On Tue, 2009-11-17 at 22:43 -0800, Aaron wrote: > Michael: > > This is off topic. > > For being a God fearing man you are pretty negative. Cheer up lado! As an > atheist I have to say: live and be happy already! and..who cares anyway? > So what if it's down...do some studying. Get a coffee.. Work on your goals. > /shrug > > Moving along. :D > > Aaron
I'm not off topic and I am not particularly negative just because I said that I don't understand the planning, which I don't. How many CS majors is PSU turning out and of those how many would be able to do significant work on the Linux kernel or write Linux software, what I want to do eventually? There is a lot of theoretical stuff that in my opinion is not being taught well at PSU. Not all of the professors are problematic, just some. Specifically in the area of discrete math, the teaching has a lot to be desired IMHO. --- Now about the atheist comment, I'll take a shot at it --- The real pessimist is the atheist for not believing that there is a benelovent God, creator of everything, who keeps it in existence. The atheist has nothing to believe in, so I really pity him/her. Man's fallen nature doesn't generally lead him/her to be happy. The atheist cannot prove that God isn't the source of human compassion and human love, but this is essentially what an Atheist believes. Without God, there aren't any human rights nor does Man have any purpose whatsoever. Man has no solid reason, being created by God for example, to respect his body if he/she is an atheist. I suppose if you don't respect your body there are consequences, but people still smoke various things, drink excessively, abuse stronger drugs, etcetera. Man needs a strong reason to respect himself and that reason is the existence of God. Where does happiness come from Mr. Atheist? You don't know because you don't believe in a supreme being. Caffeine is a drug I'd prefer not to be addicted to, so I'll pass on drinking coffee thank you very much. ---- Now I'll go for a while on PSU ---- Unfortunately, poor teaching is a real barrier to success. I also get tired of the lack of values I see in people on campus which can become a distraction. The willingness of some people to use pot for example as if it were just an herb when in fact it is a mind altering drug really bugs me. There's nothing like watching a man roll a marijuana cigarette in class. I question how solid the CS program is at PSU and I'd like to be around a different class of people where I thought I would be at the Junior/Senior level. Instead, I see a lot of people abusing drugs including cigarettes and many of my colleagues are pessimistic. PSU's smoking shelters actually encourage smoking, talk about increasing your carbon footprint and putting other pollutants in the air. ---- I'll talk a little about everything I've talked about now ---- It doesn't help that the plug-talk list, which seemingly could be an outlet, isn't because noone on it who comments shares my values. Indeed, I may have harmed myself going after some of the issues I did on plug-talk and indeed it may come back to haunt me by causing someone important to think I am confrontational. I'm thinking of Pascal right now who invented much of the science that people who are atheists say obviates the need for God. Pascal believed in God till the day he died despite his contribution to science. Some young man apparently tried to tell him during a train ride that scientific discoveries he had made obviated the need for God. Pot abuse is becoming an epidemic and it is going to have to be addressed at some point or there will be a lot of zoned out people. I wish I wasn't around it. I want to be around people who are clear and like minded who are also positive. They are hard to find though at PSU. Portland State's computer science program needs to improve considerably. The lack of help added to the difficulty level of the courses is a systemic problem that needs addressing. Sometimes, I think there is a stronger focus on diversity and multiculturalism than there is on people getting through their programs of study. Why is Portland State predominantly populated by foreigners? Maybe it's just computer science that is like this. I'd like to see more Oregonians in my classes and fewer Chinese, Japanese, etc. No offense to foreigners, but I'm not from their neck of the woods. How can I relate to them, especially when they speak in a language I don't know? Frankly, they should be taken aside and politely told to speak English when they don't in my opinion. If I were in their country, I'd have to speak the local language. It is called basic respect for your host. PSU can be so alien, I often feel that I'm alone on campus. Being alone while pursuing a difficult major is not a good thing. _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
