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
501(c)(4), Which Part Is The IRS Violating?
It was with surprise and horror that I, along with 20 million other Americans, first learned that the IRS was targeting specific groups for their in-depth investigations into tax exempt status. How did they possibly believe such a travesty would go undetected? I’ve...
Grammar and Rhetoric, the Drout Way
When I wrote my post on the confusing rules of writing, the last thing I expected to find was an answer. Two months later not only have I found several answers but I have a better insight into the way I learn. All thanks to two books on rhetoric and grammar. Living in...
In Praise of Two Moms, Mother’s Day
Mother’s day, that one day of the year that you devote the day to telling your mother thank you for everything she’s done. Of course, if you’re like my Mother and me, a full day is stretching it. Neither one of us has that much free time. When I started thinking about...
History, How To Reduce Events Into Meaningless Data
History, we know what that means, we’ve endured hours of study on the subject but we’re missing the point. Not only that but the scholars and teachers abandoned us long ago. I fully subscribe to the fact that history repeats itself and we can best understand our...
Are You Blocking Me Again Or Is It My ISP Cache?
Some weeks seem fated to go bad. I started last week getting stung by a scorpion and then I learned a new term, ISP cache. The scorpion sting stopped hurting long before I understood what kind of grief the ISP cache was causing me. When my aunt asked me why I was...
3D Artwork Using Poser and Daz3D
You've read my post on Poser Debut or maybe you've enjoyed a few of the pictures I've created and wondered just how hard can this be. I'm not going to make this a tutorial but I will take you through a few of the scenes to let you see just what is involved in making...
Random Posts
Death By PowerPoint, Together We Can Prevent This Dreadful DiseaseWe’ve all heard the term, Death by PowerPoint. If you work in an office environment, odds are you’ve come to hate PowerPoint presentations. Surprisingly, I’m not going to attribute this to Microsoft. No, the blame for this hatred lies solely with us, the creators of the slide deck. I’m going to let you in on a […]
A Followup to Amazon Polly and My Solar FountainI 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 Claritin fix. The majority […]
Email, A Training Tool For Poor PerformanceIn a typical game you have a number of obstacles that you have to overcome. Overcome enough of them and you gain a level. Not unexpectedly, the designers of these games often use psychologists to maximize the rush of endorphins you get for each accomplishment. It should come as no surprise that responding to your […]
Random Posts
Why Do I Care If My Random Number Generator Isn’t RandomI’m always amazed at how little interest people take in probability and random numbers. Is that RAND function in Excel really random? Is it possible to synchronize two random number generators and predict numbers? What is a weak random number generator and why would you want one? There’s an entire branch of mathematics devoted to […]
Inspiration, It Might Be Closer Than You ThinkOn our journey through life we meet a number of people that have profound influences on us, our parents, our teachers, our friends, even our co-workers. I’ve been very fortunate to encounter a number of people who were very positive inspirations. As I sit here spending my Saturday morning taking my Udacity course, two friends […]
Teamwork, A Term Misunderstood By CongressApparently I lied when I said I was going to skip Congress as a topic. This morning my wife told me how Congress was congratulating themselves on coming up with a deal at the last minute and I was reminded of the six phases of a project. 1. Enthusiasm – We’re going to work together […]
Random Posts
A Study in Communication, WebhostinghubI decided to try WebhostingHub because $10 for a year of webhosting looked too good to pass up. What I did not expect was a wonderful example of poor communication. I admit it, I’m cheap. I follow Rick Broida on Twitter because he comes up with some real bargains. When he Tweeted about a year […]
Fourth of July, Sleepless Nights and ThundershirtsI absolutely hate the Fourth of July. Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud to be an American and the Fourth of July used to be my favorite holiday but living in the country has caused a major shift in my perspective. When I was younger and living in the city, the Fourth of July was my […]
Speed Reading, the Good and the BadI’ve always been proud of being a speed reader. With light fiction I can hit about 1000 words a minute. If I’m scanning a document for key words, I can push it far above that. It’s not a skill that I was taught, it just sort of developed. When I read I see the words […]
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
Who Supports Ending Net Neutrality? Texas Senator John Cornyn, But Why?I’ve always believed you shouldn’t get involved in a fight you have no hope of winning. I find it unfortunate that I’m not heeding that advice with regard to net neutrality. Still, I can’t help but wonder why Texas Senator John Cornyn supports an organization using fake comments to support …
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 LinkedIn Numbers GameSometimes having easy access to statistics can cause us to focus on the numbers instead of our goal. I used this picture of my dogs for this post because their personality matches illustrates the point. Shelby and Cajun are easily distracted, Sundae will always remain tightly focused on her goal, …
How My Quest Took Me To Red Sneakers And ScrivenerIn my plan for 2016 I mentioned that I was going to get serious about my writing. I shared a few of my stories on Amazon WriteOn and received a rather lackluster response. The overwhelming lack of response made it obvious I’m not a natural. Well, it’s not like I expected …
A Brief Guided Tour of an Engineer’s Thought ProcessI’m going to break a few rules today. I’m going to take you on a guided tour of an engineer’s thought process. Just in case you know an engineer and realize just how easily we get distracted, we’ll keep this very focused with no detours allowed. My particular brand of …