The Green Way and the Gray Way
I love trade journals. I subscribe to about a dozen devoted to water and wastewater. I firmly believe that one can become an expert in the world of water just by spending an hour every day reading them. The most…
Why It took four weeks to write two paragraphs
I'm really under the gun. I am writing a book on how water quality instrumentation works and it is months overdue. I have a mandate from my editor that I must have a first draft complete by August. Or else....…
What I Learned from Apple – The Good, the Bad and the Wild Horse
I've been a Mac user since 1986. I plunked down about five grand for a Mac II with a 13" monitor that awed everyone who looked at the floating balls in living color on the monitor's start-up screen. Steve Jobs…
What I Learned from Apple – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
I've been a Mac user since 1986. I plunked down about five grand for a Mac II with a 13" monitor that awed everyone who looked at the floating balls in living color on the monitor's start-up screen. Steve Jobs…
Today’s Batteries — They’re (Much) Older than You Think
Last year I visited the Thomas Edison National Historical Park in New Jersey with my college roommate friend and my two teenage boys. In it are Edison’s home, laboratories and factory where the Genius of Menlo Park changed technology and…
The Difference between pH and ORP – Take Two
The writing of my book How Instrumentation Works has been the driving force behind most of the blog entries. I have been pleasantly surprised that a fair number of people have actually read the entries. After all, I have yet…
Why innovation is not always easy
Just about everyone I know has either read the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson or has seen the movie. And it seems that just about every company that makes something wants to be like Apple and introduce the next…
The Most Amazing Example of “Rugged and Reliable” You Will Ever Find
I purchased Aquametrix over 3 years ago because of the reputation of the company for making probes that, as we like to say, are "rugged and reliable." That claim is still central to our marketing message. I believe it to…
The Best Way to Really Learn Something….
... is to write a book. No doubt you already know that, if you want to insure that you understand technical material, then there is no better way to do so than to teach it to someone else. But writing…
My Great American Novel
I always wanted to walk into a cocktail party and nonchalantly toss off the phrase "I have a book deal" or "Excuse me. I have to take this call. It's my editor." I drive a Volkswagen so status symbols normally…