TheBoohers.org
-
Autonomy
I lead autonomy at Boeing. What exactly do I do? We engineers have kidnapped a word that doesn’t belong to us. Autonomy is not a tech word, it’s the ability to act independently. It’s freedom that we design in and give to machines. It’s also a bit more. Autonomy is the ability to make decisions…
-
Conviction and Leadership in Aerospace
Article views are my own and not coordinated with my employer, Boeing, the National Academies, DARPA or the US Air Force. Aerospace and Defense work is super technical, rewarding and meaningful. But it’s more than that. Everyone in this industry deeply cares about protecting the people who fly and fight in these planes. You feel…
-
Laser Alignment
I’m going dive into the theory of laser alignment, show the math and the jigs I built to put that math into practice. This post is for someone who wants the “why” behind a lot of the online material on laser cutters. If you just want some practical tips on how to better align your…
-
“Room Temperature” Superconductor?
Note: these results are still new and will need to be replicated and further studied by the scientific community. This whole thing may be nonsense, but I did some thinking on the impact if it’s true. Researchers from Korea University have synthesized a superconductor that works at ambient pressure and mild oven-like temperatures (like 260…
-
All those wireless Mice! (from Taiwan)
If you are like us, you get too many mice and keyboards lying around. With 5 or six devices, and an equal number of receivers you can just plug stuff in to find what matches. That assumes the peripherals are working and haven’t been lost. Can we interrogate the usb receivers and discover their associated…
-
Quick(ish) Price Check on a Car
So, is it a good price? With my oldest daughter heading off to college soon, we’ve realized that our family car doesn’t need to be as large as it used to be. We’ve had a great relationship with our local CarMax over the years, and we appreciate their no-haggle pricing model. My wife had her…
-
The (necessary) Luxury of Honesty and Vulnerability
Professionally, my goal was “work hard until something good happens” for many years. I had the luxury of the world’s best string of bosses. I had no idea how lucky I was to be learning from giants who poured wisdom into me, protected me and told me hard truths that shaped my character. At DARPA…
-
The Problem with Integrity
I think about Winston Churchill a lot. A successful writer, correspondent, painter, politician and businessman, he is known for his bold principled stand against Hitler. However, zoom in and a more complex narrative emerges. After Neville Chamberlain negotiated the Munich Agreement in 1938, which sought to appease Nazi Germany by allowing them to take control…
-
Pairing Philosophers in 2023
Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche are valued teachers and they generated many of the ideas bumping into each other in the culture today. Søren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher, theologian, and social critic who is known for his contributions to the field of existentialism. He believed that the individual’s relationship to God was the most…
-
Review: From Strength to Strength
Devote the back half of your life to serving others with your wisdom. Get old sharing the things you believe are most important. Excellence is always its own reward, and this is how you can be most excellent as you age. Arthur C. Brooks How do you ensure you don’t get the most out of…
Got any book recommendations?