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You Know You're an Engineer If ...

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by bwilson4web, Jun 21, 2023.

  1. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Source: Engineering Humor

    My score:
    1. O2 sensor - I've actually looked at how to build my own. Will soon get an Apple Watch with a recording version since my first eBay unit failed.
    2. How much did you earn - using 2000 hours per year, divide it into the W2 gross.
    3. Duck tape - don't leave home without it and zip ties. Which reminds me, I need to replace the underbody panels and remove the duct tape from my Tesla.
    4. Clock - my cell phone and a self-synchronous clock on the wall.
    5. NASA - so I have a Redstone/Marshall Space Flight Center visitor badge in my wallet and use it weekly.
    6. Apollo - is the correct spelling but I follow SpaceX now ... every launch and booster landing. The 'Delta Flyer' was a NASA attempt at a single stage to orbit program that included powered landing. If failed because no one could find a source for "Unobtainium." I knew and respected the program manager, Jean Austin, who was a cut above many of the clever people at NASA. "Appolo" was an unsuccessful moon game.
    7. First Personal Computer - 128k Macintosh.
    8. 1.414 and 0.707 - nice but not first in my list: pi, e, and Avogadro's number
    9. Marketers - What? What? No backhanded mention of Elon Musk? <ITS A JOKE!>. I actually ran into an engineer who said 'Time for Elon to contribute' when discussing 48 VDC. He correctly pointed out the problem with motors and I suggested "pulse width modulation" can solve the problem. I was there for other purposes and changed the subject.
    10. Solar solution - I have three approaches to spoofing the Full Self Driving "nag." Also working on low drag, aero covers for my light weight, Tesla wheels.
    11. Internet code - since 1991, I have been doing network engineering for NASA as in bringing the Internet via LAN and WAN circuits and routers.
    12. Spreadsheets - I benchmark my Tesla to test performance tuning. This maps three points into a quadratic equation so I can plot Wh/mi at different speeds and with my battery measurements, predict the range at any speed, 30-75 mph. I also spreadsheet prescription meds vs symptoms.
    13. Gears - the Munro Open House gave me full images of gears in different EVs.
    14. Ten year olds - I don't have any kids but noticed the elementary and junior high kids love to see my Tesla.
    15. Cure Underwater - studied Mechanical engineering so I could blow up the Civil Engineer's projects. The both look like targets to me.
    16. Preserving tools - one should always have the right tool for the job ... several if you can't find the first one.
    17. Test tools - I have a Radio Shack VOM that I regularly use along with a bunch of $5, Harbor Freight, disposables.
    18. Calculus - like college English, a freshman eliminator.
    19. Crossing bridge - Dr. Who's sonic screwdriver.
    20. Calculator - my Tesla navigation software uses RPN to enter a route.
    21. Dog names - Lucy, Peanuts, and Diamond, an attractive, clear, hard crystal.
    22. What's the material - changing always and mostly for the better.
    23. Equations - differential equations, the fun field of math ... the poser eliminator.
    24. CEC courses - not yet. Did you need me to be an instructor?
    Bob Wilson
     
    #1 bwilson4web, Jun 21, 2023
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2023
  2. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Should an engineer also notice that they misspelled Apollo?

    ===========
    P.S. Bob's edit hadn't yet loaded on my browser when I first posted here.
     
    #2 fuzzy1, Jun 22, 2023
    Last edited: Jun 22, 2023
  3. CR94

    CR94 Senior Member

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    And "an" too.
     
    #3 CR94, Jun 22, 2023
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  4. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    To paraphrase StarTrek, 'I'm an engineer, not a technical writer.<GRINS>'

    My late wife of 43 years, a paralegal, always laughed at my English errors in my papers and articles. I too might smile at some her dealings with the natural world but that was probably what kept us together so long. We each complimented the weaknesses of the other ... and I was barely bright enough to let her keep me.

    Bob Wilson
     
    #4 bwilson4web, Jun 22, 2023
  5. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    I've long wished it didn't have to be treated that way. It's one of those subjects that changes how you're able to see the world. Treating it as only for geeks seems shortsighted.

    The university here has run annual award ceremonies where researchers in different areas of the sciences present a short talk on their work, which is supposed to be written to the level of an educated general audience.

    What I've noticed about the talks, when I've gone, is that in practice that tends to mean if you've got the basic concepts from calculus in your head, you can follow the talk. They'll write the talk so you can get by without any more specialized math than that, but presenting the ideas without calculus would be too hard.
     
    #5 ChapmanF, Jun 22, 2023
  6. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    I never got to use calculus in my work assignments but statistics has been much more useful. Statistics helps me tell the difference between wishful thinking versus facts and data. The discipline of statistics also lets me know when someone is 'blowing smoke.'

    Bob Wilson
     
    #6 bwilson4web, Jun 22, 2023
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  7. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    That excuse covers ordinary everyday spelling and grammar, such as the title of this thread. But not the Design News spelling of the particular program name, that is the single word of a sentence that an engineer should get right. ;)
     
    #7 fuzzy1, Jun 22, 2023
  8. jdenenberg

    jdenenberg EE Professor

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    Bob,

    I spent my youthful summers in rural Michigan. Add baling wire (used by farmers to bind hay bales) to your engineer's essentials list. It predates Duck tape.

    JeffD
     
    #8 jdenenberg, Jun 22, 2023
  9. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Agreed. Sad to say, finding baling wire has gotten a lot harder. I blame those one ton, rolled hay, bundles.

    Bob Wilson
     
    #9 bwilson4web, Jun 22, 2023
  10. jdenenberg

    jdenenberg EE Professor

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    Yep, we used to build walls using the older rectangular prism hay bales. When I snapped the bolts holding the magneto in place on my 1941 Servicycle, I used baling wire to hold it approximately in place and used a "choke" control to adjust the spark timing while I rode.

    JeffD
     
    #10 jdenenberg, Jun 22, 2023
  11. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    I grew up with baler twine, not wire, and am still getting some time running the baler each summer. And still bucking bales too. So we never had baling wire on hand, but certainly put the used twine to many uses. Dad was one of the last three farmers on the local prairie to switch from loose hay to bales. Now the local ag warehouse is providing that style of 2-string baler twine to just two farms, as everyone else has converted to the very large bales (round or rectangular) that can be picked up only by machines, not by hand.
     
    #11 fuzzy1, Jun 22, 2023
  12. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    "I never got to use calculus in my work assignments" I cannot remember being as surprised by anything @bwilson4web has ever said here before. And that covers a lot of things said :)

    @ChapmanF is more rhapsodic on the subject. There does seem to be a need for concepts of calculus to be presented to all. Some audiences see equations (esp those with exponents or Greek letters) as mystifying enemies. They are optimally terse ways to describe and use calculus, sure. But they are not the only ways.
     
    #12 tochatihu, Jun 23, 2023
  13. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    To give credit were due, calculus made important contributions to the art and practice of statistics. Now that I'm retired, my hobbies can and sometimes do use those ancient calculus skills. For example, travel and tuning my Tesla. But I'm paying myself for my hobby.

    Bob Wilson
     
    #13 bwilson4web, Jun 23, 2023
  14. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    What could mathematics do before calculus? I fell unqualified to answer that at the risk of missing many things. But calculus expands math's reach into spatial dimensions, and completely opened up 'time'.

    Statistics revealed that 'things' should be represented as populations of numerical values. That different populations could be discerned quantitatively, as could changes over time. And there's much more I'd better not try to describe.

    But all this could go somewhere useful in introducing quantitative thinking to general learning for students whose interest are elsewhere:
    How does math improve anyone's understanding of anything they are interested in?
    How does calculus further improve ...?
    How does statistics further improve ...?
    For a university '101 course', examples would need to be drawn far away from hardcore science. But, presuming that everyone wants to understand 'their own things' better, we should open the lids of these toolboxes and describe what's inside. So much good stuff...
     
    #14 tochatihu, Jun 23, 2023
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  15. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    I once watched a graphic designer we had hired struggle in an app like Illustrator to recreate the shape of the logo of the company I worked for. He was pulling on the various handles of the curves for a long time, and the shape just got weirder and weirder.

    Nobody had ever explained Bézier curves to me yet, but it was pretty plain to see you were setting a 1st derivative with the direction of the 'handle' and a 2nd derivative with the handle's length. And looking at the original logo, it was pretty clear what the 1st and 2nd derivatives were and where. So I said "say, may I have a go?" and put the handles where they belonged so the logo was right, and then got back up so he could finish the design.

    He asked "where did you learn to do that?!" and he seemed skeptical when I said a calculus class.
     
    #15 ChapmanF, Jun 24, 2023
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2023
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  16. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    Feynman famously encouraged Herman Wouk to learn "The Language God Talks" - or the calculus - so named because humans have only 10 fingers. Calculus seems to be Latin for the diminutive of 'rock' - or a pebble, used for computations by our predecessors.
    I'm thinking that it for me speaking that particular dialect would not be far removed from xenoglossia, or maybe 'religious tongues' - often as not spoken with a south-east American accent.

    Wouk himself never also understood the calculus after repeated, if perhaps half-hearted attempts.
    This provides me some comfort, and also some motivation to get a Calculus For Dummies book that might accompany the Piano For Dummies and others gathering dust on my shelves.
    Feynman, a fellow if agnostic Jew did get an elevator pitch for religion from the (other) famous author while he was being treated for cancer (what else?) in the 80's, and his last words were reported to have been, ironically to a Christian: "I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring."

    I often recommend Wouk's book for those trying to navigate the rocky shores that divide science from religion.
    The Language God Talks: On Science and Religion - Herman Wouk - Google Books
     
    #16 ETC(SS), Jun 25, 2023
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2023
  17. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Well you shamed me into doing a little math. The problem is going between Huntsville AL and Tunica MS:
    • Direct - requires driving at a slower speed to cover the distance.
    • Via Tupelo Supercharger - charging takes ~20 minutes, ~$12 charge.
    upload_2023-6-25_23-58-46.png
    Both routes take the same amount of time ... equally FAST. However the direct route is at a slower speed and starts with a 100% charge. The Supercharger route does not require a battery aging 100% charge but costs about $12. An example, this is not a general solution.

    One wild card is L2 charging in Corinth MS:
    upload_2023-6-26_1-45-1.png
    There are only two L2 chargers and each has failed in the past. I once had to divert to Tupelo Supercharger, a significant delay and additional expense.

    For a general solution, we start with the current Tesla metrics:
    upload_2023-6-26_0-21-38.png
    So how to address crossing Eastern Oklahoma:
    • 194 mi direct Van Buren to OKC - little reserve 215-194 = 21 miles. Faced with freezing, dense air, and a 20-25 mph headwind, no way. Takes 3 hours. FAST+CHEAP but NOT-GOOD.
    • 237 mi Van Buren to Tulsa to OKC - easy segments, it takes 3.5 hours and adds toll road fees and $12 Supercharger fee. GOOD but NOT FAST, NOT CHEAP.
    • 197 mi Van Buren to Golden Pony to OKC - easy segments, takes 3.5-4.0 hours with a 15-30 mile free charge, 30-60 minutes on an L2 charger. GOOD+CHEAP but NOT FAST.
    upload_2023-6-26_1-21-21.png
    This was how I handled going West to Las Vegas.

    The point is driving an EV is 'different' but not that hard. Superchargers are twice as dense as they were when I bought my Tesla and there are few places along major routes that you even have to consider L2, 32 A 208-240 VAC charging. Now I just make sure any motel has free breakfast and charging.

    Bob Wilson
     
    #17 bwilson4web, Jun 26, 2023
    Last edited: Jun 26, 2023
  18. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    lim.jpg
     
    #18 ChapmanF, Jul 13, 2023
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