August 2013

Update September 2013: Dr. Steven Reising from Colorado State University won the AdCom election. Congratulations!
Just wanted to share that I am running for IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Administrative Committee, which is kind of like the noblemen of this professional group. As in, get out of the way, plebe, can't you see an Adcom member is approaching! The post lasts three years and would start next January. With luck, a man of my advanced years can serve out that sentence before committing to an assisted living facility, where my personal preference would be female nurses... yet I know as I get older, free time gets more precious. I never had much free time in the past 10 years so why start now?
I have been an MTT-S member for a few years, but I have never been a huge IEEE contributor, just co-author on a couple of papers back in the 1980s, and noticeably absent from a few papers on topics I worked hard on, back when young engineers didn't get any credit for doing the dirty work of testing and plotting data. I try to attend local section meetings at the University of Arizona (spouse currently serves as local section chair), and occasionally I have served as entertainment there. I have served on the CSICS paper selection committee for the past year which has been both rewarding and fun. Presumably my singular qualification is that I created a web site on microwave engineering which serves the lower strata of microwave engineering (students) which is an area where MTT-S has perhaps not done the out-reach that they are capable of.
If you are a member of MTT-S you get to vote, just visit their web site and make your choice. You will need your membership number and password (which can always be recovered) to log in here. If you are not currently a member if IEEE MTT-S, you can join now and still vote. Voting ends August 29, 2013.
I really did not mean to associate my name with this web site until after I retired, as it can become awkward to my present or future employer. You said what? is something I will have to live with.
You can download the campaign poster shown above and post it in your workplace, or as Mad Magazine often suggested, wrap fish in it. Send me a picture of it next to the water cooler and I'll add your image to this page.
Download the Unknown Editor's campaign poster
There are two other candidates who may indeed be better choices to fill this spot. Steve Reising and Schmuel Auster are arguably better qualified, I will be honored just to have been considered. See you at the next IMS!
While we're on the subject of campaigns, you can make a collection of failed campaign buttons without appearing on Hoarders, as they are so small. Let's enjoy a few below, found on Ebay. Goldwater's in your heart you know he's right was parodied as in your guts you know he's nuts. I remember this well, which is proof I will soon be part of Romney's 47 percent on government assistance. Hey Mitt, bite me!
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Carter was a nice guy, you can't say he wasn't. He was also an engineer. I voted for Ford, I figured we needed to legitimize him. The seventies were an interesting decade in many ways which cannot be compared to the politically-misguided teens we are in now.

John Anderson was the second person I voted for in a presidential election. It is a shame he lost, America needs a third party to serve the middle ground. Anderson advocated 50 cents/gallon gas tax which would be offset by 50% reduction in social security taxes. Where are the outside the box, centrist thinkers these days? I'd vote for Anderson again, even though he is 92 years old now. It is likely that any near-future third-party will be extreme right wing, which is an interesting but sure-lose proposition. Interesting in a Three-Stooges perspective...

If you think politicians getting some trim is a new phenomenon, look back on Gary Hart's failed 1988 Presidential campaign. His tag line was "let the people decide". They did, and luckily we never heard much from him again. Anthony Weiner could learn a lot from Gary Hart.

Vote early, and vote often!
Steve
The Unknown Editor
Check out the Unknown Editor's amazing archives when you are looking for a way to screw off for a couple of hours or more!