Misunderstanding of Precision

If you have a degree in engineering or science, chances are were instructed on the proper method for reporting numbers in terms of precision and accuracy. The government has long been the whipping boy for examples of abuse. If you think that might have prompted corrective action, you would be wrong. Our public science organizations like NASA, NIST, NOAA, NIH, et al, do a respectable job of reporting, but the other agencies display their ignorance on a regular basis. A couple days ago, DHS (those fine folks who perform cavity searches at airports) issued a solicitation for bagpipes and assorted accessories (we have evidently $ for bagpipes but not the Blue Angels). The document mentions "a small business size standard of 500.00 employees." What do the employees that comprise the decimal point portion of the number look like? I think we can guess what will be done with this ordered item: "Black waxed bagpipe hemp." Maybe they should add a few bags of Doritos to the order for when the users inevitably get the munchies.

Posted April 2013

Maury Microwave / Noisecom UFX 7000B Noise Generator - RF Cafe Website

RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...