Osterkorn Engineering Quotes

Hey, if I had my choice for social engineering, I'd declare an automatic R-rating for any movie that depicts television commercials. There's a truly dangerous influence on our children. ~ Marshall Herskovitz

The very notion that millions of workers displaced by the re-engineering and automation of the agricultural, manufacturing, and service sectors can be retrained to be scientists, engineers, technicians, executives, consultants, teachers, lawyers and the like, and then somehow find the appropriate number of job openings in the very narrow high-tech sector, seems at best a pipe dream, and at worst a delusion. ~ Jeremy Rifkin

This one went unusually smoothly. When I finished it, I remarked to a friend that I felt like an engineer who had designed a machine and then sat back and realized it did everything I'd set out to do.

Which made him say, quite emphatically, "No engineer has ever felt this. ~ Robert J. Bennett

Programmers are not mathematicians, no matter how much we wish and wish for it. ~ Richard P. Gabriel

John West is very good at reaching the heart of an issue using simple analogies. In summarizing the evidence of precision at Giza, he said, 'It's like finding a Porsche where only a wheelbarrow should be. ~ Christopher Dunn

Put glibly:
In science if you know what you are doing you should not be doing it.
In engineering if you do not know what you are doing you should not be doing it.
Of course, you seldom, if ever, see either pure state. ~ Richard Hamming

So far we have done too much of 'spatial engineering'. The real thing is 'non-spatial engineering'. ~ Kedar Joshi

Genetic engineering is not really something new. Human beings have been fiddling with genes for as long as ten thousand years. That's how long they have been growing plants and herding animals. ~ Isaac Asimov

In my fool hardy youth, when my friends were dreaming of heroic deeds in the realms of engineering and law, finance and national politics, I dreamt of becoming a librarian. ~ Alberto Manguel

Civil Engineering is the art of directing the great sources of Power in Nature for the use and convenience of man; being that practical application of the most important principles of natural Philosophy which has in a considerable degree realized the anticipations of Bacon, and changed the aspect and state of affairs in the whole world. The most important object of Civil Engineering is to improve the means of production and of traffic in states, both for external and internal Trade. ~ Thomas Tredgold

The intellectual ethic of a technology is rarely recognized by its inventors. They are usually so intent on solving a particular problem or untangling some thorny scientific or engineering dilemma that they don't see the broader implications of their work. The users of the technology are also usually oblivious to its ethic. They, too, are concerned with the practical benefits they gain from employing the tool. Our ancestors didn't develop or use maps in order to enhance their capacity for conceptual thinking or to bring the world's hidden structures to light. Nor did they manufacture mechanical clocks to spur the adoption of a more scientific mode of thinking. These were by-products of the technologies. But what by-products! Ultimately, it's an invention's intellectual work ethic that has the most profound effect on us. ~ Nicholas Carr

Genetic engineering is having a serious impact on the food we eat, on the environment, and on farmers. To ensure we can maximize benefits and minimize hazards, Congress must provide a comprehensive regulatory framework for all genetically engineered products. ~ Dennis Kucinich

We know very little, and yet it is astonishing that we know so much, and still more astonishing that so little knowledge can give us so much power. ~ Bertrand Russell

Science is the study of what Is, Engineering builds what Will Be. The scientist merely explores that which exists, while the engineer creates what has never existed before. ~ Theodore Von Karman

Today, over half of China's undergraduate degrees are in math, science technology and engineering, yet only 16 percent of America's undergraduates pursue these schools. ~ Cathy McMorris Rodgers

Few people would dream of hiring a contractor to build them a house and expect it to be built to a safe standard only 85 percent of the time; similarly, few people would want to eat out in a restaurant where only 85 percent of the meals were safe to eat. Why then do we accept such sloppiness in road safety, where a situation in which 85 percent of drivers going the speed limit is deemed to be good enough? ~ Neil Arason

The first step toward the management of disease was replacement of demon theories and humours theories by the germ theory. That very step, the beginning of hope, in itself dashed all hopes of magical solutions. It told workers that progress would be made stepwise, at great effort, and that a persistent, unremitting care would have to be paid to a discipline of cleanliness. So it is with software engineering today. ~ Fred Brooks

I use minimal software to make my music - a wav editor and a calculator for my beats to make sure everything falls on mathematical precision. If you were just mapping this out visually, it works by math. I guess it's slightly engineering influenced. ~ Girl Talk

Advanced engineering always, like advanced everything else, brings down upon it the discredit of ridicule of minds who cannot see so far. ~ Alfred P. Sloan

Ask Gandhi, and eye for an eye makes us both blind ... ask an engineer, and the numbers don't lie - the first to strike wins. ~ Steven Ivy Attorney Entrepreneur

Science is dangerous. There is no question but that poison gas, genetic engineering, and nuclear weapons and power stations are terrifying. It may be that civilization is falling apart and the world we know is coming to an end. In that case, why no turn to religion and look forward to the Day of Judgment, ... [being] lifted into eternal bliss ... [and] watching the scoffers and disbelievers writhe forever in torment. ~ Isaac Asimov

The definition of 'safe' is not strictly an engineering term; it's a societal term. Does it mean absolutely no loss of life? Does it mean absolutely no contamination with radiation? What exactly does 'safe' mean? ~ Henry Petroski

I think people all over the institution recognize that different ways of understanding are valuable. Artists may think in a different way than biologists or chemists, but you can learn something from that. It is true that the arts at MIT don't have the same amount of funding or same status as the sciences or engineering. ~ Alan Lightman

We need an engineering friend." She points a finger at Carin. "Go back to Briar and hook up with an engineering student."

"Okay, but I'll need to actually have sex with him beforehand, so I won't be back until," she pretends to check the time, "ten or so."

"We're all college graduates," I proclaim. "We can put this together ourselves."

Clapping my hands, I motion for everyone to get on the floor with me. After three tries of trying to lower myself to the ground and making Hope and Carin nearly pee their pants laughing in the process, D'Andre takes pity on all of us and helps me onto my knees. Which is where Tucker finds us.

"Is this some new fertility ritual?" he drawls from the doorway, one shoulder propped against the frame. "Because she's already pregnant, you know."

"Get yo ass in here, white boy, and put this thing together," D'Andre snaps. "This is ridiculous."

"What's ridiculous?" Tucker stops next to me, and I take the opportunity to lean against his legs. Even kneeling is hard when you're toting around an extra thirty pounds. "We took it apart. How can you not know how to put it back together?"

D'Andre repeats his earlier excuse. "I'm an accounting major."

Tucker rolls his eyes. "You got an Allen wrench?"

"Are you mocking us right now?" I grumble. "I don't have any wrenches, let alone ones with names."

He grins. "Leave this to me, darlin'. I'll get it fixed u ~ Elle Kennedy

I grew up hearing stories about how my maternal grandfather had put himself through engineering school in New York City. He saved money by walking down to a gas station once a week to take a shower. When I applied to college, both education and investment value were important to me. ~ Jason Kilar

In engineering colleges, they have seating plans ... And Students have cheating plans. ~ Lovely Goyal

A great feat of engineering is an object of perpetual interest to people bent on self-destruction ~ Michael Chabon

Science can amuse and fascinate us all, but it is engineering that changes the world. ~ Isaac Asimov

Land surveyors can spend as much time reading legislation, bylaws, and engineering documents as we spend in front of an instrument in the field or calculating coordinates for a subdivision. We are mathematicians, historians, project managers, advocates, engineers, and even chainsaw operators! ~ Mark Mason

I went to engineering school, I went to physics class. I said, 'Screw this, I don't want to be here. I'd much rather be at a club playing music.' ~ Huey Lewis

Virtually any pointed edifice is considered a candidate for alien engineering. After all, how could the Egyptians or Mayans have possibly stacked up stone blocks into pyramids? ~ Seth Shostak

Liberals tend to view traditions, policies, and morals of past generations as arbitrary designs put in place by less enlightened people. Because of this, liberals don't pay much attention to why traditions developed or wonder about possible ramifications of their social engineering. ~ John Hawkins