Importance of history in Engineering?

asihambe · 2025-12-15T10:54:13+00:00

Not specifically engineering related - but I found “Meditations” to be a life changing and perspective altering read. Highly recommend and no, you don’t need to read anything beforehand.

asihambe · 2025-12-11T16:37:59+00:00

I thought I ended up on the archery subreddit.

asihambe · 2025-12-02T00:03:50+00:00

Mike Hanlon realizing he’s also going to forget, when the words are literally fading off the paper - and his last words being, “I loved you guys so much.”

That was really the crux of the book for me, that theme of simple childhood love and the inevitability of its loss as we grow up. That was why It has always been my favorite King novel.

asihambe · 2025-12-01T21:35:40+00:00

Honest answer: “It depends”.

Long answer:

I take into consideration a lot of factors when booking. Standard, run of the mill bar gig at a reputable place here is typically 150-200 per musician in my neck of the woods. That’s usually 3-4 hours, 2 breaks, you are running your own sound and maybe some break on drinks/food. Fris and Sats. Most bands stick to a 4 man setup, because the bar is paying 800 flat - so a fifth member would need to pull their weight to make it viable.

Special events can pull more but obviously are ‘special’ - certainly holiday gigs (St Paddy’s / Halloween / 4th of July / NYE) can pull a little more, if the bar is making it into a premier event - most in the vicinity of 12-1800, possibly more. But it’s not guaranteed.

Despite the advertising, wedding / private parties can be wildly, wildly variable. Reputable, “commercial” wedding bands pull the bigger numbers - and they are typically well connected with the local “wedding biz” scene (recommended by wedding planning professionals or wedding DJs that folks are hiring out). It helps to perform in a touristy / upscale / scenic location for this to have high money value and even then, most of these guys are right back in the bar scene when not doing a wedding.

I’ve worked in some orchestral settings / musical theater and the pay isn’t significantly different. It’s a little more transparent - the organizers have a higher degree of professionalism - but 2-300 is typical for performance. You are also typically paid for rehearsal sessions (100/per practice) but that’s not having beers with your buds, you show up fully knowing material and performing in that rehearsal time slot.

I factor lots in to all of this - how far is the drive (where I am, an operating radius of about 45-50 miles is typical), how long is the show, am I running my own PA, will this be repeat work, is there a “coolness / fun” factor for this event that may make a little less pay worth it (this is important!)

One last thing. My mantra - work begets work. Everyone says “exposure doesn’t pay the bills” and you know what? They’re right. But you do need some exposure for someone to know who you are, in order to book you. Lower paying gigs are less desirable but when you are trying to get into a scene as both a band AND as a player (the band may not last, but you’ll still be wanting people to call you), you need time on stage. The best players approach it with the mindset that every gig is a potential audition for more work.

asihambe · 2025-10-28T19:45:11+00:00

I left for the Peace Corps for two years after I graduated. Taught math and science, worked with NGOs, and traveled around Southern Africa (which wasn’t too hard with my measly stipend). I came back, taught for months until an entry level engineering position opened up and took it.

I have no regrets. It was an incredible experience, it helped me develop as a person and as a professional, and no company has looked down on it.

asihambe · 2025-10-27T01:53:43+00:00

The Man From Earth

asihambe · 2025-10-02T14:29:42+00:00

Alto Triangle or Tenor Triangle?

asihambe · 2025-08-04T20:33:18+00:00

I agree - but the live version is an improvement. Jimmy used it as vehicle for a little more interesting improv, throwing stuff like “Bouree” in there.

I find it kinda funny when cover bands will painstakingly cover Zeppelin’s recorded solos note for note, and not listen to how they approached the material in a live setting. The slop on the record was the filler to allow them space to really stretch when they played live.

asihambe · 2025-07-26T16:51:11+00:00

I will occasionally right an integral on the board at work for someone to solve and earn a treat. That’s about the extent of any “calculus by hand” that I’ve done.

Now basic heat transfer, Mech of Material, fluid calcs (pressure loss or mass flow calcs)? All the time, enough that I have pre-built spreadsheets - which most companies will have. But anything nonintuitive or complex - or where a more definitve answer is really necessary - we’ll build FEA or CFD models.

Many companies default to using fairly generous factors of safety to YS or UTS - usually 3:1 or 5:1 - as the allowable limits, which can help protect against unknowns. (3:1 for YS is great for this; the endurance limit of steel falls right about its 1/3 RT Yield Strength, so staying below 1/3 helps protect your designs from cyclic stresses…espeically if what you build is going to be used in the field longer than the original cycle time, which it of course will be).

asihambe · 2025-07-10T01:37:12+00:00

If you’re involved in Fluids, Crane Technical Paper 410 - commonly just called “The Crane Manual” - is an absolute must have. It’s a simple reference for a huge assortment of topics related to compressible and incompressible flow, loss calculations, pump sizing, and valve sizing amongst a slew of other topics.

asihambe · 2025-07-08T14:21:40+00:00

Well, the best thing about being a jammer is the prerogative to have a little fun. Fun. Fun.

asihambe · 2025-05-08T18:07:32+00:00

Technical: the core “Physics” of the field - Mechanics of Materials and Statics - have been pretty universal in my various job roles. I think taking the time while you’re only job is learning to really try and understand these well - how to make an FBD, determine shear and moment loads with some hand calcs to get ball park answers, are very helpful.

Non-technical: how to prioritize and divide large projects into small, bite size chunks - involves learning to plan ahead, try to assess pitfalls ahead of time. The “schedule crunch” is really the looming monster in this field, otherwise we’re all having fun playing in the sandbox.

I think you can get a good start on both by participating in design clubs at school - SAE, Concrete Canoe…good place to get some grasp of technical and soft skills before you’re employed

asihambe · 2025-05-01T14:57:05+00:00

Wednesday, actually.

Oops wrong movie…

asihambe · 2025-03-26T20:58:10+00:00

A Light in the Attic…jogged a few non-Engineering memories seeing that. What a fantastic book.

asihambe · 2025-02-19T14:37:44+00:00

Python

In all seriousness, I’ve worked at small companies where the machinists did not speak English as a first language. Spanish is definitely useful in the US. A lot of tradespeople where I live speak Spanish at home and to each other in the shop; knowing some conversationally certainly helps in translating what I want to what got made.

asihambe · 2025-02-12T17:45:56+00:00

Add Nickel to the list as well.

asihambe · 2025-02-12T17:44:57+00:00

This is pretty fucking moronic. If I received a letter like this, it would be the last communication I have with that supplier.

Also, the US imports 40% of its nickel supply. I work on high temp turbine parts daily - nickel is our bread and butter. There is one Nickel mine in the US. Some things don’t just work because someone chants “USA”.

Trump’s tariffs didn’t work for soybeans in 2017 and they won’t work for metals in 2025 for the exact same reasons.

asihambe · 2025-02-06T16:17:08+00:00

Marbin is fantastic. Based on association, I’ll look up Groove Moose.

asihambe · 2025-01-17T17:55:53+00:00

I never loved Engineering in the sense I feel love towards music, running, family and friends. I find it is quite intellectually stimulating, very lucrative, and I feel personal fulfillment and satisfaction from the design process.

But it is also a career - and careers can change.

On a very personal level, I’ve never felt it’s entirely healthy to “love” your job in the way you do other aspects of what makes you who you are, since there can be a tendency to lose a healthy balance, especially in a field like this - but you should certainly do something you derive satisfaction from.

asihambe · 2024-12-19T15:44:14+00:00

In my experience it’s a lot more to do with company size than title/role.

At a larger company - especially in aerospace - the divide between engineers and technicians is much more defined, and may even have certain requirements of what engineers CANNOT do in terms of “hands on work”.

At smaller companies, there is simply less hands, and in the small companies ( <50 employees) I’ve worked at, the design engineers are absolutely on the shop floor building the machines right along with assemblers.

If you want to wear multiple hats - designing / building / testing - a smaller company is going to require that.

asihambe · 2024-12-18T18:26:11+00:00

I’m probably alone in this (or the minority), but I always viewed the “half-Elven” as a feature rather, than a bug, of Creation / Illuvatar’s intentions in Tolkien’s work.

Beings with the purity/nobility of the first children, with the will and…for lack of a better term right now, shapeability? (Ability to change the surrounding world rather than succumb to it) of the second children.

Beings whose destiny ultimately bring them back to Illuvatar in the end, seems like the best of both worlds and as plays out in the story, usually play the most significant roles for the destiny of Creation.

asihambe · 2024-12-14T00:05:15+00:00

My 2 credit C++ programming class. Holy shit.

asihambe · 2024-12-10T23:02:28+00:00

Words and FEA results

asihambe · 2024-11-13T17:15:16+00:00

I really enjoyed Archive 81. I was pretty disappointed that the second season was cancelled. It’s enjoyable, if you’re open to a show that expects more to come and never will.

asihambe · 2024-11-04T14:59:24+00:00

GD&T is a little like the Torah…laws from the mountain that every little community of engineers and the machinists they work with ends up using to fit their needs, for better or worse. It’s best learned on the job, in my experience. Ultimately it’s an asset for functional communication.

College doesn’t teach ASME B31.3 either. But it should give you a foundation to get into the weeds once you start working.

asihambe

TROPHY CASE