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
Written By An Engineer, Improved By AI. Which Do You Prefer?
A request for data: I have a problem. While I don't intend to suggest a topic and have ChatGPT write my post for me, I'm also not going to ignore a tool I can use to make my writing better. I've always felt that more readers will read other posts if they find my...
DALL-E versus Poser Image Generation, Both Have Their Place
[Fair warning - I'm cheap, my website is slow and this is very picture intensive. It will load slowly] When I started Opinionbypen.com, I quickly learned that people wanted pictures. There’s a number of photo sites out there but between usage rights and finding the...
Why Is ChatGBT So Angry? It’s Only A Reflection Of Ourselves
This week I’ve been subjected to an overwhelming amount of drivel on the ChatBot being developed by Microsoft and ChatGPT. I’m not surprised, today’s reporters think research is searching a key word on Twitter. Real reporters have all but disappeared. Still, some of...
Bringing It Altogether – An Engineer Attempts To Justify His Toys
Readers of my blog have been subjected to reviews on three different 3D printers, a CNC wood carver, a laser etcher and a host of solar projects. By now most of you have asked yourselves why is he doing all of this? The same is true of my wife. She eyes each new...
Married To An Engineer – The AI Version
I'm going to be up front about this post, I did not write or modify any of the text. All I did was give a word limit, a tone (snarky) and a subject (married to an engineer), the AI behind ChatGPT did the rest. After reading this, I'm both amazed and intimidated. Yes,...
How My Wife Caused A Microwave To Be An Engineering Dilemma
I guess you could say my dilemma started somewhere over twelve years ago when a Panasonic engineer in the microwave division made a poor decision. Then again, Panasonic continued to build these long after the defect was obvious. He may have received a hefty bonus for...
Random Posts
What’s The Infinity Mirror Aspect Of The Internet And Why Is It Bad?When you put two mirrors face to face you see thousands of identical images. That’s an infinity mirror. You frequently see them in fun houses. How could that relate to the some of the darker aspects of the Internet? First, I need a really strong parable. Several decades ago, while spending the summer with my […]
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 […]
Wordfence, Protection For Your WordPress SiteI first realized how much I appreciate Wordfence when WebHostingHub told me I had excessive activity on my server and I would have to disable Wordfence. That’s when I decided my relationship with WebhostingHub would be a short one. Wordfence is a free security plugin for WordPress sites. I’ve been using Wordfence ever since my […]
Random Posts
How Do I Know If an Engineer Loves MeAbout once a month I see a Google query from someone wanting to know how to tell if an engineer loves them. Google, for reasons best known to Google, directs them to my post How to Argue With an Engineer. I don’t know if this is always the same person but their answer is a […]
Interspecies Communication As Experienced By An EngineerI 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 highlight this because finding similarities is one of my key problem-solving tools. When it comes to training a […]
Olympics, Meet The Connected AgeEvery two years my wife starts building her media center for Olympic viewing. This consists of carefully looking at all the schedules, verifying that all the recording devices operate, verifying that everything is hooked up correctly and that we get all the channels we need to watch the Olympics. I see this as a perspective […]
Random Posts
Why All the Hate For PO Boxes?Before you read too far, let me confess to you that I was in a very irritated frame of mind when I wrote this. After waiting two weeks for a word on the Nexus 7 I ordered from Google Wallet, I was notified yesterday that they cancelled my order because the address I gave them […]
An Easter Cactus FlowerNo matter how I considered it, I couldn’t come up with an appropriate post for Easter. To me, Easter announces the presence of spring and spending time with family. More than anything else it’s a time for relaxation. It was my cactus that gave me the inspiration for today’s post. Last week it decided to […]
How To Flirt With An Engineer And Why You Might Not Want ToA few months ago, I got a suggestion on posting how to flirt with an engineer. The more I considered it the more I questioned the wisdom of such a post. It’s not that I don’t believe you should engage in a relationship with an engineer but until you understand your engineer, mixed signals will occur. […]
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
Negative Reviews, They Don’t Always Represent Bad ProductIf, like me, you read a lot of reviews before making a purchase you wonder why a lot of big name companies are sending out shoddy merchandise. Sure it looks like the majority of people are completely satisfied with the product but there’s always a few dead on arrival or …
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 …
All Natural Ingredients With Scientific ProofHave you ever considered exactly what they are telling you when you hear “all natural ingredients” or “scientific proof” in an advertisement? I know that “all natural ingredients” is trying to infer that natural ingredients are better than artificial ingredients. If you read the ingredients on Chips Ahoy Cookies (mentioning …
Time Travel As Viewed By Einstein. A Simplified DiscussionTime travel, I don’t know of any other concept so used and misused in Science Fiction. Although judging from Avengers Endgame, a lot of writers have problems with the concept. Still, despite the inherent paradoxes, from the time I was first introduced to the concept, I was fascinated by it. …
Staying In Touch With Old Friends Is HardWebster defines friend as a person you like and enjoy being with. I couldn’t come up with a better definition on my own but this seems like describing a pasture full of bluebonnets as a bunch of flowers in a field. It’s correct but totally misses the point. For example, …