At the age of six I started cleaning bathrooms. I distinctly recall being coached by my father on the how-to’s; being six, I had lots to learn. Sesame Street did not include it in their curriculum and the public schools naturally deemed it out of their scope. So my parents made it part of their…
Month: May 2016
Comparing Needles in Haystacks: From the Weighted Random Pattern Chronicles
Culling out bad from good parts is a necessary step in any manufacturing process, be it a spark plug for a car, the highchair for your infant child or a computer chip for your mobile device. Semiconductor testing moved from testing explicitly for Good parts to identifying Bad parts decades ago. The exponential growth in…
Slide Rules, Calculators and Reverse Polish: How HP and TI foiled my Math Exam
When I tried to use my friend, Marion’s, calculator I quickly realized I had made an assumption that all calculators worked the same. Alas, I fell victim to a common assumption with computing machines–that they all work the same. At home my Mom had an HP calculator; Marion, my classmate, possessed a TI calculator. While…
Asking Questions of Experts
In the summer of 1984 I attended a seminar presented by Bob, a member of technical staff. I carefully listened and realized that my project would be changing some fundamental assumptions related to his talk. When the Q&A time arrived I asked this question– “If Grade of Service (GOS) is no longer a constant, i.e….
A Knitter’s Legacy
Grandma Elizabeth’s Crocheted Afghan, Margaret sleeping on it. In 2011, I participated in the community art project, “You Are the Chosen One.” We had the option of submitting words to go with our square. I have revised those words for this post. “I tell people I come from a long line of Irish American working…