Walker Engineering

Engineering, Management, Technology Consulting

  • This just crossed my desk tonight, while Walker Engineering doesn’t work directly with power projects we have a passing interest in what goes on in Oregon in emerging technology.  The idea of harvesting power from wave action has got to be, on the surface (pun intended), one of the most interesting developments recently.

    Read the complete story on KATU.com.

     

    The size of a PowerBuoy, seen here sitting on a dock in Scotland, is evident by comparing the size of the employee, right, to the buoy. The company says Oregon’s will look exactly the same. (Photo courtesy: Ocean Power Technologies Inc. Used with permission)

  • Theodore Roosevelt speaking at the Sorbonne in 1910

    It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.

    Marc Cenedella, CEO of upladder.com

    Those critics, those naysayers, the nags and the negative people in our lives who want to tell us: "No. It can’t be done. Don’t try. Give up. Why do you have to stand out? Why won’t you just be sensible and give in to the inevitable?"

    They don’t count. And you mustn’t mistake their words for truth.

    Don’t buy into their message of settle-settle, underachievement, and muddle-along-now.

    Because you’ve been blessed with talent, because you’ve had the fortunate happenstance to be born in this great country (or emigrate, or visit!), because you’re one of the leading professionals in this land, you have a higher calling.

    Use the great gifts you have been given, find the forum where your talents will shine, discover that place where your spirit soars and the work smells like… victory in the morning.

    It is something we think about here at Walker Engineering

  • Burgerville QuizI was in a Burgerville yesterday, getting my Walla Walla Sweet Onion Cheeseburger, when I spotted this.

    If you are using Chrome as a browser, then QR Reader Beta is a great extension and the one we use at Walker Engineering for reading QR codes from images on the Internet.

    Or pop up your cell phone.

    The answer to the quiz?  Click the image if you don’t have a Smartphone, Chrome, or any other tool.

  • From a recent article in Time entitled We Should Follow Those Who Finish Second, Not First comes an interesting reminder about all of the fad following that organizations from Education to NGOs, Government to Business, continually attempt.

    The success story is a staple of business books and magazines: the faces of top investors and executives smile at us from the covers, and inside their words invite us to emulate their actions. But research suggests we should be cautious in modeling ourselves after extraordinary performers or adopting their much-praised methods; these paragons may offer less wisdom than they promise. Greater value can be found, studies show, in less sexy but more substantial theories, and in the practices of those who are second best in the field.

  • I thought I would never get in to the Manhattan Project B Reactor Tour; however, new dates in July, August, and September have been added.  I took a senior seminar course in History at the U of W back in my day and I recall the look the prof gave me when he couldn’t identify the classification next to my name.  He said an Engineer had never taken a History Seminar in his experience, which appeared to begin with the Project itself.  I worked extremely hard and never really felt comfortable although I did pass with slightly better than a courtesy pass.  I learned a tremendous amount and became fascinated with how different all the Colleges in the University were.

    I still have my books on the Manhattan Project, as an Engineering project, it is one of the wonders of the world.  I am looking forward to seeing some of the artifacts and wish I could take the tour with my old Professor and be in over my head all over again.  I wonder if he realized that beyond the history and the environment surrounding the project, there was engineering involved, and that is why I took the course.  Social responsibility courses in Engineering were non-existent at the time and I thought it might be useful to see what made so many people love and hate this technology and its use.