“Betting on the success of innovative technologies in the marketplace c...” — Henry Petroski Quote

Betting on the success of innovative technologies in the marketplace can carry all the uncertainty and risk that betting on the next card in the deck does at a blackjack table in Las Vegas. There is a factor of randomness that must be factored in, but precisely how to do so is anyone's guess.

Relying on nothing but scientific knowledge to produce an engineering solution is to invite frustration at best and failure at worst.

Because they are so humbled by their creations, engineers are naturally conservative in their expectations of technology. They know that the perfect system is the stuff of science fiction, not of engineering fact, and so everything must be treated with respect.

I emphasize that virtually every engineering calculation is ultimately a failure calculation, because without a failure criterion against which to measure the calculated result, it is a meaningless number.

No one ever won betting against Nancy Pelosi. You've got to give her credit, no matter what you think of her.

My grandma tells me, 'Do you focus when you're up there?' I'm like, 'Yeah, I think about shooting a free throw.' I don't miss them on purpose. I promise, I'm not betting on the games.

Legalizing betting would create over a hundred thousand new jobs, over $6 billion in wages, and inject $25 billion into our economy.

I think there's a mental block for betting big amounts that doesn't exist for me but it does for other people.

We're betting, at this place and this time, we have people ready for change in the state of Maryland.