16 | January | 2009 | super-structure

This is an old materials engineering handbook that was given to me by a professor upon his retirement from my undergrad university. I believe he rescued it from as it was being retired from the university library. When he was cleaning out his office, he asked a few students to come in, individually, and select two or three books out of his professional library. He’d gotten all the books he wished to keep and wanted to see the rest be put to some use. Though I think he wasn’t entirely sure of all of my selections were so wise (namely, this particular book, as I recall — due to it being sorely outdated by modern experimentation techniques), he let me part with some books that I did indeed find useful.

More importantly, I think, he sent me with a wealth of wisdom about what it means to be a good engineer. The bits of advice he would pass on felt to me like true pages of secret wisdom that had been lost on my generation of engineers. Whether it was proper handwriting technique or that an engineer should maintain a personal library, he knew that teaching students was even more than the technical fundamentals. Being a professional goes far beyond running a set of numbers.

The beginning of the end of Battlestar Galactica. Angela and I are watching:

Well, Earth sure a drag.
Hey! Hera uses the same plastic spoons as Ainsley.
That beach where Tyrol is having some flashback to old Earth… is that actually the beach at Stanley Park in Vancouver?
Well, Starbuck. I guess you’re the twelfth and final cylon. At least that sure seems to be only way this makes sense.
I’m so glad they’re using the creepy lost-five Cylon tune again.
So is there some Cylon resurrection ship/facility near Earth that Starbuck accidentally discovered?
Dee is going to go psyco, isn’t she? I mean she’s about to go third season Starbuck crazy, right? Tragically, yes.
Looks like pretty much everyone is going nuts. As if it were the end of the world or some… oh. Right.
I’m glad the show didn’t over use the population countdown element. They really used it sparingly, and to maximum effect.
Wait, Ellen, whoa!
Angela: “So it’s not Kara! What is she?”
Where’s Ellen? If there was a resurrection ship near New Caprica, would it have brought Ellen back? If not, wouldn’t she be gone forever?
So, is “the harbinger of death” something different all togehter?

We may do this again next week. If so, I’ll probably just update this post.

Update: There is a terrific interview with Ronald D. Moore, BSG’s executive producer, that I found via Adam Savage. Here’s a quote from Moore during that interview:

My attitude was pretty much, “Look, we’re in the last chapter here. Anyone who’s come this far and doesn’t want to watch the rest — they’re a minority at best.” People are going to want to see how this turns out. And yeah, this is a very dark chapter. This may not even be the darkest chapter.