Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1526407
60 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2024 Our collective progress has been both incre- mental and mind-numbing, but personally, I believe we have missed a lot of important opportunities because we chose to bow to cer- tain standard practices without ever question- ing the rationale. One that stands out for me was the banning of lead from electronic sol- ders. It was something that at first I embraced and then, upon looking at the science, railed against because had it been a problem at all, it was a very manageable problem. e cost to industry has been huge but on the bright side, the banning of lead caused me to think of the benefits of eliminating not just lead but solder as well with the notion of the Occam Process and Solderless Assembly For Electronics (SAFE). I have been writing this column for over a quarter-century and a couple of times during that period I have chosen to post the following poem, "e Calf Path" by Sam Walter Foss. I have a copy of the poem posted on a wall near my workspace (I would call it a desk but it is much smaller than a desk) because it has been a continuing inspiration over the years. Even though the poem is 100 years old, its lessons are timeless: It is so easy to get caught in the trap of groupthink and mindless homage to what is believed to be "gospel." It teaches that we don't make real progress when we con- tinue to travel in the ruts of what has been dic- tated by conventional thinking. As Foss says, "For thus such reverence is lent, To well estab- lished precedent." Revisiting 'The Calf Path' Flexible Thinking by Joe Fjelstad, VERDANT ELECTRONICS