I actually had a problem like this on a final exam in Fluid Mechanics back in the late 1960's. The required answer was the flow rate through the siphon for which there is an equation that uses parameters such as the pipe diameter and the difference in elevation between the inlet and outlet and some other things. However, the problem was given in such a way that it was not at all obvious that the siphon (which was a water siphon on Earth) at one point exceeded more than 33 feet above the inlet point. If you READ the entire problem carefully and CHECKED for this NECESSARY condition you had the answer (zero flow rate) with NO calculations needed -- a real time saver on the slide rule!

I was fortunate to be given a speed reading class that took several weeks as a high school graduation present back in the dark ages (1965). I took the course and practiced as I was told, but I never did believe it was doing any good and it was definitely not a fun way to read anything for pleasure. Fast forward to the next year and I am a freshman in engineering, but having to take an "elective" political science course in which I had no interest at all. Since the purpose of the freshman year in engineering is to cull the masses I concentrated on what, to me, were the far more important classes I had. A few days before the final exam I realized that I was not going to pass that polysci class unless I could pull off a near perfect score on the final. The professor was kind enough to confirm my calculations on that point. For two days before the final I read the entire text book through cover to cover TWICE. I scored in the high 90's on the final and passed the course with a C+. When I was taking the exam, I really was just sort of zoned out. Much of the test was essay questions and I would just write whatever came into my head on the subject, not really knowing what I was saying or where it came from.

Now, I would have put this down as a fluke except that I was able to do very similar things for the rest of my career in engineering. Although trained in systems engineering I started out working with computer systems when computers were big iron and I worked on both IBM, Univac, and DEC systems. Then I successfully made the transition to PC's and networks and retired as a Network Engineer and Security Officer. Often I would have to learn enough to get started in a new area about which I knew almost nothing with little time to do so. I would get 5 or 6 books on the subject and absorb them over a weekend and could then get up to speed pretty quickly after that.

I still don't understand how it works, and I am still not sure I really believe it works, but for over 40 years the speed reading class I took in 1965 saved my bacon many times.

Genuine old land line telephones built by Western Electric for the Bell System. They built them, they owned them, and they NEVER wanted to have to repair them.

I have always filed a paper state return so I have never checked on doing a State e-file. The paper return is included with no problem

I have used Tax Act since changing from Turbo Tax when they tried to push a DRM version on us. This was a long time ago. I probably would not have changed except for that, but since then I have not looked back. With Tax Act I always buy the Deluxe Download for both my State and Federal taxes and that gives me a free e-file and unlimited paper filings. Over the years it has served me and my late wife well through the passing of both her parents and preparing their final returns and also my Father's passing and the issues with inheritance and estates. My tax preparation over the years has ranged from very simple to far more complex than I would ever have imagined and I have had to contact the Tax Act support via email on both technical issues of HOW to do something also Tax issues of WHAT I needed to do. I have always gotten very helpful and prompt responses and this year was no exception. Although I am moving more and more to Linux I am GOING to keep at least one Windows machine around just to run Tax Act if nothing else!

There are many things that can not be learned except by doing them and to become proficient at them requires doing them A LOT. I am an engineer, and if you look at the record there were a number of unusual engineering "disasters" back in the late 1960's and through most of the 1970's. That's when side rules and hands on experience began to be replaced by simulation, modeling and things like Computer Aided Drawing and Design (CADD). Many of these failures were the result of inexperienced engineers and designers depending too much on their calculations and not being able to understand when the "ghost in the machine" was not telling them the truth. Although I would not advocate a return to the slide rule the one thing that you had to be able to do to use one was to be able to keep track of the order of magnitude you were working with.

Engineering failures of that era were not usually due to errors in the CADD modeling or computer calculations, but due to a lack of understanding by the people using them. They were often used with invalid assumptions or in inappropriate situations . Prior to the use of computers to do the massive iterative calculations needed, Space Frame structures were mostly used only where the lightest and strongest structures were absolutely necessary. Dirigibles come to mind. After the computer revolution in computer aided design, they began to appear everywhere and a number of the early ones failed catastrophically.

My career moved more and more directly into working with computers over the years and I have written code in half a dozen languages, and I can't think of any of them where it wasn't critical to understand whether the output and results you got were REASONABLE.

If you don't understand how to do what you are automating then it is impossible to automate it well.

If they do this at all they should put the screen in the rear window. Then use a fish eye lens for the camera. Cuts the learning curve way down, and your peripheral vision MIGHT just notice the kid on the tricycle ABOUT to cross behind your vehicle before you back over them.

End of support for XP is no real problem at all! Just downgrade to Windows 2000! It doesn't even need activation!

IANAL, but if you click the link to the trademark filing the filing specifically says that color is NOT claimed as part of the mark. I thought I would buy a FLUKE one day, but this changed my mind.

I really had a comment that related to this article from when I was in the Air Force in the early 1970's and bugging the Ho Chi Minh trail. However, I made the mistake of taking a look at the slashdot beta and now it is gone forever. Kind of like taking a very strong laxative.

Thank you for saying that! I am a native, but have lived up north and did learn to drive in snow and had no problems once I did, but down here again I just stay off the roads until the slipping and sliding is over. It is just not the same.

I am a rare breed. I was born in Atlanta and lived here much of my life. However, I did live up in the snow belt for several years, and I can assure you that, while I wouldn't think twice about driving in snow in Ohio, I try to avoid it if at all possible here. It IS different. One thing that Atlanta has that most northern snow belt areas lack is an abundance of hills. These do make a difference. Atlanta has always had problems with winter weather, but the other thing about Atlanta and this area in general is that the weather changes very quickly. It was 11 degrees here this morning and this afternoon it may be in the mid 40's. By Sunday the mid 60's are forecast. The cost of providing for extensive snow or ice removal is just not worth it.

Those not familiar with the region don't understand that Atlanta is in Georgia and those might as well be two different countries. After a 2011 snow event the CITY of Atlanta did invest in snow removal equipment and did have a better plan to deal with it this time. From what I have seen and heard the CITY really did handle it better than it has ever been handled in the past. That said, most of the traffic problems and grid lock seen around the world was NOT on Atlanta city streets, but on Interstate highways and State roads. These thread all though Atlanta and they are maintained EXCLUSIVELY by the State. This is where the politics and incompetence comes in.

State government here has been on a mission to downsize itself and transform itself into a jobs program for friends of well connected state politicians since about the year 2000 or earlier. The state highway department which is the organization that is responsible for all of the STATE roads, whether in Atlanta or not, has shrunk from over 7,000 employees to just over 4,000 just in the last few years. Many of the departures were by experienced people who left for the private sector or to county and municipal employers who now provide better compensation and benefits than does the State of Georgia. The head of the State Highway department, has traditionally been an engineer with experience. The current head is a political appointee who has no engineering degree and no experience in this area at all. This is just one example, but throughout the state, for well over a decade, there has been an erosion of competence in providing the services that the state is responsible for providing. This is not due to the remaining employees, who do the actual work, but due to poor planing, incompetent management and complete lack of understanding by the elected officials of what is required to run the largest state East of the Mississippi river.

Wow, I have wanted something like this since the mid 1960's when we visited my uncle in Orlando and I was amazed at how comfortable his house was all the time. He was in HVAC, mostly for commercial sites during the big AC boom in Florida in the 1950's and 1960's, and he told me that the trick was to control the humidity as well as the temperature. He had done his own system at home and I think it even had outdoor sensors for temperature and humidity even way back then to anticipate changes in the weather.

I have also thought that having one thermostat or temperature sensor in a house or on a floor was not the way to go. I have several digital thermometers scattered around the house and winter the digital thermostat always reads the highest temperature and in summer the lowest. Thermostats are mostly pretty dumb, and it is getting to where it would be economically feasible to have sensors for temperature and/or humidity in several locations around a house and the control unit for the HVAC at heating/AC equipment. I know there are zoned systems kind of like this in large homes, but I think a simple system that might be enough in a normal house.

How do you make a radio signal hidden of covert? Yes, some spread spectrum techniques make it appear to be just noise, but even so if you sweep in the near field you should be able to detect that something is going on. This might work for soft targets, but for any really secure location it should be detectable pretty easily.

Forty years ago I worked in a secure facility that was subject to random TEMPEST sweeps at frequent intervals. Even though I was never told what they were doing one look at the equipment they were using, especially the antennas, seemed to indicate that they were looking for any signals from D.C. to Daylight.

Good point. The soft undefended target is the ripe target.

Another Tao of math: For Electrical Engineers imaginary numbers are real.