Obama a Hero.

[zoobernut]

Nuclear engineers. Oh man, the math. The hours. The knowledge that a single mistake on your part might deprive swaths of the country of power, or worse, initiate a meltdown. You push the wrong button and nobody in the plant can have babies. And what about your risk of getting cancer? That can't be easy to deal with.

Electrical engineers? Heck, that's what my Dad does, and I can tell you his life is no walk in the park. Forget the threat of electrocution - you could come down the pole the wrong way and tear your leg apart. Trust me - my Grandpa had the scars to prove it.

I have never heard of an electrical engineer that goes up and down poles... Electrical engineers spend most of their time in labs writing out schematics on paper and using Autocad. At least all the EE's I know. People who slide up and down poles and work closely with the high voltage are not the engineers.

Same with Nuclear engineers, my father in law is a nuclear engineer and he spends most of his time working at home in his office pouring over papers. He does visit plants periodically for safety inspections and from what he has said the most stressful part of his job is dealing with security clearance. The people manning the equipment and monitoring the machines on a daily basis in the plants I don't think they are the Nuclear Engineers.

Edit: This is just purely from my perspective and anecdotal evidence from people I know in the fields. Just pointing out again that no job is guaranteed to be stressful or not. It depends on the person and how they handle the actions required by the job.

[Olo401]

Ya know, I surely hope all you fucking morons (aka leif, swampy, sirrus, zealot, etc.) running around saying that Obama hasn't done anything yet will remember that tomorrow when you predictably start saying once again he's a failure after just nine months in office trying to fix eight years of actual failures leftover from Bush.

[Vajra]

Thus far, Obama's job seems pretty thankful. He is getting thanked before he's really done anything yet.

Really? He hasn't done anything? Bitch motha!@#$% please!

This was crossposted on another blog I visit:

“Not done anything”? He stood in the mouth of the enemy and reassured him that America stands ready to move the world forward, got Israel and Palestinians leaders to sit down in the same room and actually talk face to face again, he’s dismantling the nuclear arsenal pointed at Russia’s heart, and he’s opened top level dialogue with Iran, all in eight months. WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU WANT HIM TO DO, especially considering the motherfucking mess the Bushies left him???????

Like I said, it may not seem like much, but compared to what we had before it's like breathing for the first time in years.

^this

[Kuya]

Really? He hasn't done anything? Bitch motha!@#$% please!

He hasn't done anything, and he won't do anything. Like most black people.

[Vajra]

He hasn't done anything, and he won't do anything. Like most black people.

You guud man, u guud.

Spoiler: show

Kuya

[Talint]

Obama wins unique...plans to donate 1.4 million dollars to charity

He should donate the money to ACORN.

[Kuya]

Thank goodness Congress caught ACORN in their vilehood. ACORN should have strived to be a more responsabile organization, like Blackwater.

[Ishido]

Obama cured swine flu.

I don't believe Obama is undeserving, but I do believe that there are very likely people who would be more deserving of the award.

[Rhinox]

He should donate the money to ACORN.

Or do what George Bush did and Donate the money to Blackwater...Err whats that? that wasn't the money he won with the Nobel Prize? err whats that? you mean he didn't win a Nobel Peace prize? err whats that? You mean that wasn't money that was won but in fact tax payers money that was given to an organization that has been caught hiring Underage prostitutes for their contractors in Iraq and Murdering Civilians? What that? we're still giving them money?


STOP THE PRESSES

[Talint]

Uh.

Woosh.

[Kryssan]

Of course, all of these jobs have one thing in common; clearly defined goals. They have a job to do. They have to be good at doing it. Their co-workers or their community will judge them based on how well they perform based on a specific set of expectations. As long as everything remains the same - i.e; no mass blackouts or burning deaths - everyone should be relatively happy.

When you're the President, you don't get any of that. Anything can happen on any given day and you've got to deal with it. You get crucified for every move by part of the country even while praised by the other. Every idea you have about how to improve America has to go through hundreds of other people in Congress who each have their own political agenda to address. You're judged by every news agency in the country and around the world on what you say. Your words can start wars or your actions end them. Those soldiers who risk their lives? Well it's the President's decision to send them into action, and he has to be the one to make that decision and live with the consequences every day.

From the moment a President takes office - and before - every action and word is scrutinized and dissected. When the normal working man comes home for the evening, his job is over until the next day. The President is the President 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are no holidays or sick days for the President. Sure, they can take vacations, but these are often retreats to consult with advisors and analysts about what to do regarding any of a dozen issues sitting on your plate at any given time.

These are just the things I can think of. The President is getting reports every day about things happening in Tanzania and Botswana and Argentina and the land of Honalee that we'll never hear of and try to determine what - if anything - the government should do. And if he does take action, he's got to face down the country and explain why.

So no, I don't think there's a job with a higher stress level and lower pay. Being the President is just about the hardest, most thankless position anyone could strive to hold. Regardless of the job they do, I admire anyone who seeks that post knowing full well the nature of the task they'll be undertaking.

And you think these other people don't have thankless jobs as well? I dare you to go tell someone you're for nuclear waste. Let me know how that goes for you. Better yet, do it in a public forum - you'll quickly understand exactly what I meant by people having political positions in non-political fields. I am by no means stating that the President is not a stressful position. However, to think that it is by far and above all the most stressful is nothing but a relative opinion - one that I disagree with.

I have never heard of an electrical engineer that goes up and down poles... Electrical engineers spend most of their time in labs writing out schematics on paper and using Autocad. At least all the EE's I know. People who slide up and down poles and work closely with the high voltage are not the engineers.

Same with Nuclear engineers, my father in law is a nuclear engineer and he spends most of his time working at home in his office pouring over papers. He does visit plants periodically for safety inspections and from what he has said the most stressful part of his job is dealing with security clearance. The people manning the equipment and monitoring the machines on a daily basis in the plants I don't think they are the Nuclear Engineers.

Edit: This is just purely from my perspective and anecdotal evidence from people I know in the fields. Just pointing out again that no job is guaranteed to be stressful or not. It depends on the person and how they handle the actions required by the job.

Both electrical and nuclear engineers get involved in field work, and once again, these fields are massively broad. I was specific in regards to the electrical field however. There I was referring to the personnel who have to suit up in metal suits and do PMS/CM on high potential lines, or jobs that involve similar levels of stress - not the paperwork side of it. Believe it or not, that suit is their protection. Faraday's principle is the only thing protecting them. Yes, most of these people are engineers. I am not referring to the people that come out and read the meters on your house, or likewise, obviously - but then again I sincerely doubt said people would be 'engineers' anyway. As an example, my father is an EE that was a CTE for Jordan Dam, Sharron Harris NPP, University Towers, and has at some point or another touched or overseen a vast majority of the power poles in the eastern US during their layout in 20+ years of service to the industry. One day he would be drafting the papers in CAD for designing the layout of a new grid line and the next he'd be out surveying a line for a coop and the next he'd be across the country in the mud helping other engineers, volunteers, etc re-lay electrical lines knocked out by natural disaster.


Nuclear engineers can be everything from research to operations. The pencil pushers are obviously not going to have as great a deal with the stress of the job as say the prototype teams. Yet, someone who does a majority of engineering/managerial work could also be heavily involved in one of the other fields related to it. Its fairly rare to see engineer's that are dedicated to office life outside of the labs, to be honest. The image you get of the white collar worker with the clean suit and the 9-5 job is something I quite frankly laugh at - and I have never personally seen this except by personnel working at the labs. The closest you see to that outside the labs is the managers on occassion wearing ties due to outside monitoring and pocket protectors - most of the engineers will be as deep into the shit as they can get, because real life doesn't work like pen and paper theory and they are aware of that. The nuclear power field really doesn't allow for maybe's, but a lot of the testing we do is exactly that. Computer simulation only gets you so far (and don't even get me started on that, there is much amusement to be had there as well). In addition, nuclear power plants are always manned 24/7 for obvious reasons. Dedicating yourself to this field, be it civilian or military (outside of lab), is dedicating yourself to a life of shiftwork where the bare minimum you'll be working a week is 60 hours. Typical averages are much higher than that, usually in the 130 hours range. How is that? We work 7 day weeks of course. Its quite amusing actually, nuclear power from the civilian point of view is one of the most interesting when it comes to holiday/leave time. They're actually forced to take time off, because after you work a certain amount of time your pay stops. Yes, you heard me - these people actually stop getting paid to work after a certain limit, so they have to schedule off time in order to support plant operation and their pay schedule. Now, I'm not going to deny that the money is good, but I've never seen a salary breach the 200k mark. Typical salaries are in the 100~120K range, civilian side, depending on what you're qualified.

Then I misunderstood the example, which now seems even less stressful when properly defined.

See above.

[Meph]

People are so fucking retarded lol.

EDIT: We invade Finland at dawn!

fuck finland, we take norway again!


edit: yeah I just jumped 8 pages, you havent brought up anything interestin in that time

[Khamsin]

I have never heard of an electrical engineer that goes up and down poles... People who slide up and down poles ... are not the engineers.

I can vouch for this. My mom slid up and down poles and wasn't an engineer, either.

[archibaldcrane]

Being the President is just about the ... most thankless position anyone could strive to hold.

The fact that this quote is in a thread about the president winning

A FUCKING NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

is kinda hilarious.

Thankless my ass.

[Kuya]

Way ahead of you, bub.

[Bingbong]

Or do what George Bush did and Donate the money to Blackwater...Err whats that? that wasn't the money he won with the Nobel Prize? err whats that? you mean he didn't win a Nobel Peace prize? err whats that? You mean that wasn't money that was won but in fact tax payers money that was given to an organization that has been caught hiring Underage prostitutes for their contractors in Iraq and Murdering Civilians? What that? we're still giving them money?


STOP THE PRESSES

Youmad.

[Rhinox]

Youmad.

that's not anger in that post it's facetiousness the fact that it went over your head tells me you're still pretty mad.

[Neosutra]

Please keep them coming, the tears are delicioussssssssss.

Had my TV and radio on all day just loving every second of it. One of the few times I can tolerate listening to Rush/Beck.

[Bingbong]

that's not anger in that post it's facetiousness the fact that it went over your head tells me you're still pretty mad.

yeah your rant oozes sarcasm.

try again chief.

[Rhinox]

yeah your rant oozes sarcasm.

try again chief.

Calm down. You guys will get another shot in 3 years. No need for the tears.