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
The LinkedIn Numbers Game
Sometimes 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...
Starting A Blog? Spend Some Time Planning
I think everybody would agree that planning is essential. There are degrees of planning that may be necessary to be successful but the planning still needs to take place. My wife tells me that I over plan everything. I don't get it. If I'm going somewhere...
Wilson Cellular Signal Booster, a Review
I've been impressed by how well the Wilson Cellular Signal Booster does what it promises but there are a few caveats in using it. It doesn't amplify your cell phone signal so much as it enables you to take advantage of a better signal if it's available outside your...
A Plateau In Blogging, Which Direction From Here?
When I was teaching fencing, my colleagues and I often observed an interesting phenomenon. If a student made it through the beginning classes, odds were good that they would usually stick with it for another six months. It was at that six month mark that students...
Bryce 7, A Virtual World Builder
Before I get too deep into this post I should mention that Bryce is also the name on my wife's agility companion. He's a handsome dog but this post is not about him. Spend any time looking at 3D models on the Internet and you will come across the names Bryce, Daz...
Poser Debut, an Engineer’s Review
I think Smith Micro has a real hit with Poser Debut. As a engineer I've always been impressed by an artist's ability to convey a message using a minimum of information. If I want to represent a bird in a picture I immediately think of feathers, beak, eyes and...
Random Posts
Maximizing Profit: Reliable Designs Or Frequent Repairs?When I retired, my wife strongly suggested I put some of that newfound free time into cleaning rather than gaining another level in my current game. My trusty old vacuum cleaner, however, decided it wasn’t up to the increased workload and promptly broke a belt. Of course, it was so ancient that replacement parts were […]
Grammar and Rhetoric, the Drout WayWhen 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 rural Texas, […]
The Royal Cobbler, A Fairy Tale For Small BusinessA long time ago there was a cobbler of great renown. He made a comfortable living selling very nice shoes to rich people. As luck would have it, word of his skills reached the king. The king being a very noble and wise king ( they always are, aren’t they) decided to see the cobbler’s […]
Random Posts
Emotional Content as a Communication ProtocolI’m writing this post for all the other bewildered engineers out there. You’re welcome to read on if you’re not an engineer but I’m not sure what you’ll glean from it. If you’re familiar with communication theory you’ve already been introduced to the Nyquist theorem and understand that the maximum rate of communication is limited […]
Website Data For My Udacity Statistics CourseA few weeks ago I did a post, “Probability, Statistics and Udacity”. Udacity read the post, tweeted it and posted a link on their site. The increase in traffic to my site was astounding. This provided a whole new audience and a great opportunity to study the statistics generated by Udacity linking my site. Udacity’s […]
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. […]
Random Posts
Know When to Say Goodby to Your AppliancesWhen I make a mistake I try to admit it. If I can turn it into something positive it helps reinforce this behavior. Writing this post is about as good as it gets for this one. From my wife’s point of view I have a very bad habit of maintaining our appliances well past their […]
Data Mining For Personality CluesI 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 […]
Space Heaters, They Need Lots of PowerIt’s winter again in Texas. Most of the time, unless you’re a farmer, that statement means very little to us but every once in a while it gets below freezing and we break out the space heaters. These little heaters are very useful in heating greenhouses, in heating parts of the house that aren’t covered […]
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
What To Buy for the Engineer in Your Life?Every year around this time my wife agonizes on what to get me for Christmas. This year I decided to help her by writing what to buy for the engineer in your life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not hard to shop for but my wife and I live in …
Becoming BorgI’m assuming that you have a basic knowledge of the Borg. No need to fear though. If your knowledge of the Borg is lacking, please read this article from Wikipedia and come back: wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg. You know who the Borg are now. You probably are thinking that I’m going to point …
Why Don’t I Have Any Visitors To My Website, Do I Have Bad SEO?When I started Opinion by Pen, I knew I was posed for fame, fortune and wealth. All I had to do was get my website established, put some advertising up and the money would start rolling in. Only two things stood in my way. I had no advertising on my …
Duolingo, How To Enjoy Learning A LanguageToday I completed my 76th consecutive Spanish lesson with Duolingo. Why Spanish? Why Duolingo and why is the number of days important? This isn’t my first attempt to learn a new language. My work brings me in contact with a number of different languages and while I try, the project …
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 …