Company Buyouts, Good For The Consumer?

You're justifiably proud of your waffle maker. It was a lesser-known brand, yet it cost half as much as its competitors, and its brilliant texture sensor guaranteed you got flawless waffles every time. Unfortunately, as soon as you plugged it in, someone mistook your...

Interspecies Communication As Experienced By An Engineer

I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of Star Trek: Enterprise because they spent much of the time grappling with communication issues. Universal translators, missing databases, peculiar methods of communication, and one memorable episode without a translator. I...

A Conspiracy Theory Regarding Encryption Creating My Dilemma

It seems that the current trend on social media is overwhelmingly conspiracy theories, especially as elections draw near. I’m not particularly drawn to the political ones, but I'm gripped by a conspiracy theory regarding encryption that's threatening to upend my...

From the Doghouse

A look at dogs having fun

Poser Gallery

My gallery of pictures I’ve created in Poser

Nature by Carol

A look at the less technical side of life

Random Posts

  • Musings On A The Existence Of Parallel UniversesMusings On A The Existence Of Parallel Universes
    The concept of parallel universes has always fascinated us. Think about worlds identical in every respect to ours except for a single difference. Somewhere out there we took that job in California or married our childhood sweetheart or won the lottery. Roger Zelazny envisioned worlds separated from ours in terms of probability. The higher the […]
  • Writers In The Field, I Wish I Had Known About This EarlierWriters In The Field, I Wish I Had Known About This Earlier
    It was a dark and stormy morning. No really, despite sounding like the start to a bad novel, it’s extremely appropriate given where I was headed and what I was facing. I was supposed to be one of many lecturers at an event aptly called “Writers in the Field,” a massive rainstorm was rolling in […]
  • Married To An Engineer, Sometimes You Have To Call The ProfessionalsMarried To An Engineer, Sometimes You Have To Call The Professionals
    Sometimes you have to call the professionals. In a story, you have time to develop all your characters. You let the reader discover how they look, how they react and their motivations. Good writers do it seamlessly. Too bad I’m not that good (yet), so, I’m taking the easy route. This story has three characters […]

Random Posts

  • Data Mining For Personality CluesData Mining For Personality Clues
    I find understanding people every bit as difficult as trying to crack an encrypted file. I spend a lot more time at trying to understand people because I believe communication requires mutual understanding. While taking Udacity’s Cryptography course I learned about the use of side channels to help in decrypting messages. A side channel was […]
  • Why Did Amazon Kill Amazon Explore? It Was Becoming Great.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 […]
  • In Praise of Two Moms, Mother’s DayIn 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 this post, I […]

Random Posts

  • I’m Stuck But I Have A Bold And Cunning PlanI’m Stuck But I Have A Bold And Cunning Plan
    Have you ever started something but try as you might you can’t finish it? It doesn’t matter if it’s a book that you hope will get better, a movie that always puts you to sleep or the first blog post of a new year, we all been in that position. Come to think of it, […]
  • Vampires, They Exist and Their Numbers Are GrowingVampires, They Exist and Their Numbers Are Growing
    There was a time when Science Fiction described different worlds, aliens, spaceships and ray guns. Sometimes the science was a thin veneer for the author’s own social/political views but even those were usually entertaining. Not quite Science fiction but close enough to be stocked with the Science Fiction were the Swords and Sorcery novels. Tolkien […]
  • The Sundae Style of Management, Please Don’t Try This At WorkThe Sundae Style of Management, Please Don’t Try This At Work
    It’s been fairly busy at work this month and nobody wanted to help me out by writing a guest blog. In a moment of desperation, I agreed to let Sundae share her views on management. To be fair, I have worked for managers who seemed to share many of her theories. Fortunately, my current manager […]

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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 Art Of Communication, Let Your Audience Dictate How You Say ItThe Art Of Communication, Let Your Audience Dictate How You Say It
    There 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 …
  • Amazon’s Secret Weapon, No Will Call LinesAmazon’s Secret Weapon, No Will Call Lines
    When I needed 200 aluminum fence stays, I found them for $19 at Amazon and $11 at Lowe’s but I still bought them from Amazon. The decision wasn’t made because I’m a loyal dedicated Amazon shopper. It was a simple matter of economics. When I calculated all the costs, Amazon …
  • Encryption and Hacking, A Government Granted Right?Encryption and Hacking, A Government Granted Right?
    Did you heave a huge sigh of relief this year when your personal rights were reaffirmed? Twice in fact, once by the Library of Congress when they issued an opinion that hacking your vehicle’s software was legal and once by the UN when they declared encryption to be a basic personal …
  • Happy Mother’s DayHappy Mother’s Day
    If I had given thought to the idea, I would have timed my Celebration post to come out on Mother’s Day. Then again, my Mother deserves her own post for all the grief I gave her as a child. The following are a few examples of what she had to …
  • The Challenge of Blogging and an OfferThe Challenge of Blogging and an Offer
    It should be obvious that I write this blog in hopes of other people reading it. I have no advertising on my site and certainly no one is paying me to write it. I do get some satisfaction out of the creative effort and working on this blog has certainly …

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