Who is RG Keen?

[slideman82]

Great CV, RG!

I used to hace a 286 but I think it was an XT... I do remember RB Paint and Qpro!

[jacobyjd]

I loved playing commander Keen.

I wonder if RG still has his football helmet...?

[Krinor]

And for those wanting to put a face with a name: http://www.visualsound.net/rgkeen.html

"When R.G. graduated from Oklahoma State in 1973 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, he dreamed of getting a job as an engineer for Electro-Harmonix. Unfortunately, they weren't hiring at the time. "

They must have been kicking themselves ever since 

[BDuguay]

Rivet Gun
Red Green
Robert Gordon
Rubber Glove

[R.G.]

I got another one....
Really Grey

... um, I don't wanna talk about it...  I'm prematurely gray. True. I'm only 28. It says so right here on this certificate I just photoshopped.

i want to be rg keen when i grow up

That's funny - my Dearly Espoused is always telling me to grow up. 

Rivet Gun
Red Green
Robert Gordon
Rubber Glove

You forgot:
Reeeel Guuuuood (think Howlin' Wolf there)
Royal Guardsman
Royal Gorge
Right Guard
and the one most of my high school confederates used, my super-secret name known only to the cognoscenti - P.Q.


For those of you from other places, the use of only the first letters of a name, especially a boy, is a common thing in the southern USA. The business of calling J.R. Ewing "J.R." didn't even seem strange to those of us who came with a drawl at no extra charge.

[analogmike]

RG has always been so helpful, I still have emails from him from the 90s for reference when I forget something.

Designer of solar power systems.

I have been thinking of power designs, solar and wind... I wonder if there is a DIY forum somewhere for people who like to make their own windmills and solar power systems? DIY would be cheap enough to make it worthwhile, to stop sending some of my money to the middle east for oil.

[R.G.]

Yeah, there are some good DIY windmill places. They even came up with a real advance in the generators for conversion, unfolding them into disks instead of cylinders. Good efficiency and easy to make. The problem with windmills are the same as they always were: Getting enough power needs big (BIG) windmills, it's not constant, and storage is a big problem. Lead-acid is not necessarily environmentally friendly.

Solar is stymied for now for the DIYer. The tech threshold is just too high. The leading contenders are
- a new design of a 20Ft/6M parabolic mirror feeding a Stirling Engine. LANL has one that does a steady 20KW in full sun. Storage is sill the issue, although I'd love to have one of those JUST to run my air conditioner. This setup currently is the most efficient solar-to-electricity converter in existence, exceeding all existing solar cells. All that keeps this from being DIYable is that a 20KW Stirling engine/generator is a very high tech structure, needing either helium or hydrogen at about 700psi as an internal working fluid. Maybe if we can get over the hump of high volume this part will get easier.
- a new form of synthetic photosynthesis the bio-E guys are messing with. It changes some of the structure of chlorophyll and gets the pigment to pump electrons in sunlight, giving direct conversion of sunlight to electricity.
- a new form of light catching to improve the efficiency of solar cells in a big step. Still a problem with storage.
- last but not least, there are some bio-E guys in California that have gene-spliced a bacterium to make it degrade (eat) agricultural wastes like corn stalks, rice and wheat straw, etc. and get it to excrete long-chain hydro carbons. The wee beastie excretes oil. Feed it what you had to figure out what to do with anyway and it gives you back petroleum.

This last made me think that it's possible that all petroleum on the planet may have happened when a similar microbe evolved several hundred million years ago and simply munched up the plant remains for hundreds of millions of years until it died out. Nature has done pretty well over time with gene-splicing on Her own, so I'm sure that we're not the only ones who could have thought of that. Frankly, I think that petroleum coming from microbes is more likely than it coming from heat and pressure on dead plants.

But I'm rambling. As I've said before, a monstrous mind is a toy forever. 

[reverbie]

www.renewablechoice.com

[nelson]

- last but not least, there are some bio-E guys in California that have gene-spliced a bacterium to make it degrade (eat) agricultural wastes like corn stalks, rice and wheat straw, etc. and get it to excrete long-chain hydro carbons. The wee beastie excretes oil. Feed it what you had to figure out what to do with anyway and it gives you back petroleum.

This last made me think that it's possible that all petroleum on the planet may have happened when a similar microbe evolved several hundred million years ago and simply munched up the plant remains for hundreds of millions of years until it died out. Nature has done pretty well over time with gene-splicing on Her own, so I'm sure that we're not the only ones who could have thought of that. Frankly, I think that petroleum coming from microbes is more likely than it coming from heat and pressure on dead plants.

O noes, we're going to be living in a planet covered in black goo.

[MikeH]

BSEE, 1973; MSE Computer Architecture 1982; practicing EE 1973-present, 30+ years at a major corporation, then the last several years at a small company doing what I love. Started learning electronics at 16, never quit. Patent awarded for a graphical method of keyboard remapping. Dabbler for fun in most forms of engineering, including civil, mechanical, chemical. Inventor of the flying lawn mower (no kidding!) long before the "Fly-mo". Inventor of sheepskin keycap covers for personal computer keyboards.  Developer of onboard instrumentation for sailing vessels which predated the current plethora of computing power on the Americas Cup boats. Designer of solar power systems. Dispenser of fact-based opinions. 

You forgot "Snappy-Dresser"

[Electron Tornado]

You must mean R.G.-wan Keen-obi, Jedi Master of things electronic.


"Use the (electromotive) force, Luke"

[Ivana]

Не могу не отметиться . RG (равно как и AG, перекочевавший на другой форум  ) - один из немногих, чье существование опровергает тезис что все буржуи полные дебилы англоговорящие специалисты занимаются исключительно банальностями.

[BDuguay]

I think I've got it!
It's Rusty Griswald, the name of the character who plays Chevy Chase's son in the National Lampoon Vacation movies.
okay, what do I win?
B.

[vanhansen]

Well, you can't really tell what I look like from that. That's my "Bozo the Engineer" costume and makeup. 

Is there much of a difference?   

R.G. is a very kind and generous person.  Not only is a very gifted EE but also one that uses a lot of common sense when it comes to his designs and work. His wealth of information and willingness to share it has really guided me along in the DIY world.

[frequencycentral]

Aron - thank you! 

[Zben3129]

Aron - thank you! 

+1 

[smallbearelec]

Who is RG Keen?

Effects Ninja.

His many honorable students call him "Sensei."

[frank_p]

Deliverer of Mother Natures Laws.

And the laws of Mother Superior are for him, like a warm gun that delivers happiness.

[Skreddy]

Yeah, there are some good DIY windmill places. They even came up with a real advance in the generators for conversion, unfolding them into disks instead of cylinders. Good efficiency and easy to make. The problem with windmills are the same as they always were: Getting enough power needs big (BIG) windmills, it's not constant, and storage is a big problem. Lead-acid is not necessarily environmentally friendly.

Solar is stymied for now for the DIYer. The tech threshold is just too high. The leading contenders are
- a new design of a 20Ft/6M parabolic mirror feeding a Stirling Engine. LANL has one that does a steady 20KW in full sun. Storage is sill the issue, although I'd love to have one of those JUST to run my air conditioner. This setup currently is the most efficient solar-to-electricity converter in existence, exceeding all existing solar cells. All that keeps this from being DIYable is that a 20KW Stirling engine/generator is a very high tech structure, needing either helium or hydrogen at about 700psi as an internal working fluid. Maybe if we can get over the hump of high volume this part will get easier.
- a new form of synthetic photosynthesis the bio-E guys are messing with. It changes some of the structure of chlorophyll and gets the pigment to pump electrons in sunlight, giving direct conversion of sunlight to electricity.
- a new form of light catching to improve the efficiency of solar cells in a big step. Still a problem with storage.
- last but not least, there are some bio-E guys in California that have gene-spliced a bacterium to make it degrade (eat) agricultural wastes like corn stalks, rice and wheat straw, etc. and get it to excrete long-chain hydro carbons. The wee beastie excretes oil. Feed it what you had to figure out what to do with anyway and it gives you back petroleum.

This last made me think that it's possible that all petroleum on the planet may have happened when a similar microbe evolved several hundred million years ago and simply munched up the plant remains for hundreds of millions of years until it died out. Nature has done pretty well over time with gene-splicing on Her own, so I'm sure that we're not the only ones who could have thought of that. Frankly, I think that petroleum coming from microbes is more likely than it coming from heat and pressure on dead plants.

But I'm rambling. As I've said before, a monstrous mind is a toy forever. 

Oh wow!  Thank you for these musings.  I have been thinking a lot about topics such as these lately, and the oil-producing microbe theory of fossil fuel makes plenty of sense to me.

[Jered]

  RG, if its not a guarded secret. Flying Lawnmower? And, can it possibly help me in the loathsome duty of mowing my oversized yard? I've got a couple neighbors I'd love to fly a lawnmower at too.
  Thanks much.