tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7425855129748822719.post7836903957588070689..comments2022-05-19T10:03:37.013+03:00Comments on My Desert Home: Everyone's an EngineerTimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17135025300620664025noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7425855129748822719.post-51934571474431467842009-06-29T19:25:41.543+03:002009-06-29T19:25:41.543+03:001. I get the sense that what you learned in engine...1. I get the sense that what you learned in engineering school (and subsequently as a working engineer) has provided you with a pretty useful way to look at life. Before I'd even reached the paragraph towards the end of this post wherein you more or less point out as much, I said to Alanna that the salient feature of many of these essays is the methodical, comprehensive meticulous sweep of your thinking about pretty much everything. You have no idea (or maybe you do?) how valuable and rare a skill that is. Example:<br /><br />2. You contrast with the military's fairly scrupulous approach to contracting construction jobs with what sounds to me like pretty textbook nepotism in Iraq, which you map out with thorough concision . . . but you never actually use the WORD "nepotism." . . . And this to me is incredibly valuable. You have no idea how many people recklessly pretend to knowledge they haven't actually earned by throwing around bits of shorthand they've picked up half-assedly along the way, for the most part failing to understand ANY of what they want you to believe they "know." The essayist's job is to pour over the material that most people acquaint themselves with via casual catalogue or bullet-point paraphrase and catch the minutiae that the rest of us either miss or are too lazy to be bothered about. From what I've seen so far you are, or could be if you were so inclined, an essayist – an examiner, an organizer, a genuine thinker. One of the most rewarding aspects of reading these posts has been the way I've been able to see your mind's gears grinding towards careful understanding and explication of all sorts of topics, and though I doubt you need any exhortation from my end, since the cognitive-method seems to be encoded in your DNA (or RNA, or wherever the hell genetic predisposition gets encoded; see: I'm in with the lazies) for what it's worth, I really hope you keep on doing what you do. Great stuff.Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15916611645120801714noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7425855129748822719.post-20158616104668067612009-06-28T15:09:28.835+03:002009-06-28T15:09:28.835+03:00Tim, I am enjoying your essays so much! What a wi...Tim, I am enjoying your essays so much! What a window into a world we do not know. I printed out the previous essay and gave it to Patsy, who positively loved it. She remarked repeatedly how proud she was, and how proud Mark would have been of you. Of course, we are all proud of you. Love you very much!maggiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05888373795344177541noreply@blogger.com