Thursday, November 12, 2009

Re: Being Outspoken

Dr zzzzz
I am really feeling bad about this one now. You can say
to this extent is something that is out of limit. I think you should
have read something about the prof you are saying this. He is a real
Civilian !! If you had guts then you would have come a general message
through seaint. I am not against you but the point I am trying to make
is about a decorm of place you are in. This is not orkut/fb, this is
something serious and something of our branch's concern.
Just one message, Maintain a decorm !!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prof Astaneh,
Please reveal his name to admins atleast
for some kind of Action.

On 11/12/09, Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl <astaneh@ce.berkeley.edu> wrote:
> Dear Seaint friends:
> I just received this e-mail from (Dr. name withheld) a Seaint member and
> felt I need to stop and reply. Then I felt to share his short e-mail and
> my a bit longer reply with you as well. Being out there in public,
> specially with projects I have been involved with, I get quite a lot of
> supportive e-mails but this time I felt to make one public . The reason
> is for the first time in my carrier, last week I received my first and
> hope last hate e-mail which was very disturbing and had to be turned
> over to Campus mail. The hate mail was attacking me because of my
> criticism of Caltrans. So here is Dr. n.w. 's e-mail and my reply.
> ====================================================================================
> x. y. xzzzzz wrote:
>> * Prof. Asteneh:
>>
>> I thank you much for your outspokenness typical of your e-mail to the
>> SEAINT list-serve at 6:07 am this morning. You may not know the
>> extent of those who appreciate this type of professional activity..
>>
>> Dr. zzzzz
>> *
>
> Dear Dr. zzzzzz: Thank you very much for your kind words. My approach to
> my "Tenured" position as well as meaning of tenure is that people of
> California have given me, an emigrant from Iran, this great job at this
> greatest University in the world located at the one of the most
> beautiful part of the world and have guaranteed all of this for life
> with one expectation that I find the truth in my teaching and research
> and when I find it I do not worry about the consequences of telling
> those who pay my salary (people of California) the truth that I have
> found and do not worry about being fired from my job since the boss did
> not like it! My boss is the people of California.
>
> I have to add that I also have another obligation to Americans who have
> accepted myself and my family with open arms and has given us the
> citizenship of this great country and allowed us to make it our new
> home. We have really been given the American Dream. This last part only
> recent emigrants can understand.
>
> I have added another obligation to my contract with my "boss" (all
> Americans) that in pursue of the truth I will make my best effort to
> ensure that the infromation that I have is correct and truthful , then,
> give to the "boss" nothing but the truth and the whole truth without
> considering for even a fraction of a second what consequences such
> interaction would have . Since I work in the structural engineering
> field, anything I do has safety consequences for my "boss" (The
> Americans) and I should not put my own petty financial interests ahead
> of Americans interest.
>
> In case of Caltrans, when in 1998 Caltrans/Metropolitan Transportation
> Commission selected the Self Anchored Suspension design for the Bay
> Bridge East Span replacement span, knowing enough about the bridge and
> site (I was studying the bridge by then for 10 years) I went to public
> hearing of the project and used my three minutes and made my statement
> that this system , the Self Anchored Suspension (SAS) is the most
> inferior bridge system and should not be approved for such a haigh
> seismic region. The bridge selection process was totally flawed since
> four of the selection panel members called Engineering and Design
> Advisory Panel (EDAP) had submitted their own design and those four
> designs ended up being the semi finalists and eventually all four
> entitities joined and selected one but each got a piece of the action.
> The design fee alone at that time was $75 million. The bridge which the
> public was told will cost $1.3 billion, today is estimated to cost $7.2
> and be finished in 2013 ( 25 years after Loma Prieta) . As a result of
> that 3 minutes of truth telling as per my contract with my "boss"
> (American People) Caltrans cut all my research projects ($100,000/year,
> consulting about $20K/yr and made it clear to all bridge firms and
> others that if anyone wants any funding from Caltrans they should not
> work with me . Then , Caltrans and Metropolitan Transportation
> Commission started a character assasination campaign that still
> continues to date . But, all of this is not what I will pay attention
> to. My attention is focused on doing my job for my "boss" as she would
> want me to do. I have no other option. The only concern I have is that
> like the hate mail I received last months, with Caltrans and MTC
> continuously creating hate towards me , there could be someone who snaps
> and causes physical harm tome or my family. That one I leave in God's hands.
>
> Of course in addition to America I have another beloved home and that is
> Iran and I feel exactly the same way about Iranians as I do about
> Americans, loved by both and love bothl. So, I have two bosses but
> think about it, with all that they have given to me and my family all
> they want me to do is not to lie and tell them the truth. Who could turn
> down this bargain
>
> Best wishes as always.
>
> "Hassan"
> Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, Ph.D., P.E.
> Professor ,
> www.ce.berkeley.edu/~astaneh:
> =============================================================================================================
>
> ******* ****** ******* ******** ******* ******* ******* ***
> * Read list FAQ at: http://www.seaint.org/list_FAQ.asp
> *
> * This email was sent to you via Structural Engineers
> * Association of Southern California (SEAOSC) server. To
> * subscribe (no fee) or UnSubscribe, please go to:
> *
> * http://www.seaint.org/sealist1.asp
> *
> * Questions to seaint-ad@seaint.org. Remember, any email you
> * send to the list is public domain and may be re-posted
> * without your permission. Make sure you visit our web
> * site at: http://www.seaint.org
> ******* ****** ****** ****** ******* ****** ****** ********
>


--
Avi Sharma
2nd Year
Department of Civil Engineering,
SRKNEC, India

******* ****** ******* ******** ******* ******* ******* ***
* Read list FAQ at: http://www.seaint.org/list_FAQ.asp
*
* This email was sent to you via Structural Engineers
* Association of Southern California (SEAOSC) server. To
* subscribe (no fee) or UnSubscribe, please go to:
*
* http://www.seaint.org/sealist1.asp
*
* Questions to seaint-ad@seaint.org. Remember, any email you
* send to the list is public domain and may be re-posted
* without your permission. Make sure you visit our web
* site at: http://www.seaint.org
******* ****** ****** ****** ******* ****** ****** ********