Nov 1, 2015

My Plan...



We need to get our politicians talking about the stuff that really matters - like this!  It reminds me of the speech Pedro Sanchez gave when he was running for class president in the movie Napoleon Dynamite:  "If you vote for me, all of your wildest dreams will come true. Thank you."

Seriously, I'm grateful to those brave souls who are willing to run for public office.  Let's just hope those who get elected remember that they're public servants, not the people's master.

Oct 9, 2015

CYA PPE


CYA (cover your a_ _ or as I say it, cover your "anatomy") is like the ridiculous warning label on a microwave oven that says, "NOT TO BE USED FOR DRYING PETS".  The reason for this CYA PPE is usually blamed on our "litigious society", though statistics seem to indicate that we may not be as litigious as we think.  Either way - reality or perception - the fear of litigation can lead to excessive caution, absurd warning labels, and a lot of CYA.   And when people act defensively for the sole reason of avoiding liability, it costs everyone time and money.

Sep 18, 2015

SUPER-intendent


This guy's obviously enthusiastic about his job title - and proud of it.  I say good for him!  If being super-enthusiastic and unashamed to show it makes you a nerd, then so be it.  As John Green observed, "When people call people nerds, mostly what they're saying is 'You like stuff', which is not an insult at all".  It's people who are super excited about things that make the world an interesting place.

Neil Armstrong was commander of Apollo 11 and the first man to set foot on the moon, yet he was a self-professed nerd who was in love with math and science and engineering. "I am," he said, "and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket protector, nerdy engineer. Born under the Second Law of Thermodynamics, ...in love with free body diagrams, transformed by Laplace and propelled by compressible flow... Science is about what is. Engineering is about what can be." (See a terrific short video with his complete quote here)

You go! Mr. SUPERintendent... We nerds need to stick together.

Jul 20, 2015

Conflict of Interest



I see no problem here...  This fox looks like he's a vegetarian.

May 1, 2015

Saw it on YouTube



How'd anyone ever make it before YouTube?  This guy's got the idea - why waste your time on a degree and on-the-job training when you can bypass all that stuff and just watch how to do it on YouTube!  If someone ever posts some YouTube videos on how to engineer a building, I might be out of a job. 

Apr 1, 2015

Thought He'd Save Money

The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.

This poor guy learned the hard way that saving pennies by hiring the lowest priced designer could greatly increase bottom-line costs.  Quality design requires adequate time and the right people to do it.  Cut-rate design may still "work", but often the final cost of the project is many times greater than the small difference in fee between the best designer and the cheap guy.

For a bunch of similar cartoons poking fun at the notion that cheap is really cheaper, click on the "Cheap" category link on the right sidebar.

"There is nothing more expensive than hiring cheap engineers."
                               - Bob Sheeran, Xavier University

Mar 12, 2015

Volume's waaaay up!

It feels like we have to compete with this guy a lot more than we should.  He's like the farmer who grew watermelons for $2.00 each, sold them for $1.75, and decided the way he could make more money was to get a bigger truck!

Jan 1, 2015

Will Knotchange


I'm a believer that to be the best we must continually strive for improvement and that we can't become what we want by remaining what we are.  And it's impossible to improve if we're not open to change.  We all know people who are so blindly confident or set in their ways that they refuse to consider that there may be a better way.  It's even worse if that person pretends to be open to change, but they have no intention of actually following through.  Those people drive me crazy.  This one's for them.

For cartoons of more people like this guy, click here and here.