Having recently taken part in many, many cost optimization exercises and reading many a report on how to increase efficiency in a shipyard I cant help but question what is the cost of progress?
In terms of shipyards the cost of progress is 100's of highly skilled works such as welders and riveters being replaced by a few unskilled people who can press a single button on a machine as basically everything is automated. I can't help but wonder if this is truly progress, okay the technology is advanced to an extent that most people would not have thought possible, and less workers means less out going costs therefore high profit which is desirable. But there is also huge amounts of unemployment of workers who really have no where else that they can work, which surely cannot be called progress?
Which leads to the question of what is progress? As a society we seem to judge progress on the profit that can be made of what can be gotten out of an action. I say why not judge progress on an individual basis, for some people it will be as simple as how much money they are earning for others progress is being happy in their own skin, or progress is forgiving an old friend. Lets redefine our take on progress.
Wednesday 24 March 2010
Tuesday 1 December 2009
I don't miss you I miss who you could have been
Does anyone else have those people that were just so amazing and could have been some one and could have changed the world but took a wrong turning some where along the lines and just aren't that person anymore.
Now they are some one that doesn't care enough to try and change the world never mind have the ability to do so. In these cases I miss the person that they could have been and it's always a rather bizarre situation. I mean is it even possible to miss some one that never existed outside the confines of your imagination? If it is possible is it normal of feasible or is it all just a little bit too far fetched to create this perfect image of some one in your head and then be devastated when life doesn't turn out that way?
Now they are some one that doesn't care enough to try and change the world never mind have the ability to do so. In these cases I miss the person that they could have been and it's always a rather bizarre situation. I mean is it even possible to miss some one that never existed outside the confines of your imagination? If it is possible is it normal of feasible or is it all just a little bit too far fetched to create this perfect image of some one in your head and then be devastated when life doesn't turn out that way?
Monday 2 November 2009
To the people who change lifes
I have been thinking recently and this thinking, as uncommon as it may be has lead me to realise that we are who we are for a lot of reasons and a lot of those reasons are the people that we meet. I personally have many people who have been or who are in my life who have changed it for better and for worse but none the less changed it. I believe that this makes me lucky as well who doesn't want to evolve.
I have been trying to figure out who the people that have shaped me the most are and have come to some conclusions I hadn't thought of. My mother most importantly gave me the sense of believe that leads to trying everything and anything with out the fear of failure and then the ability to pick myself back up and try again if I do fail. My dad showed me that if you want something it is always worth the risk because the worst that can happen is you don't get it and well you never had it to start with. The people that doubted me and the ability I had to do what i wanted filled me with an anger which turned to perseverance and the strength to push myself as far as I go in order to prove them wrong. The boy in the toyshop in France left me with a deep love of indie music, music which in turn altered my life and made it far better. My best friends taught me to be there no matter what and to always support the people you love.
So following that summery of the people that have changed me I think I've realised that no experience it totally bad as everything has an outcome and a bad experience will make you stronger and a better person some where along the lines.
I have been trying to figure out who the people that have shaped me the most are and have come to some conclusions I hadn't thought of. My mother most importantly gave me the sense of believe that leads to trying everything and anything with out the fear of failure and then the ability to pick myself back up and try again if I do fail. My dad showed me that if you want something it is always worth the risk because the worst that can happen is you don't get it and well you never had it to start with. The people that doubted me and the ability I had to do what i wanted filled me with an anger which turned to perseverance and the strength to push myself as far as I go in order to prove them wrong. The boy in the toyshop in France left me with a deep love of indie music, music which in turn altered my life and made it far better. My best friends taught me to be there no matter what and to always support the people you love.
So following that summery of the people that have changed me I think I've realised that no experience it totally bad as everything has an outcome and a bad experience will make you stronger and a better person some where along the lines.
Tuesday 25 August 2009
Everything Changes
Sometimes the ability of the world to keep changing at such a rate it's almost dizzying amazes me. From something as insignificant as the change and progression of one students (lets say me, for arguments sake) change in the last 12 months to the leaps and bounds in technology, science, health everything in the last 50 years it still amazes me.
These thoughts have primarily stemmed from a admittedly friends and pizza induced conversation with an amazing new friend to how on earth we could have survived without the internet and mobile phones which led me to wonder, how that was possible. To further this the next day I went to visit my elderly grandmother (who said I wasn't a good grandchild??), where the discussion moved swiftly onto my cousins who moved to Australia about three years ago, and how 30 years ago that would have meant saying goodbye forever where as now I can webcam with them and don't think twice about what an amazing gift that is.
Following all of this deep thinking, I started to think about how life is always changing and moving on and forward. Even on the comparatively insignificant version of my own life where in the last 12 months I have moved to a different country, moved in on my own, started university and done 100's of things I never in a million years thought I would do some good (sailing the coast of Scotland being a highlight) some less good (shattering my right wrist whilst kayaking) but regardless all things that have shaped and changed me, for what I think is the better although who am I to judge?
I have spent a while trying to decide if I like this idea of constant change and growth as well what if you don't want to change or to grow? But ultimately the list of things that have been gained through change in every way of life is so amazing and so important to the world that as much as sometimes it can be a scary notion it is essentially the most important thing that any human can do for the world.
These thoughts have primarily stemmed from a admittedly friends and pizza induced conversation with an amazing new friend to how on earth we could have survived without the internet and mobile phones which led me to wonder, how that was possible. To further this the next day I went to visit my elderly grandmother (who said I wasn't a good grandchild??), where the discussion moved swiftly onto my cousins who moved to Australia about three years ago, and how 30 years ago that would have meant saying goodbye forever where as now I can webcam with them and don't think twice about what an amazing gift that is.
Following all of this deep thinking, I started to think about how life is always changing and moving on and forward. Even on the comparatively insignificant version of my own life where in the last 12 months I have moved to a different country, moved in on my own, started university and done 100's of things I never in a million years thought I would do some good (sailing the coast of Scotland being a highlight) some less good (shattering my right wrist whilst kayaking) but regardless all things that have shaped and changed me, for what I think is the better although who am I to judge?
I have spent a while trying to decide if I like this idea of constant change and growth as well what if you don't want to change or to grow? But ultimately the list of things that have been gained through change in every way of life is so amazing and so important to the world that as much as sometimes it can be a scary notion it is essentially the most important thing that any human can do for the world.
Friday 7 August 2009
Trains, Planes and Automobiles
Since moving to Glasgow from London I seem to spend a disproportionally large amount of time on trains, planes or automobiles and more often then not a combination of all three in order to get from point A (where I live in Glasgow) to point B (my parents home in London).
There are positive and negative side to all of the potions for travel. Driving takes a long time and it can be very tedious. Although, not being able to drive myself I will admit to sleeping for large chunks of the journey. On the positive side it is very personal, no one leaning over you or pushing against you and with my family you know there will always be a brilliant playlist with imaginative names such as "Glasgow April '09".
As for flying, well every other flight post 9/11 it is far more hassle and stress than it use to be. For a flight that lasts a little over and hour it is possible if not probable that over two hours will be spent in the airport before the gate is announced and this isn't including the delays which are becoming more and more common place. The restrictions on hand luggage cannot be forgotten. After all imagine my horror on realizing I couldn't remember if I had taken the navigational plotters from my computer bag which I was about to put through an xray machine (thankfully I had remembered). there is also the hassle of getting off at the other end. the conclusion I come to in this instance is for such a short flight flying really isn't the fastest choice.
Finally there is the train which I experienced for the first time recently. I will admit four and a half hours is a long time. During which the people next to you will inevitably invade your personal space will not be a highlight. Although all things considered the train is easy, takes less time to get from point A to point B and on the whole is far less stressful.
There are positive and negative side to all of the potions for travel. Driving takes a long time and it can be very tedious. Although, not being able to drive myself I will admit to sleeping for large chunks of the journey. On the positive side it is very personal, no one leaning over you or pushing against you and with my family you know there will always be a brilliant playlist with imaginative names such as "Glasgow April '09".
As for flying, well every other flight post 9/11 it is far more hassle and stress than it use to be. For a flight that lasts a little over and hour it is possible if not probable that over two hours will be spent in the airport before the gate is announced and this isn't including the delays which are becoming more and more common place. The restrictions on hand luggage cannot be forgotten. After all imagine my horror on realizing I couldn't remember if I had taken the navigational plotters from my computer bag which I was about to put through an xray machine (thankfully I had remembered). there is also the hassle of getting off at the other end. the conclusion I come to in this instance is for such a short flight flying really isn't the fastest choice.
Finally there is the train which I experienced for the first time recently. I will admit four and a half hours is a long time. During which the people next to you will inevitably invade your personal space will not be a highlight. Although all things considered the train is easy, takes less time to get from point A to point B and on the whole is far less stressful.
Tuesday 4 August 2009
Happy Ever After Vs. (Pipe) Dream
I often feel torn between all of the things which I want in life and as of yet I am unable to find a solution which I deem as satisfactory.
On one hand there is my fairy tale happy ever after. Girl meets boy, they fall in love, get married, have lots of pretty babies etc. In essence they live happily ever after (does anyone else feel Walt Disney has distorted their views on reality some what? But anyway this is off topic). In personally don't feel that I could be classed as female without wanting it all but, well there always is a but isn't there? How can I have this and my, okay I'll admit it possibly pipe dream, but dream none the less.
The dream of going to the Far East after graduation then on to the US. How can I have both? If i was to get my forever after then surely I would lose it all on my departure post graduation. After all it wouldn't be fair to expect someone else to move across the world from all that they know for the sake of my dream would it? But then I get my dream but no my forever after. Which leads to the question which means more to me? Unfortunately at the moment I don't have a satisfactory answer.
On one hand there is my fairy tale happy ever after. Girl meets boy, they fall in love, get married, have lots of pretty babies etc. In essence they live happily ever after (does anyone else feel Walt Disney has distorted their views on reality some what? But anyway this is off topic). In personally don't feel that I could be classed as female without wanting it all but, well there always is a but isn't there? How can I have this and my, okay I'll admit it possibly pipe dream, but dream none the less.
The dream of going to the Far East after graduation then on to the US. How can I have both? If i was to get my forever after then surely I would lose it all on my departure post graduation. After all it wouldn't be fair to expect someone else to move across the world from all that they know for the sake of my dream would it? But then I get my dream but no my forever after. Which leads to the question which means more to me? Unfortunately at the moment I don't have a satisfactory answer.
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