, if you're not being honest, the truth will come out. And when it does, we are human. And we get angry. And we remember. When you come to us at a later date asking for help or for some additional consideration, even if it is really needed at the time, we are less inclined to help.

    Education gives sobriety to the young, comfort to the old, riches to the poor and is an ornament to the rich. Ah, so many people don't know this part of Diogenes' quote. They only know the first part about the search for an honest man. George Washington Carver, an outspoken civil rights activist during America's Reconstruction period and the first African American to testify in Congress as an agricultural expert, openly promoted education as the great equalizer. Education is the great equalizer and so much more. But your education is only worth what you are willing to put into it. Sure, your teacher or your professor may not be the best or most effective one out there (and there are some out there who are in the profession who should not be there), but that's not an excuse not to learn. Take advantage of your campus' tutoring programs, workshops, or other services to compensate for the less than ideal professors/teachers. Most universities offer "leisure learning seminars" that, unfortunately, are not for credit, but can introduce you to a variety of new skills, interests, or enrich a hobby. Want to add your education? Read. Reading exercises the mind. Don't just read fiction but include non-fiction, too. Amazon's Kindle (the download app or device) contains thousands of free books of all categories that can meet most interest. Go to your public library and check out a book or two.

    I guess what I am trying to say is this - endeavor to be a better person today than you were yesterday. Never quit learning. Never quit trying.

  17. KNnncgG.png?1Nothing really, just some updates, plans for this week, et al.

    A few of you have sent me a few PMs here, a few on Discord, Steam's messenger, and other social media messengers I use asking me if I am okay or if I have left the forum. No, I have not left the forum nor have I quit being a moderator. The first two weeks of May, the last week of July/first week of August, and the first two weeks of December are extremely busy times of the year for me. I teach at a community college and a university and those weeks are finals and final grade posting weeks. There's a lot of things that goes into what I do for a living.

    Now that the summer semester is about to start, it's fair to say it's going to be a really light term. I am only teaching one class at the university. It's HIS 6301 - Introduction to American Foreign Policy (a graduate course). It's a class I've taught since 2007. The community college schedule is really light, too. Originally, I was scheduled to teach two classes, both of them are HIST 101, one was to be a traditional lecture course and the other is online. The traditional course has small enrollment (under five students) and if four more students do not enroll by the end of the month, it will be cancelled. To be honest, I am hoping it will. I never wanted to teach anything more than one class at each of the two places where I work. But the dean of students at the community college scheduled me a second class anyway, justifying it with the ever-famous statement, "if we build it, they will come." :rolleyes:

    So, this week, I have a lot of time to do the things I want to do. Normally I am more active on the forums and am able to do more moderating (more like playing hallway monitor like we did in elementary school). But I also plan to do some of the projects I enjoy doing on the forum:

    • Write the next chapter in Kerny's Journal. (Yes, it's long overdue!) Done!
    • Clean up the micro-challenge thread, update the leader boards and post a new challenge for those participating.

    If I can get those two things done, I will consider this week a huge success as far as my Kerbal Space Program forum piddling goes. Now, there are other things besides that I want to do, too. Over the course of the last couple of years, I have neglected my own blog, and I want to start doing something new. Here lately, and as a part of my treatment from the VA for my service connected PTSD, I get a lot of free PC games, mostly Steam keys. Some of the games are good, some not so good. So, a few of my real-world friends and family have convinced me to begin doing reviews of the games I play. I'm still trying to work out all the bugs in how I want to do this.

     

     

  18. One of the many Murphy's laws state:

    Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence.

  19. And now a bit of philosophy from adsii1970:

    When you seek approval from others, be ready for disappointment. Others will never see the effort you have put into any endeavor. They will never see how much of yourself you've put into anything of value you've set out to complete. Instead, look to satisfy yourself. When you can look at the thing you've done and feel a sense of completeness and satisfaction of knowing it's a job well done, you've got the best approval you can have.

  20. Life on the university campus:
    (Spring Semester, first posting)

    An open discussion during what started as a routine lecture in ancient Mesopotamian cultures

    A few years ago, I had a student leave a comment on a faculty and course evaluation that she hated to miss one of my lectures. But what she said next raised a few eyebrows among the campus administrators, I'm sure. She said, "there's no telling what a normal lecture may be transformed into - and I love the way we can discuss current issues on a backdrop of history."

    It happens. University students, especially first and second year students, want to talk about what's happening now and how it fits into the larger picture of humanity. Yesterday is an example of when the needs of students intersects with a topic of ancient Mesopotamian culture. What happened was unplanned but was certainly a learning moment for the students who were there.

    Yesterday, I was giving the concluding lecture on ancient Mesopotamia. And as a part of that, I spend about fifteen minutes summarizing how today, we are still impacted by those early cultures. And then, as part of that, I was discussing the ancient religions, comparing their various beliefs, and how we still see their impact on our society today. But that's not where the lecture was derailed. It was when I began talking about their laws and legal codes. A student stopped the lecture and asked, "how can people be so dumb to believe that government and forcing compliance through law is the answer to any problem?" Yes, this person has identified themselves as an anarchist in every assignment and every discussion in class. And while being an anarchist is certainly their right, something happened in the lecture hall that wasn't.

    "The highest result of education is tolerance." - Helen Keller (1880-1968)

    What happened yesterday was a demonstration of intolerance and hostility that I've not witnessed in a while. In a reply to his rant against the multiple legal codes, rituals, and taboos of the various Mesopotamian societies (including that of ancient Israel), several students began to contribute by sharing how they believed every society had to have some common law to define what was acceptable and unacceptable conduct. And then the real fireworks began. As an anarchist, he began to promote the concept that humankind is naturally good, that if left to their own moral compass, people will seek to get along. It's society and it's artificial constructs (laws) that create conflict.

    Anyone disagreeing with his view was quickly belittled as not being truly enlightened to understand utopia as created by pure human freedom. He began name calling, no longer discussing divergent views or opinions, but attacking anyone that disagreed with him. For me, I am all for encouraging open, intelligent academic debate. But once the line is crossed and the defense of any opinion rests upon "you're too stupid to understand" or "you're only here because our government says ____ ." No real academic argument other than "my opinion is the only valid opinion that matters."

    After twenty minutes, I did something I only rarely do, and have not had to do in about three years - I again, asked the students to "move along and let's get back to my lecture, but he continued his anti-government/anti-law crusade. Leaving me no choice, I had to eject the student from yesterday's lecture. He did not leave willingly, so I had to get campus security involved.

    Intolerance is an ugly monster that grows inside each of us. The question is do we have what it takes to hold it down?

    After his departure, I had several students visibly shaken by the events that just happened. From the first day of the semester, I always tell my students the lecture halls I teach in are free speech zones. I encourage open and free discussions - as long as the discussion relates to the course materials and disagreements are handled in a respectful manner. So, when a few students began verbally attacking the student I ejected, they were surprised to hear me defending him! I explained it wasn't his opinion that was flawed. It was his belief that his opinion was the only valid opinion which was flawed. His attempt to impose his views on government and law on others - without their consent - is oppression. If we are not careful; in our attempts to demand to be heard and tolerated, if we yell and scream too loudly, we can silence the other voices around us. We, then, become the oppressor as other voices as silenced.

    I was able to salvage what was left of the lecture, but it wasn't about the Mesopotamian cultures.  It was about something more important - about the ability to be who you are - and to be okay with who you are. It was also a discussion on how society, throughout time has functioned. It was interesting listening to the students' exchange of ideas about the speculation of why those early Mesopotamian societies chose to implement laws/codes and civil governments to provide commonality for the good of the community.

     

     

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