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
Baby Knowledge, An Important Concept In Being Understood
When we moved out to our ranch, my wife had to impress on me that horses were not merely big dogs that we could ride. Wagging their tail does not indicate pleasure at seeing you. Rolling on the ground doesn’t always mean their back itches and yawning certainly doesn’t...
The Way We Present Numbers Reveals A Lot About Us
The first time I saw Spock turn to Captain Kirk and say, "This plan only has a 5.377 percent probability of success," I was hooked. Spock was able to use his massive intellect and compute the probability of the Enterprise surviving an encounter with the Romulans to...
My Approach To Identifying And Eliminating Email Spam
I don't know about you but I've completely stopped answering my phone. If you want to talk to me, leave a message. I’m guessing you already know why I made that decision; 99.9 percent of the calls are someone trying to sell me something or to scam me. In case you...
A Followup to Amazon Polly and My Solar Fountain
I live in Texas because I enjoy the hot summers, mild winters and the food. Well, also because my wife has told me she's not moving out of Texas. What I really dread is springtime when my allergies kick into overtime and I feel like a druggie looking for my next...
Married To A Systems Engineer, Why Do Engineers Ask So Many Questions
I really don’t think it’s fair for my wife to break into uncontrollable laughter every time I explain that as a systems engineer, most of my job involves facilitating communications. I understand why she starts laughing, despite speaking a common language,...
Why Would An Engineer Find Gordon Ramsay Entertaining?
One of the major differences between my wife and I is the way we view food. My wife likes to savor new foods and enjoy the delicate interplay between the seasonings. Me, I'm more concerned about how long it takes to prepare and eat. My wife accuses me of only having...
Random Posts
Improving Our Vote Through Technology, A TSC IdeaMy wife dreads the arrival of Autumn. She loves the season, the brisk cold, the planning of next year’s garden but with the cold she also knows I spend more time in the shower taking long showers that completely drain our hot water system. The additional time spent in the Thought Simulation ChamberTM, gives me […]
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, instead I used my 3D […]
The Killing Frost, A Transition to Winter In My GardenAfter six years, I finally persuaded my wife to write a post for OpinionbyPen. Well, that and the sadness she felt with the transition to winter killing so much of her garden. She’s writing under the nom de guerre of Big Tomato. Keeping the Brussel sprouts at bay, I hasten to add that her name […]
Random Posts
Ever Think of Your Engineer as a Super Hero? The Evidence is There.I’m going to assume you’re reading this because you’re trying to make sense of the engineer in your life. I’ve written several posts on understanding engineers but maybe you’re looking for new insights. Ever think of your engineer as a super hero? There’s more evidence than you might suspect. Let me try to describe your […]
Men And Their Toys, My 3D PrinterIt’s five AM and I’m up at my computer. I feel like a small boy again on Christmas morning, except I still have to wait another thirty minutes before my 3D printer finishes its first model. I started the printing over nine hours ago and then tried to sleep. Ever since I heard the concept […]
Toolbars, Software Trojans or Actual Benefit?Every year people spend millions of dollars on software that prevents other people from installing undesired programs on their computer. We’re constantly reminded that’s it far better to pay for software rather than download a pirated copy and risk installing a whole bunch of surprises. When the software is free, and there’s a lot of […]
Random Posts
What I Learned From Udacity About LinkedIn Getting HackedThe only thing keeping me from doing my victory dance at the moment is the presence of my wife in the living room. Like many of the people in my profession I’m a member of LinkedIn, so I was very concerned when I heard LinkedIn had been hacked. Then why the urge to do a […]
Daylight Savings Time, A Tale Of Two Time ZonesIt’s official, I hate Daylight Savings Time. I know several hundred blogs were written on the subject this year and I saw no reason to add my voice then I started thinking about my post on apathy and realized I have to add my voice to the crowd. I’ve always wondered what kind of bogus […]
I’m Male, My Stubbornness Comes NaturallyMale stubbornness is legendary. I think more jokes have been made about us never asking for directions than jokes about lawyers. We know you’re making fun of us and we still refuse to ask for directions. Let’s face it, Garmin is making a fortune off that trait. It’s far easier for me to trust a […]
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
The Sunshine Greenhouse, a Six Hour ProjectEvery year that my wife and I went to the State Fair of Texas, we looked at greenhouses. My wife would always tell me she wanted one. I always had plenty of excuses not to get one, we could not decide on a model, we could not decide on a …
Food ScoutIn almost every war movie I’ve watched there’s one guy that seems to be able to scrounge anything. In the corporate engineering world we all scrounge for parts but the talent we really admire is the food scout. It’s no secret that engineers are strongly food motivated. I don’t know …
A Dangerous Trend, Amateur Social IsolationistsI’ve always dreaded social gatherings. It’s not that I can’t do small talk, no, that would be a lie. I’m abysmal at small talk. Thirty seconds into my part of the conversation, I start seeing blank stares and glassy eyes. At forty five seconds, they usually develop an urgent need …
A Design Principle Frequently ForgottenIn his lectures on rhetoric, Professor Michael Drout said write what your audience needs to hear, not what you want to say. Each time he said that I nodded my head in agreement. This concept was important enough that he repeated it several times at various points in his lecture. …
Thinking About Giving A 3D Printer For Christmas? Read this First.With Christmas just around the corner, you’ve already started trying to match gifts to the people in your life. This post is simply to make it easier for you to successfully give a 3D printer for Christmas. No matter how intrigued people are by technology, a 3D printer is not …