Be firm, but don't be a jerk. Be reasonable, and honest - justify and explain. In writing if it helps. Just don't promise more than you can deliver, and be explicitly clear about the complexity of solutions.
If somebody gets in your face and calls you a ********, I want you to be nice. Ask him to walk. Be nice. If he won't walk, walk him. But be nice. If you can't walk him, one of the others will help you, and you'll both be nice. I want you to remember that it's a job. It's nothing personal.
Ahh... Road House continues to provide life's answers...
I can dig what you're saying, but hopefully I can give you another angle
I'm a professional controls engineer mentoring a team in California. I've also been a judge at the competitions. And I agree every team needs at least one, ideally a ME, EE, and Embedded CS guy. (or a nerd of magnitude to encompass all of those)
The reason is that while the kids and non-tech parents are enthusiastic and have great ideas, they have no concept of scope (time and $$) or how to implement their ideas. Project management also benefits from someone with experience, you got to find something for the 20+ kids to work on.
Take a simple actuating arm. The kids/parents may figure out what materials to use, type of actuation, how to mount it, etc...
Having an engineer around tends to benefit the kids not only in robustness of the final product, but
they learn how things are done in Real Life (TM). Why choose pneumatic over electric articulation, why aluminum over steal or wood, why a particular motion is easier to control/program for. All that and the 6 weeks isn't burned trying out obviously deficient designs.
Remember, the FIRST competition isn't 100% about the robot. Judges walk the pits and talk to the kids. They travel in pairs or 3's so one judge doesn't get snowed by a canned response. From my experience, it is obvious who actually did the work within 5 min. and those teams are awarded in the end.
Our last year's robot was 100% not my design. But I like to think that my participation help the robot robust, competitive, and completed on time. And hopefully the kids learned more than swearing in the process:)
Back at my old company, we used to re-mound BGA
chips using a heat gun. Sure it'd warp the cheap
FR4 boards a little, but it would work 80% of the
time.
The trick was to tin the pads on the PCB first, then
apply a thin smear of flux. We had this cool pine-tar
type flux, that if exposed to air would get a little
sticky.
The BGA chip (3-com network I believe) was oriented
and "stuck" in position with the flux. The heat gun
was applied to the under side of the board for ~45 seconds.
Common problems associated to this technique were some
balls ended up either "cold-soldered" or melting too much
and shorting with its neighbor. Oh yeah, and replacing the
resistors and such that fell off the backside while heating
(damn full plane ground layer!). But the boards we worked
on were dead to start with, so no big loss.
Oh yeah, nobody else use this method. I don't want some jackass blaming me for starting a fire
The examples in the center of the page are snapshots from the first field test when the truck was moving.
Basically, the PS3 grabs a handle and opens a data connection to each camera. Thats the slowest part of the system. The reads are done simultaneously in different threads. Pulling the next frames require both current reads to complete first. Grabbing the data from the cameras is limited by USB bandwidth and the capture speed of the cameras.
That ends up giving you a worst-case sync deviation of ~10ms. Which is not too bad considering the source is an off the shelf webcam, but it does limit the max speed the system is useful.
"In May, The Wall Street Journal cited a separate entry point, reporting that data thieves had accessed an improperly secured Wi-Fi network from the parking lot of a Marshall's store in St. Paul, Minn. The thieves reportedly used a wireless data poaching tactic called "wardriving" and exploited the deficiencies of the aging Wired Equivalent Privacy wireless security protocol."(Emphasis mine)
Was shaping up to be a decent tech article until this. I don't know what irks me more about this quote:
- Needing to define an old-ass term like wardriving
- defining it as poaching
- "putting" the "word" in "quotes" (I can just see the author's fingers in the air)
Firewalls, disabling usb, corporate LAN, etc are tossed around freely... why jack with wardrivers?
I think you're confusing certificates with licenses. A license leads to accountability.
What you describe is exactly what happens for the folks that design office buildings, roads, dams, etc. But when sh*t goes down, you need only to look at the stamp at the bottom of a drawing to find out that Joe Engineer from Company X f*cked up. Results: license revoked, lose jobby-job, and incur legal/financial damages.
You're probably just jaded on the whole MSCE, Cisco, Novell certificates folks wave around. They are used to quantify an individuals skill, but you'll never see a web site, database, or server put into production that can be tracked to an individual.
Hell, even an off-the-shelf Microsoft Windows license explicitly states that:
IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS OR CONFIDENTIAL OR OTHER INFORMATION, FOR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, FOR PERSONAL INJURY, FOR LOSS OF PRIVACY, FOR FAILURE TO MEET ANY DUTY INCLUDING OF GOOD FAITH OR OF REASONABLE CARE, FOR NEGLIGENCE, AND FOR ANY OTHER PECUNIARY OR OTHER LOSS WHATSOEVER) ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE
How would you like your bridge builders to exercise a similar clause?
True. But, in a business environment, what you can get away with at the water cooler probably shouldn't be documented with a paper or digital trail....
In one thread, a wisecrack about campus elevators was misinterpreted by some as a safety warning, so Dr. Fahlman suggested using:-) as a way to indicate jokes and:-( for remarks to be taken seriously
Sarcasm and certain witticisms don't translate well to text as Dr. Fahlman noted back in the day. A smiley or "!" at the end tends to deflect misinterpretation on the receiver's end. Example response(exaggerated for clarity):
F*ck you.
F*ck you:)
Sadly, I get several email responses like this a day. The presence or absence of the smiley determines the office exit I leave through at the end of the day:)
While cool, voice commands/interaction is way too slow (even removing accuracy issues). It just takes a while to say what you want.
Example: Those automated telephone bill-pay services that let you speak or use keypad to enter your credit card info. Time yourself speaking clearly the 16 digits or entering through the keypad.
Now consider a complex command, like copying a block of text and inserting in the middle of a paragraph. How could you verbalize it quicker than a mouse stroke or a couple hot-keys?
I got the Pelican (I think) wireless aftermarket Dual Shock knock offs that I like 100% better than the Dual Shock.
Same overall design, but the "wings" are angled a little more acutely that makes reaching the analog sticks a little more natural. The other big plus is the staggered L1/L2 and R1/R2 shoulder buttons.
The drawback is the Pelican controller's lack of weight give it a cheapy feel. Still, the ergonomics and lack of cord make it nicer.
Re:Why Does Encryption Need to "Scramble" Informat
on
A Mighty Number Falls
·
· Score: 1
Are you suggesting Jesus can't produce a cypher?
Next you'll try convince me he can't hit a curve ball...
I have worked in a ton of factories, and know exactly what you're saying. When a +/- of $0.02 on the shelf is enough for someone to buy the competitors product, I can see why this pressure exists.
However, I'm sure you've seen factories that are best un-documented and at worst death traps because someone didn't put the $$ or effort up front when doing something.
Using your example, $30k sucks ass for process data collection. You can do it cheap as hell, say an old dell box with fix32 sending OBDC data to a *nix box running MySQL and 1TB of cheapy IDE drives. Add in some custom VB code to glue it all together, and you've got a system that I've seen running one of your favorite breakfast food brands.
You think the suits upstairs will like to hear it will cost another $30k + downtime to reverse engineer your own program 5 years later when a changes need to be made and you can't remember whats there? You can't tell me that doesn't happen.
OT, but what defines a "registered" controls system engineer? Is it a US thing, or some state issued title? I only ask because I've never heard it applied before here in California.
If this is an industrial application, you really don't want to homebrew it.
Spending the money up front for a reliable, standard solution will save a ton later when your homebrew breaks or some other poor bastard has to support it. There's been too many times I've opened a a panel where my first words are "WTF?".
Especially if you're working with oxygen. Get yourself a nice little flow meter (micromotion makes a good one). Then you can get both volume, and (presumably) valve position. If the valve is electrically actuated, you can use the information for a host of alarms.
Either way, if the information is valuable enough to record, its worth the money up front.
Slashdot Mirror
Be firm, but don't be a jerk. Be reasonable, and honest - justify and explain. In writing if it helps. Just don't promise more than you can deliver, and be explicitly clear about the complexity of solutions.
If somebody gets in your face and calls you a ********, I want you to be nice. Ask him to walk. Be nice. If he won't walk, walk him. But be nice. If you can't walk him, one of the others will help you, and you'll both be nice. I want you to remember that it's a job. It's nothing personal.
Ahh... Road House continues to provide life's answers...
More often than not, this is has been the deciding factor with going Microsoft...
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/04/1916242
http://linux.slashdot.org/linux/06/11/17/1327239.shtml
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/07/211214
I'm a professional controls engineer mentoring a team in California. I've also been a judge at the competitions. And I agree every team needs at least one, ideally a ME, EE, and Embedded CS guy. (or a nerd of magnitude to encompass all of those)
The reason is that while the kids and non-tech parents are enthusiastic and have great ideas, they have no concept of scope (time and $$) or how to implement their ideas. Project management also benefits from someone with experience, you got to find something for the 20+ kids to work on.
Take a simple actuating arm. The kids/parents may figure out what materials to use, type of actuation, how to mount it, etc...
Having an engineer around tends to benefit the kids not only in robustness of the final product, but they learn how things are done in Real Life (TM). Why choose pneumatic over electric articulation, why aluminum over steal or wood, why a particular motion is easier to control/program for. All that and the 6 weeks isn't burned trying out obviously deficient designs.
Remember, the FIRST competition isn't 100% about the robot. Judges walk the pits and talk to the kids. They travel in pairs or 3's so one judge doesn't get snowed by a canned response. From my experience, it is obvious who actually did the work within 5 min. and those teams are awarded in the end.
Our last year's robot was 100% not my design. But I like to think that my participation help the robot robust, competitive, and completed on time. And hopefully the kids learned more than swearing in the process :)
The trick was to tin the pads on the PCB first, then apply a thin smear of flux. We had this cool pine-tar type flux, that if exposed to air would get a little sticky.
The BGA chip (3-com network I believe) was oriented and "stuck" in position with the flux. The heat gun was applied to the under side of the board for ~45 seconds.
Common problems associated to this technique were some balls ended up either "cold-soldered" or melting too much and shorting with its neighbor. Oh yeah, and replacing the resistors and such that fell off the backside while heating (damn full plane ground layer!). But the boards we worked on were dead to start with, so no big loss.
Oh yeah, nobody else use this method. I don't want some jackass blaming me for starting a fire
Basically, the PS3 grabs a handle and opens a data connection to each camera. Thats the slowest part of the system. The reads are done simultaneously in different threads. Pulling the next frames require both current reads to complete first. Grabbing the data from the cameras is limited by USB bandwidth and the capture speed of the cameras.
That ends up giving you a worst-case sync deviation of ~10ms. Which is not too bad considering the source is an off the shelf webcam, but it does limit the max speed the system is useful.
Was shaping up to be a decent tech article until this. I don't know what irks me more about this quote:
- Needing to define an old-ass term like wardriving
- defining it as poaching
- "putting" the "word" in "quotes" (I can just see the author's fingers in the air)
Firewalls, disabling usb, corporate LAN, etc are tossed around freely... why jack with wardrivers?
What you describe is exactly what happens for the folks that design office buildings, roads, dams, etc. But when sh*t goes down, you need only to look at the stamp at the bottom of a drawing to find out that Joe Engineer from Company X f*cked up. Results: license revoked, lose jobby-job, and incur legal/financial damages.
You're probably just jaded on the whole MSCE, Cisco, Novell certificates folks wave around. They are used to quantify an individuals skill, but you'll never see a web site, database, or server put into production that can be tracked to an individual.
Hell, even an off-the-shelf Microsoft Windows license explicitly states that:
IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS OR CONFIDENTIAL OR OTHER INFORMATION, FOR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, FOR PERSONAL INJURY, FOR LOSS OF PRIVACY, FOR FAILURE TO MEET ANY DUTY INCLUDING OF GOOD FAITH OR OF REASONABLE CARE, FOR NEGLIGENCE, AND FOR ANY OTHER PECUNIARY OR OTHER LOSS WHATSOEVER) ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWAREHow would you like your bridge builders to exercise a similar clause?
But with airguns commonly reaching 1000+ fps, seems a little redundant... Heck, you can even buy .50cal air rifles now :)
Sarcasm and certain witticisms don't translate well to text as Dr. Fahlman noted back in the day. A smiley or "!" at the end tends to deflect misinterpretation on the receiver's end. Example response(exaggerated for clarity):
F*ck you.
F*ck you :)
Sadly, I get several email responses like this a day. The presence or absence of the smiley determines the office exit I leave through at the end of the day :)
F*ck!
Example: Those automated telephone bill-pay services that let you speak or use keypad to enter your credit card info. Time yourself speaking clearly the 16 digits or entering through the keypad.
Now consider a complex command, like copying a block of text and inserting in the middle of a paragraph. How could you verbalize it quicker than a mouse stroke or a couple hot-keys?
Just too slow.
Maybe all the high-energy debris will protect the earth from a killer-meteor better than an Areosmith-inspired Bruce Willis.
Better question:
"When will FOX air it on TV?"
But it gets pRon!
The plus side is having had the early start I should pull out of this shame spiral in time for cake!
Same overall design, but the "wings" are angled a little more acutely that makes reaching the analog sticks a little more natural. The other big plus is the staggered L1/L2 and R1/R2 shoulder buttons.
The drawback is the Pelican controller's lack of weight give it a cheapy feel. Still, the ergonomics and lack of cord make it nicer.
Next you'll try convince me he can't hit a curve ball...
Thanks again. Been working in the field for several years now and never heard of this.
However, I'm sure you've seen factories that are best un-documented and at worst death traps because someone didn't put the $$ or effort up front when doing something.
Using your example, $30k sucks ass for process data collection. You can do it cheap as hell, say an old dell box with fix32 sending OBDC data to a *nix box running MySQL and 1TB of cheapy IDE drives. Add in some custom VB code to glue it all together, and you've got a system that I've seen running one of your favorite breakfast food brands.
You think the suits upstairs will like to hear it will cost another $30k + downtime to reverse engineer your own program 5 years later when a changes need to be made and you can't remember whats there? You can't tell me that doesn't happen.
So, if I am understanding correctly, it is a focus or discipline of the PE accreditation. (IE, the whole testing/mentoring process).
OT, but what defines a "registered" controls system engineer? Is it a US thing, or some state issued title? I only ask because I've never heard it applied before here in California.
Spending the money up front for a reliable, standard solution will save a ton later when your homebrew breaks or some other poor bastard has to support it. There's been too many times I've opened a a panel where my first words are "WTF?".
Especially if you're working with oxygen. Get yourself a nice little flow meter (micromotion makes a good one). Then you can get both volume, and (presumably) valve position. If the valve is electrically actuated, you can use the information for a host of alarms.
Either way, if the information is valuable enough to record, its worth the money up front.