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 ⬅️   My Winter Imperatives 2025-24  ➡️  

Productivity Imperatives

• Question Every Requirement - Question every requirement by finding who made it and then questioning them relentlessly to rationally eliminate the requirement or make it less dumb.
• Delete Every Part Or Process You Can - Delete every part or process you can. If you don’t have to add at least 10% of the deleted items back then you didn’t delete enough!
• Simplify And Optimize - Simplify and optimize after deleting. Never simplify what shouldn’t exist!
• Accelerate Cycle Time - Accelerate cycle time after simplifying.
• Automate - Automate after questioning requirements, deleting parts and processes, and having shaken out the bugs in the process. Corollaries
• Work Hands-On - Work Hands-On is required for all technical managers
• Challenge Each Other’s Work - Challenge each other’s work to produce better and more
• It’s OK To Be Wrong - It’s OK to be wrong but never OK to be wrong with smug confidence.
• Be Willing - Be willing to do anything you ever ask your workers to do.
• Meet Lower Level Workers - Meet lower level workers for problems rather than their managers.
• Seek Right Attitudes - Seek right attitudes when employing workers and operators - skills can be taught, attitude NOT.
• Operate With Urgency - Operate with urgency, accuracy, and speed in doing your job.
• Recognize Physical Constraints - Recognize physical constraints with its rules, all else is just recommendations.
  
  from: the book “Elon Musk” by Walter Isaacson

Causes Of Death & crude rate per 1000 USA 2023 (provisional) Population 333,287,557

1. Diseases of the heart 2.0 (Heart attacks, Congenital heart disease, …)
2. Malignant neoplasms or tumors 1.8 (lung/breast, prostate, colorectal, pancreas, liver, stomach, …)
3. Accidents (unintentional injuries) .67 (motor vehicle accidents, poisoning, falls, …)
4. Cerebrovascular diseases .49 (Strokes (TIA), Brain aneurysms, …)
5. Chronic lower respiratory diseases .44 (COPD: chronic bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, …)
6. Alzheimer disease .34
7. Diabetes mellitus .29
8. Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis .17 (the kidneys become inflamed)
9. Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis .16
10. COVID-19 .15
11. Intentional self-harm (suicide) .15 (firearms >50%, suffocation 26%, poisoning 12%)
12. Influenza and pneumonia .14
13. Essential hypertension and hypertensive renal (kidney) disease .13
14. Septicemia .12 (an infection that occurs when bacteria, viruses, or fungi enter the bloodstream)
15. Parkinson disease .12
    
    from: the CDC https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/datarequest/D176;jsessionid=707C92B4C8121D6F818C45682212

NATO phonetic alphabet

• CHARACTER MORSE CODE TELEPHONY PHONIC(PRONUNCIATION)
• A *- Alfa (AL-fah)
• B -*** Bravo (BRAH-voh)
• C -- Charlie (CHAR-lee) or (SHAR-lee)
• D -** Delta (DELL-tah) or (DEL-tah)
• E * Echo (ECK-oh) or (EKK-oh)
• F *- Foxtrot (FOKS-trot)
• G –* Golf (Golf)
• H **** Hotel (HOH-tel) or (HO-tel)
• I ** India (IN-dee-ah)
• J *— Juliett or Juliet (JEW-lee-ett)
• K -*- Kilo (KEY-loh)
• L -* Lima (LEE-mah)
• M – Mike (Mike)
• N -* November (NO-vem-ber) or (NOH-vem-ber)
• O — Oscar (OSS-cah) or (OSS-car)
• P – Papa (PAH-pah)
• Q –*- Quebec (keh-BECK)
• R - Romeo (ROW-me-oh)
• S *** Sierra (see-AIR-rah) or (see-AIR-ah)
• T - Tango (TANG-go)
• U **- Uniform (YOU-nee-form)or(OO-nee-form)
• V ***- Victor (VIK-tah) or (VIK-ter)
• W *– Whiskey (WISS-key)
• X -**- Xray (ECKS-ray) or (EKS-ray)
• Y -*– Yankee (YANG-key)
• Z –** Zulu (ZOO-loo) or (ZOO-luu)
• 1 *—- One (WUN)
• 2 **— Two (TOO)
• 3 ***– Three (TREE)
• 4 ****- Four (FOW-ER)
• 5 ***** Five (FIFE)
• 6 -**** Six (SIX)
• 7 –*** Seven (SEV-EN)
• 8 —** Eight (AIT)
• 9 —-* Nine (NIN-ER)
• 0 —– Zero (ZEE-RO)
  
  from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet

Useful Mnemonics

• Physics - “We guarantee certainty, clearly referring to, this light mnemonic.” represents the speed of light c in meters per second through the number of letters in each word: 299,792,458 m/s (one Astronomical Unit, sun to earth distance, is ~150,000,000 km or 150 Gm), light travels at ~300,000 km/sec = 500 sec. for light to reach earth; one light year = 9.461e+12 km = 9.461 Pm). The average distance to the Moon is 384,400 kilometers or (1.28 seconds)*c
• Physics - Radiowave micro-men In Vegas Use X-ray Gadgets. The electromagnetic spectrum: electromagnetic spectrum frequency range and wavelength range for radio waves with usage examples from lowest frequency to highest frequency devices what is the wavelength of a 10 EHz gamma ray radio waves (a few 3kHz to 300GHz, 100km to 1mm) - submarine communication, radio, television, satellite communication, mobile phone networks and radar microwaves (300MHz to 300GHz, 1m to 1mm) - microwave ovens, radar systems, satellite communications, and diathermy infrared light (300GHz to 400THz, 1mm to 780nm) - thermal imaging, remote controls, fiber optic, infrared astronomy, LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) uses near-infrared at ~905nm or ~1550nm visible light (430THz to 750THz, 700nm to 400nm) - seeing, photography, lighting, optical communication ultraviolet light (800THz and 30PHz, 400nm - 10nm) - sterilization, detecting, photolithography, vitamin D X-rays (30PHz - 30EHz, 10nm to 10pm) - medical x-ray, mammography, CT scans, industrial radiography gamma rays (exceeding 10 EHz, below 30pm) - Medical sterilization, Cancer treatment, industrial sterilization, NDT Non-Destructive Testing, Nuclear research c = λ * ν, where “c” m/s is the speed of light 300x10**6m/s , “λ” m is the wavelength, and “ν” Hz is the frequency. [[What frequency marks the center of each segment of the electromagnetic spectrum? And what is an example of something? at that Center frequency. It’s tricky to pinpoint a single “center” frequency for each segment of the electromagnetic spectrum because the divisions are not strictly defined. However, I can give you a general idea and some examples:

1. Radio Waves: Approximate Center Frequency: 1 MHz (This is a very rough estimate, as radio waves span a huge range) Example: AM radio broadcasts (around 530 kHz to 1710 kHz)
2. Microwaves: Approximate Center Frequency: 10 GHz Example: Microwave ovens (typically use 2.45 GHz)
3. Infrared: Approximate Center Frequency: 10 THz Example: Thermal imaging cameras (detect heat radiation in the infrared range)
4. Visible Light: Approximate Center Frequency: 500 THz (corresponds to green light) Example: The light from a light bulb or the sun
5. Ultraviolet: Approximate Center Frequency: 1 PHz Example: Black lights (emit UV light that makes certain materials glow)
6. X-rays: Approximate Center Frequency: 100 PHz Example: X-ray machines used in hospitals for medical imaging
7. Gamma Rays: Approximate Center Frequency: 1 EHz (and beyond) Example: Gamma rays emitted by radioactive materials or in nuclear reactions Important Notes: These are just rough estimates. The electromagnetic spectrum is a continuous range, and the boundaries between segments are not sharp. The frequencies given are just examples. Each segment has a wide range of frequencies and many different applications. The higher the frequency, the higher the energy of the electromagnetic radiation. Gamma rays have the highest energy, while radio waves have the lowest. I hope this helps! ]]

I Keep Six Honest Serving Men

(The Elephant’s Child)
I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest.

I let them rest from nine till five,
For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
For they are hungry men.
But different folk have different views;
I know a person small—
She keeps ten million serving-men,
Who get no rest at all!

She sends ’em abroad on her own affairs,
From the second she opens her eyes—
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys!


from: Rudyard Kipling