BX: The Business Experience

Lately there has been all the rage for the ‘UX’ experts — User Experience gurus.  UX expert is a person who specializes in ensuring websites and software is ‘user friendly’.  It is more broad than the traditional User Interface (UI) in that UI focuses on a single screen of interactivity whereas UX is more of…

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Education For Life

Here we are in the 21st century.  And you know what?  We still treat education like we have for hundreds of years.  In America, we equate success with the completion of the Bachelor’s degree.  For many it is completed in a four year (or 5, or 6 year) sprint at the end of our teenage…

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The Engineering Code of Ethics

PreambleEngineering is an important and learned profession. As members of this profession, engineers are expected to exhibit the highest standards of honesty and integrity. Engineering has a direct and vital impact on the quality of life for all people. Accordingly, the services provided by engineers require honesty, impartiality, fairness, and equity, and must be dedicated…

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Route 66 – Version 2.0

“That the passing of our friend the horse is only a question of time […] however much the breeders of the [horse] may strive to arrest the progresses of public opinion in the adoption of this view […] and there is little room to doubt that they will ere long have to accept the inevitable,…

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New Software, Old Energy

“Nothing endures but change.” ~ Heraclitus Change is hard.  But it is also inevitable.  Death is nature’s change agent.  And just as people die, so do paradigms and businesses.  And though it is hard on those who must live through the change, the end result for future generations is a world better off than what existed…

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Government and Innovation

“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” ~ Sir Isaac Newton There seems to be a lot of misconception regarding the role of government spending in spurring innovation.  As someone who has spent 15 years in various roles at the Department of Defense; including research intern, military officer,…

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“Free” Internet For All

The Internet.  The Information Superhighway.  A complex the system that seems to be constantly re-inventing every aspect of our world.  And for years the drive has been to make Internet access cheaper and faster.  But suddenly we’re hitting a wall propped up by corporate greed that threatens the neutrality that made the Internet what it…

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Open Letter to the Boy Scouts Regarding Discrimination

There is a movement afoot by Eagle Scouts across the country to protest the recent decision by the national BSA leadership to uphold a policy of discrimination against homosexuals.  Many of us are writing letters and sending back our Eagle Scout award to the national council.  My letter is as follows: 24 July 2012To The…

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Making A Living Doing Design

I recently received an email from a fellow design engineer who is trying his hand at making a living doing what he loves.  I thought this knowledge might be useful for others so I am putting it here: There are three major types of contracts: Fixed Price:  You negotiate the total bill up front, if…

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