[sdiy] Can your *really* teach "Engineering"?

[David G. Dixon]

> And further, the best companies to work for actively encourage employees
> to have outside interests, and to *use* the company resources in their
> pursuit.

That definitely does NOT describe the modern university, unfortunately.
I've taught in the same university department for 16 years, and I couldn't
tell you whether any of my colleagues even have any serious outside
interests, let alone what they might be, and they have made it crystal clear
that they are not interested to hear about mine.  It wasn't always this way,
but it seems that the modern university attracts fairly single-minded
people.  We don't even go out for coffee anymore, except in little research
cliques.  It's pretty sad.

Part of the appeal of synth diy for me is that it allows me to escape the
stultifying work environment and interact with people who aren't embarrassed
to share their enthusiasm.