"I am the moral authority and I reserve the right to tell you how to live your life" -- That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that I shouldn't have to tell you any of this. You, and the rest of society, shouldn't need people telling you these things. You should already be acting morally.

@ Sicarius --

I won't tell you. For all I know, you might live two miles from the college at which I teach. You, being a violent idealist, might track me down. I strive to avoid unnessecary conflicts, and I don't take my gun to work anyway, because of a campus weapons ban. I don't think it's exactly unusal to avoid sharing sensitive information with a bunch of strangers over the Internet.

@ Draugnar --

Figle doesn't know anything about me. Unlike Sic, you were smart enough to not waste your time asking the question.

Draugnar + 1

Sicarius - 1

With respect, TMW, you are making a flawed assumption: that your ideal of what consists of 'moral behavior' is the same as society.

This is - again - indicative of a immature person - and by that I don't necessarily mean "childish", I mean someone who has yet to complete the maturing process.

In other words, a teenager.

"You, and the rest of society, shouldn't need people telling you these things. You should already be acting morally." - That is what we in the business call "completely missing the point."
I think what they probably meant, is that these things are not necessarily immoral. They evidently are in your opinion, but you have no right to impose your opinion of what ought to be moral onto other people. So essentially what I'm saying is, you don't even have the moral authority to THINK about how I ought to live my life. As long as I don't harm anyone else no body does.

Additionally, there are multiple ways someone could indicate they had the qualifications to be a "Professor of Aeronautics":

* Name of degree and institution it was earned at- as mentioned earlier, a Masters in the minimum necessary to have the title "Professor" in the states, and typically a PhD would be required for any hard science chair. Even a Jr. High School science 'professor' teaching rocketry needs a teaching credential and typically a baccalaureate degree

and

* Subject of thesis for above degree

And no "Things that fly" is not a specific enough topic for a thesis.

"Floaty things?"

"The flight characteristics of superman through extensive reading of primary sources: how often *does* he leap a building in a single bound?

Subheading: Acceleration rates of Kryptonians at standard atmospheric pressure"

You strive to avoid unnescessary conflicts so you spend hours out of the day arguing about how you hate gays on the internet?

"The motion characteristics of a bullet on a trajectory towards a gay who I shot because he looked at my ass"
Subheading: "I have no idea when it is appropriate to use a firearm"

Hah! Ballistics is not aeronautics! N00b! ;)

Aeronautics is actually a fascinating subject - its actually far easier to generate lift with modern materials than you'd think, but keeping an aircraft in flight *stable* is a bitch. I was considering going for my flight license once upon a time, but I didn't have the cash or time needed - and now I have the cash, but my wife would shoot me if I even though of going up in what she considers to be 'those little death traps'.

What books are on the reading list for your courses, TMW? What's on the syllabus?

With respect, your wife is an idiotic plane-o-phobe. Earing a private pilot's license is quite cheap. At a small airport, around 100 dollars for an hour-long lesson, times 40 lessons = 4000 dollars. Plus ground school, written test, oral test, and checkride = 2000 dollars. 4000 + 2000 = 6000. Renting a plane = 75 dollars/hour for a Cessna 150. Fun little high-wing two-seater. What I learned to fly on. In case of emergency, putting a G/A plane down in a cornfield is probably safer than driving to the grocery store.

My thesis was titled "A Comprehensive History of Aerodynamics". I went in depth pretty much from the Montgolfier brothers to the F-35 project.

*beanfield*

Wow. You didn't even try when you came up with the title of that bullshit thesis did you?
For the record Masters and Ph.D. theses in technical fields like "Aeronautics" or "Aeronautical Engineering", tend to be technical affairs, examining in detail the minute implications of a single phenomenon or innovation for the field. For example a Biochemistry thesis title: "Species specificity in the activation of Xer recombination at dif by FtsK" (Xer, dif and FtsK would be proteins, or genes or something). A historical overview would be an appropriate thesis in a technical scientific field.

Also the Montgolfier brothers were balloonists. Hot air balloons are meant for slow, vertical ascents and nothing else. Aerodynamics are kinda irrelevant.
I'd say nice try, but it really, really, really wasn't.
I probably should have left it and not carried this on, but it was just so pitiful, and stratagos was not around.

Errr that should read "An historical overview would an inappropriate thesis in a technical scientific field."

I use the word 'technical' a lot in that reply don't I?

Sorry. TMW, Mafiaalligator is correct - that's not even remotely an acceptable thesis subject for a Master's level course.

An example after about fifteen seconds of googling is "A Vortex Lattice MATLAB Implementation for Linear Aerodynamic Wing Applications."

Y'see, the problem when you build an online personality based on a series of lies is that the whole edifice falls apart when one unravels. Since we have a demonstrated fact that you do *not* have an acceptable title for a Masters-level thesis, we can conclude that you did not do a Masters-level thesis. If you did not do a thesis - and you did not claim that you did a research project instead - then you did not earn a Masters degree. If you did not earn a Masters degree, you cannot be a Professor.

These logically follow. It can further follow that the weak attempt at a thesis name indicates a lack of formal education, which leads one to conclude that you have not *completed* a formal education.

Therefore, you just proved yourself to either be a high school dropout or still in high school.

And while I agree that my wife's concern about aircraft may be irrational, I find it ironic that the person with an irrational fear of Teh Gayz is incensed about it.

@ Dr_The_Master_Warrior_Ph.D:

"You, and the rest of society, shouldn't need people telling you these things. You should already be acting morally."

But who are YOU to say what is 'moral' and what is 'immoral'?

I don't see anything immoral about PDA. Please explain what is immoral about kissing in public.

Whats more immoral, kissing, or lying?
huh TMW?

Proverbs 6:16-19 says, "These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, *a lying tongue*, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."

Why does it say six, and then changes it to seven?

Anyway, he's not lying with his tongue - unless he uses his tongue to press the keys on his computer.

Jaime: A bible scholar I am not, so I have no friggin clue. I just cut and pasted from Bible.com

See, I'd make the assertion that truly moral conduct comes down to the Golden Rule:(paraphrased)

Don't be a dick to other people.

But if whatever you're doing isn't hurting anybody against their will (to leave room for the BDSM folks), why should you care? Do you have some deep-seated need to tell others how to live their lives? How would you feel if somebody tried to tell you what you could or could not do in your private life? If its OK for a heterosexual couple to kiss when they are on a date, then its OK for a homosexual couple to kiss on a date (or whatever).

Treat people in the minority how you would want to be treated if your positions were in the minority.

"A Comprehensive History of Aerodynamics"

Talk about Bullshit. Maybe if you were getting a PhD in History with a focus on Technology. If that really was your dissertation, that is one shit-ass university.

Is this...are we going to close this now?

@ Jack_Klein: "If its OK for a heterosexual couple to kiss when they are on a date, then its OK for a homosexual couple to kiss on a date (or whatever)."

The real problem here is that if the hetero couple were out on a date somewhere public, like a restaurant or public park, then by Dr The_Master_Warrior Ph.D's morals, it would NOT be ok for them to kiss.

Probably not quite yet. I assume we'll get a few more posts from TMW, which we will again demolish with remorseless logic. He'll make some rambling diatribe about how he's right and awesome and we're all fools, and then disappear for a few weeks, hoping we'll forget this

or make yet another alias

I would not be surprised if he wrote this one off; its usefulness from a trolling perspective is badly compromised...