Learning that Diction Matters

How does an engineer become good with words? One word at a time. Long before I knew the word diction, I understood the impact words have on everyday conversation. A simple change of a word could clarify a request or a direction. Adding a few adjectives made the meaning more precise. An adverb communicated the…

Predicting Fails for I/O Timings: Tales from the Intel I/O Test Road Map

While Spass and Mike measured actual I/O timing failures, I simulated possible defect causes and their impact on timing performance. I used techniques I honed in graduate school on deformations to circuit misbehavior. Process variation could hypothetically contribute to circuit timing fails, though analog circuit designers mitigated the impact of such variation to circuit performance….

Meditation on Enjoyment Over Capital or State

Last fall I arranged a visit in Tucson, Arizona to visit my brother and his family. My nephew, Sean, would be appearing in his high school’s production of Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman’s “You Can’t Take It With You.” Though he had a small part as one of the G-men, it created a lovely…

Girl Scout Leading Mom

In Northport, New York, I joined a Brownie Girl Scout troop. Vague memories float in my mind about meeting at the church after school and doing craft projects. Then we moved to Cherry Hill, New Jersey. This was the fourth move in my eight-year-old life. In my third grade class some kids mercilessly teased me….