Engineers explained
by Volker Weber
Received this via mail from Mitch today. It's a fun read, but has a lot of truth in it.
The fastest way to get an engineer to solve a problem is to declare that the problem is unsolvable. No engineer can walk away from an unsolvable problem until it's solved. No illness or distraction is sufficient to get the engineer off the case. These types of challenges quickly become personal -- a battle between the engineer and the laws of nature.
Nothing is more threatening to the engineer than the suggestion that somebody has more technical skill. Normal people sometimes use that knowledge as a lever to extract more work from the engineer. When an engineer says that something can't be done (a code phrase that means it's not fun to do), some clever normal people have learned to glance at the engineer with a look of compassion and pity and say something along these lines: "I'll ask Bob to figure it out. He knows how to solve difficult technical problems."
At that point it is a good idea for the normal person to not stand between the engineer and the problem. The engineer will set upon the problem like a starved Chihuahua on a pork chop.
Comments
... unless you have an engineer from a non-western culture. Then it is: [[whatever-you-belive-in]] is great and great mysteries remain.
:-) stw
An engineer, a physicist, and a mathematician were staying at a hotel one night. The engineer wakes up and smells smoke. He goes out into the hall and sees a small fire. He goes back into his room, fills the ice bucket up to the top with water, goes back into the hall and throws the water on the fire. The fire goes out, so he goes back to bed.
An hour later, the physicist wakes up and smells smoke. He goes out into the hall and sees a small fire. He observes the fire carefully, and using a thermometer that he just happens to have in his pocket he makes some measurements. He calculates the heat output, the rate of oxidation and the exact amount of water required to put out the fire. He returns to his room, and partially fills the ice bucket using a 4 oz drinking cup to measure the precise amount of water, then goes back into the hall and pours the water carefully on the fire making certain to distribute the water evenly. The fire goes out, so he goes back to bed.
An hour later, the mathematician wakes up and smells smoke. He goes out into the hall and sees a small fire. He observes the fire. He observes it some more. He observes it some more. He takes a pen out of his pocket and writes a few equations on the wall. Then he says "I have proven that a solution exists!" and he goes back to bed.
;-)
-rich
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