December caption contest: Circling threat

12/2/2011 9:48 AM EST

It is always important to keep an eye on the waves

12/2/2011 1:17 PM EST

He's gonna need a bigger boat.

12/2/2011 1:18 PM EST

Signal analysis is becoming so expensive, Bob had to resort to Loan Sharks.

12/2/2011 1:18 PM EST

Honey, We are on vacation. Can't you leave your work at the office?

12/2/2011 1:21 PM EST

Forget the scopes, Bill, start bailing!

12/2/2011 1:22 PM EST

The only ways to navigate the “Sea of High-tech Component Selection” is to use high–tech analysis equipment. But you got to be careful that it doesn’t turn around and bite you in the a$$.

12/2/2011 1:24 PM EST

Find the wave frequency, get the resonance right, Q it up, and these guys will power me back to the mainland!

12/2/2011 1:30 PM EST

Why do we always have to meet in person with the patent lawyers?

12/2/2011 1:33 PM EST

I know there is a switch somewhere, to turn on the propellers...

12/2/2011 1:35 PM EST

Uh, the Sharc processors don't kick in until I get my feet wet? What does that mean?

12/2/2011 1:36 PM EST

Defense budget cutbacks hit the Pacific Missile Test Range particularly hard.

12/2/2011 1:37 PM EST

Lets see, the spec said low true for attract, high for repel - right?

12/2/2011 1:38 PM EST

I thought when they told me I would be field testing our equipment in Hawaii, I said “sweet!” But this is NOT what I expected; at least they could have coughed up some cash for a bigger stinking boat!!!

12/2/2011 1:38 PM EST

Fish finders! I don't think so. What a rip off!

12/2/2011 1:41 PM EST

June 3, 1961: Seymour Blatt determines the density of seawater using the world's first rho-boat.

12/2/2011 1:49 PM EST

I knew I should have went modular...

12/2/2011 1:54 PM EST

Some want to sink or swim with a big box solution...think modular.

12/2/2011 1:54 PM EST

Next time, assuming there is a next time, I'm bringing a GPS ... and oars.

12/2/2011 1:58 PM EST

Frank's obssesion with LOST really got him into deep waters this time....."4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42...I know that damn island has got to be around here somewhere!!!"

12/2/2011 2:04 PM EST

CQ CQ CQ from maritime mobile DXpedition - oh oh...

12/2/2011 2:08 PM EST

Clyde's theory proved to be correct - sharks swim clockwise in the northern hemisphere.

12/2/2011 2:09 PM EST

The Patent Sharks are circling.

12/2/2011 2:10 PM EST

The Marketing sharks (guys) will never let me finish this before selling it.

12/2/2011 2:13 PM EST

Shark Circling Power Generation; funded by a grant from the Green Energy Initiative.

12/2/2011 2:16 PM EST

They are supposed to swim anti-clockwise whats wrong?

12/2/2011 2:16 PM EST

The Professor was finally able to get off the island using his papayascopes, which sadly left no room for Gilligan and the other castaways.

12/2/2011 2:19 PM EST

Now what did they say? A flat line meant that the sharks were hungry and a squiggly line meant that they were full. Or was it the other way around???

12/2/2011 2:25 PM EST

Quad Fin FET ring oscilator test in real world conditions.

12/2/2011 2:32 PM EST

The Galileo navigation system is a bit clumsy, but I will find my way.

12/2/2011 2:36 PM EST

Darn noise spikes they just won't go away even way out here in the middle of nowhere.

12/2/2011 2:39 PM EST

Steve is hard at work testing the next version of Bluetooth.

12/2/2011 2:41 PM EST

"According to my calculations, 140kHz is suppose to Repel, NOT Attract!!!!!!"

12/2/2011 2:46 PM EST

That's amazing: all three instruments are showing exactly the same thing..........

I'm a goner!

12/2/2011 3:01 PM EST

Survivormans brother is an electrical engineer.

12/2/2011 3:19 PM EST

Now would be a good time to test the sawtooth filter!

12/2/2011 3:29 PM EST

Samarium cobalt magnets, waterproof epoxy, wire wound in coil around boat, circling tightly, key on, MAY DAY, MAY DAY, technician needed for bait ...

12/2/2011 3:38 PM EST

Depth Finder Inc. decided to see if Fred, their new test engineer, would sink or swim.

12/2/2011 4:19 PM EST

If only I could work in peace, without the boss constantly circling my desk!

12/2/2011 6:14 PM EST

Bill knew that the deadline was getting closer when he saw the marketing guys circling his office

12/2/2011 6:21 PM EST

Good thing I got that Law Degree!

12/2/2011 7:04 PM EST

Oh yeah! These new Analog DSPs are gonna chew through my marine motor control design!

12/2/2011 7:55 PM EST

What we have here is a failure to prioritize.

12/2/2011 9:35 PM EST

A-ha! Somebody left the bilge pump code out of the last build!!

12/2/2011 11:49 PM EST

Great fish finder, but where am I supposed to store my catch?

12/3/2011 12:09 AM EST

He had traveled thousands of miles over land and across the sea, but Elbert finally determined the exact location of the bothersome 60Hz hum. But why 60Hz here?

12/3/2011 1:25 AM EST

Scouting boat 1, co-ordinates 15d 12'15"N, 81d 2' 5"W, to head trawler: They're over here! THEY'RE OVER HERE!

12/3/2011 2:32 AM EST

“This is interesting! There are four sharks and the instrumentation indicates that 3 sharks are present. I hope I live long enough to determine if it’s a hardware or software problem.”

12/3/2011 3:56 PM EST

They sent me here to debug the recalled electronic shark repellent.

12/3/2011 4:12 PM EST

“O God, thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small”

12/4/2011 4:17 AM EST

"Did not expect this bit of TigerShark debugging being that dangerous."

12/4/2011 7:32 PM EST

Edward always had an optimistic outlook. He was a little worried this time.

12/4/2011 8:28 PM EST

Max, stop fooling around with your air-swimmers.....oh......!!

12/4/2011 9:17 PM EST

"Yeah, that's real fine expensive gear you brought out here, Mr. Hooper. 'Course I don't know what that b****rd shark's gonna do with it, might eat it I suppose. Seen one eat a rockin' chair one time."

12/4/2011 10:05 PM EST

George went to extremes when floating ground connections. This time it's going to bite him!

12/4/2011 11:45 PM EST

The inventor was very happy to demonstrate his new invention to the VCs because he received a free trip and was invited to their dinner.

12/4/2011 11:48 PM EST

The company decided to integrate engineering into the sales department to increase customer satisfaction.

12/5/2011 12:00 AM EST

Hiring MBAs to handle the "business stuff" freed him to concentrate on engineering was by far his best decision.

12/5/2011 3:43 PM EST

You know...if you ignore the fact that hungry sharks are circling my boat, which by the why is also sinking, and the GPS equipment that I spent a fortune on doesn't work worth a damn, all and all I've had worst days.

12/5/2011 10:54 PM EST

WARNING ! CEASE ATTENUATION NOW
OR BE ASSIMILATED BY SOUP

12/6/2011 6:18 AM EST

why don't they go after guys with tablets, there are plenty of them around, normally...

12/6/2011 7:59 AM EST

According to these oscillator signals, there must be big fishes around here...

12/6/2011 8:16 AM EST

Fred's attempt to establish speech communication with the Great White Shark wasn't very promising.

12/6/2011 1:10 PM EST

I shoulda asked to get it in writing when they aske me if I had any "C" experience!!!

12/6/2011 3:15 PM EST

Magma finally found a fish big enough to acquire them.

12/6/2011 3:20 PM EST

Let´s see... the boat is still, then, vibrations in water must be Surface Acoustic Waves.

12/6/2011 4:13 PM EST

Emissions testing with the engineers watching really makes me sweat.

12/6/2011 5:57 PM EST

After years of search, Irving found the one spot on earth where he could no longer be bothered by cell phone calls. Unfortunately, his quiet test space was the best shark feeding ground left on the planet.

12/6/2011 6:30 PM EST

Jeez, what some guys will do to get that last QSL card.

12/7/2011 2:16 AM EST

Where is the Ground?

12/7/2011 3:49 AM EST

"I wonder if I can pick up 'Desert Island Disks'?"

(For puzzled US readers, DID was a UK radio program where celebrities picked the records they would take to a desert island)

(No, I don't know how they would have played them either)

12/7/2011 3:53 AM EST

HMMM....even this arbitrary waveform generator can't make that waveshape....it would mean going backwards in time.....

12/7/2011 10:58 AM EST

Bill drifts off into a daydream as the project managers swarm his cube.

12/7/2011 11:50 AM EST

A tragic misunderstanding in the early development of gear intended for "S-domain" analysis

12/7/2011 2:20 PM EST

FIN-ished.

12/7/2011 3:02 PM EST

Let´s see... the boat is still, then, vibrations in water must be Surface Acoustic Waves.

12/8/2011 12:37 AM EST

Strange, the equipment is functioning but I keep getting a periodic sawtooth wave?

12/8/2011 2:56 PM EST

Can you hear me now? Could you ever hear me?

12/8/2011 3:29 PM EST

"What are they talking about ? Signal reception is fine here. How many test engineers do they have to send out here to verify it ???"

12/8/2011 5:21 PM EST

My analysis of the brain waves of these creatures shows a predominance of theta waves, indicating a docile nature.

12/8/2011 5:42 PM EST

Just when he thought he was safe with all of the best test equipment the lab sharks started to close in on him.

12/8/2011 7:14 PM EST

Scotty, beam me up now, Goddamm it.

12/8/2011 7:16 PM EST

Bob ? Bob ! I just discovered a new species of Patent Lawyers !

12/8/2011 10:19 PM EST

"I was wrong...working with the WireShark is not funny"

12/9/2011 3:26 AM EST

I keep getting spammed by EE Times, and I don't ever remember signing up for it. Maybe in the early 1990's when I was a junior electrical engineer.

Oh wait, that's a fucking complaint, not a caption.

12/9/2011 10:43 AM EST

After hearing certain waveforms repell sharks, Eugene gets a final lesson in the difference between theory and application.

12/9/2011 1:03 PM EST

Hmmm... In the Southern Hemisphere, the sharks DO rotate clockwise.

12/9/2011 1:40 PM EST

Bob knew if he couldn't pull off this project, the metaphorical sharks were circling hoping he'd fail.

12/9/2011 1:44 PM EST

Despite his keen intellect, Bob had not properly anticipated the negative consequences of equipping sharks with "frickin' laser beams".

12/9/2011 3:20 PM EST

Typical, I tell marketing that I will be ready on Thursday, and they show on Tuesday seeking something to satisfy their feeding frenzy

12/9/2011 4:21 PM EST

Training a hampster to say "row" ... a piece of cake. Try training a shark to say "swim".

12/9/2011 4:28 PM EST

Correction:
Training a guinea pig to say "row" ... a piece of cake. Try training a shark to say "swim".

12/10/2011 1:13 AM EST

Let's rock the boat!

12/10/2011 4:40 PM EST

Dear God, If I get out of this alive, I'll sign up for Afghanistan !

12/10/2011 4:41 PM EST

Where are the Chinese fishermen when you need them ?

12/10/2011 8:30 PM EST

...sorry Chuck, no copy. Did you say turn off the 'sharp propeller' or the 'shark repeller?'

12/11/2011 1:40 AM EST

Homing in on the generated helpless fish sounds,little did the sharks realize that this meek engineer's favorite dish was shark fin soup.

12/11/2011 1:42 AM EST

Fish finder? I don't need no stinking fish finder!

12/11/2011 10:13 AM EST

Now that's concentration!

12/12/2011 6:35 AM EST

Scope knobs I furiously fiddle
To isolate the signal weak
Knowing that I go up shark creek
Without a paddle!

Kumar

12/12/2011 9:37 AM EST

Sensing yet another toxic e-waste dumping event was about to happen, the sharks stage their own Occupy protest. Of course, as always, the humans completely misread their actions.

12/12/2011 11:41 AM EST

Characterizing Dynamic waveform of Fin-Fet .....

12/12/2011 3:32 PM EST

Our new SHARC-based marine navigation system is really going to sink the competition!

12/12/2011 7:20 PM EST

Homemade GPS System....recalculating....

12/12/2011 7:44 PM EST

Well, I finally found a secure place to work. No one is going to sneak up on me here.

12/13/2011 1:55 AM EST

Oh S#!t! I thought WireShark worked on GPIB!

12/13/2011 3:10 AM EST

Oh, the oscilloscopes are detecting fish; I think it is time to take out the hook!

12/13/2011 7:54 AM EST

No problem, I've got this!

12/13/2011 8:30 AM EST

it's revolutionary Boat ... he will join Steven jobs soon ;)

12/13/2011 10:52 AM EST

The FinFET research department.

12/13/2011 4:32 PM EST

I'm guessing that this Guidera character is really an RF engineer with a sick sense of humor!

12/13/2011 6:11 PM EST

Dan requisitioned some circulators for his test setup...

12/13/2011 11:37 PM EST

Triple checked everything therefore the water is safe. Let's go swimming.

12/14/2011 12:16 AM EST

Finally, the world's first shark-powered oscilloscopes!

12/14/2011 1:52 AM EST

Phew!! My Large Fin Shark Collider(LFSC) is finally working! I ll be the first to find the "God Particle"!!

12/14/2011 4:13 AM EST

So clearly my biggest problem was that I needed to recalibrate the scope!

12/14/2011 8:59 AM EST

Finally.... an electronic fish finder that works!!!

12/14/2011 10:05 AM EST

"I'll teach you anything. Just don't eat me."

12/14/2011 10:07 AM EST

Noah, XXI century

12/14/2011 10:13 AM EST

Let's wife believe I'm gonna fishing on my vacation

12/14/2011 10:18 AM EST

No cubicles, no bosses... Isn't it a paradise?

12/14/2011 1:37 PM EST

Bob goes to isolation extremes for his mixed signal design.

12/14/2011 2:15 PM EST

This time to market pressure is becoming a bit too much.

12/14/2011 3:26 PM EST

Morton debugging the shark brain neural interface just in time for tonight's show playing to a packed beach - Shark Ballet. The pas de deux was proving especially troublesome.

12/14/2011 5:35 PM EST

Wall Street is here somewhere, I know it is...I'll just follow this school of Sharks

12/14/2011 9:56 PM EST

The age old battle, Engineers attempting continued improvement, while marketing sharks are aggressively trying to get it out of the lab and into production.

12/14/2011 9:58 PM EST

Eric, attempts to calmly finish product testing while marketing and management hover around awaiting for his final approval.

12/15/2011 7:09 AM EST

The good news is that the electronic shark repellent works at a radius of twenty feet. The bad news is that I can't get off the boat.

12/15/2011 7:10 AM EST

It's a deluxe water-cooled heat sink with nautical-styled fins.

12/15/2011 7:12 AM EST

No matter how far away I go, those marketing guys keep circling around.

12/15/2011 7:24 AM EST

Normally they only have dogs and ponies at these marketing presentations.

12/15/2011 5:53 PM EST

Shark wave generator... don't rock the scope!

12/16/2011 1:14 AM EST

Too much RF interference in town.

12/16/2011 7:30 AM EST

Real time turbulence test engineer!

12/16/2011 1:33 PM EST

This boat has a deluxe water-cooled heat sink with nautical-styled fins.

12/16/2011 2:49 PM EST

Hey Sharks,sea the strength of the signals

12/16/2011 3:24 PM EST

Survivor South Pacific, EE Challenge

12/16/2011 5:15 PM EST

I see the HR department is circling Bob....I wonder what they are going to tell him....

12/16/2011 5:43 PM EST

HR found a new way to terminate employees

12/16/2011 9:59 PM EST

I HATE field tests !!

12/16/2011 10:02 PM EST

Strange... The probe output is a sine wave. It should be a sawtooth wave.

12/18/2011 2:24 AM EST

James Oppen-Sorce buys a boat...makes improvements and is surrounded. (Label fins: Apple, RIM, Symbian and Google. Or any four others depending on the week.)

12/19/2011 12:07 PM EST

If my battery pack holds out for a few more seconds, I'll be communicating with these sharks.

12/19/2011 2:20 PM EST

Due to unforseen oscillations, Bob's Blackfin design was dead in the water.

12/20/2011 9:58 AM EST

Every picosecond of my demise shall be captured, quantized, recorded and known to the world. The science of death and what lies after will be made known to all, if only for mere moments hence. My last breath shall breathe of a life less ordinary and all end in a whimper.

12/20/2011 2:57 PM EST

There are times when the uncontrolled proliferation of test gear only increases your likelihood of becoming shark bait. This is one of them.

12/20/2011 3:18 PM EST

Wow, these are fish callers AND finders

12/20/2011 4:16 PM EST

Once again Fred is oblivious to the dangers of simulating wildlife mating calls.

12/20/2011 4:51 PM EST

Testing to 46 CFR subchapter J per USCG.

12/21/2011 4:16 PM EST

"Yet another round of funding! Now better get that wave on the scope or else SOS will be one signal that's out of your scope", says the Loan Shark.

12/21/2011 5:48 PM EST

William now suddenly regretted that he had not been more assertive with the marketing folks when he suggested the HELP button be dual function as HELP/MAYDAY.

12/21/2011 6:23 PM EST

Offshoring the test department did not pan out.

12/21/2011 7:12 PM EST

this had better work or else I'm dead in the water.

12/22/2011 3:58 AM EST

The SDR approach to send SOS

12/22/2011 8:07 AM EST

It works! I've solved the energy crisis. The vortex created by the swimming sharks is generating enough power for all my instruments. Now how to fix the problem of it not sinking the boat.

12/22/2011 10:49 AM EST

At the last second, Donald simultaneously aquires phase lock on the signal encoding the location of the shark repellent, and passes the registration test for the joint Mensa-Tau Beta Pi Spring Luau.

12/22/2011 6:52 PM EST

If I could just figure out what they're thinking, I could become a millionaire!

12/22/2011 9:46 PM EST

I wonder if the guy in October's cartoon would show me how to use one of these to cook shark fin soup?

12/22/2011 10:20 PM EST

Manual? tl;dr

12/23/2011 1:43 AM EST

Instinctually co-workers could see the engineer was close to finishing the project.

12/23/2011 6:06 AM EST

The day after Tsunami : An Engineers Biography

12/23/2011 2:00 PM EST

Perfect example of "scoping out" the wrong problem.

12/23/2011 3:32 PM EST

Can you hear me now???

12/27/2011 7:01 AM EST

Bob, a marine biologist, finally found the location of the 4 baby sea lions he released last month...

12/27/2011 6:43 PM EST

I wonder what they are really saying to each other!

12/28/2011 2:09 AM EST

The waves on my devices suggest that sharks are partying in this flood!!!!!!!

12/28/2011 3:43 PM EST

Unfortunately Bob's experiments in bio-synchronicity did not go unnoticed by a team of well-rehearsed and eager opportunists.

12/28/2011 3:48 PM EST

.. at the end, it is all about waves.

12/28/2011 3:52 PM EST

.. at the end, it is all about managing the waves.

12/28/2011 10:03 PM EST

He will survive. He's just about to understand how an RTOS works.

12/29/2011 4:10 PM EST

Oh well! Now I know a stack of equipment does not make a good sail.

12/29/2011 6:41 PM EST

"Here it is. 'Damping'. No effect?! NOOOOO!

12/29/2011 9:04 PM EST

As sunset rapidly approached, Fred regretted not perfecting the shark repellent signal first.

12/30/2011 12:34 AM EST

Helpful Tip #12: When working on a complex problem, a few motorized shark fins can provide several hours of uninterrupted solitude.

12/30/2011 8:18 AM EST

Can solar energy really be the "alternative"?

12/30/2011 8:21 AM EST

Sharks also use waves to track down prey, sadly this find will remain unclaimed for now.

12/30/2011 9:03 AM EST

A million dollars in new test equipment and the only thing I can determine is that they are hungry!

12/30/2011 3:05 PM EST

As the deadline rapidly approached, the usual sweet dreams were replaced by increasingly realistic nightmares.

12/30/2011 9:54 PM EST

With no vultures circling above the engineer felt safe that his project would survive.

1/3/2012 3:22 PM EST

Oh boy... is an e a dot or dash.

1/4/2012 2:41 PM EST

Its already January, but here goes:

Have WireShark in your cirle of friends or else, this could be you !

(Trying to play on the circle of sharks in the picture and relating the WireShark took which is a sort of signal analysis tool !)

1/4/2012 3:23 PM EST

Even on vacation Bob knew the Execs would still be demanding results.

1/4/2012 4:11 PM EST

This wireless solar venture is not working out!

1/4/2012 11:21 PM EST

All of a sudden, Bob got an eerie sense there was something fishy between his testbench and the nearest ground he could find.

1/5/2012 12:14 AM EST

[face palm] Jack had an Erie sense he should have added a sunset clause after nauti Cal,the phone interviewer in Chandler,said that there would be a boatload of travel from Anchorage to exotic places as Trektonix's Sails Engineering consultant.

1/5/2012 12:14 PM EST

I guess I have to say it again. Team, we won't make any progress unless we all pull in the same direction.

1/5/2012 4:11 PM EST

I can't wait to try out my new home-made fish finder! I heard this was a good spot, so there should be some fish showing up any minute...

1/5/2012 4:46 PM EST

The sales guy was right...when in a boat surrounded by sharks this scope is better than the competitor's scopes.

1/5/2012 4:51 PM EST

How come I am not seeing the sawtooth waves on the scope? Where are they??

1/5/2012 9:34 PM EST

The real workers if they are truly busy and passionate about their work, can be oblivious to what is really going on around them. Sometimes it is a better way to be.

Ignorance is bliss;)

1/6/2012 11:19 AM EST

Design and development of Dr. Evil's sharks with freakn' laser beams attached to their head.

1/7/2012 4:50 PM EST

Well, now they can't tell this is not a harsh environment for tests!

1/9/2012 8:06 AM EST

Well, I have got all necessary gear and for sure I am highly motivated, but somehow I still feel disturbed...

1/9/2012 8:22 AM EST

Another suggestion:

Damn, I knew I should not trust the headhunter saying that it will be an unforgettable opportunity to develop my technical skills in exotic environment...

1/9/2012 2:56 PM EST

taking my Ham Shack mobile

1/13/2012 3:12 PM EST

Amazing!! It looks like the SDA (Shark Domain Analyzer) works fine.