Slashdot Mirror


Oregon Man Fined For Writing 'I Am An Engineer' Temporarily Wins Right To Call Himself An 'Engineer' (vice.com)

Mats Jarlstrom, an electrical engineer fined by the Oregon engineering board for calling himself an "engineer" and talking about traffic lights, has been granted the temporary right by a judge to both publicly call himself an "engineer" and talk about traffic lights. Jason Koebler reports via Motherboard: Last month, Jarlstrom sued the engineering board for violating his First Amendment rights, and Tuesday a federal judge gave Jarlstrom the temporary right to call himself an engineer, pending the results of his case. "Plaintiff Jarlstrom may study, communicate publicly about, and communicate privately his theories relating to traffic lights throughout the pendency of this litigation as long as [his] communications occur outside the context of a paid employment or contractual relationship," Anna Brown, a federal district court judge for the district of Oregon, ordered. He "may describe himself publicly and privately using the word 'engineer' throughout the pendency of this litigation." Jarlstrom's attorneys say this is a promising sign and a "critical first step in protecting Oregonians' First Amendment rights."

4 of 369 comments (clear)

  1. A Triumph For Sure.... by pollarda · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is surely a triumph for sanitation engineers everywhere!

    1. Re:A Triumph For Sure.... by n329619 · · Score: 5, Funny

      This is surely a triumph for sanitation engineers everywhere!

      They are actually programmers.

    2. Re:A Triumph For Sure.... by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 5, Funny

      sanitation engineers

      programmers

      That's not what we mean when we talk about "garbage collection."

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
  2. Not a physicist. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Reminds me of a Jewish clerk in a Swiss patent office who dabbled in physics and thought he was a Physicist.