Fill in the blank: "It's the *, stupid." We've all heard this insulting catch phrase—but can you place its origin?
One of the most publicized uses may have been "It's the economy, stupid." This was the sign hung in Bill Clinton's campaign headquarters by James Carville to keep everybody "on message" in 1992. An earlier instance of this insulting catch phrase was heard in the '70s: "Keep it simple, stupid." Since then, the phrase has been seen with numerous other subjects.
Thus the origin of the headline for the first feature article in this month's issue, "It's the system, stupid," by Stanford Crane, CTO, and Josh Nickel, research and development engineer, at Silicon Bandwidth, on the necessity of considering the whole system while designing the interconnects. Many connector companies are touting this "holistic" approach recently, leading to solutions that may prove to be revolutionary. Crane is also an accomplished mountaineer, Superbike race-team owner, entrepreneur, and aspiring Hollywood producer, while Nickel, who earned his PhD in electrical engineering at the ripe old age of 26, is a professor at the Santa Clara University in his spare time. Note to IBM and Microsoft: keep your eye on this ball.
Our second contributed article is from AirBorn, an interconnect systems supplier headquartered in Addison, TX. David Koenig details the process of testing and verification when new technology outpaces military specifications.
Our readers have told us often that the products are the first things they turn to in each issue. Our "Focus On: Cable & Assemblies" section generated a record amount of submissions from companies interested in announcing new cables, cord sets, modules, and cable assemblies. You'll find this listing on p. 22 of this issue—it is the largest Focus On section in many months.
See you at NEPCON East, May 4–6, 2004, in Boston.
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Valerie Coffey, Editor-in-Chief
valeriec@pennwell.com
