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Working Up in Project Management, Systems Engineering, Technology, and Writing

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Entries from September 2014

Tuition and Learning

September 29th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We often pay the tuition for learning, but neglect to learn anything. I have blogged about this before. (From January 2010) I suppose I will stop blogging about this when the practice stops. Sorry, I guess that means that every few years I will blog about it again. Is there any least […]

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Tags: Adapting · Learning

Will the Federal Government Listen to the Google Guy?

September 25th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Much has been made of the Google guy in Washington running the US Digital Service. The USDS is not needed and won’t succeed. There is a lot of splash in the regular media these days about the US Digital Service. Our government has recruited stars from Silicon Valley, brought them to the […]

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Tags: Change · Government

The Round Table of Librarians

September 22nd, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Librarians have always been able to point us to the right place to find the information we needed. Today, however, with all the knowledge of mankind on the Internet, one person can’t find everything. Librarians don’t know much, but they do know where to look. Someone told me something like that a […]

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Tags: Adapting · Communication · Knowledge · Library

The Computer as I/O Device

September 18th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Most of today’s “computers” are nothing but I/O devices to the cloud. Persons like me who use a computer that is in front of us are rare and disappearing. Here is a little, historical lesson on computing. A computer has three basic parts: processor memory input/output (I/O) That’s it folks. Nothing else. […]

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Tags: Change · Computing · Technology

Smartphones, Calculators, and Wishing

September 15th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Back in the 1970s, we wished for useful things built into the bodies of our calculators. Today, some of us old persons wish for the same in the bodies of our smartphones. I was looking at the back of my smartphone. I remember the back of my big Texas Instruments calculator from […]

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Tags: Systems · Technology

How Big is Your Hard Disk?

September 11th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips It seems the last time the title question was asked was when two dinosaurs were chatting while sinking into a tar pit. I didn’t know the answer to the title question for any of the computers that I use everyday. At one time, not too long ago, that was the preeminent question […]

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Tags: Change · Technology

The Limits of My Authority

September 8th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I have unlimited authority over very few matters. Recognizing all those items for which my authority is quite limited makes my life easier. A few years ago in a prior universe, I had some authority over matters at work. I played a role in some relatively important decisions. I soon recognized that […]

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Tags: Writing

Remote Sensing is Difficult

September 4th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips It is difficult to measure things from a distance. That distance can by in space and it can be in time. We often attempt to measure things from a distance. We take photos of the ground from 10,000 feet up in the air. We then run through geometric calculations to determine the […]

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Tags: Estimation · General Systems Thinking · Observation · Technology

The Washington D.C. NFL Team

September 1st, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The locals are resisting the cries for a nickname change. Is anyone surprised with the resistance? Consider the situation: You are born in a place. You grow up there. You cheer for the home team. Nothing surprising in how the first two items lead to the third. One day, some outsiders shout: […]

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Tags: Adapting · Change · Communication