Cutting Tapers [Microwave Bytes]

I suppose I have always had an eye for the unconventional. Indeed, I know that some have characterized me as a “rebel” in as much as I´m always wasting too much time trying to avoid doing things the same way that everyone else does. But for some reason I have always enjoyed exploring the back routes, the less well-trodden paths that may, or (as usually it turns out) may not, lead to a better solution to a given problem than the boring old conventional approaches. I think also, sometimes, this is coupled to another well-known conundrum, which has been characterized as the “solution without a problem” syndrome. One is aware of this gizmo, this gadget or technique, that in itself appears clever, or elegant, but never seems to get used. One somehow gets besotted and spends the rest of your life trying to find a use for it, and/or wasting energy trying to get others to see it through the same rose-tinted spectacles through which you have always viewed it.