Knowledge and Thoroughness

Fathers’ Day Remembrance

bill — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 00:58:40 +0000

I became an engineer because of my father, for whom I’m named. He understood how projects got done, could see the humor in humanity, and was generous with his time and knowledge. Dad had great stories to tell about the projects on which he worked, like setting up the first office facsimile machine in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. In this video recorded in 2002, he tells about his experience with the LEM, as the Lunar Excursion Module was first called.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

bill — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 03:42:49 +0000

When my Mom was a girl, she would wash the dishes while her father dried them. Together they would recite poetry, some of which is still with her after more than 70 years, including these two stanzas from Longfellow’s A Psalm of Life:

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

La Rondine at Opera San Jose

bill — Sun, 02 May 2010 07:07:27 +0000

This Puccini gem was outstanding, especially the second act in which set, chorus, acting and singing was beyond anything I had experienced before at San Jose. Jasmina Halimic who played Magda, the lead, was spectacular!

Memorial Service for my Dad

bill — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:30:00 +0000

My father, William Martin Conlon, passed away early on the morning of June 2. A local service will be held on Friday June 5 beginning at 11 am at:

Roller, Hapgood & Tinney

980 Middlefield Road

Palo Alto, CA 94301

Know new nukes

bill — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 08:45:48 +0000

I just saw this article in American Scientist on compact power reactors for remote locations. This one is a 10 MWe sodium cooled with a 30 year reactor core life. When the fuel is burned up, they plan to remove and replace the core. Fascinating that nuclear power is making a comeback. Additional info is at DOE and

Solar Thermal Power Talk

bill — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 05:03:10 +0000

I spoke tonight to over a hundred people at the Oakland East Bay Power and Energy Society on the Kimberlina Solar Thermal Power Plant Project. It was fun to talk about my work and see some old friends (yes they have gotten older).

However the highlight for me was meeting Prof. Otto Smith, who in 1957 invented the Smith Predictor, used for controlling systems with dead time. Hmm, I can think of a system with dead time…

Sinatra

bill — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:07:20 +0000

I just watched Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music on PBS. Wow, the man could sing! I especially enjoyed I Get a Kick Out of You, I’ve Got the World on a String, and You Make Me Feel So Young — all similar sentiments, but so what!

Five Stars for Il y a longtemps que je t’aime

bill — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 04:47:50 +0000

This is an exquisite French film, released in the U.S. as I’ve Loved You so Long, about a woman (Kristin Scott-Thomas) reunited with her sister (Elsa Zylberstein) after 15 years in prison. The story, which owes much to, and indeed refers to Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, is allowed to build slowly toward redemption. The performances, especially that of Scott-Thomas, were outstanding. If this were an American film, there is no question she would receive Best Actress at the Academy Awards.

I thought the lighting was superb in the indoor scenes, and the cinematography both inside and outside was fabulous. Also the music by Jean Louis Aubert was perfect. One minor quibble was the extras, which were used as props in a formulaic way.

As a character study, one could normally wait for the DVD, but the exceptionally strong performances will just be that much more powerful if you see this film in a theater. No matter, don’t miss it!

Power, Authority or Influence

bill — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:42:41 +0000

I met my friend Gideon at Bodeguita del Medio for a drink tonight. Talking about work, he reminded me of his view that there are three key attributes an individual can possess in an organization:

Power, the ability to prevent something from happening;
Authority, the ability to approve something;
Influence, the ability to get something to happen.

Influence, is clearly the most useful, of course, and when an individual also has Authority, an organization can be moved.

To quote Casey Stengel: “Amazing!”

bill — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:25:04 +0000

The election of Barack Obama tonight is so amazing to me, that it seems almost biblical: arriving in the promised land after forty years wandering in the desert. I reflected on 1968 tonight, both in the historical and personal perspectives. I remembered the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.; the Viet Nam war body counts on the nightly news, John Carlos and Tommy Smith raising their fists at the Olympics, the riots throughout the world. I remembered going to the movies in a small Texas town, where the “Colored” sign was still displayed above the water fountain. But I also remember the Apollo program and the hope and optimism of youth.

Tonight, forty years later, I hope America is a different place. May God bless and keep safe our President-elect.