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> It's well known that Ivy League engineering is pretty shitty Citation needed.

by eric_h 8y ago

a-dub 8y ago
USNWR engineering rankings, ARWU engineering rankings, reputations in the professional world? The Ivy League is known for liberal arts, not engineering.
- eric_h 8y ago
  Not the highest rated != pretty shitty
stuntkite 8y ago
Yeah, I don't agree with that statement either. I also don't think anyone from the ivy league would get into this business based on it's own merits. My original point however wasn't to disparage a classical education in engineering, but just to point out that framing the story as that this man "only" talked to other mechanics about his designs frames his role in the accident as some sort of classist bullshit. This whole thing is not ideal and needs to maybe be regulated. In my opinion it should be regulated because Duck Tours are a stupid eyesore and anyone who would pile on them doesn't value an actual good time, but that's just me... While the article makes sure to spend several paragraphs railing on the design by a mechanic 30 years back, it doesn't actually put together a graph to quantify duck tour accidents in relation to say accidents on greyhound or megabus. It just says these things have killed people. Great, so do rented party boats. The conclusion it draws from the first sentence onward is that because this guy didn't go to college that he designed a death trap. He didn't even design the thing. He modified something that the US military built for storming the beaches at Normandy. It's ludicrous. Anyone who is lucky and driven enough to get a real study in engineering should. They should also build amazing things after! And if they unfortunately kill people, then that should be evaluated on it's merits, but it's just silly to say that this guy didn't take a lot into account and worked with what he had based around safety expectations of the time. His education isn't even nearly the most important thing happening here.

> It's well known that Ivy League engineering is pretty shitty Citation needed.

by eric_h 8y ago

> It's well known that Ivy League engineering is pretty shitty Citation needed.

USNWR engineering rankings, ARWU engineering rankings, reputations in the professional world? The Ivy League is known for liberal arts, not engineering.

eric_h 8y ago
Not the highest rated != pretty shitty

stuntkite 8y ago

Yeah, I don't agree with that statement either. I also don't think anyone from the ivy league would get into this business based on it's own merits. My original point however wasn't to disparage a classical education in engineering, but just to point out that framing the story as that this man "only" talked to other mechanics about his designs frames his role in the accident as some sort of classist bullshit. This whole thing is not ideal and needs to maybe be regulated. In my opinion it should be regulated because Duck Tours are a stupid eyesore and anyone who would pile on them doesn't value an actual good time, but that's just me... While the article makes sure to spend several paragraphs railing on the design by a mechanic 30 years back, it doesn't actually put together a graph to quantify duck tour accidents in relation to say accidents on greyhound or megabus. It just says these things have killed people. Great, so do rented party boats. The conclusion it draws from the first sentence onward is that because this guy didn't go to college that he designed a death trap. He didn't even design the thing. He modified something that the US military built for storming the beaches at Normandy. It's ludicrous. Anyone who is lucky and driven enough to get a real study in engineering should. They should also build amazing things after! And if they unfortunately kill people, then that should be evaluated on it's merits, but it's just silly to say that this guy didn't take a lot into account and worked with what he had based around safety expectations of the time. His education isn't even nearly the most important thing happening here.