Comments on: Boeing Factory Tour

By: alistair

alistair — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 17:33:00 +0000

the majority of aircraft manufacturers, boeing , bac, sud aviation, mcdonnell douglas, etc are in the armament business. so are siemens, phillips, panasonic and any other technlogy company. killing is a vast enterprise. one that we tend to want to seperate ourselves from for etical and moral reasons, but at the end of the day we are all carnivorous predators by nature and will fight with tooth and claw ( and it`s maclunanesque extensions.) when prompted sufficiently. there are very few of who will give up a fight. the buddhist monk who lit himself on fire as a way of protesting the vietnam war is just about the only example that i can think of. sitting still while burning to death is the exact opposite of how the majority of us would behave……….

so we fight to live…….

By: Taylor (peaknickster)

Taylor (peaknickster) — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 17:06:23 +0000

Tim:

You believe in my ability to control myself. Guess what! I don’t know how to control myself! I need you to help me control myself by banning this IP address, and others with my name on it, off this site. I have autism. That is a mental disability that means that I do not have the impulse control to stop myself. Please ban me. I am begging you. You seem like a reasonable person–why don’t you just help me out here?

By: peaknickster

peaknickster — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 17:04:18 +0000

Jason:

Why is it that something that relies on a hinterland to feed it is inherently unsustainable? Why does that make it parasitic if the form of cultivation, whatever it is, produces a surplus, and is sustainable? Why does something have to be self-sufficient in order for it to be sustainable? This does not make sense to me.

By: whatacharacter

whatacharacter — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 15:52:08 +0000

Ha Ha! I love all the ironic Boeing ads now popping up all over this page!

“Find great deals and save!” *snarf*

By: whatacharacter

whatacharacter — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 15:49:26 +0000

Thanks for reminding me why I’ve never gone in my 26 years here.

The Boeing affect - along with generous ammounts of other engineers around Puget Sound - is the reason, my lawyer told me, why this area gets such low settlements in injury cases, for “pain and suffering.”

How is an engineer supposed to accurately gauge nebulous and abstract conditions related to emotions and the psyche? Herein, methinks, lie an important factor in the inherent lameness Seattle has always struggled with - despite all the college credentials so often cited among our citzenry.

Next: how about an Experience Music Project review???

By: Tim Boucher

Tim Boucher — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 03:25:00 +0000

boeing is only in the passenger jet business as a public persona. thier real business is in the weapons trade.

I’m sure you’re absolutely right. They sell passenger jets because it is a run-off from the technologies of their true business and because it can make them look useful in the eyes of the general public, beyond simple killing power

By: alistair

alistair — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 02:52:30 +0000

my father worked at aldermaston in britain in the 60s and i assure you there were no public tours of that facility. the anti-war movement in the 70s made aldermaston thier favorite target as it was making and testing nukes primarily……..as well as the magic stuff which dad only alluded to in jest now and then. boeing is only in the passenger jet business as a public persona. thier real business is in the weapons trade.

By: slomo

slomo — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 02:08:43 +0000

I was waiting for you to say something about the defense contracting, which you only brought up at the end (fitting, since it was omitted entirely from the tour).

I’ll tell you something from the trenches of another well-known place where extra-brainy people work: the “coolest” projects are the ones that are most sinister in their potential (or actual) applications. You can almost be certain that the engineers that get stuck working on the 787’s are the “losers”, relatively speaking, with low pecking order among the pool of engineers that work there. If you’re an engineer with a high security clearance who is working on technology that is almost indistinguishable from magic: that’s how you get the proverbial chicks.

By: JJ

JJ — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 19:22:17 +0000

Having been a tour guide for a state historical society for 5 years, I have some insight into your tour experience.
It is not at all suprising to me that your guide went home and cried every night. The amount of information and context one is expected to have at the ready at that kind of job is equivalelent to a full semester’s worth of college lectures, without access to notes. On top of that, the guide must adhere to the bland, polyanna-ish spin that the employer wishes to put on everything. That “thickly overly nice” demeanor is part of cold-reading a group of strangers to determine their needs, interests, and education while at the same time preventing them from darting off and breaking things. I can only assume that things are worse in a corporate environment where irritating the wrong belligerant-know-it-all visitor could literally cost one their job.
On the other hand it sounds like a pretty creepy, extra-brainwashy tour.

-JJ
long-timer lurker