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The Eight-Hour Year: a metaphor of new graduates and young workers

admin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:52:10 +0000

Have you ever been frustrated at a young hire in your office? “Kids these days! Schools don’t teach them anything! How can they keep making such stupid and obvious mistakes?” Or maybe instead, you are a person new and inexperienced in your profession. Have you ever been frustrated by the impatience and lack of guidance that [...] Related posts:

Advice to Sketch and Design Machined Parts

admin — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:13:02 +0000

I found some great tips on designing machined metal parts. How to design parts that are cheaper and easier to produce. How to provide clear, helpful drawings and instructions to the machinist shop. How to avoid making costly mistakes. I found it pretty interesting even though I’m not in the business myself. Read it here: http://www.omwcorp.com/how-to-design-machined-parts.html Read below [...] Related posts:

Calculate Renewable Energy Requirements

admin — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 02:13:10 +0000

Regardless how you feel about the issue, most people would agree that the Copenhagen Climate Conference certainly didn’t resolve very much. But don’t worry – this post isn’t going to inundate you with more vague talk about climate change and energy independence1 – rather, it’s going to be introduce a fun, FREE, book: Have you heard [...] Related posts:

Introduction to TRIZ: Brainstorm Design Problems by Avoiding Trade-Offs

Microsoft Patch Causing Blue Screen of Death

admin — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 02:04:00 +0000

This beset a few people I know: KB977165 (aka MS10-015) is causing some people to get the blue screen of death. A solution for some, which did not work for me: http://www.krebsonsecurity.com/2010/02/new-patches-cause-bsod-for-some-windows-xp-users/ Edit: Microsoft has withdrawn the patch for now. Should be safe to update. Related posts:My Favourite Unit Conversion Program Microsoft Visio Guidelines, Tricks, Keyboard Shortcuts Related posts:

Use VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP to use Data Tables in Calculations

admin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:50:39 +0000

Small Excel tip today: use the Excel functions VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP to allow you to use tables of data in your calculations. You can configure these commands to “look for the closest match” or to “only find an exact match” by setting the final argument in the functions to TRUE or to FALSE. When could this [...] Related posts:

List of Cool Date Ideas

admin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:11:05 +0000

Valentines Day is coming up! So lets go off topic with some dating ideas. Everyone needs these. Even once you’re married, going on a “date” every so often is good relationship maintenance. But rather than make a list of Valentines Day date ideas, I’ll just drop a general list, so this post helps all days of [...] Related posts:

Use VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP to use Data Tables in Calculations

Consider Finned Tubes to Increase Surface Area

admin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:55:54 +0000

This post will introduce the practice of adding fins to shell-and-tube heat exchanger tubes to increase the surface area, and discuss when to consider it and when to avoid it. This is not a post about air coolers. Image of finned tubes: Heft Engineers Website Review: When fluid flows through tubes in a heat exchanger, the total [...] Related posts:

Salary Comparison & Prediction Tools

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 16:41:31 +0000

It’s a new year, and maybe time for new jobs! Or at least performance reviews. Knowing your “fair salary,” or the “going market rate” that is paid for your position, can be very helpful. It’s also great to know when you’re a student graduating into your first real job. It’s a tricky subject, dependant on factors [...] Related posts:

The Eight-Hour Year: a metaphor of new graduates and young workers

Engineering Ethics and a Database of Cases

admin — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:31:10 +0000

Let’s have a quick discussion about engineering ethics: what it is, why it’s important, and a database of ethical case rulings. I think this post might help you if you’re ever in an ethical conflict. In many places around the world, the title of a professional engineer is closely regulated by professional engineering bodies. Much as [...] Related posts:

How to be a Star Engineer

admin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:50:40 +0000

Interesting little article I found: How to be a Star Engineer. What the [Bell Laboratories] wanted to know was: what separates the star from the average performer? Is it innate or can star performance be learned? Could a program to improve productivity be designed that would help turn average performers into stars? The article emphasizes making the [...] Related posts: