83-Year-Old Inventor Wins $40,000 3D Printing Competition 146
harrymcc writes "The Desktop Factory Competition was a contest to create an open-source design for a low-cost machine capable of turning cheap plastic pellets into the filament used by 3D printers, with a prize of $40,000. The winner is being announced today — and he was born during the Hoover administration. I interviewed 83-year-old retiree Hugh Lyman — a proud member of the maker movement — for a story over at TIME.com. From the article: 'Lyman describes himself as an “undergraduate engineer” — he studied engineering from 1948-1953 at the University of Utah, but didn’t earn a degree. Though he holds eight patents, he says he’s “not educated enough to be able to do calculations of torque and so forth.” So implementing his contest entry “was trial and error. I tinkered with it and used common sense.”'"
Re:Engineering isn't a secret club (Score:5, Funny)
If he used common sense then he's obviously not an engineer.
Re:Engineering isn't a secret club (Score:5, Funny)
There comes a time in the life of every project when you must shoot the engineers and begin production!
Re:Trial & Error Works (Score:4, Funny)
Trial & Error Works Often better than calculations.
Unless you're designing parachutes.
The Engineer and the Balloonist (Score:5, Funny)
The woman below replied, "You're in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You're between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude."
"You must be an engineer," said the balloonist. "I am," replied the woman, "How did you know?"
"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is, technically correct, but I've no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help at all. If anything, you've delayed my trip."
The woman below responded, "You must be in Management." "I am," replied the balloonist, "but how did you know?"
"Well," said the woman, "you don't know where you are or where you're going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise which you've no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it's my fault."
Mathematics Torque..etc. (Score:3, Funny)
He decided he didn't want to take that route, and tinkered instead.
Although I do not recommend that, as just a little knowledge of Mathematics can save you a great deal of time and effort in engineering activities of all types, including software. I can see why he never finished college.
So, although I am similar in that I personally refuse to get any degree because:
1) You are you are forced to have a bank involved if you want to be educated.
2) You are put into a institution, like other crazy people and forced to think exactly the same way, and if you do not you are considered a failure.
3) You are not required to produce a solution to any problem in your community or society to earn this degree, only provide a solution for corporation and human resource departments to screen others who are not in on the Ponzi scheme of banking. (See #1, rinse and repeat.)
With that being said though, I do attend UW-Madison every once in awhile just to make sure I am not totally cynical, just mostly cynical. :-)
But I already have my "degree" in my opinion as I have my own professional practice, I feed myself with the solutions I come up with that people pay me to solve their computing problems and all the time I am competing with B.S., M.S., and PhD's for the same customers. (Mostly winning.)
With the exception I have a nice tidy net worth and no debts far below and above most of these people.
The few jobs I have applied for in my career, most people ask me how is it possible you accomplished all of these things?
(Most seem downright annoyed too...)
To which I reply, "I am not very smart really. Just everyone else is extremely stupid that go to Universities." ;-)
-Hack