Patent Reform, We Should Demand It
There is no easier way to get me to jump on a soapbox than to start a discussion on patents. While I fully support the concept of patents and I feel that the inventor should be rewarded for his efforts, I just don’t think that’s the way our system is working. Nor do I...
What’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...
Where Have All The Mentors Gone?
It’s easy to forget there was a time before the Internet, before YouTube and before Facebook. Nowadays if you want to know how to change the power window motor on your 1994 Ford pickup, you pull up Google and do a search. Odds are good that someone has made a...
Sundae Explains Why Fashion Changes
While engineers are far more challenged by fashion than most of our species, I don’t believe a lack of fashion sense is limited to engineers. I have the basic rules down, well as long as I’m wearing nothing more than business casual. Throw a tie into the mix and I...
Half Full or Half Empty, An Engineer’s Viewpoint
My wife will confirm that living with an engineer is different. It’s not just that we tend to be socially inept or even standoffish. We see the world differently and until you spend time with one of us you can’t comprehend how differently. All my life I’ve...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
3D Printer In The Home, Useful Or Just A Toy?Last week my wife was complaining that she needed a funnel to put her spices in the spice jars. I could have shown her how to make a funnel out of paper or gone down to the store to buy her a funnel but those solutions never occurred to me, …
The Art Of Communication, Let Your Audience Dictate How You Say ItThere are times when my wife is so frustrated from trying to talk to me that she wonders if I’m an idiot savant with the emphasis on idiot. Why? Communication. Exchanging concepts between two people is difficult. Throw an engineer into the mix and it’s almost impossible. If you know …
Time Travel, We All Do ItRead enough science fiction and sooner or later the subject of time travel will come up. I think we all agree that time travel is not only possible, it’s inevitable. We are always traveling forward in time at a more or less fixed rate. I say more or less because …
Dessert Selection, A Description of One Engineer’s Decision ProcessMy wife constantly tells me that nobody but an engineer thinks the way I do. I say she’s exaggerating but in an attempt to keep peace in the family I’ve agreed to a test. I’ll write about an ordinary decision process and leave it up to my readers. The Decision …
All Natural Ingredients With Scientific ProofHave you ever considered exactly what they are telling you when you hear “all natural ingredients” or “scientific proof” in an advertisement? I know that “all natural ingredients” is trying to infer that natural ingredients are better than artificial ingredients. If you read the ingredients on Chips Ahoy Cookies (mentioning …