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Stop and think

Stop and think

Stop and think

(OP)
Hi all. I just wanted to make some considerations.
Few weeks ago I had the opportunity to participate to the MSC User Conference in Toulouse. Among the keynote speakers was Sam Venneri from NASA, who escorted the participants through an overview of the future challenges of the american administration in the field of high technology areas. Well, it was upsetting for me. I am busy all day long struggling to make my tiny machines work, and this old guy comes and charms the listeners with his descriptions of smart structures, nanotech and stuff... Hey he made me feel again as I felt during the university years, when I still had an attitude to imagination and fantasy... thanks Sam, you reminded me that engineers are not dumb bureaucrats, and that we must always keep alive our sense of dream.

RE: Stop and think

Thanks, Spirit.  Yeah, 30+ years ago, when I became involved in my work, I promised myself that if I ever came to resent it due to what Quebecois call "les choses quotidiennes" - roughly translated as the daily grind, then I would quit and become an astronaut.  Or maybe a rock star.  Or pundit.  Not yet (although there are times...)  It's the dreaming that keeps me going, and meeting others of like mind.  That, and the reminder that the knowledge we have in engineering is one of the keys to creating a better world.  Besides, you've gotta be a little bit nuts to be in this business, no?

Sustainable, Solar, Environmental, and Structural Engineering: Appropriate technologies for a planet in stress.

RE: Stop and think

(OP)
I strongly subscribe about nuts, it definitely helps.
To say it with Nietszche (or whatever it is written like), 'One must always keep a little chaos inside himself, to be able to give birth to a dancing star.'

Cheers,

Spirit



'Ability is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.'

RE: Stop and think

By nature we all tend to put our heads down and toil away to solve one problem or another as part of the creative process.  Once in a while it is good to look up (or have someone tell you to look up) and actually see some of the accomplishments that have been made.  The accomplishments of the past form the foundation of the future.  Keep the dream.

RE: Stop and think

Hi!

Some references about myself:
Being a ME, MSc(eng.)in Fluid & Thermo Dynamics areas, after 20 years of carreer and a Karate Shodan-grade hold in Japan, one of main strong meanings to my life, as a person, and as professional/sportsman, was given to me, by my Karate'Master,Tanaka Sensei, an that message was:

"Don't forget your first resolution, and step after step goes far"

So you have to have a very good and clear FIRST RESOLUTION  in your mind. and I tell a thing: It works!, Tanaka Sensei is right! I do thank to his memory for the privilege!
Good Luck!
zzzo        

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