Re: [Leica] PhD qualifications

["Dan Post" <dwpost@email.msn.com>]

KPeters-
Don't sell yourself short. The great majority of the basic science which has
added so exponentially to the base of human knowledge has not been added
because of 'great leaps' of insight or genius, but rather by the many 'baby
steps' of millions of scientists who endeavor to answer a nagging question
of 'WHY?'. Of ten these questions are rather mundane, and seem esoteric
 Sorta like Erwin's research!), but these baby steps or basic building
blocks add up over time... the pyramids were not made by one person ( I
know- a shipload of aliens did it over a holiday weekend!) nor of one block
of stone, but the amassed effort of many, and the sheer volume of stone
accumulated in one place is sort of like our search for knowledge.
I am grateful to know so many of you out there who have contributed your
blocks of knowledge to the 'pile', so to speak!
Someone had used the old saw that stealing from one is plagarism, stealing
from many is research, but I really have to acknowledge my admiration for
the researcher who sorts through the rubble and finds those individual
blocks of knowledge, and fits them together into a coherent structure.
I value the knowledge each of you, and your little 'blocks' of Leica
knowledge that you bring to this site- I may not be able to pile 'em high
enough to make a pyramid, but maybe I can glean enough to make a doghouse!
(Where I usually end up when I make a big Leica purchase!- to stay on topic)
Dan
- ----- Original Message -----
From: KPETERS <KPETERS@huntel.net>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Thursday, August 26, 1999 11:29 PM
Subject: Re: [Leica] PhD qualifications


> I'm not sure if this was touched on, but when I was in grad school, the
> terms were B.S. (bullshit), M.S. ("more shit"), and then, Ph.D ("piled
> higher, and deeper!")....
> ps.  My masters thesis was on the identification of mosquito vectors of
the
> dog heartworm in Nebraska!  What  a hoot that was!!   KPeters
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alexey Merz <alexey@webcom.com>
> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
> Date: Thursday, August 26, 1999 4:46 PM
> Subject: [Leica] PhD qualifications
>
>
> >"Doug McLernon" <Douglas.McLernon@tcd.ie> wrote:
> >>When I was completing my doctorate many years ago, one of
> >>my supervisors brought me down to earth with the comment,
> >>" Because of the requirement of originality, most PhDs are
> >>experts in a subject so important that nobody else has
> >>bothered to research it".
> >
> >I just defended my dissertation... that is so true.
> >At least it's over :-).
> >
> >Graduate school: learning more and more about less and less,
> >until you know everything about nothing.
> >
> >Also, see:
> >
> >http://photo.net/philg/careers/octopus.html
> >and
> >http://photo.net/philg/careers/four-random-people.tcl
> >and
> >http://photo.net/philg/careers.html
> >
> >-Alexey
> >http://www.clearcut.net
> >
>