i am an architecture student and a computer scientist (a floor wax and a dessert topping, baby) -- and i have seen a lot of the degraded drawing skills discussed in the article. the real problem, i think, isn't that architecture students nowadays don't know which end of the pencil to stick in the scary-twirling-blade-with-a-handle thingy -- it's that drawing is a way of "feeling" your way through to understanding of the physical world, and it's that intuitive knowledge that they lack.
an extreme illustration -- if you sit on your computer making ass-kicking spacescapes all night long, you may not understand that a two-hundred foot cantilever is, on our little planet, in many cases, physically unwise. oh, you might know it, intellectually -- but you might not really *feel* it in your bones -- the way you would if you spent years on the floor with legos, and another few years drawing nature and building with an actual pencil, in your actual hand -- getting the feel of the world and of architecture in your hands and your body. technology will, of course, catch up with that lack, as well -- but it hasn't yet, and you can tell, often, by looking at the stuff the non-drawers produce...
But look carefully -- nobody is saying it was warmer in 800 CE than now; they are saying "since 800" because they can only get accurate measurements for the last 1200 years. They should have said "since at least 800 CE" to avoid confusion.
oh, for heaven's sake; I'm as wild-eyed a leftist as the next peacenik, but this is a low blow; check out this editorial in today's Times from a front-line soldier conservative in iraq. most of these guys out there on the lines are conservatives -- and, yes, I know that the fact that most soldiers are righties doesn't mean that most righties are brave enough to fight; but perhaps it would encourage us to discuss our differences without demonizing the Other.
perhaps this sounds reasonable at first glance, but the overwhelming majority of the people I know are Thinker-type computer scientists (disclaimer: I am a Feeler-type computer scientist) who are also decidedly liberal. there are, um, actually many good logical reasons to think "liberally".
what if it were two rainbows with one end, mr. smarty pants grammar genius? the great thing about fiction is we can put apostrophes wherever the fuck we want. in fact, what's wrong with "Rai'nbows End"? maybe Rai is a neurotic three-foot lizard-being from the planet fizzlewit, whose language spells plurals using "nbows" instead of "s", and the book is about HER ASS.
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i am an architecture student and a computer scientist (a floor wax and a dessert topping, baby) -- and i have seen a lot of the degraded drawing skills discussed in the article. the real problem, i think, isn't that architecture students nowadays don't know which end of the pencil to stick in the scary-twirling-blade-with-a-handle thingy -- it's that drawing is a way of "feeling" your way through to understanding of the physical world, and it's that intuitive knowledge that they lack.
an extreme illustration -- if you sit on your computer making ass-kicking spacescapes all night long, you may not understand that a two-hundred foot cantilever is, on our little planet, in many cases, physically unwise. oh, you might know it, intellectually -- but you might not really *feel* it in your bones -- the way you would if you spent years on the floor with legos, and another few years drawing nature and building with an actual pencil, in your actual hand -- getting the feel of the world and of architecture in your hands and your body. technology will, of course, catch up with that lack, as well -- but it hasn't yet, and you can tell, often, by looking at the stuff the non-drawers produce...
But look carefully -- nobody is saying it was warmer in 800 CE than now; they are saying "since 800" because they can only get accurate measurements for the last 1200 years. They should have said "since at least 800 CE" to avoid confusion.
oh, for heaven's sake; I'm as wild-eyed a leftist as the next peacenik, but this is a low blow; check out this editorial in today's Times from a front-line soldier conservative in iraq. most of these guys out there on the lines are conservatives -- and, yes, I know that the fact that most soldiers are righties doesn't mean that most righties are brave enough to fight; but perhaps it would encourage us to discuss our differences without demonizing the Other.
perhaps this sounds reasonable at first glance, but the overwhelming majority of the people I know are Thinker-type computer scientists (disclaimer: I am a Feeler-type computer scientist) who are also decidedly liberal. there are, um, actually many good logical reasons to think "liberally".
what if it were two rainbows with one end, mr. smarty pants grammar genius? the great thing about fiction is we can put apostrophes wherever the fuck we want. in fact, what's wrong with "Rai'nbows End"? maybe Rai is a neurotic three-foot lizard-being from the planet fizzlewit, whose language spells plurals using "nbows" instead of "s", and the book is about HER ASS.