Welcome to Eric Piehl comments on a wide range of topics

About this site

It's a work in progress, but so's life.

    — #DoctorWho 13 premier.

Since 2015, major edits to this website contain:

• navigate to pages or documents in this website.
• navigate to pages or documents in other websites.
• navigate to pages or documents in a sister website.
• blue help buttons explain a concept or term, in a few sentences.
• Grayed-out buttons (if present) are placeholders for links that will appear in the near future.
  
  
• Buttons with navigate to pages or documents that are re­spon­sive/​mobile-first/​mobile-friendly.
  Pages that are also part of this or sister websites (the green or intermediate buttons with white text) are built using a homegrown static website generator, into a format that responds/​auto-adapts to different:
  ◦ platforms (📱︎ smart­phones/​mobiles/​cell­phones vs ▯ tablets vs 💻︎ computers vs 📺︎ large-screen TVs),
  ◦ orientations (▭ landscape vs ▯ portrait), and
  ◦ window resizing (pinch-in, pinch-out or drag border).
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  While probably awesome on 💻︎ large screens, these pages or documents may be difficult to use on ▯ small screens.
  Pages that are also part of this website (the green buttons with black text), I will convert as requested or found useful.
  
  
• To see the destination of a link, do a long-press or mouse-hover.

💡︎ LED lighting

LED lights are an amazing transformative technology:

• There is no reason to ever again buy a fluorescent, CFL, halogen or incandescent bulb.
• There is no reason to ever again buy a 💡︎ lightbulb (they had a good run for 120 years), unless your bulb is an LED replacement bulb for an existing fixture.
• There is no reason to ever again buy a lamp capable of 💡︎ holding a lightbulb (they had a good run for 120 years)—just buy a lamp with its LED light source built-in.
• There is no reason to ever again buy a recessed lamp fixture "can light" (they had a fair run for 30 years)—just buy the new drink coaster/​hockey puck lights no thicker than wallboard.  No "can" needed—doesn't even disturb the insulation above.

Just be very careful to buy the exact light source you want …

Q:  How many Lutherans does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A:  25:
      One person to screw in the NEW lightbulb, and
      24 people to talk about how much they liked the OLD lightbulb.

    — A Prairie Home Companion, as heard by EP a while back.

Or to list it another way, if you already have a lamp or bulb, and are wondering what to use it for:

Or see for yourself at a friend's house, or lighting or hardware store with excellent displays.  In my town, Lowe's and Menards have a better selection of lighting and PPE v. Home Depot.

Get your light brighter—measured in lumens (lm)—than your existing fixtures.  You will like it.

Spend the extra US$2 or €2 each and get them dimmable.  If you later decide your lights are too bright, you can correct by installing a modern US$25 or €22 LED-compatible "C-L" dimmer switch.

Get a light that projects in a good angle:

• 100°-120° is great for filling walls and dark corners with light, in your hallways, kitchen and den.
•   20° is great for a spotlight, perhaps over a sink or a particular piece of art.

If getting a "recessed" "can light" "downlight" retrofit insert, consider whether you need a gimbal "rotatable" "eyeball" to illuminate your subjects.

An E26 adapter means your unit contains an electrical connector for your can's existing E26/E27 standard lightbulb base.

If your LED light comes with a Color Rendering Index CRI, get it High=90+, so it doesn't mess with your ability to see color.

For my laundry/work/storage room project, I handled each of these issues by replacing humming florescent tube fixtures with new LED lamps, each with:

• its own with onboard motion sensor,
• changeable correlated color temperature (CCT) (I like step 2 from red to blue), and
• brightness (I like all the way up).

Best wishes for success with your lighting project!

📱︎💻︎ Computer use, programming, project management

📱︎💻︎ Computer use for
ordinary and tech-savvy 👥︎ computer users

📱︎💻︎ Computer programming for
ordinary 👥︎ computer programmers
📱︎💻︎ Computer programming advanced topics:
⚠︎ safety-critical, ✈︎ aviation, 🏭︎ industrial-quality, internals, development, build, install

Project management topics seem to currently be decentralized—sprinkled around the two chapters with buttons immediately above, and personal topics.   Maybe we will centralize it a bit in the future.  🚧

📱︎💻︎ Computer programming for ordinary 👥︎ computer programmers

Any useful code must be modified.

    — Eric's first law, first described by me, as far as I know.

For full effect, view the video above or to left by selecting the video image, then icons ⛶ fullscreen, ㏄ captions, ▶︎ Play, and ⏯︎ ☒ Skip Ads.

📱︎💻︎ Computer and programming tools 

Leave something for Release 1.1.

    — Eric's second law, until I get better attribution.

CSharp C# programming, under 💻︎ Visual Studio .NET 
Java programming (including ▯ Android), under 💻︎ Eclipse or Android Studio 

📱︎💻︎ 📅︎ $ Any computer development project takes longer and costs more.

    — saying at Smiths/GE.

Apache web server, MySQL database, and PHP http scripting language  
VBA Visual Basic for Applications programming, under 💻︎ Microsoft Excel 

👩︎👩︎👩︎👩︎👩︎👩︎👩︎👩︎👩︎  Nine women can't make 🚼︎ a baby in 📅︎ one month.

    — saying at Smiths/GE.

Personal topics

🌏︎👥︎  On spaceship earth, we are not passengers—we are crew.

    — Marshal McLuhan, slightly reworded by me.

🌏︎🏠︎  Earth is our home. … Earth is not just our home, it is also our house.  It's our residence, and we are the owners.  We are not renters passing through.  We are not tenants who can complain to the landlord and eventually move on to live somewhere else.  We live here—on this 7900-mile-wide (13000 km) ball of rock, water, and air—and we are responsible for its upkeep.

    — Bill Nye, Unstoppable:  Harnessing Science to Change the World.

Service is the rent we pay for being.  It is the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time.

    — Marian Wright Edelman.

Do what you can,
  with what you have,
  where you are.

    — Teddy Roosevelt, 26th President of the 🇺🇸 USA.

 ☑ VOTE informed, in every election!
 

The difference between screwing around and science is writing it down.

    — ballistics expert Alex Jason, later used by Adam Savage on TV show MythBusters episode "Bouncing Bullet" (2012). [2]

For full effect, view the video above or to left for teens (or older!) by selecting the video image, then icons ⛶ fullscreen, ㏄ captions, ▶︎ Play, and ⏯︎ ☒ Skip Ads.

Put your head down,
  do great work,
  be the most knowledgeable and helpful person in the room.
I think that will get you lots of places.

    — Gwynne Shotwell, CEO of SpaceX, 72 secs from beginning of video above or to left (link takes you to focus of talk at time 27:23).

For full effect, view the video above or to left by selecting the video image, then icons ⛶ fullscreen, ㏄ captions, ▶︎ Play, and ⏯︎ ☒ Skip Ads.

When you are offered a test or intervention,
BRAN reminds you to ask about and consider the
  Benefits,
  Risks, and
  Alternatives and to also consider the effects of doing
  Nothing in this situation.

    — Sarah J Buckley, MD, Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering:  A Doctor's Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Choices

Five Principles for a Life of Breakthrough and Purpose:
  1.  Take big bets and make history.
       People can be naturally cautious.  They look at what's worked in the past and try to do more of it, but history-making transformation happens when people strive for revolutionary change.
  2.  Be bold, take risks.
       Have the courage to try new, unproven things and the rigor to continue experimenting.  Risk taking isn't a blind leap, but a process of trial and error.
  3.  Make failure matter.
       No one seeks out failure, but if you're trying new things, the outcome is uncertain.  Great innovators make setbacks matter, applying lessons learned and sharing them with others.
  4.  Reach beyond your bubble.
       Innovation happens at intersections.  Great and original solutions come from engaging with people with diverse experiences to forge unexpected partnerships.
  5.  Let urgency conquer fear.
       Don't overthink it.  It's natural to want to study all angles of a problem, but don't get caught up in the fear of what could go wrong—allow the need to act to outweigh doubts.

    — Jean Case Be Fearless

If you are 📅︎ scheduled to do something hard, and you don't yet feel ready:
◦ Prepare.  Hard.  Over-prepare.
◦ Center yourself, using whatever works for you:  exercise hard, yoga, long walk, play your 🎸︎ favorite instrument, whatever.
◦ If you are reasonably-young or -urban, listen to Eminem's Lose Yourself a few times.
◦ Eat a good dinner.
◦ Get a great night's sleep.
◦ Get your game face on.
◦ You are ready.  You own it!
◦ And if it still doesn't feel right …
     Fake it until you make it!

    — various sources, some me, 2018-03-26.

Resist imposter syndrome.    If you still feel like a fraud.

 

You don't have to behave perfect, just meet the reasonable-person test.

Don't do anything you don't want to explain to a judge.

    — Eric's fourth and fifth laws, first described by me, as far as I know.

When stopped by the 🛂︎ police:

• If driving:
  ◦ Put on a turn signal or otherwise acknowledge the Stop.
  ◦ Turn off the radio.
  ◦ Continue driving to a safe open location, pull over, Park, turn on the flashers, lower the driverside window (or whichever window you expect the officer to approach), and turn off the engine.
  ◦ Tell any passengers to remain silent and do not reach for anything—you are the driver and will do all the talking.  They may record video of the encounter (just like any encounter in a public space), but don't be a nuisance, and start way before the officer comes to the window.
  ◦ Put your hands on the wheel, and leave them there.  Don't reach for any paperwork nor anything else, until (A) the officer requests them, (B) the officer and you verbally confirm their locations, and (C) the officer instructs you to proceed.
• At all times:
  ◦ Be polite.
  ◦ Be respectful.
  ◦ Keep your hands visible, and movements slow and calm.
  ◦ But …
• Do not disclose information to the police:
  ◦ Do not lie.
  ◦ But unless you called them, consider not disclosing the truth, either!  See video above or to right.  For full effect, select the video image, then icons ⛶ fullscreen, ㏄ captions, ▶︎ Play, and ⏯︎ ☒ Skip Ads.
• Do not consent to a 🛃︎ search.
  ◦ Not your 🚗︎ vehicle, 🏠︎ home, 📱︎ phone, 💻︎ computer nor 🎒︎ backpack.
  ◦ If searched anyway, speak loudly enough to be heard by witnesses, carcams and bodycams that you do not consent to this search.
• Do not 🛂︎ hand over your 🆔︎ ID.
  ◦ Unless, of course, you are crossing an 🛃︎ international border, in which case you are legally obligated to provide your 🆔︎ travel documents.
  ◦ Or you are the driver in a traffic stop, in which case you are legally obligated to provide your 🆔︎📄︎📄︎:  (1) driver's license, (2) registration, and (3) proof of insurance.
     But do not reach for them until 🛂︎:  (A) the officer requests them, (B) the officer and you verbally confirm their locations, and (C) the officer instructs you to proceed.
• Do not take ⚖︎ legal advice from 🛂︎ a cop.
  ◦ 🛂︎ Police are allowed to lie to you about almost everything—and do!
• Good answers for 🛂︎ police requests include:
  ◦ "Am I ⚖︎ legally obligated to answer that question?"
  ◦ "Am I ⚖︎ legally obligated to provide my 🆔︎ ID?"
  ◦ "I think I will consult my ⚖︎ attorney on that."  And the ultimate, …
  ◦ "Am I free to leave?"  If the answer is "Yes", calmly and silently 🚶︎ walk away.
• More details at 🇺🇸 ACLU series Know Your Rights If You're Stopped by the 🛂︎ Police, Immigration Agents or the FBI 📄︎ printable card   📄︎ printable sheet. 
• If you expect 🛂︎ police contact, what to do with your electronics.  (page 19)
• If you expect 🛂︎ trouble voting.

Between encounters with 🛂︎ police, 💳︎ pay your 📝︎ parking tickets and citations, and 🚶︎⚖︎ 📅︎ attend all court dates.  Attending to these things may be a pain, but they are far is easier to unwind early on, before getting muddled up with other offenses and eventually turning into an 🛂︎ arrest warrant.

And while we are at it, you know how 🚼︎ children need a parent when they go to the ⚕︎ doctor—a guardian or patient advocate?  I think that we all—⟰🚶︎ educated adults included—need a second with us—an advocate—for all important encounters with ⚕︎ doctors, the 🛂︎ police or ⚖︎ courts.  A family member or friend, who:

• is organized,
• can 📝︎ take notes,
• can notice stuff that you miss, and
• can continue thinking after your brain shuts down upon hearing keywords cancer or jail.

Maybe we can catch all this information the first time, without having to resurrect everything later.

If you want to know even more, attend the Citizens Police Academy CPA with your local 🛂︎ police or sheriff department.   We did, and are very happy with the experience.  We learned a lot!  If you are family or a friend, ask us for details—we will talk your head off!

If the facts are against you,
    argue the law.
 If the law is against you,
    argue the facts.
 If the law and the facts are against you,
    pound the table and yell like hell.
      — Carl Sandburg.

 

Test like you fly;  fly like you test.
    — The way I learned it
writing ✈︎ aviation software.

Train like you fight;  fight like you train.
    — The way I heard some of our customers learned it.

Plan your work;  work the plan.
    — The way I learned it in chainsaw safety training.

But …

Fail early, and pivot.
    — The way I learned it in entrepreneur startup seminars.

No plan of battle survives first contact with the enemy.  [Meaning every plan must be adjusted as you experience new information.]
    — Many versions, this is a variation of that said by Helmuth von Moltke the Elder.

Make sure you fail on the test stand, so you do not fail in flight.
    — Elon Musk, quoted in "Elon Musk explains that destroyed SpaceX capsule came from testing to the 'extreme'" by Michael Sheetz.  CNBC.  2019-10-10.

Failure is an option here.  If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.
    — Elon Musk, quoted in "In 2 Sentences Elon Musk Explains Why the Key to Success Is Failure."  Inc.  2015-07-14.

Preparing and showing ▭🌄︎ presentations
during live 👥︎ in-person, or ▭ digital video virtual web-based
meetings, conferences, gatherings or webinars
of distributed or self-isolating teams  
 
 

Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

    — aphorism commonly attributed to Voltaire, slightly reworded by me.

If you have identified a near-optimum solution, it may be OK to implement this one, instead of continuing the search for the optimum solution.

    — Not sure I've ever heard it said this way;  said by me for years, recorded here 2018-06-30.  Understood instinctively by single parents.

    — Seems to map to the tension between current terms FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out/Fear of Missing Opportunities) versus FOBO (Fear Of Better Option) (which results in fear of commitment).  Both basically are fears of unknown risks.  Use this tension—don't run from it—or you will end up with FODA (Fear Of Doing Anything), which has its own known risks.  [2019-09-01.]

🏊︎ Just keep swimming.  Just keep swimming.  Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.  What do we do?  We swim, swim.

    — Dory.

You are what you have patience to be.

    — MTA, personal communication, 2019-01-22

It gets better!

    — I first heard this used by people trying to reduce death 🔫︎ by suicide in gay teens.  Later, I found it applicable for all young people, and anyone trying to find their way in this crazy world.  Partly because you get better at solving problems.  Partly because you meet more people who can help you out—know that one nugget of information that you need right now, or whatever.  Partly because you slowly acquire more assets to help you along the way.  It may not look that way now, but if you can avoid dying, I've found it generally does get better!
    In case you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 📱︎☎ 1-800-273-8255.

We are all only temporarily-abled.

    — Source unknown, I heard it a long time ago.  Although on 2018-10-02, I heard Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee say that ⚕︎ doctors understand very well that they will soon be on the other side of the exam table.

Lesson Learned:  Design everything for your future self:
◦ Build your websites with text large-enough, contrast high-enough, and all that accessibility stuff.
◦ Design/​acquire/​modify your 🏠︎ house with your ♿ future abilities and limitations in mind.
◦ Etc.

Running a household, including maintaining, buying or selling a house or condo  

Preparing for and seeing a 🌑 total solar or lunar eclipse!
        (for 👥︎ people who do this sporadically)  
 
 

Eric Piehl resume    Eric Piehl resume    Eric Piehl LinkedIn
 
 

Not knowing something is fine.
Not wanting to know,
  or refusing to know, is the problem.

    — Eric's third law, first described by me, as far as I know.

If you don't ask, the answer's No.

    — MM, about 1998.

For full effect, view the videos above or to left by selecting a video image, then icons ⛶ fullscreen, ㏄ captions, ▶︎ Play, and ⏯︎ ☒ Skip Ads.

Go outside, or see more videos like above or to left.

old 🏠︎ home page  (under 🚧 reconstruction)

I have other articles, not for public use.  Some articles are just for me.  But a few articles may be in the of this page;  if you are a on how to access it.

Hamilton: An American Musical is amazing, on lots of levels.

To convince you to get 🎫 tickets to the show next time it comes to your town, please study the quotes, videos and Dramatus Personæ below, and Synopsis. 


This first video image (above or left) links to fragments of PBS TV show American Experience episode "Hamilton's America," which describes the story about the musical, and about half the musical itself.  Its second link used to show the full episode.  Later, it was available with ☸︎ PBS Passport.   I hope PBS restores access to this episode—it is terrific.  Meanwhile, enjoy the fragments!  For full effect, select the video image, then icons ⛶ fullscreen, ㏄ captions, ▶︎ Play, and ⏯︎ ☒ Skip Ads.

Talk less, smile more,
  don't let them know what you're against or what you're for.
…
You keep out of trouble,
  and you double your choices.
…
You want to get ahead?
  Fools who shoot their mouths off, wind up dead.    — Aaron Burr

I can wait for it.    — Aaron Burr

Death doesn't discriminate
  between the sinners and saints,
And we keep living anyway,
  we rise and we fall,
  and we break,
  and we make our mistakes.
And if there is reason, I'm still alive
  when so many have died,
Then I'm willing to wait for it,
  I'm willing to wait for it.
…
I'm the one thing in life I can control,
  I am inimitable, I am an original.
I'm not running behind or running late,
  I'm not standing still, I am lying in wait.    — Aaron Burr

No one else was in the room where it happened
  No one really knows how the game is played
  The art of the trade
  How the sausage gets made
  We just assume that it happens
But no one else is in the room where it happens.    — Aaron Burr

I have never been satisfied.  I am never satisfied.  I will never be satisfied.    — Angelica Schuyler and Alexander Hamilton

Rise up.    — ensemble

I'd rather be divisive than indecisive.    — Alexander Hamilton

I am not throwing away my shot!    — Alexander Hamilton

We gotta go,
  gotta get the job done,
  gotta start a new nation,
  gotta meet my son!        — Alexander Hamilton, about to lead a charge in the Battle of Yorktown

Tomorrow there'll be more of us.    — John Laurent

I wanna be in the room where it happens.    — Aaron Burr

Dying is easy, young man,
  living is harder.
…
Winning was easy, young man,
  governing's harder.              — George Washington

You could let it go,
  stay alive for me.
Let it go,
  live to fight another day.    — Eliza Schuyler (Hamilton) and George Washington
Look at where you are,
  look at where you started.
The fact that you're alive is a miracle,
  just stay alive, that would be enough.  That would be enough.    — Eliza Schuyler (Hamilton)

Look around, look around,
  at how lucky we are to be alive right now.    — Alexander Hamilton


This second video image (above or left) links to the entire musical:  audio plus lyrics.  For full effect, select the video image, then icons ⛶ fullscreen, ㏄ captions, ▶︎ Play, and ⏯︎ ☒ Skip Ads.

If you stand for nothing,
  what'll you fall for?
…
What're you waiting for,
  what do you stall for?
We won the war,
  what was it all for?    — Alexander Hamilton

Why do you always
  say what you believe?
Every proclamation guarantees
  free ammunition for your enemies!    — Aaron Burr

Why do you assume you're the smartest in the room?
  Soon that attitude may be your doom!
How do you write like it's going out of style?
  Write day and night like it's going out of style?    — Aaron Burr

How do you write like you're running out of time?
  Write day and night like you're running out of time?
How do you write like tomorrow won't arrive,
  How do you write like you need it to survive?
How do you write every second you're alive?
  Every second you're alive?  Every second you're alive?    — ensemble


I feel that for much of my past, I have been an amalgam of Burr and Hamilton.  But am increasing Hamilton.   Obviously, Lin-Manuel Miranda watched some of the same movies as me.

Dramatis personæ
Character	How to recognize	Played by (Broadway/​Lansing)
Alexander Hamilton, protagonist, born Saint Croix, Nevis	Light vest and pants, coats=brown then blue then dark green.	Lin-Manuel Miranda/​Edred Utomi
Eliza Schuyler (Hamilton), wife to Alexander, sister to Angelica and Peggy	Hair=tied back neat, dress=brown or white.	Jasmine/​Hannah Cruz
Aaron Burr, antagonist	Hair=near-shaved, burgundy or dark coat.	Leslie Odaom, Jr./​Josh Tower
Angelica Schuyler, brightest character in play, sister to Eliza and Peggy	Hair=long, dress=bright.	Cephas Hones/​Stephanie Umoh
George Washington	Hair=shaved, white britches, navy coat with white trim, light blue sash, navy 3-cornered hat.	Christopher Jackson/​Paul Oakley Stovall
Marquis de Lafayette, revolutionary/ Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State, President	Hair=wild pulled back into ponytail. Hair=wild, bright purple coat.	Daveed Diggs/​Bryson Bruce
Hercules Mulligan, tailor's apprentice/ James Madison, President	Hair=gray winter knit cap, dark coat, light vest and pants.	"Oak" Okieriete Onaodowan/​Chaundre Hall-Broomfield
John Laurens, abolitionist/ Philip Hamilton, son to Alexander	Hair=brown pulled back.	Anthony Ramos/​Jon Viktor Corpuz
Peggy Schuyler, sister to Angelica and Eliza/ Maria Reynolds, affair with Alexander Hamilton		Maria Reynolds/​Olivia Puckett
King George III		Jonathan Grof/​Peter Mathew Smith

Attention dysregulation, currently called ADD and ADHD

The purpose of life is to hydrogenate carbon dioxide.     — Michael Russell, Astrobiologist at JPL.

… or on other worlds, perhaps hydrogenate acetylene or ethane.     — Chris McKay, Astrobiologist at NASA Ames.

The purpose of life is to dissipate local energy and increase our universe's entropy, more efficiently than possible with non-biological processes.     — Is the universe pro-life?  Quartz.  2019-02-15.

"We all have two lives.  The second one starts when we realize that we only have one.

    — Tom Hiddleston.