Subject Matter Expert, anyone?

When I hear this, my mind switched from "nice guy" mode into completely different "asshole in da house" mode.

The reason why?

Simple, I have seen a lot to justify my attitude change, especially in places, communities and people around here.

Is it that simple?

When talking about a normal guy, you have to realistically think that part of it is just "dick sizing" ego on the run, but the most important part is the other half: entirely logical thinking process.

Explain!

It really baffles me when someone let themselves deliberately misled and not taking any precautionary measures at all. That is borderline stupidity, making naivety almost sounded like a total bullshit. When we think about this, we have to understand that first, people are not completely oblivious to many subjects. They are idiots, but they should be an expert in 2 or 3 subjects, making them absolute geek/professor/master, granting them all douchebaggery one couldn't have asked for, on their particular subject.


W...w...wait.... but what about subjects that makes you scratch your head?

This is the time, when you need to switch to "learning mode" or "alert mode" rather than commonly thought-to-be good "naive mode," unless you are trying to give an impression of being cute in a potentially dangerous situation. You may have seemingly limitless brain capacity to learn about new things, but every people in the world are suffering from severely limited time to excel on too many subjects. The best skill to invest is the skill to learn things fast, or at least strengthen your logic/common sense/whatever sense. Not only this will make you understand things better, this will also makes you respect things better, and finally make you value yourself more.


I developed interest in machinery, this led me to awesome stuffs like airplanes, cars, trains, all big engines usually excites me. I also read a lot about world war 2, hooked up in a community of common interest, and absorbed a lot of knowledge I have never imagined to possess. It is as crazy as to think that one day I might be able to speak Swahili. But it just happened in 3 years, and now I am here, able to identify WW2 vehicles down to its variants and tell many battles that is usually not in popular media or documentaries. Is it awesome enough? NO. I am still not able to identify soldier uniforms down to its unit it belongs to, but only famous ones. I also have no idea about vehicle markings, paints, camouflage, or their particular deployment. There are some dudes in the community that specialise in this.


This is what I do in my free time to find more amusement: I hooked up by historically-themed computer game modification. This has made me a half historian, arguably better than most Hollywood consultants. Some of those guys are real-life archeologists and historians. Hanging around those people, should give you the idea what kind of talk I must be having along these years.


Subject Matter Expert anyone?

Hardly NOT! That is what baffles me to this point. The business world are full of preachy bullshit calling themselves subject matter experts, advising "real deal" kind of people on how to do their job better while never experiencing the real thing more than the guy he/she preached at. If we are rational people, this should be called "dumbing down" process. Forcing people to do things "our way" just because we think that you need another opinion, when you actually did not ask for it.


The attitude of this self-declaring experts are perplexing, that it has gotten into nearly changing the very basic definition of the term "expert" itself. How the hell it happened?

Let's take the business out of the talk here.


It started with subjects, most of people in underdeveloped countries find it not interesting, or more honestly, unprofitable. Things such as history, philosophy, sociology, paleontology, perhaps astronomy, and other highly theoretical subjects without clear-and-quick application possibilities. Even subjects such as aviation and technology can become superficial or peculiar in such environment due to the society's unfamiliarity with the subject.


This is when we see people having relatively similar regards, thoughts, and views on subjects that is none of their interest. But superficial things can go mainstream if it can relate to generally "stupid commoners." People like public speakers, motivators, trainers like to exploit this to gain notoriety and fame, opening new subjects to be discussed in everyday chit-chatter of generally non-discerning, ignorant public. But the good thing is that they really never claim themselves "expert", unless having different motivation.


It is not shameful to admit that I and many other people in IndoFlyer, AeroNusa, Avsim, Flightsim.com or IVAO love airplanes. We might not be an expert, working in the related industry, but we amassed tons of knowledge dealing with our real-life mimicking hobby. We even have real practitioners (such as pilots, mechanics, designers, scientists, business man) hanging around, sharing the same passion. Talent aside, there are no other source of motivation to learn, greater than a shared passion on the subject.


Alright, so you know that I like aviation and world war 2, but that does not mean it stops there. I have more other subjects in hand. I earned Information Systems degree, and International Business degree, I took many financial, accounting, and marketing classes there. But years in science class, has made me developed another interest for science. 80% of my TV time are spent on Discovery or National Geographic channel, other 15% is for sports broadcasts, the rest is mostly on news channel. I surfed the internet for reading scientific journals and scientist blogs, which is probably the most boring time in the world to many people.


Expert yet? NO! It only sums up how little humans know about the universe. For example, it turns out that we never seen the deepest ocean bottom (the Mariana Trench), but images from hundred thousands of light years away are everywhere, from Google sky to NASA library.


What tickles the ego?

It is when you meet some guy, who dick around, showing how little he/she knows. For example, the kind of people who keep believing the same old bullshit, even though cracked.com already pointed out in several articles. It makes me think that trollscience is pretty brilliant with their play on mindfuck and the guy being totally imbecile for not getting the idea of how stupid it really was.


New age is partly to be blamed. But repeated reinforcements from Blackberry Messaging Groups, Kaskus reputation-bait thread, or other bullshit blog entries really destroys intelligence. It seems that people reading it have not developed their mental capacity to filter information properly, yet. 4chan /b/ pranksters repeatedly put bait on average idiots that cost them real-life consequences, I feel bad for the victims. But they hilariously made the case as "evolution in progress," simply weeding out non-alert, hardly learning guy. I wonder if this applies to the dicking guy example above, but it seems the society doesn't have the slightest idea about how to think scientifically, so it is a pass these days. But probably not in the future.


The idea of dicking on a subject sounds corny, but the worst thing is how people exploit a subject to gain fame or notoriety among their groupies. This is the most disgusting form of dickery. You can just ignore idiots, but when they amass some number of misinformed idiots, that is where the trouble stems in. Elevated ego, lifted by group of idiots, in most cases, you can't really talk any sense to salvage the guy and his/her common sense.


Alright, don't get carried out, give me some... "softer" example, and where you are not in place to talk like a douchebag?


If you remembered about "crocoduck" case, one thing that came up on my mind was not the picture that guy showed. But rather a "dinosaur" (see the quotes here) called Archeopteryx. Really? These clueless debaters are the ones that churches sent to TV? In USA? WTF man? Any idea that might be hyped up inside a bunch of agreeing nonchalant, brain dead people surely cannot fare that much in a intelligent, end-to-end, open debate now, does it? Thanks to years of Japanese children encyclopedia brainwashing. I have all weird facts written by Asian scientist lingering in my head since childhood. My proudest moment is when I have successfully disproved most of its contents, especially its oversimplified articles on airplanes. But that was just me letting my ego steaming off.


My school isn't exactly creationist despite being deeply rooting themselves in their strict Calvinist tradition. But I don't see any down side of it, since they taught evolution as part of science, and religion being "the other side" of life. I like this typical Indonesian modesty, just when it at its appropriate level.


I can read about that too, if I had time. Anyway, the conclusion is?


If people cannot respect knowledge, how can they become experts? I mean, any kinds of knowledge, even those they deem superficial, fanciful, thanks to their limited information processing capacity. Knowledge does not regard trends, financial aspect, or personal ego into the equation, I urge people to develop more knowledge on the subject they are particularly interested in.


People does not have to be comic book genius or TV show genius (that is being jack of all trades, masters of none). Conan Edogawa from Maitantei Conan (Case Closed) possess encyclopedic knowledge of various subjects, except music. Kindaichi sucked at school lessons, but he possess great analytical skills that somehow failed him in other times. Let's not forget mainstream believes about such criminology-related profession in a number of TV shows like Numb3rs, CSI, Law & Order, Castle, Criminal Minds, and so on. Characters like Eppes, agent Reid, Detective Goren, Abby Sciuto are portrayed in such ways to make them look young, overqualified, and casually genius.


Please read this article Cracked.com on "5 Things TV Writers Apparently Believe About Smart People"

Auto Tuning My Brains

Like I have said, I have a delusional mind that thinks non-stop. This is why I did a lot of zen meditations back in College. That didn't help. I catch tunes and repeat them in detail and it keeps playing while asleep. Have to play some instruments to make this gone!!!


Let me summarize the last 4 weeks:
Week 1 (24 July to 31 July 2011) - Ain't No Mountain High Enough,
Must have been that DHL TV advertisements. Shit, evil corporate mind control! Oh noes! I don't know which version they played, most probably it is coming from Sister Act 2. But I caught them in Billboard 1970 #1 chart under Diana Ross... and her tune played all day long until the second week, day 3 (Wednesday, 10th of August). I can't complain because it is beautiful and inspiring song. I cheered up when my mind decided on its own to play the mp3 record that seems to be stored in my brain.


Week 2 (1 August to 9 August 2011) - Gonna Fly Now,
I feel great whenever I hear this song. Bill Conti is everyone's daddy, this music makes Rocky much more cool, cooler than that overused "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor. My brains usually associate tunes with events, this particular tunes I caught from watching an online episode of "Alternate Reality Dragon Ball Z" back in 2008. Found out in Billboard 1977 #1 chart. Could be a cheesy training music, overly descriptive and too bland. But funky tunes makes this music a winner! "Yo Adrian, I did it!" I really need to cheer out in this boring week.


Week 3 (10 August to 15 August 2011) - America,
My friend introduced me to Razorlight when he is taking a bath. This tune is pretty catchy, it is a statement of surrender, regret, reality, salvaging attempt of the moment, all in all, it is a happy tune, yet a sad song. Why it keeps playing in my deep consciousness, must have resulted from the origin of the bands, the meaning of the song, and where my job came from. That is how complex my mind is.


Week 3 (15 August to 16 August 2011) - Nothing,
Whitney Houston will randomly appear no where in time because she is simply wonderful, and radios won't hesitate to air any of her songs. But this one summarize what really happened to me on those days.


Week 3 (17 August 2011) - Maju Tak Gentar,
Look at the date. I was playing world war 2 games and feel this need for some local marching song. Then I got this awesome tunes from Cornel Simanjuntak played by TV stations: Maju tak Gentar (lit. Forward Undaunted). A literal marching song that pretty much self-explanatory and very descriptive on its purpose. I'm out of wit.


Week 3 (18 August - 20 August 2011) - Es War Ein Edelweiss
This is a 1941 German Army marching song. Introduced by Forgotten Hope 2 for Battlefield 2 game modifications, it sets out all tunes that makes you feel the authentic world war 2 era more than the Hollywood or commercial writers tried hard to imply to its audiences. The German soldier choir version is the particular one. National Geographic Channel began to re-air "Apocalypse: The Second World War" after the successful 2009 runs. I could picture in my mind of Landsers marching through the industrial streets I passed every day these last 2 weeks while this tune plays. I couldn't wipe the imagination of them passing at big pavement aprons viewed from the big windows of the terminal 3 Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Jeez! People are marching everywhere! This one is really a personal turd that no one can relates to.


Week 3 (21 August 2011) - Gonna Fly Now,
It is back! Oh gosh! Must be Kung Fu Panda 2 overturned. My logic somehow relates Po in searching with this common training song. But I laughed on many occasions.


Week 4 (22 August 2011 - now) - Another Brick in the Wall part II,
I will never understand Pink Floyd, but this eerie song keeps playing in my brain. Trying to catch the source to Youtube doesn't help: it became worse. Shite! In one of the pictures, I saw the kids singing to me: "We don't need no thought control" - bull and carp, they are trying to fill my consciousness! "No dark sarcasm in the classroom" - I remember there are no teacher smart enough to make sarcastic remarks that last more than a day. Must have been someone else' experience. I shall shat bricks if I see it once again.


The most disturbing one: Another Brick in the Wall part II by Pink Floyd. They even gave nonchalant conclusion end to their own song: "All in all, we are just another brick in the wall."

It raises questions: what kind of brick? Am I that old fashioned clay bricks or that boring concrete bricks? Whose laid on top of me? Whose below me? Why I was here? Why no one put a paint over us? Why would they like to see us when we are just another brick in the wall? Are we that similar to each other? What kind of building are we making? Are we bomb proof? Yeah basically this can go on until I find another tune that is not Pink Floyd.


My friends say, to understand psychedelic songs, one needs to smoke dope or at least cannabis. Holy Caribbean Cow! I'd take Tequila.

Eff That!

What the...

Are you serious? What kind of things you are going to write on your first blog entry? Afraid to sound like n00b? You are not a n00b aren't you? 

I have written lots of things these 7 years.

Readers know what I mean. Really, sometimes I have to say "eff that!" to many things. I just did that recently. I shouldn't be angry, that is exactly why I just did that. There are complicated things that need more attention, and I am your detail man. I love details, I like details, I dig it. But, sometimes it is just too much and somehow you know that it is not going to worth it.

I see people who are more crazed about details than me, that doesn't set me back. That only makes me stop claiming myself to be a "person who have exceptional attention to details" and all that false descriptions.

Are you trying to sound smart, smartass? Do you want your blog to look perfect by making smartass preachy entries?

In fact no. I have been working in a position to help other people's business, literary being a real smartass. I have enough of it. But I am not going to lash out personal shit out here. I don't want to look "cool", "unique", or such hipster try-hards. In fact, I am helping people who bother to read this, a big favor by making every entries barely readable, some grammar, spellings and less personal. I'll save a lot of resources and search engine keywords matching process and all that. All of these entries will be my thinking process. I hope the rationale suits them.

You politically correct cowards, I dare you!

Well, fuck political correctness.

Are you trying to cover all bases? What are you? Karma chameleon? How long you think you can hold on?

I never stops thinking, probably that is why. If you hate my brain, then go on and poison it with something like Simcity games, realism game modifications, or Flight Simulators, yeah... that will kill it alright.

I am kind of delusional, in my real brain, questions like little texts in this particular entry will appear every where in my mind. I self-diagnose myself as a schizophrenic. But that is okay, I can bear with that. The real shits for my brains are mofos that I am going to tell "Eff this! Done with you, kthxbye!" That will be awesome. Most people I know don't think very much, despite viewing themselves as a wise, successful, generous bullshit.

They think they can stop thinking about what others say, just because of all what they think they already have. I am wishing here that I can break all that house of contradiction they are currently dwelling in. Brain cells only stop working when humans die (or when you have too much MSG, having Alzheimer), there is no "oh focking too tired for this." They badly need to contract Alzheimer disease.

I need disco music.