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Most recent blog entries
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It's never too late to have a happy childhood |
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Joel Orr
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By Joel Orr on
1/27/2008
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That's a phrase I heard in the framework of the Hoffman Process - a
methodology for finding out things that are keeping you from being who
you really are, and taking action to get them out of the way. But that's
not with this post is about.
I
read recently - it may have been in an ASEE (American Society of
Engineering Educators) mailing - that most people have determined
whether they will pursue a career in engineering or science by the end
of the 8th grade. And the decision hinges on how they feel about math.
I've
also read recently that the number of young people choosing
engineering, science, and technology professions in the US is declining.
The
ability to do math is a filter for getting into good engineering and
science schools. On the surface, that seems reasonable: Math is the
language of precision, and its abstractive tools provide access to the
reasoning of the ages, as well as the ability to carry it o ...
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Book review: "Everything is Miscellaneous" |
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Joel Orr
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By Joel Orr on
1/25/2008
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When David Weinberger spoke at COFES 2005, his topic was "Everything is Miscellaneous." Now his book of that name is out, and it is fascinating. The implications for the engineering software business are worth thinking about.
Here's an essay Weinberger wrote for Amazon.com called, "The Flocking of Information":
As businesses go miscellaneous, information gets chopped into smaller
and smaller pieces. But it also escapes its leash--adding to a pile
that can be sorted and arranged by anyone with a Web browser and a Net
connection. In fact, information exhibits bird-like "flocking
behavior," joining with other information that adds value to it,
creating swarms that help customers and, ultimately, the businesses
from which the information initially escaped. For example, Wize.com
is a customer review site founded in 2005 by entrepr ...
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Dean Kamen at SolidWorks World: FIRST Robotics needs volunteers |
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Joel Orr
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By Joel Orr on
1/23/2008
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Kudos to SolidWorks for a program full of fascinating speakers of interest to engineers as engineers, as designers, as people. And none of them plugged SolidWorks.
Today's speaker was Dean Kamen, inventor, entrepreneur, and founder of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). Dean's vision: “ …to create a world where science and technology are celebrated…. where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes….”
The purpose of FIRST is to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology. Based in Manchester, N.H., it designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math.
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Photosynth and CAD |
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Dick Morley
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By Dick Morley on
1/16/2008
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I got this from my friends at NCMS (Tony Haynes) and tis food for thought
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/129
Take a look at the link above and then consider all of the DoD legacy systems that began life in pre-CAD days but have been enhanced over the years with a multitude of modifications where design data spans the spectrum from 2D drawings on vellum to 3D CAD solid models annotated with PMI information. Is it possible that Photosynth technology can relate all those different types of image data to produce a result that is far richer than anything available today? I think it may well be the “next big thing” in useful application of mixed media data for sustainment.
I sure agree, even though is calls for monster screens and GB of running data. We sure can browse our design and images better than now..
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Gusset Plates |
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Russ Henke
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By Russ Henke on
1/15/2008 11:47 AM
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Our family is planning a modest addition to our relatively small house in California. We plan to utilize internal steel beams similar to those uniquely used in the existing house, built in 1995. We believe the steel cage created by these beams adds seismic stability. However, during the recent planning for the addition, we discovered that the building code in our city has changed since 1995. The steel gussets used where multiple beams are joined must now be designed per a newly adopted code with far stricter strength standards than before.
We are gratified that the building code now has these stricter requirements, even though the CAD software used to design the original steel gussets in 1995 is identical to the CAD software used now.
Because the design of our modest steel cage is no better than the skill and up-to-date code knowledge of the engineer/architect using the CAD software. It has always been thus – CAD software, old or new, is no substitute for the exp ...
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Getting Work Done in Virtual Worlds |
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Russ Henke
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By Russ Henke on
1/12/2008 11:41 AM
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“Forrester Research is predicting in its “Getting Work Done in Virtual Worlds” report that in five years 3-D Internet will be as important as the Web now is to businesses,” according to SandHill.com. The "Getting Work Done in Virtual Worlds" report released by Forrester during the first week of January 2008 concludes that executives should begin investigating and experimenting with virtual worlds soon because of their promise for remote collaboration, training and the ability to build and share 3-D models.
The virtual model is especially important for professionals like surgeons, architects, engineers and product designers, who use CAD models or visualization systems to explore or create projects, Forrester said. In virtual meetings, these professionals can import models for discussion and modification, according to the report. "You can release near-final designs to a limited group of external users and solicit feedback before starting fabrication," it said.
< ...
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Wikinomics: Worth reading |
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Joel Orr
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By Joel Orr on
1/10/2008
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When Don Tapscott's "Wikinomics" came out over a year ago, I was turned off by the title, so I never picked it up. A couple of days ago, I went to hear Tapscott give a breakfast talk at Stanford. It was very worthwhile. (It is co-authored by Tapscott's colleague, Anthony Williams.)
The book was Amazon.com's top-selling business book of 2007. Its subtitle is "How mass collaboration changes everything" - and it is accurate, if not inspiring.
Unfortunately, the book has none of Tapscott's excellent charts and graphics, showing the dramatic changes wrought by mass collaboration; you have to get it from the words. But it is good, readable business prose, full of case studies and meaty stuff.
He based it on a $9 million research project; this is not a rehashed web sweep.
And the book goes on: At www.wikinomics.com, you can participate in creating the "next chapter" and read an excerpt from the book. There is al ...
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Risk Management |
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Dick Morley
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By Dick Morley on
1/9/2008
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Risk management helps get a project done, on budget and on time.
We need to become professional managers. Risk management is a tool that is seldom used in marketing and tool development. Risk, the probability of something happening that impacts your objective, is a chance to make either a gain or a loss. It is measured in terms of likelihood and consequence and, in this business, "holy shit" is an acceptable term.
Don't use an immature process for analysis.
Use the natural habitat of the project.
Teach and train formally and often.
Think risk beginning to end, collect data from beginning to end.
Risk and opportunity go hand in hand.
We tend to treat projects as an art form, but it really is engineering. Comments? Dick Morley
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December 2007 US Jobs Report – A Mediocre 18,000 |
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Russ Henke
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By Russ Henke on
1/5/2008 10:34 AM
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As follow up to the December 9, 2007 blog entry in this space, the Labor Department reported January 4, 2008 that only a measly 18,000 net non-farm US jobs were added in December 2007, the fewest since August 2003. At the same time, the nation's overall unemployment rate rose to 5% (from 4.7%), its highest level since November 2005.
US manufacturing continued its ongoing loses, with 31,000 US manufacturing jobs disappearing in December. The health of the manufacturing sector is key to revenue growth in the US CAD/CAM industry.
For the third consecutive month, wages grew slower than the pace of inflation, cutting into the real income of many US workers. But the FED will likely reduce interest rates still further to boost the deteriorating stock market, and ignore its alleged commitment to control inflation.
In the face of the above data, Bush 43 publicly said January 4, 2008 that the “nation’s economy is strong and solid” and he made no mention of the at ...
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