What is Engineering?

One of the causes of the current decline of the United States is the lack of interest in engineering. Over the last century and a half, many of the greatest triumphs of this nation have been engineering – railroads, bridges, cars, air conditioning and refrigeration, electric power – the list is incredibly long... And all items that we take for granted.


There is a huge public misunderstanding of what constitutes engineering. Especially on television, most accomplishments attributed to ‘science’ or ‘scientists’ are actually engineering. “Scientists are working on that right now.” No, they aren’t! Engineers are!

Science is the attempt to determine the characteristics of the world around us from known or observed data.

Engineering is the art of using knowledge, objects, and methods that perform definite known functions to derive other knowledge, objects, and methods that perform other functions.

If the objective is knowledge, quite possibly the field is science.

If the objective is function, then the field is almost certainly engineering.

Give engineers the respect they are due. And maybe, just maybe, return this country to its position as the greatest nation on God’s green Earth.

Focus vs. Depth of Field

The ability to hear the subtle whisper of the Holy Spirit is a lot like following a trail made in a forest by deer or other animals. Up close, there is no evidence that anything has disturbed the homogenous layer of leaves or grass or the scattering of sticks and other debris on the forest floor. Even clues as obvious as tracks are extremely difficult to detect unless they are out in the open or in sand or mud. Typical trails can only be seen from a certain distance. A wider focus is necessary in order to detect the subtle patterns in the disturbance of the random chaotic distribution of fallen leaves that indicates purpose and direction. Anyone skilled in wood lore has literally learned to see the forest as well as the trees. They have especially trained themselves to appreciate the wealth of information that is conveyed by the trails in the woods. They know that most trails lead directly to a place of food, water, or shelter for the animals that created the trail. In the same manner, if we learn to detect it, God’s gentle whispering voice will reveal a path that will guide us, feed us, and shelter us – spiritually and physically. (excerpt from Following The Cloud, p. 6)

On my job, I am constantly admonished to “Focus” – pay close attention to the little details that cause larger issues. After analyzing a recent mistake that I had to correct, I realized that the problem is not “focus” at all, it’s “depth of field”. In the field of photography, depth of field refers to the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that appear acceptably sharp. A lens can precisely focus at only one distance at a time, but the fuzziness is gradual on each side of the focused distance, so that within the depth of field, the lack of focus is imperceptible under normal viewing conditions.

Working in AutoCAD especially encourages zooming in very close on the details to get them absolutely perfect. I realized that I had been so focused on the details (the precision of the individual lines) that I couldn’t see the whole components that interfered with each other. “Wider focus” refers to depth of field. In everything that we do, we need to broaden our focus. We need to be able to see the forest as well as the trees. We need to be able to see the whole machine as well as the individual parts. To successfully follow the path in any woods, we need to have just the right depth of field.

Creativity is still alive

For several years, I was field service technician responsible for all of the Levolor Blind cutting machines in all of the Lowes stores in Georgia (about 40 stores).

This was the most incredible little machine.  It had a hydraulic shear at one end, and a servo controlled saw at the other end.  It was all controlled by a PLC.  It all fit in a case on giant drawer slides that slid back into one pallet rack bay in the store.  And it was pretty enough and safe enough for the women in the blind department to use.  The venetian blind cuts had to be clean enough to be 'like new'.

As soon as the blades began leaving even the slighted burr on the aluminum top or bottom rails, they had to be changed.

They FedExed me the blade every time!  For a while, they were even paying to FedEx the dull one back.  Then when Rubbermaid bought Irwin, they could get them for about $15 dollars, so they didn't want them back any more.

40 stores about every 3 months for about 3 years.  40 x 4 x 3 = 3 or 4 hundred.

I haven't been able to throw them away.  I know there must be something really neat to do with them.  Finally,  I asked a forum called the Tinker's Guild, "What can I do with 3 or 4 hundred 10" Carbide saw blades?"

I was looking for the kind of guy's creativity that results in monster trucks or bowling ball shooting cannons - just because you can.  .  I loved this answer so much, I had to share it with the world:

by "Someone"

Really wide Dado blade?
Big planer setup?
ULTIMATE Ultimate Frisbee
Fido want to play fetch?
Fully automatic sawblade thrower? (Actually, by modifying a auto skeet thrower...)
Tie 'em on strings and hang them up for Halloween?
Coasters?
Skeet?
Cover the car in saw blades and take it to the Art Car Parade?
For the above, flat for driving around, upright for driving around aggressively?
Scrapyard?
Tell a friend he's won slightly dull sawblades for life?
Using a transfer printer, write your letters on them and send them through the mail?
As above, but in color for your Christmas cards?
Print what you really think about various Congressmen on them, then mail it to them?
Wallpaper?
Wallpaper in the shop?
Get a small, cheap file cabinet, put them in it, and label the drawers "Sawblades"? Friends will know you have OCD.
Get a van, put in a speaker playing "Pop goes the Weasel", and drive around new subdivisions selling them to construction crews?
Mail them to the guy on the Muppet show who throws fish, and tell him he needs to upgrade his act?

Need any more?