"Nothing is ever a complete failure; it can always
serve as a bad example." - Carlson's Consolation. I tried to find out who this Carlson
guy is, but could not locate a definitive source. The same quote is sometimes referred
to as Carson's Consolation. Regardless of its progenitor, the tenet holds true.
9/22/2015
"Engineering is not merely knowing and being knowledgeable,
like a walking encyclopedia; engineering is not merely analysis; engineering is not merely
the possession of the capacity to get elegant solutions to non-existent engineering problems;
engineering is practicing the art of the organized forcing of technological change...
Engineers operate at the interface between science and society." - Gordon S. Brown; Dean
of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) School of Engineering.
9/15/2015
"When you want to know how things really work,
study them when they're coming apart." ― William Gibson,
Zero History. Gibson is a high tech science fiction writer
who focuses on artificial intelligence and the government's and corporate world's ability
to track your every move - sort of modern day
1984 stuff only now it's already real.
9/8/2015
"Technology is dominated by two types of people:
those who understand what they do not manage and those who manage what they do not understand."
-
Archibald Putt, Ph.D., from
Putt's Law and the Successful Technocrat. Per the publisher,
John Wiley & Sons, "'Archibald Putt' is the pseudonym of a man whose contributions
in science, engineering, and R&D management are well known. He has served on government
advisory committees, managed basic and applied research, and held executive positions
in a large multinational corporation. He received his PhD degree from a leading institute
of technology and has served as president of an international technical society. He is
the author of numerous books and scholarly articles."
9/1/2015
"Gentlemen,
ei*π + 1
= 0 is surely true, it is absolutely paradoxical; we cannot understand it, and we don't
know what it means. But we have proved it, and therefore we know it must be truth." - Benjamin Peirce
(not to be confused with Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce ), 19th century Harvard mathematician.
ei*π + 1
= 0 i, BTW, is known as Euler's identity - engineers live by it.
8/25/2015
"If you're keeping score, in the past month Trump
has b*tch-slapped the entire Republican Party, redefined our expectations of politics,
focused the national discussion on immigration, proposed the only new idea for handling
ISIS, and taken functional control of FOX News. And I don't think he put much effort
into it. Imagine what he could do if he gave up golf." - Scott Adams,
Dilbert comic strip creator, in his
August 13, 2015
Scott Adams' Blog entry titled "Clown Genius."
8/18/2015
"I'm the only one who has removed half a brain,
but if you went to Washington, you'd think someone beat me to it." -
Dr. Ben Carson, pediatric neurosurgeon and presidential candidate.
Hearing this audio clip on the news caused me to laugh out loud (I can't stand watching
political debates). My detestation for the vast majority of politicians of every stripe
makes me believe there is truth in what was said - figuratively and literally. For the
record, this is not an endorsement, just recognition of someone who evidently despises
status quo politics as much as I do ...
8/11/2015
"Although infinity
is needed in mathematics, it occurs nowhere in the physical universe." -
David Hilbert,
mathematician, quoted in
Nature
8/4/2015
"Science is built up of facts, as a house is built
of stones; but an accumulation of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is
a house." - Henri
Poincaré, mathematician, in
Science and Hypothesis
7/28/2015
"An iron rod being placed on the outside of a
building from the highest part continued down into the moist earth, in any direction
strait or crooked, following the form of the roof or other parts of the building, will
receive the lightning at its upper end, attracting it so as to prevent it's striking
any other part; and, affording it a good conveyance into the earth, will prevent its
damaging any part of the building." - Benjamin Franklin Of Lightning, and the Method
(now used in America) of securing Buildings and Persons from its mischievous Effects,
Paris 1767. See also
Mac's Radio Service Shop - A Little Lightning story.
7/21/2015
"The saddest aspect of life right now is that science
gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom." - Isaac Asimov,
Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations
7/14/2015
Notable Tech Quote: Steve Sant Andrea
"The great thing about reactances being imaginary
is that the -j1590 Ω of capacitive reactance can be neutralized by adding
+j1590 Ω of inductive reactance. Cool, huh? Add ohms to ohms and get fewer ohms!
You can't do that with resistors!" - Steve Sant Andrea (AG1YK), June 2014
QST magazine.
7/7/2015
"There are two kinds of countries: Those that use
the metric system and those that have sent men to the moon." - Anon
6/30/2015
"This mode of instantaneous communication must
inevitably become an instrument of immense power, to be wielded for good or for evil,
as it shall be properly or improperly directed." Samuel F. B. Morse, in an 1838 letter
to Congressman and business partner Francis O.J. Smith, of Maine.
6/23/2015
"Mediocre hires are like empty calories: They make
you bigger but less healthy." -
Eric Ryan, Method and Olly founder, in June 2015 Inc magazine article
titled "Playbook: The Fine Art of People."
6/16/2015
"Only the ideas that pass through a rigorous self-filtration
make it out and are criticized by the rest of the scientific community. It sometimes
happens that ideas that are accepted by everybody turn out to be wrong, or at least partially
wrong, or at least superseded by ideas of greater generality. And, while there are of
course some personal losses—emotional bonds to the idea that you yourself played a role
in inventing—nevertheless the collective ethic is that every time such an idea is overthrown
and replaced by something better the enterprise of science has benefited." - Carl Sagan,
"The Burden of Skepticism",
Skeptical
Inquirer, v12.1, Fall 1987
6/9/2015
"Heck, many kids today don't even know what radio
is (and don't realize that their cellphones are actually radios)" –
Dan Romanchik, author of
Is Amateur Radio Still a Gateway to Electrical Engineering?
6/2/2015
"A scientist studies what is, an engineer studies
what never was." - James A. Michener,
historical fiction author.
5/26/2015
"You're always so concerned about your reputation.
Einstein did his best stuff when he was working as a patent clerk!" - Dr. Peter Venkman,
Ghostbusters
5/19/2015
"Scientists will eventually stop flailing around
with solar power and focus their efforts on harnessing the only truly unlimited source
of energy on the planet: stupidity. I predict that in the future, scientists will learn
how to convert stupidity into clean fuel." - Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert
5/12/2015
The number
of statements uttered verbally and/or in print is uncountable. Some are more noteworthy
than others either because of sheer brilliance, good humor, or utter inanity. We
all hope our own remembered words, if any, fall into one of the first two categories
rather than the third. I do a lot of reading and find many notable quotes to use
that fit the theme of RF Cafe; they fall into all three categories. I always try
to verify quotes from original sources or at least from printed books like
