A Damn Good Time

This past weekend a friend of mine taped a Neil Young special from a PBS station. Watching the show made me think about other parts of my life where I find enjoyment. (I often seek connections between everything, so this is a simple leap for me.) I sat down to contemplate this idea and wrote down the last movie I really enjoyed (X-Men). I listen to National Public Radio whenever I can. And I read a lot: fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

I also subscribe to a number of trade journals. Some of my favorites include Publishers Weekly and Writer's Chronicle, which offer great insights on the writing craft. Quite a few engineering trade journals cross my desk, too. When I was a practicing engineer, I read ECN and Electronic Products, and I still enjoy getting copies of those magazines and looking through them to see what's going on in electronics. I also read the competitors to Designfax to better understand our niche in this field.

Once I had all this stuff written down, I knew I couldn't let it lie there. I had to find out more, like in what ways do all these items fit together ­ you know, the connection thing I mentioned. We are complex and multifaceted beings, we humans. Some of the items entertain in a purely fictional way, while others are downright stimulating. They provide things to think about. All-in-all, what I found was that ­ in their own way ­ each offered me a damn good time. Truthfully, I love to learn and experience most things that further my understanding, or that offer a new way to look at an old situation, component, business or person.

I realized that it was this same sense of wonder I want to bring to Designfax. Not everyone will agree ­ you might not be interested in the Neil Young special, although you probably enjoy reading engineering publications ­ but together we can explore. The editors at Designfax have made it their goal to maintain that wonder about the components and systems we explore within these pages. When we create a damn good time for our readers, we're doing our jobs well. Designfax was originally designed to be that fun, quick, interesting read that engineers need, at a time when they have fewer hours to spend on such reading.

In my view, trade journals compete for time not only with one another, but also with radio, television and the Internet ­ all of which can change programming in a heartbeat. We need to provide what readers want, and change as the weather changes. We can no longer sit idle and produce "what we've always done," but must adjust and try new things. January 2001 begins a new year in our trade journal history as it does in every other media. Let's explore this together. Let's have a good time at it, too.

Terry Persun
Editor-In-Chief
tpersun@designfax.net