Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?????
David Dalton wrote:
> Here's a slightly edited version of the notice letter
> I e-mailed my supervisor today, which he may not get until
> tomorrow since he is on the way to Calgary.
>
> --------------------------------
>
> In the last few days I reached a sort of plateau and at times
> have felt burned out and in need of a holiday, no doubt partly
> since I have not been off the Avalon within Newfoundland
> since 1985 and not been outside Newfoundland since
> December 1995 and have been constantly around my siblings;
> and since I have been plugging my Salmon on the Thorns
> mystic stuff since early 1997 (and have been in low years mystic
> quest mode steadily effectively since early 1996), and at the same
> time have been back in specialized science areas since
> September 2002 and to some extent in fall 2001. So
> really I have been driving myself into the ground with
> trying to cover both the Salmon on the Thorns stuff and
> the specialized science stuff and need a break.
>
> Thus on July 1 I pulled my Salmon on the Thorns web
> site off the web and will only put it back up and edit
> it to academic standards if there is major interest and
> funding, such as from the United Nations. I have
> also I think now tapered off my related newsgroup
> postings though I may have another afterthought/correction
> or two yet but I don't plan to. Indeed I am pulling
> off newsgroups altogether, including scientific ones,
> unless there is significant interest and funding for
> me to go back on them, and honest feedback to my posts.
>
> Given that, why shouldn't I thus focus on my Ph.D.?
> Well right now my heart is not in it, I'm feeling burned out.
> Also my strength now is not in long term completion
> of specialized projects such as the Ph.D. but in daily
> generation of creative scientific, entrepreneurial and
> other seed ideas and clues in a wide range of areas
> and that is generally reduced when I am working hardest
> on my Ph.D. So really I today plan to also give up
> the Ph.D. However on the offchance that it is a
> slight depressive blip (and I don't feel much down,
> just at a turning point) I will wait until after talking
> with my psychiatrist Michael Nurse late on the morning
> of July 8 before finalizing the decision. If I reverse
> my decision I would still do the poster but would want
> a week long holiday after the conference, out of town
> (such would improve my productivity after the holiday). But
> right now I think I will stick to my decision.
>
> The thing with my creative ideas and clues posted to
> newsgroups since 1991 is that some of them may be
> worth a lot of money and my idea was that I would
> post some free ones, get some recognition, and
> then start charging for further ones, but no recognition
> has come yet. But still I will no longer give out
> free ideas, and I get them often at the rate of one
> good one a day, especially now that I am out of the
> worst of my low years, and when I get some musical
> inspiration, and when I am not too tied up in specialized
> matters. So I will just hold on to my good ideas for now.
> Later I may still give free ones to poor countries but
> only if I get recognition for the ideas and know how they
> are doing.
>
> The thing is my ideas may have contributed to major
> scientific advances or be in the process of so contributing,
> and advances in other areas (e.g. the latest McDonald's
> or Burger King campaign to give away a free online
> song with a purchase is originally my idea). So while
> I have copyright on my newsgroups posts automatically,
> I don't have patent, but still they should be referenced
> and I am pushing for that. So it may not be possible
> for me, UBC, MUN, or The Geomechanics Project
> to charge for such past free ideas at least there should
> be some recognition. That is, if I have posted ideas
> through the MUN newsserver while being funded by MUN
> and by The Geomechanics Project then MUN and The
> Geomechanics Project (and me) should get some
> recognition for such though if someone else makes
> oodles of money off the ideas it may not be legally
> possible for you to retrieve any but recognition should be
> possible. (e.g. if someone later gets a Nobel prize
> as a result of one of my ideas or clues posted through
> a MUN newsserver, MUN and Geomechanics Project
> and I should also get some credit through a reference,
> and it is possible to reference newsgroup posts through
> MessageID, Google Groups archive URL of the post,
> and/or just subject/author/group(s)/date/time ).
>
> As for future ideas, if I was funded and asked say by the
> UN/Canada/Newfoundand and Labrador/MUN/MUN Genesis Centre
> (and given free rein) to generate creative ideas in whatever
> area strikes my interest, plus asked to target some
> specific areas (though with such sometimes I have
> to percolate on them and something pops out later)
> I would go for it but would want recognition for the
> ideas and to know how they are doing. I could
> do a lot, especially I don't have dual one-track
> fixations on my Salmon on the Thorns stuff and
> my specialized Ph.D. thesis. Such ideas could
> be charged for except maybe some to poor countries
> and those would still have to be acknowledged
> including to me and I would want to know how they
> are progressing. Also I can I think elaborate on
> some past ideas and clues that others may not have
> understood and sometimes which I refrained from
> elaborating on since I wanted to test the readers
> and/or wait to be asked to so elaborate.
>
> (But the option of a local MUN office or downtown
> office or office in the UN building in New York
> or well-funded home office for me as a broad creative
> shamanic type would be out for now if Sarah McLachlan
> asked me along on her tour but that is unlikely.)
>
> If that is not possible, and I quit my Ph.D., I will
> just hold on to my good ideas, maybe not even
> writing them down or if I do, carrying my notebook
> with me as I do usually anyway in case I have a
> good idea on the fly. Otherwise I would just
> exercise, read, recharge, still catch some live
> music but less beer since I would be poorer (but
> I have stopped going downtown for a while for now).
> I would stay off newsgroups, web forums, and
> electronic mail mailing lists, and minimize e-mail
> interaction with strangers (or just delete e-mail
> from strangers), and not give away ideas by e-mail
> (or, as I have said, give away ideas at all, including in bars,
> except after I get funding and recognition for some then
> I might give away some to poor countries though
> in such cases it might help for me to visit and
> listen to local music there first).
>
> However the only problem with that is some
> of my creative ideas are generated by skimming
> newsgroups and replying to posts from others,
> but I still have a fair number without that even
> without having worked much at generating them.
>
> That is a long ramble, and you may or may not think any
> subset of my newsgroup posts has consisted of significant
> scientific seed ideas and clues and entreprenuerial
> and other problem-solving ideas, or want such to increase.
> But anyway I still plan to quit the Ph.D. by week's end
> and either cancel my registration then or just ask you to
> cut my funding and leave the registration valid to the end
> of August (especially if part of my tuition cannot be refunded
> for this term). There is just a slight chance I will reverse
> my plans after my July 8 appointment with Dr. Nurse. Even
> if I do I will stay off newsgroups and leave my mystic web
> page off the net unless there is major interest in my
> resuming either or both. With that if I am still on a computer
> daily there is the chance when running a program I will be
> tempted to get on newsgroups but I am resolved not to
> (also again some of my ideas are not formulated off newsgroups
> such that I am then tempted to post them but formulated
> when I am browsing newsgroups, even as a sudden off-topic
> paragraph in a longer post mainly on something else).
>
> If I do quit I would spend a week putting all aspects of my
> project in order so that anyone who took over the project
> could more quickly build on what I have done so far, and
> may or may not be available in the fall to consult with such
> a person (would if in town, and probably would by e-mail
> otherwise). Such a week could be unfunded since I have
> been quite slack the last two weeks. Also if there is
> no way for MUN and The Geomechanics Project to recoup
> any of my funding of the last two years from dividends
> from any of my online ideas posted through the MUN
> newsserver (even if there is not a legal way to do such
> some who have benefited may feel honour-bound to
> contribute some, some may not) then if I make substantial
> money in the future I would donate some back to
> MUN, The Geomechanics Project, and maybe a bit to UBC
> though I was on a student loan my last three years there,
> which my brother George has repaid, so I would donate some to him
> (and my sister Anne for sure as well).
>
> After writing that I feel a bit better, but anyway you have my
> notice and I will likely finalize it by Thursday or Friday
> though there is still a teeny chance I will reverse my decision
> and if I do I will go into high gear and get the poster done
> and after the conference take a holiday somewhere and
> then get the first two thesis chapters finished for September.
>
> David
> http://www.nfld.com/~dalton
>
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