Rune Allnor wrote: Hello, Dr. Rune! Where have you been all that time? I missed your spiteful comments a lot.> People looking for canned answers for homework is one symptome, > insane go-nowhere projects another.Send all of them to *.alt.idiot.stupid.> Academics who don't know squat > about what goes on in the hands-on engineering world don't help... > says I who sit half-way between the academic and engineering chairs.Sensible people are equally rare in academia and in the industry, as well as everywhere else.> What about not-very-old (<40) but ridiculously cranky?Wow, we are in the same league then. Vladimir Vassilevsky DSP and Mixed Signal Design Consultant http://www.abvolt.com
comp.dsp audio podcast of select threads
Started by ●February 9, 2007
Reply by ●February 14, 20072007-02-14
Reply by ●February 14, 20072007-02-14
On 14 Feb, 22:40, Vladimir Vassilevsky <antispam_bo...@hotmail.com> wrote:> Rune Allnor wrote: > > Hello, Dr. Rune!Hi Vladimir. Just as a favour, could you please not "Dr" me? True, I did get the degree, but it was *not* by my own choise. The scholarship was the only paid work I could get at the time; I would have left immediately if there had been somewhere to go...> Where have you been all that time?Written possibly the most influential papers I will ever write. During my last trip to sea we took the vessel time to check survey gear. During that test we were able to identify a number of rough spots in the gear, and also -- far more imortantly -- sort them out. My job was partially to oversee the proceedings, partially to write a couple of memos on what we found. The audience of the memo was a mixed lot: Sailors, ROV mechanics and operators of just about any background *but* academic, let alone DSP or acoustics. (Sorry, I fell for the temptaton to exaggergate a bit. There were a couple of MScs there, but no DSP'ers or acusticians.) It was a very interesting exercise to write technical stuff on setting up and handling sonars in a form and format that pople with such diverse background first of all will read voluntarely (without scaring them off by technical language or excessive level of detail) and also have a chance to understand, without sacrificing the factual accuracy the material -- the level of detail was, of course, very coarse. All in four A4 pages + a handful of photos. I think it worked, though; what we came up with seems to have become a candidate standard operating procedure for these $100,000 per day survey operations. Far more fun to see results in a matter of hours, drafting a plain vanilla 4-page memo that catches everybody's interest and is acted upon, than toiling away for years only to produce a 150-page pile of paper that will sit on a shelf and collect dust for a couple of decades. So please, don't "Dr" me. These things are as far from academia one can possibly get. The underwater acoustic academics I know wouldn't be able to understand what we did. With the possible exception of Fred Marshall, depending on whether he considers himself an academic or not. I have no doubts whatsoever he would have understood what we did and why.> I missed your spiteful comments a lot.Likewise. Rune
Reply by ●February 15, 20072007-02-15
On 14 Feb 2007 14:40:45 -0800, "Rune Allnor" <allnor@tele.ntnu.no> wrote:>Far more fun to see results in a matter of hours, drafting a plain >vanilla >4-page memo that catches everybody's interest and is acted upon, >than toiling away for years only to produce a 150-page pile of paper >that >will sit on a shelf and collect dust for a couple of decades.I agree with that sentiment. I far more enjoy doing real work than "busy research".>> I missed your spiteful comments a lot. > >Likewise.You guys crack me up. Eric Jacobsen Minister of Algorithms Abineau Communications http://www.ericjacobsen.org
Reply by ●February 19, 20072007-02-19
Jerry Avins wrote:> Randy Yates wrote: >> Jerry Avins <jya@ieee.org> writes: >> >>> I'm not sure I like the implication of that if it's the case. >> >> Which would be? > > That the SNR is deteriorating despite the higher concentration of [ahem] > serious practitioners. > >>> Could it be that the old timers have been around the course too >>> often? When I first chimed in here, everything was new. I came to >>> learn, but found that I was able to help with basic EE questions and >>> a few general insights not strictly digital. We get the same basic >>> DSP questions over and over because new people keep arriving with >>> them. >> >> If they're repeated often, they should be in the FAQ. Are they? >> >>> I find the lack of basic engineering background among the newer >>> questioners distressing. "Where can I get code to ..." instead of >>> "How can I ..." makes me worry that most of the future practitioners >>> will be pill dispensers like modern pharmacists. >> >> Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. >> >>> Can one even find a compounding pharmacy nowadays? >> >> I don't remember ever hearing the term "compounding pharmacy." >> I presume it's a pharmacy that can synthesize its own drugs? > > Not the ingredients, just the nostrum. "One ounce of zinc oxide in half > an ounce of petrolatum USP, scented with two minims of oil of > wintergreen." Nowadays, if zinc ointment doesn't come in a one-pound > jar, it's not available.Most of us can't get it in one pound jars. We have to go for the half-kilo ones. :-)>>> If to doesn't come in a bottle, it isn't to be had. The equivalent >>> in our field is that if there isn't a chip or packaged code for it, >>> it can't be done. >> >> "I want it all and I want it now." > > "And I don't want to be bothered with why it works."There's nothing inherently wrong with that attitude. Most things today are complex enough that we can't be an expert in all the topics needs. "Just give me a bunch of working bits, and let me concentrate on the one or two bits where I can best apply my expertise" isn't so bad. The problem is when you apply the "give me a bunch of working bits" universally, and offer no area of expertise. Then you aren't an engineer, you are an entrepreneur. :-) Steve
Reply by ●February 19, 20072007-02-19
Steve Underwood wrote:> Jerry Avins wrote: >> Randy Yates wrote:...>>> "I want it all and I want it now." >> >> "And I don't want to be bothered with why it works." > > There's nothing inherently wrong with that attitude. Most things today > are complex enough that we can't be an expert in all the topics needs. > "Just give me a bunch of working bits, and let me concentrate on the one > or two bits where I can best apply my expertise" isn't so bad. The > problem is when you apply the "give me a bunch of working bits" > universally, and offer no area of expertise. Then you aren't an > engineer, you are an entrepreneur. :-)Sometimes, that black box which seems to work so nicely has a can of worms inside. It it's part of a product, /somebody/ had better know it's there. Jerry -- Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Reply by ●February 21, 20072007-02-21
