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
I’m Not Insulting You, That’s My Aspect Starting Up
I want you to take a simple test for me. Look at the picture below and identify the engineer. Not too hard was it? All of you got it. Well, all except for the person reading this that said they're just Poser characters, none of them are engineers. Must be an...
The Importance Of Good Grammar, A Mathematic Look
Every once in a while I have to let my inner engineer interact with the real world. I apologize to you now but this post is the result of one of those times. About a year ago I wrote a post bemoaning the confusing rules of writing. It’s my nature to look at a system...
The Puppy With No Name
In almost every culture there is a belief that one’s name has magical properties. There’s no question that I respond much quicker when I hear my name. I can hear my name being used in situations where it’s impossible to understand the other words being said. When my...
An Engineer Muses On Fictional Writing
If you’ve seen the movie, Apollo 13, you remember the scene where the mission director comes in with a box of stuff dumps it on the desk and says this is what we’ve got, make it work. I don’t think there’s an engineer out there who wouldn’t love to have that...
I’m Male But I’m Not That Stubborn, Really
I want to make something perfectly clear. When I wrote my post about male stubbornness, I was talking about other males, I was certainly not talking about myself. Despite what my wife may think, I’ve always considered myself to be very reasonable. That is until this...
An Engineer Attempts Valentine’s Day
Today is that most feared of all days, Valentine’s Day. You don't fear Valentine’s Day? That can only mean you’re not an engineer or you’re not married to an engineer. Still not understanding? As an engineer, I automatically analyze all aspects of my life. When it...
Random Posts
The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology?When I started this blog, I knew that I wanted to stay more or less on technical issues. Politics was an issue I would avoid. Aside from too many other talented people writing on politics, there was also too much rhetoric, emotion and a seeming lack of ability to do basic math on the part […]
A CelebrationThis is my 20th post on this blog. I realize that raw numbers don’t really mean anything unless you attach importance to them but 20 is a significant number and I felt it should be celebrated. My big problem was how do you celebrate a blog? I’m sure there are some people out there who […]
All I Want For Christmas is Rural High Speed InternetAll I want for Christmas is rural high speed Internet. Well, at least my area of rural America with unlimited data while I’m wishing. As ridiculous as that sounds, it’s true for me and an ever increasing number of people living in rural America. With all the advances made in technology, rural America has largely been […]
Random Posts
Why Is It So Hard To Leave A Comment?The majority of Website owners want you to leave comments. After all, the only reason their site exists is for you to visit. Comments show you took enough time reading the post to make your comment. So why is it so hard to leave a comment? Why do these websites want our email addresses, force […]
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 our rate of time travel […]
Giving Criticism That Will Be Heeded, An Engineer’s GuidelinesWhen I started Opinionbypen, I had long discussions with myself wondering if I was tough enough for all the criticism I would get. I knew my writing needed help. I knew I my paragraph separation was accomplished by feel rather than doctrine. And, if we’re doing true confessions , my comma placement is just shy […]
Random Posts
An Engineer’s PerspectiveI admit it, I went into engineering because I enjoy solving problems. When I look at something I think about the design techniques employed and the ways to use it in practice. I think about possible improvements, design trade-offs and always enjoy seeing new technology. If you see me staring at the ceiling, I’m usually […]
Want To Try Some AI Song Writing? Songer Makes It Very Easy.It’s an unfortunate truth that music plays a very small part of my life. So small that I’ve always felt handicapped as a writer because I don’t appreciate music. That probably stems from a lack of rhythm, I have none. I can’t even clap in time to music. Having lived with that all my life, […]
Why You Never Ask An Engineer, What Are You Thinking?It’s been a beautiful evening. The meal was delicious. The waiter had been right, the dessert was to die for. Noticing the smile on his face, you reach out and gently grasp your beloveds’ hand. In a warm voice, full of love and contentment, you say, “What are you thinking?” Your companion squeezes your hand […]
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
Retirement, A Very Personal FearFear is a funny thing. I’ve seen grown men injure themselves to escape a common garden spider. Personally, I’m petrified when I have to climb higher than 3 feet on a ladder. They’ve never been bitten by a spider, I’ve never fallen off a ladder, so why the paralyzing fear? …
An Engineer Looks At AccountantsPut a group of engineers together discussing projects and sooner or later the discussion will turn to beancounters. No, beancounters aren’t an apparatus for counting individual beans, we use the term to refer to the accounting department. As you might guess, this is not a term of high regard. There’s …
Musings on Parallel UniversesAll my life I’ve been fascinated by the concept of parallel universes. You know what I mean, universes that coexist with ours, having only minor differences. Then again, maybe you don’t know what I mean. The idea goes something like this. Every time you make a decision, a universe exists …
The Loss of A Subscriber; You’re More Important Than You Realize.I lost one of my subscribers a few days ago. Although I never met the man but I always appreciated his willingness to read my posts and to remain a subscriber. I feel bad that I didn’t know more about him. It’s obvious that we could have been friends or …
A Late Mother’s Day Praise For Mother NatureIt’s amazing how fast time passes. This makes my fourth Mother’s Day post since I started Opinionbypen. Okay, last year was a political piece but I dedicated it to both my Mother and Mother-in-Law because of their strong interest in politics. Given how tough it is to have good SEO …