Why do so many terrorists have engineering degrees?

[slim 1,533]

You own a few guns,are an engineer,you are on the internet disagreeing with dear leader views.Maybe you own a bible. It is a good bet DHS has noticed you.

Even if they have noticed him and put him on a list, it's not like they'd be smart enough to cross-reference the lists with other agencies' lists too.

my file is so big it takes up 3 cabinets.

not only am i a conservative republican with an education in scripture who thinks osama is a self aggrandising idiot, but i'm also the guy who taught the entire country how to build unregistered AK47 from uncontrolled surplus parts kits and scrap sheet metal. then i had the nerve to point out that a homebuilt firearm does not need to have a serial number. then i showed people how to build subguns from paper towel rolls and duct tape. ATF is still trying to nail me for that one, but the law is the law, as it was enacted...and i'm always within it, right up to the limit of the statute.

they got my fingerprints, my DNA, my FFL records, my records of prior occupations within and without the gov't, my tax records, my medical records, my records of civil service examination, my education records, my preference in chinese cigarettes, hell, they even know how long my schwang is.

do i care? will it stop me from talking? will it make me go silently into the night? hell no.

Isn't it funny when they get all pissed off that they can't bust someone who is LEGALLY doing something yet they let all those criminals walk the streets daily with AK-47s? Aks with serial numbers, fully-compliant with bans, purchased through FFLs, perfectly legal too - except they're being handled by criminals.

Yep, it's a lot easier to come after you, the guy who did all the paperwork, than it is to come after someone who shoots people for a living.

[justashooter 430]

I come from a 3rd world country and I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering. So I am not implying anything about fraudulent degrees. I have met way too many "engineers" who have no clue about anything but they are "Engineers" because their college gave them a degree... I am suspicious of this article because I wonder what criteria did they use to justify a person as an engineer... i.e, did they go to and engineering school for a couple of years and drop out, or did attend a fancy University and get a degree, did they just go to a techncial school, or are they a locomotive engineer (train operator)..

working in china i learned that an engineering degree is attainable for someone with enuf money and family connection, regardless of actual ability. the system is so corrupt there that anythign is possible if you have enuf cash.

that being said, a few of the best engineers i know are china educated.

[justashooter 430]

This is quite amusing to say the least.

Nobody is asking the question why the faculties in big name Universities that has a College of Engineering has so many Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Vietnamese, Middle-Eastern members.

I can nearly garuntee in UC-Berkeley's College of Engineering has an Asian everywhere you walk within their corridors. Heck, the IEEE Symposiums, Paper Conferences has nearly 95% Asians. I find it very amusing.

They outsmarted the Americans in Math, and Science.

as a scientist you should have an understanding of statistical probability, my friend.

the world's asians don't outsmart us, they simply outnumber us. with 300 million Americans competing against the very best of the 3.5-4 billion asians, it's not surprising you see a differential at the highest levels.

you should also understand the difference in education methods, and it's effect on mathematical skill within the various populations. memorization is all that is taught in china, and memorization is an essential factor in understanding mathematical process. the very languages themselves require extensive memorization, being often composed of ideographs, rather than characters representative of distinct sounds, as in romanised languages.

on the upside, people who's native language is in romanised format tend to be more intuitive and adaptable. they learn "soft sciences" much more readily, and make much better artists, musicians, and conceptual engineers. they are also at advantage in human sciences of all types, more easily understanding dynamic systems with floating variables. this is why you see so few talented asian managers.

Edited January 6, 2010 by justashooter

[Niels Bohr 72]

Engineering is not a profession where you memorize formulas and apply them. You learn to be able to manipulate them. Everyone can memorize formulas. Engineering involves the process of critical thinking such as modulating signals for AM/FM/QAM waves for signal processing.

You can a Phase-Locked Loop system, Differentiator Filter, or whatever to demodulate those signals but it does require physics knowledge as well.

With electromagnetics, determining the position of the force applied on a particle of charge depending on what shape it is. In reality, no mathematical formula can provide a solution. It's the ability to comprehend the subject and what is meant by the concept of force.

You can have a physical coaxical wire bent in various corners in your house, and that will change how the EM field behaves already. A mathematical formula itself will also need to be changed accordingly.

If you're working with noise analysis in electrical circuits, you're dealing with Random processes and probability. When sending out data bits over the air through a modulating frequency, sometimes you get a 0 and 1 but you really want to send a 1 and not a 0. You must be able to build hardware that can disregard the error.

If you're doing programming, you must be aware of the limitation of hardware. A simple MATH formula doesn't give a laymen ability to solve the problems. Sure, the time complexity of the Quicksort algorithm is 0(n log n) for the average case. When this is applied to searching a database system that holds 1000000000000000000000000000000000 of data, how will you utilize the sorting structures. When the hard drive spins, which method of hard drive access do you want to implement when the OS need to search for data. How do you create a scheduling queue that best serves the time constraint since HDD have slow access time?

Mathematics that is used in the field are unique for the case of problem solving. I laugh at the fact that you think Newton made calculus to be memorized. Understanding a physical problem is key to being a good engineer.

as a scientist you should have an understanding of statistical probability, my friend.

the world's asians don't outsmart us, they simply outnumber us. with 300 million Americans competing against the very best of the 3.5-4 billion asians, it's not surprising you see a differential at the highest levels.

you should also understand the difference in education methods, and it's effect on mathematical skill within the various populations. memorization is all that is taught in china, and memorization is an essential factor in understanding mathematical process. the very languages themselves require extensive memorization, being often composed of ideographs, rather than characters representative of distinct sounds, as in romanised languages.

on the upside, people who's native language is in romanised format tend to be more intuitive and adaptable. they learn "soft sciences" much more readily, and make much better artists, musicians, and conceptual engineers. they are also at advantage in human sciences of all types, more easily understanding dynamic systems with floating variables. this is why you see so few talented asian managers.

[The_Dude 1,142]

Spoken like a true engineer, with numbers and technical jargon, when only a plain sentence is needed.

[Darnell 8,479]

I suggest a shift in training 'foreigners', before the sprint semester starts , here in the USA.

Majoring in Engineering? Foreigner? Muslim? Sorry, you gots to go home, pack yer sh|t and git. No refund of prepaid fees, sorry.

Perhaps that can be extended not only to the USA, but to all North American Unis, and then who knows? EU might think to adopt it as well.

There are GREAT ENGINEERING SCHOOLS in Pakistan, please transfer yer credits this week

(No, I'm being serious, really )

Edited January 6, 2010 by Darnell

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

...this is why you see so few talented asian managers.

Perhaps the Shooter can offer a similarly brilliant explanation of why bald-headed men are uptight.

[justashooter 430]

Perhaps the Shooter can offer a similarly brilliant explanation of why bald-headed men are uptight.

your personal experience may be more relevant in understanding the question.

[Niels Bohr 72]

This thread is getting funnier day by day.

[The_Dude 1,142]

your personal experience may be more relevant in understanding the question.

Reall witty comeback there shooter

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Reall witty comeback there shooter

Yeah, some real talent he has there. Not only is he an international man of mystery, a class act comedian with a biting wit, he is also a world class lover with a repertoire of secret techniques and an action hero proficient in 15 martial arts who can build a gun out of tin foil, rubber bands and a styrofoam cup.

When you spend so much time in the mysterious east, you pick up a few things.

[Ban Hammer 14,176]

there's more bait in here than most tackle shops

[justashooter 430]

Yeah, some real talent he has there. Not only is he an international man of mystery, a class act comedian with a biting wit, he is also a world class lover with a repertoire of secret techniques and an action hero proficient in 15 martial arts who can build a gun out of tin foil, rubber bands and a styrofoam cup.

When you spend so much time in the mysterious east, you pick up a few things.

sounds like you're a bit jealous.

must be sad to be you.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Oh yeah, real jealous.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

i'm a manufacturing engineer by trade, and i'm not a terrorist. but then, i'm not muslim, either.

Prove it.