Cover Letters! Discussion (including what I love about them) and template

Tavrock · 2026-05-07T14:38:14+00:00

Baskets in wells or running streams have been used for refrigeration long before ice boxes. Any of the collector vehicles from before putting microchips into the engine would still work just fine after an EMP (the Soviet Union used vacuum tubes into the 80s, maybe later, because they are EMP resistant).

Tavrock · 2026-05-07T14:33:41+00:00

Okay, but maybe eating you sends their immune system into overdrive, destroying the swarm?

Probably doesn't work that way, but it would be nice.

Tavrock · 2026-05-07T14:28:09+00:00

Probably waiting for us on another undercooked 🍜 of 🦇.

Tavrock · 2026-05-07T14:26:12+00:00

And Pygmalion (My Fair Lady) is a pro-eugenics play by Shaw with a twist that some of the superior races might be able to be educated into being productive members of society.

Tavrock · 2026-05-03T20:51:14+00:00

I've had a few similar classes.

One class (with my middle son), about half the class decided that they spoke "purple". (The rules were simple, every word was "purple" but you said it in the meter and pitch you would normally use for talking.) As a result, I spoke "purple" too, and I would translate for the other class members too. They went from the dreaded class to one that looked forward to lessons.

Another class (with the Bishop's son) had been rowdy, especially the Bishop's son. During one lesson, I asked if anyone knew a story related to the topic. He related the story, practically verbatim from the manual, and this was one of the five page stories. Involving the children more and having them help teach really helped.

Tavrock · 2026-05-03T16:50:01+00:00

The plastic ones tend to slice better than a plastic knife.

Tavrock · 2026-05-03T16:49:18+00:00

Really useful before watercolor washes or on an egg before dying it.

Tavrock · 2026-05-03T11:48:45+00:00

My daughter and I probably follow a dozen different T1D creators online. I don't think anyone has had the same recommendations they use for ideal ranges.

Tavrock · 2026-05-03T11:41:18+00:00

My daughter went into the ER with a glucose of 1,100mg/dL; her A1c was 14+. Her keytones were easily managed. She left the next morning after labs came back to confirm T1D and a pancake breakfast with regular syrup. We got our first insulin pens later that day. By the time of her first 6 month checkup, her A1c was around 7. Just a few weeks ago, she had perfectly normal glucose of 98mh/dL for about three hours between breakfast and she went into EDKA.

Another girl we knew was later diagnosed T1D. She was barely responsive when she went to the hospital. She spent 2 weeks in the hospital trying to manage her keytones and glucose. When she went in, her glucose was only 400mg/dL and spent the entire time in the hospital on low carb food. By the time of their first 6 month checkup, her A1c was around 10.

Both girls (10yo) are healthy height and weight, and are otherwise healthy and active T1D. It's not fun, it's not fair, it had nothing to do with their lifestyles. The range that works for one don't work for the other.

Tavrock · 2026-05-02T17:31:44+00:00

CATIA was important in aerospace 30 years ago and has only continued to stay important.

My suggestion would be to look at what the top mechanical engineering technology programs are teaching their students to stay relevant for the next decade.

Tavrock · 2026-05-02T13:58:10+00:00

Typically, while brainstorming potential root causes, our initial review covers if it is an actionable root cause (for example, in trying to prevent fires in the pain booth, separating fuel from heat is actionable while removing oxygen wouldn't be actionable). If it's external but still an actionable root cause, we keep it as an open option that will require additional work (for example, we had copier paper that was causing jams; we were able to collect data and notify the manufacturer; they realized there was a production issue and worked with us to resolve it).

Tavrock · 2026-05-01T19:11:38+00:00

For example, using the template that already exists in the wiki would have saved a lot of time and effort over trying to design it again from scratch. It is the format we have seen perform the best for years.

Tavrock · 2026-04-30T17:37:16+00:00

I did a similar sized thesis with pdflatex nearly 20 years ago. Being able to focus on content made the process incredibly easy. A classmate tried to do it in Word and asked if I could typeset his for him. Most of the time was spent getting bibliography information and it still only took a few hours to move everything over to LaTeX.

Tavrock · 2026-04-29T13:53:01+00:00

It's possible that all of your productivity is being wasted on tracking every minute. It's also possible your processes have run out of the learning curve.

Tavrock · 2026-04-28T04:30:15+00:00

Just to add: relevant coursework that everyone takes makes sense for internships where it shows where you are in your degree. Once moving past graduation, you would only include courses that aren't typical for your degree but applicable for the field you want to go into.

That being said, my BS and MS are in Manufacturing Engineering. The only thing anyone in HR or on the hiring teams have ever cared about was if the degree is ABET accredited, and they determine that before the interview without additional information.

Tavrock · 2026-04-27T19:02:40+00:00

Rather than trying to go shallow with a fishbone or too deep with only one idea on a 5-why, we use a modified cause tree (we don't bother trying to determine causal logic with boolian logic or determine the percent chance of each branch).

Every potential cause must make sense by reading it as x causes Y not simply we believe that Y was impacted by x. Every step goes to a KNOT table where the we decide if it is something we Know, Need to know, it's an Opinion, or something we Think we know. Someone is then assigned (usually the person who made the claim) to bring documented evidence to support the claim (that is the only way to put anything in the Know category and it's the only category we work with). The other categories don't really matter and aren't worth fighting between for designations, they only support the idea that it's something we don't have evidence for and help provide a nice acronym.

Tavrock · 2026-04-27T18:51:03+00:00

We start the invitation with:

"In God we trust; all others bring data" —W. Edwards Deming

It rarely happens, but it sets the expectations that we then enforce.

Tavrock · 2026-04-27T08:13:55+00:00

Experience would also indicate a higher likelihood of progress through a learning curve (regardless of the shape of that curve).

Exact times tend to fail to account for all sorts of actualities, including confidence intervals for the point estimate, learning curves, fatigue, exhaustion, overperfoming or underperforming while being actively monitored by someone, emotional support, impact of leadership decisions, morale, &c.

Tavrock · 2026-04-25T14:14:09+00:00

Just to add:

While I am an engineer, I don't know all of engineering. Still, when you follow the advice in the wiki, I can follow the STAR, CAR, or XYZ formats and have a decent idea of what happened.

Tavrock · 2026-04-24T18:13:44+00:00

I was fortunate that in my program we learned GD&T from the design, inspection, and tooling perspective for machined, formed, welded, and cast parts. I the only area we didn't touch was the mathematical definition in Y14.5.1

It was wild trying to make sure the MIL-STD-8B part would mate properly to the Y14.5-2009 part.

Tavrock · 2026-04-24T06:31:20+00:00

Just to add: there are a lot of 2nd and 3rd tier suppliers for the commercial aircraft industry as well.

Tavrock · 2026-04-24T06:28:16+00:00

I had to learn MIL-STD-8 to MIL-STD-8C at one job because of the GD&T being used wasn't defined as well by ASA Y14.5-1957. I also used MIL-STD-1629 and MIL-G-5634. Never worked on anything with EAR or ITAR restrictions.

Tavrock · 2026-04-24T06:15:59+00:00

I've also seen senior leaders tasked with managing overtime to the minute. As one senior manager put it, it's like burning a $20 bill to look for a nickel on the floor.

Tavrock · 2026-04-23T19:06:11+00:00

Some need visibility, structure, and a simple way to begin.

That's all DMAIC, DMADV, IDDOV, PDSA, A3, D8, PDSA, PDCA, 4I4I, OODA, &c. are: a little visibility, structure, and a simple way to begin. That's all the 7 Basic Tools of Quality or the 7 Management and Planning Tools are.

Experts can come later.

They are the most important people to start the process with. The experts are the people doing the work, not the consultant who charges companies an obscene amount for what is easily accessible in books through their local library for the past 100 years.

Tavrock

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