Engineer, home studio musician, tinkerer. In the past, I kept my journaling private, but I’ve warmed to the rush of sharing my thoughts with others. Here, I express my authentic feelings, insight, and ideas. Occasionally when the feeling is strong enough, I will focus my attention on the lessons we can learn from the past. I like to journal to help slow down my thinking and reason through the best course of action.
From time to time I may write about any of the following (warning: large brain dump incoming):
- Process Safety and Human Factors Engineering
- Process Hazard Analysis and Dust Hazard Analysis
- HAZID, HAZOP (hazard identification and hazard and operability study)
- FMEA (Failure Mode Effects and Analysis)
- Risk-based, prescriptive-based, performance-based hazard analysis differences
- Fault trees and bowtie diagrams
- How to perform a basic SIL/LOPA quantitative analysis before hiring an expensive consultant
- Redundancy of equipment (pumps, PLCs and computing, point level
- Independent protection layers (IPL)
- SIL-testing of instrumentation
- Quantification of risk reduction
- Mean time between failures (MTBF) and probability of failure on demand (PFOD)
- Industrial hygiene and hazardous material handling (environmental)
- Title V
- Leading and lagging indicators, baselines and benchmarks for organizational risk of catastrophic failure
- Notable safety equipment
- Critical safety device definition
- General safety devices
- Dock locks
- Pressure relief valves (PRVs) and sizing (API 520, API 521)
- Speed/RPM sensors
- Rotary air locks
- Explosion vent sizing and calculations (NFPA 68)
- Explosion protection and deflagration detection (NFPA 69)
- Passive explosion protection (flapper-style)
- Firewalls and ratings
- Refractory requirements (API 936 inspection)
- High level switch, low level switch
- Area ventilation and fixed gas detection/air monitoring
- Safety controllers (programmable logic controllers) for light curtain
- Fire suppression (NFPA 10)
- Fire alarms (NFPA 72)
- PPE, fire blankets, splash guards, gloves, boots, hard hats, safety glasses, aprons and coveralls, etc.
- Process Hazard Analysis and Dust Hazard Analysis
- Maintenance and Reliability
- Mechanical Interity Program and Pressure Vessel Inspections Basis
- Maintenance of active explosion isolation systems
- Instrumentation, data collection and recording systems
- Industry trends, comparisons of communication protocols, RAGAGEP
- Analog 4-20ma signal
- HART
- Profibus
- Modbus
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- 4th Industrial Revolution
- Industry trends, comparisons of communication protocols, RAGAGEP
- PLCs and process control theory for logical programming (Allen-Bradley, Rockwell)
- HMI considerations and interface programming (Factory Talk)
- Battery powered wireless connected devices for remote applications
- Advanced Physical Layer and Ethernet/IP
- Feedback loop vs feedforward (predictive) loop
- PID control algorithm components (proportional, integrative, differential)
- Chemical Engineering career advice
- Plate steel design pressure, vessel design basis/design philosophies
- Mechanical engineering concepts / structural
- Modal analysis and frequency response
- FEA simulation for heat transfer calculation
- FEA simulation for material properties
- WRC 107
- Statics and dynamics analysis and point loads vs distributed loads
- Civil Engineering
- Concrete
- Self-healing materials
- Earthworks
- LEED certification
- Drain and stormwater management
- Concrete
- Electrical scopes
- Power requirements
- AC power
- Transformers (pole mount vs. box enclosure with underground cables)
- Simulation Technologies and Computer Aided Design
- ASPEN
- Ansys Fluent / OpenFOAM
- Ansys Workbench
- Autodesk AutoCAD
- SimScale
- NASTRAN
- Cameo event monitoring
- Industry engineering standards: ANSI, API, ASHRAE, ASME, ASTM, ISO, IEEE, NEC, NFPA, OSHA-PSM, EPA RMP
- Project management, how to best approach difficult problems with a consistent line of rationality (Kepner-Tregoe)
- Elements constituting project resources
- PMI project management methodology and key concepts
- Revenue and risk-based ROI assessment
- Monte Carlo simulation
- Stakeholder management
- Economics
- Theories of economics (supply/demand curve)
- Macroeconomics and mutually-beneficial trade
- Rational market actors
- Behavioral psychology and the Chicago School (Richard Thaler)
- Mathematics
- Geometry
- Algebra
- Calculus
- Probability and Statistics
- Classical and Modern Physics
- Newton’s Laws
- Laws of thermodynamics (Maxwell’s demon)
- Quantum physics
- Wave-particle theory and Planck’s constant
- Productivity
- LLMs and Artificial Intelligence, how to leverage these tools most effectively
- Pomodoro timer
- First Things First
- Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
- How to Make Friends and Influence People
- (Mostly Pop) Psychology like Malcolm Gladwell’s influential works on human behavior
- Truth default theory
- The Tipping Point, Outliers, Blink
- Consciousness, perception, and emotional intelligence
- Pareto principle
- Hierarchy of needs
- Stanley-Milgram
- Game Theory (John von Neumann)
- Organizational leadership and psychology of business
- Servant leadership
- Situational leadership
- Change management
- Business process orientation and improvement
- Superforecasting and how to adapt thinking, analyze sources, and recognize bias in the prediction of future events
- Probability and Bayesian statistics
- Fermi-izing problems (segmentation)
- Feynman Method
- Biology and Biotechnology
- CRISPR-Cas9 and DNA technologies
- mRNA vaccines
- Sustainable methods for producing essential goods
- Green chemistry and alternatives life cycle evaluation
- Petroleum
- Renewables and Reduced-Impact Technologies
- Hydropower
- Pumped-storage hydroelectricity
- Hydroelectric dams
- Wave Power (Oceanic)
- Tidal power
- Wind
- Geothermal
- Molten Salt Energy Storage
- Solar
- Perovskites and electro-photovoltaics
- Clean Hydrogen (cryogenic storage technologies), on-demand electrolysis
- Nuclear Fission (API 1000 Guidelines)
- Nuclear Fusion
- Hydropower
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Oligonucleotides, amino acids and proteins, mono- and polysaccharides, lipids
- Polymer chemistry
- Physical chemistry
- Organic chemistry
- Exploring old world philosophies on life which ring true today and will well into the future (Stoicism, Cynicism, Epicureanism, Skepticism, Pragmatism, Dogmatism, Buddhism, Christianity, Humanism, Existentialism, Nihilism)
- On writing
- Logical fallacies
- Approach to writing
- Famous people who changed the world
- Engineers
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Nikola Tesla
- Thomas Edison
- Isambard Brunel
- Physicists
- Isaac Newton
- Albert Einstein
- Marie Curie
- Enrico Fermi
- Mendeleev
- Scientists and Naturalists
- Charles Darwin
- Barbara McClintock
- Gregor Mendel
- James Watson and Francis Crick
- Louis Pasteur
- Kary Mullis
- Politicians
- Celebrities and entertainers
- Engineers
- Upbringing and childhood memories telling a story
- Career and educational experiences
- Music theory for guitar, piano, singing and the relation of musical instruments to mathematics and physics
- Technology (hello, AI) and Computers
Here’s to the conversation.
How I prefer to write echoes that of the following quote, attributable to a contemporary writer unafraid to explore perilous ideas about what it means to be human, creating new manifestations and archetypes of the ideal human, ever evolving and growing in abilities. Our great genetic diversity underlines our adaptability as living things. Discussing our in-born differences, while politically challenging, should not be so fraught, but modern tribalism weaponizes our differences, convincing us to “otherize” people and replace them with subhuman abstractions, in full spite of real humanity.
Writing dangerously with the only assurance – without an editor – that readers will correct you when you’re wrong and encourage you when you are right. It is a terrifying and exhilarating way to write – and also an emotionally, psychologically depleting one. But I loved it nonetheless. I relished it every day. I wouldn’t trade these years for any others. – A. Sullivan, British-American journalist
Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed on this website are solely my own and do not reflect the views, policies, or positions of my employer, past or present, or any other organization with which I may be affiliated. Nothing on this website should be construed as professional, financial, or legal advice.
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