An Introduction

Who am I? If you want to know, just Google me. An interesting side-effect of having an uncommon first name and an uncommon last name from different language roots means that I can say with confidence that my name, without even bothering with a middle initial, is internet unique. So any reference you find to Emmett Lalish is in fact referring to me, which may have something to do with why I never really attempted anonymity. 

What is this blog about? Primarily myself and my hobbies, which have a tendency to blur into my career. In searching for a common theme, I found shape to permeate my various endeavors. I love sculpture, and though I didn't take to pottery like my father, I found a medium in 3D printing. It allowed me to combine mathematics and art with a precision I couldn't achieve in traditional media. But even long before that, I made modular origami, chainmail armor, and forged knives: all fundamentally sculptural. 

My original career, aerospace engineering, drew me because I love airplanes. Most people ask if I am or want to be a pilot, but that's not the kind of love I have for them. What I really appreciate is their sleek and elegant form. Airplanes are sexy! And I believe the reason is because they are rare in engineered forms for being so highly optimized as to approach what nature has achieved, which is the very source of our ideals of beauty. 

As my career has turned more and more to software, I find myself still in the realm of sculpture, somewhere between the physical (additive manufacturing) and the ethereal (graphics and rendering). Wherever I am, I want to be on the leading edge, expanding what is known. As an engineer it is my calling to invent the future. Between my emphasis on form and future comes the name of my blog: The Shape of Things to Come. 

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