In Defense Of My Junk Box: Married to An Engineer

Just about every electrical or mechanical engineer I know has some kind of junk box—a treasure trove of parts accumulated over the years, all saved with the hope they might come in handy someday. My own junk box started at a very early age. Too young to work a...

Justifying My AI Hobby By Finding Blaze A Forever Home

From my early teenage years, technology has always played a significant part in my life. Though I was late to the party, I joined the technology revolution as the world transitioned from vacuum tubes to transistors in 1963. By 1975, I found myself in the midst of the...

Maximizing Profit: Reliable Designs Or Frequent Repairs?

When I retired, my wife strongly suggested I put some of that newfound free time into cleaning rather than gaining another level in my current game. My trusty old vacuum cleaner, however, decided it wasn’t up to the increased workload and promptly broke a belt. Of...

From the Doghouse

A look at dogs having fun

Poser Gallery

My gallery of pictures I’ve created in Poser

Nature by Carol

A look at the less technical side of life

The Rubbermaid 7’ x 10’ Shed, A Review

The Rubbermaid 7’ x 10’ Shed, A Review

This is a review of the Rubbermaid 7’ x 10’ shed but my story begins with a humbling confession of my own ignorance. When I bought my dream ranch, complete with a charming old barn, I was blissfully unaware of the storm of frustration that lay ahead. Neither the barn...

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What Happened To Conversation?

What Happened To Conversation?

I remember the day I made my first and last comment on LinkedIn. It was a discussion on a manned Mars mission and how it should be abandoned because the odds against the voyagers surviving were high. I remarked that Columbus’ crew probably faced the same fears. Boy,...

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Re-occurring Bills, Do The Companies Just Not Get It?

Re-occurring Bills, Do The Companies Just Not Get It?

It’s that time of the month again, the week most of my bills come due. Prior to retirement, I gave very little thought to making insurance payments as they were automatically extracted from my paycheck. Retirement brought monthly insurance bills. Just thinking about...

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Random Posts

  • Problem Solving And The EngineerProblem Solving And The Engineer
    Last night my wife did a very cruel thing to me. I don’t think it was malicious but it did destroy the rest of my evening.  What was it that my wife did to me? All she did was show me a fairly simple mathematical problem that had been given as homework to a distant […]
  • Poser Debut, an Engineer’s ReviewPoser Debut, an Engineer’s Review
    I think Smith Micro has a real hit with Poser Debut. As  a engineer I’ve always been impressed by an artist’s ability to convey a message using a minimum of information. If I want to represent a bird in a picture I immediately think of feathers, beak, eyes and wings. I break the feathers and […]
  • A Conspiracy Theory Regarding Encryption Creating My DilemmaA Conspiracy Theory Regarding Encryption Creating My Dilemma
    It seems that the current trend on social media is overwhelmingly conspiracy theories, especially as elections draw near. I’m not particularly drawn to the political ones, but I’m gripped by a conspiracy theory regarding encryption that’s threatening to upend my world. Venn, embodying the curiosity of her engineering owner and her own role as a […]

Random Posts

  • What’s This Thing Called Cache? A Non-Technical ExplanationWhat’s This Thing Called Cache? A Non-Technical Explanation
    Spend enough time with computers and you’ll encounter cache. When your browser is acting up, the first thing you hear is, “your cache is corrupted you’ll have to clean it.” When your computer is running slow, you’re told you need more cache. Obviously cache is important but what is cache? How does it work? Let […]
  • What Idiot Designed This? In Defense Of EngineersWhat Idiot Designed This? In Defense Of Engineers
    Ever try to fix something and ask yourself, “what idiot designed this?” It’s certainly happened to me often enough. Yeah, a few of those times it was one of my own designs but we’re not going to discuss those today. Before I get too far into this post let me freely admit that not all […]
  • Are You Sure?Are You Sure?
    I own an old DVD VCR. It’s a good VCR but it has one issue that really irritates me. In order to record on a DVD I have to initialize the DVD. What I don’t like is that is asks me four times if I’m sure that I want to initialize the disk. I could […]

Random Posts

  • Amazon’s Secret Weapon, No Will Call LinesAmazon’s Secret Weapon, No Will Call Lines
    When I needed 200 aluminum fence stays, I found them for $19 at Amazon and $11 at Lowe’s but I still bought them from Amazon. The decision wasn’t made because I’m a loyal dedicated Amazon shopper. It was a simple matter of economics. When I calculated all the costs, Amazon was cheaper and I’m not […]
  • Heidi’s Heavenly Cookies, WowHeidi’s Heavenly Cookies, Wow
    I enjoy writing this blog because I’m not constrained to a single topic. Today is all about cookies. Let me set the background. I love cookies. Everyone who knows me knows I love cookies. The only thing that lured me off my Atkins diet was cookies. My Food Scout quickly learned how much I loved […]
  • Time Travel As Viewed By Einstein. A Simplified DiscussionTime Travel As Viewed By Einstein. A Simplified Discussion
    Time travel, I don’t know of any other concept so used and misused in Science Fiction. Although judging from Avengers Endgame, a lot of writers have problems with the concept. Still, despite the inherent paradoxes, from the time I was first introduced to the concept, I was fascinated by it. As I got older and […]

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From the Doghouse -It’s all about them

A look at dogs having fun!

Short Stories

With posts like these, ever wonder what kind of fiction I would write?

Random Posts

  • Website Data For My Udacity Statistics CourseWebsite Data For My Udacity Statistics Course
    A few weeks ago I did a post, “Probability, Statistics and Udacity”. Udacity read the post, tweeted it and posted a link on their site. The increase in traffic to my site was astounding.  This provided a whole new audience and a great opportunity to study the statistics generated by …
  • Apathy, How To Waste Your VoteApathy, How To Waste Your Vote
    Over the last few months I’ve had some very harsh words for our politicians in Washington. My Mother-in-law pointed out that the politicians really aren’t to blame for our current situation. They may be totally incompetent and dysfunctional but it’s not their fault they are in office. The only reason …
  • Company Buyouts, Good For The Consumer?Company Buyouts, Good For The Consumer?
    You’re justifiably proud of your waffle maker. It was a lesser-known brand, yet it cost half as much as its competitors, and its brilliant texture sensor guaranteed you got flawless waffles every time. Unfortunately, as soon as you plugged it in, someone mistook your power station for a drive-through, and …
  • How To Talk With An EngineerHow To Talk With An Engineer
    Last week when I described my current systems engineer position as being all about communications, I almost lost my wife to uncontrollable laughter. When she finally recovered, all she said, while still trying to catch her breath was, “how do you stay employed?” She has a point.  If you have an …
  • Closing Out 2019 In Bits And PiecesClosing Out 2019 In Bits And Pieces
    I admit it. Sometimes very logical conclusions completely escape me. I started Opinionbypen because I realized I was too isolated. At the time it never occurred to me that nobody cared. In order to people to take time out of their life and read my blog, they have to get …
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