From the Doghouse
A look at dogs having fun
Poser Gallery
My gallery of pictures I’ve created in Poser
My Science Fiction and Fantasy stories
Stories I’ve written
Nature by Carol
A look at the less technical side of life
Whatever Happened To Compromise And Acceptance?
I have no mouth and must scream is a short story by Harlen Ellison. Unfortunately it also very accurately sums up my feelings on American politics. I’ll confess to avoiding Twitter and Facebook. I have my website but I’ve accepted that the stats on my website don't...
The SainSmart 3018 PROVer CNC Router, A Review
Given the number of posts I've made on 3D printers, it's safe to assume that I feel I've mastered the basic techniques. Still you always wonder if the grass is greener on the other side. In my case, thanks in part to the Covid blues and Amazon's Prime day I ended up...
Want To Be A Great Writer? You Need Great Characters
Why this topic? Why now? Perhaps an explanation is in order. Recently I had to send a white paper I had written several years ago to a colleague having similar problems. Prior to sending it, I took the time to read it and almost spent the rest of the day rewriting it....
Why All The Negative Political Ads? Are Politicians Afraid Of A Position?
I just finished exercising my political rights by voting against all the candidates so far from my own political views that I had no choice but to vote for their opposition. Looking back on my experience, I realize every vote I made was for the lessor evil. I did my...
How To Get A Solar Powered Potting Table. Married To An Engineer
I’m not going to say I was manipulated into my solar powered potting table but looking back at it, the signs were there. Shortly before our anniversary, my Wife started showing me potting tables made by other men for their wives. The thing was, none of these tables...
Prusa MK3S, Built In Self Destruct Or Swiss Cheese Theory of Failure
I’m writing to warn all the Prusa MK3S owners about a built in self destruct mechanism in your printer. Avoiding it is easy, not avoiding it cost me over $100 and took my printer down for over a week. It all started when I started seeing bare copper traces on my heat...
Random Posts
Why Did Amazon Kill Amazon Explore? It Was Becoming Great.Why did Amazon kill Amazon explore? Let me start this rant by admitting I am an Amazon fan. I love the large selection of merchandise and the quick delivery. I’m a member of Prime and I frequently use their credit card. Still, they do enough boneheaded things that I sometimes wonder if they are running […]
Why All the Hate For PO Boxes?Before you read too far, let me confess to you that I was in a very irritated frame of mind when I wrote this. After waiting two weeks for a word on the Nexus 7 I ordered from Google Wallet, I was notified yesterday that they cancelled my order because the address I gave them […]
Where I Admit I Made A Mistake About CongressSpend enough time doing anything and sooner or later you’ll make a mistake. Some mistakes are unavoidable. You might say those are the cost of making decisions and although some of us never do, we’re expected to learn from our mistakes. In electronics it’s almost a given that your first prototype will have problems. That’s […]
Random Posts
Why Isn’t There An American Micro Bit?I don’t know if you’ve seen this headline, “Every 11-year-old in Britain is getting a free minicomputer,” or what you thought when you did but I found it amazing that this was being done in Britain. The Micro Bit giveaway is a program sponsored by the BBC in a joint effort with twenty-five other corporations. […]
I’m Retired, So Why Am I Still On LinkedIn?Long before I retired, I created an account on LinkedIn. It seemed like a good idea—you never know when you’ll need contacts to look for a new job. Still, I refused to play the numbers game. The people I linked with, by and large, were people I had worked with and respected. This was intentional. […]
Probability, Statistics and UdacityWhile going through college I worked as a security guard. This was almost perfect for me as a college student because when I was not walking my rounds I was expected to stay at my desk where I could study. The work was easy and with only a few exceptions very low stress. During the […]
Random Posts
Journalism?I’m a little busy this week trying to finish my Udacity course and even though it doesn’t matter, I still want to get a good grade. With that in mind, I asked a friend to contribute and he was happy to help out. ___________________ The exposure and allure of journalism has drawn many people to […]
Small Talk, How This Engineer Learned To Enjoy ItIt should come as no surprise that I regard social get togethers as a form of state sanctioned torture. There’s multiple reasons but the main issue is small talk. There’s no polite way to say how much I suck at small talk. At first mention of the train wreck to be of the current Bachelor […]
Opinionbypen 2016 Goals in Review, How Well Did I Do?I force my wife to read the first draft of all my posts. I’ve found that this keeps me out of trouble with her and gives me some insight on how people will feel when they read it. I mention that because after reading this post she said I always seemed sad when summarizing my […]
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
Passwords, We Have Way Too ManyPasswords, it seems like everyplace you go on the Internet someone is asking for your password. It’s not bad enough that everybody and their brother wants you to set up an account with another password, they all have different rules for your password. Must be at least 10 characters, must …
After The Crash, Comparing Backup Software, Acronis, Aomei and ParagonThe idea behind a software review is to give an unbiased appraisal of the program. Unfortunately most reviews are anything but unbiased. As hard as I tried, this review is no exception. After my experiences last month, I decided to see what else was out there for backup software. Given …
Looking For a Christmas Present? Try Audible.comMany years ago my Mother-in-Law introduced me to Audible.com. She did this indirectly by giving me a iPod Shuffle for Christmas. At the time, I considered the Shuffle part of her tireless campaign to pull me into the Apple mystique. I appreciated the thought but music is not a significant …
Needed, A Balanced Approach To Positive CommunicationRecently I received a thought provoking email from a friend resolving to take a more positive approach in his communications about people. I applaud his motives and had written this post on that issue but I realized that this is not the simple issue I was trying to make it. …
The Path to Success is Filled With FailureWhen faced with a problem, engineers tend to fixate on solving the problem. Often we’re still looking for a solution when others would have given up long ago. It could be that I’m too stubborn to admit defeat but there’s nothing more satisfying than solving a difficult problem. I don’t …