The Fifth Column: Modeling the Modeling Process: Models, Dreams, and Realities, an Essay in Honor of Patrick Rivett

Some people use models, some use common sense. Those of us who use common sense quickly discover that we are an acute pain to those people who have to use models, as we bypass a step that is often the be-all and end-all of their very modus operandi. In a recent conversation with an able gentleman of the modeling variety, it struck me that perhaps I could make a contribution to greater understanding by modeling the modeling (problem-solving) process in my own inimitable way. I shall not list as references any of the numerous approaches that grace the archival (that is, unread) journals of our profession, not because I don't read them—I do—but because none of these people would survive the embarrassment of being referenced by me. Why, they might even be refused tenure.