Renewable Energy

I think it is interesting how much work and worry we put into energy, both fossil fuel and renewable. What would you say if I told you that there have already been countless civilizations who have mastered renewable, clean energy? It's true. Civilizations who would be declared archaic in comparison to our civilization today have mastered clean energy. The most ironic part of it all is that as we entered the industrial age we left behind the clean, renewable energy age. All of our advances in technology have made us more dependent on the diminishing (or so they say, but I don't believe it) resources such as oil.

Think about it for a minute, tractors today run on diesel fuel and do the job of oxen and horses from years past, which oxen and horses run on grass, water, and sunlight. There's your renewable bio fuels: grass, water, and sunlight. We are so far off the mark. Sure, medical advances, communication advances, all that, but do we really need it? What is life all about anyway? Couldn't we accomplish the core purposes without the Internet, the Kindle, Facebook, and Dancing with the Stars? We don't even know what the core purposes of life are any more, not as a collective understanding at least. And when you have sub groups that know the core purposes, they want to kill or convert anyone else who has a different concept of the core purposes.

We are spinning our wheels. I just spent three hours doing ridiculous calculations on numbers for my statistics final exam. Before that I spent 8 hours talking to people about computer software issues regarding electronic storage of image and loan application documents. All for a paycheck. All so I can utilize more diminishing sources of energy. I should say consume, rather than utilize. What did I accomplish today? Nothing, when you qualify things. I spent nearly the entire time I've been awake in front of a computer at work and then a computer at home. It was a beautiful Spring day, but I was inside for all of it except to drive the two miles to the office and back. I spent all of 30 minutes (and that's generous) interacting with my wife, and that was to eat breakfast and dinner together. She was sitting a few feet away from me while I was doing my exam, but we weren't spending time together. How can a day be successful if all I've done is generate some ethereal numbers in my electronic balance for my bank account? All I did was consume non-renewable resources.

How about we start a new occupy movement, called occupy common sense? How about we occupy the ground and grow our own food? How about we occupy the Earth and use renewable energy to secure our basic needs and then spend the rest of the time interacting with each other in philosophical and educational pursuits? We don't need universities, textbooks, science labs, or the Internet to be educated. Oh well.

Looks like I haven't posted this yet

I'm not sure why I made this if it wasn't to post on here. Perhaps I made it for Facebook, since it has my name in it and I was keeping that as a secret identity for a while. I came across this on my storage drive and think it is worth sharing now, so here it is:

Vending Machine Education

Does anyone else feel at times that college is no more than a vending machine for a diploma? You put your quarters into that machine, one after one, and then maneuver the joy stick to direct the steel claw over to your chosen field of study and press the red button. The claw is released and (after a dozen or so more tries) it grabs the diploma and drops it into the prize recovery area. It is perhaps a little more complicated than this, but I wouldn't say too much more. That's one way to see college as a vending machine, but not exactly how I initially constructed the idea.
I'm completing my weekly assignment for my current class, Statistics, for the Master's program I am enrolled in. I am at times a little less than attentive to the questions because I know they are not being graded. Each week I complete between 40 and 50 questions from the end of the chapters assigned for reading that week. The procedure is to answer the questions, submit them, and then receive a grade based on completion rather than accuracy. This is great...for when I don't want to learn anything. I answer the questions, some of them accurately, until I get low on time or interest, whichever comes first, although both usually arrive at pretty much the same time in some Happy Days comic fashion when Ralph "Mouth" and Potzie show up at the same door-step, at the same time, with the same discount store roses to take Mary Sue to the sock hop at the American Legion. The point is that I don't put a lot of effort into answering these questions. I accept full responsibility for this, but I can't help but notice there are some aspects of the program that make this sort of behavior possible for me.
The vending machine is marvelous. It is the hallmark of convenience. The best part about it is that it is unmanned. If I owned a vending machine I could spend an hour a week stocking it and retrieving money from it and call it a day. The machine does all the work. Here I compare the current process of completing assignments in this class. I answer several dozen questions and submit them. The instructor returns to me a grade. The instructor didn't instruct me, they simply gave me a reading assignment and indicated which textbook questions I should answer. In follow through, I receive a grade and a filled-in answer key. If I am motivated I can review my answers and find out how I'm doing. Of course since I am not very motivated, to say the least - only in regards to this topic, statistics, I'm motivated to learn otherwise -I don't review my answers to the questions after I get the answer key. I chalk it up to a combination of the condensed time frame for the course (8 weeks) and the difficulty of instructor/student interaction through an online environment, not to mention (yet I am?) I work full-time and have other responsibilities in addition to school. Still, it is slightly disappointing that I am required to put in this effort without substantial feedback and monitoring.
Don't get me wrong, I love to learn on my own schedule without someone breathing down my neck, and I often read and think about things for the purpose of educating myself, everyday in fact. The difference here is that I'm not paying anyone for my own educational pursuits. When I am paying someone and my progress determines my eligibility for a degree I expect more follow up and direction. This is like going to Plato (who I tend to disagree with his philosophies the more I read about them) to be instructed by this historically celebrated teacher, and then he hands you a paperback copy of The One Minute Manager (no offense to Ken Blanchard, I read the book and found it valuable, but in contrast with learning at the feet of a master, it doesn't quite compare). Perhaps a better example is going to Mr. Myagi and hearing him tell you he'll e-mail you some "neat vids" he found on YouTube to teach you karate.
I should get back to finishing my assignment now. The point is that I don't think online education should be like a vending machine, I'd rather it be like walking into the candy store in Willy Wonka with Gene Wilder. Rather than putting money into a coin slot and getting a foil wrapped chocolate bar, you drop a few shillings into the flesh and blood hand of an eccentric man who will then sing you a song and pour unwrapped candy into your hands with a small shovel. That's the kind of education I want!