Fastest and Fullest yet so far! What on earth are you on about, Rando? This launch! Of 4CELNK.com? Yes! Well, unlike most other products that take a year or more, this one has come together with surprising speed. It’s as if the pieces of this puzzle were there all along, just waiting to fall together in thought. When I say fast, I mean idea to in-Market in under two months. Yes, MONTHS. This one is 2018-027, the 27th design-start so far this year. Yeah, it’s been a busy year for new designs. This one, though, is special. I can tell. …
Category: ThomR.com
ThomR.com is a small Engineering consultancy and small-lot manufacturer, who created 4CELNK to waste at least fewer tie-wraps.
Engineering is primarily a Communications role
TL/DR: Engineering is a communications role, not a smart-calculator role. Communicating completely, accurately and traceably how a vision is to be produced at-scale is the primary role of Engineering, at any level. If a project does not give attention to Engineering artifact collection/generation, it will fail. Apropos of nothing, I suppose….. It has become apparent to me that today’s graduates believe that “Engineering” is the process of solving the math problems, of making the right “design decisions.” How big should this bolt be, how thick does this plate need to be. It is not. That stuff, the solving of cute …
We knew this was coming: Internet Sales Tax
Interesting thought regarding Internet sales tax. I did some very light reading, and nearly all of the states have a minimum amount of business required in the state, typically on the order of $10K to $100K minimum receipts, per year, before you’re required to collect and forward that. Some also have a threshold number of transactions of some dollar amount of more. Which means that nearly all small internet-based businesses will be completely exempt except for a) where they actually live and work, and b) states with no minimum. Did I hear you say “status quo”? So for me and …
Wait…those are MY hands?
When did they get so old? In this game called life, I reckon those who get this far all have a moment where we look at a photo and say “my gosh…those are MY hands? They’re so OLD looking!” I’ll blame it on the excellent photo strobes…that show the truth…WAH! Now I think I need a beer. I’m feeling bruised…. ;-). Cheers! Rando
El Reg sent me out “On Call”
For you not familiar with the vernacular, I submitted a true story of strange work happenings to the Register, to their “Back Office From Hell” “On Call” series. I got a message back from them that today they might actually run it. Check it out: Drug cops stopped techie’s upgrade to question him for hours. About everything (https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/29/on_call/) Cheers! Rando
Engr. vs. Prod’n: the myopia that never was
Departments arguing at cross-purposes means nobody’s listening! I was reading online about the ever-present rift between “production” (machinists in this case), and “engineering” and how they never listen to each other, and aren’t committed to meeting the needs of the business and how can we just please get along, boo the heck hoo….. Um, let me put this clearly: my job as a design engineer is to specify a legally manufacturable and salable product that can be made most easily and most economically and still fully delight the customer. I have ZERO desire to include specifications of things that can’t …
MY mom would have had a fit!
I had a weird and somehow satisfying day today. Fore-armed with the knowledge that plumbers are smart enough to install appropriately-waterproof electronics enclosures, I stood inside a small-ish room maybe 30 feet by 10 feet, with a 4-foot water tank something like 20-feet long inside it. It was the day to cut up and remove that tank. And with Barry’s dad elsewhere, I got to stand in this unfinished room with a wooden mezzanine, and open paper-backed insulation and exposed wooden beams and stairs in contact with this tank, and watch as Barry cut about 60% apart today. My job …
Hire a robot, obviate a job?
What if I told you it’s possible to get on the other side of “finding a job” by hiring a robot? Okay, that sounds weird. But, hear me out. Reality has it that jobs are being replaced by robots of various forms, for good and bad. Regardless of the rates of change, some jobs are being replaced by robots. Well, what if those people turned around and then found ways to also use robots to their economic advantage? Surely at least some of them would beg, borrow or steal that technology to leverage to their advantage, right? Cheers! Rando