Notes.
Zach and I launched a Kickstarter this week. It funded quickly (~150% over four days), plus we got some good press, so I don't need to pressure anyone to share it...
Nevertheless: check The Public Radio out. It's fun.
Pathing.
- EOS (maker of industrial 3D printers) formed a partnership with plasmo, a quality assurance & diagnostics systems company.
- Researchers at MIT discovered a type of material (complex oxides) which is both magnetic and ferroelectric, making it a possible replacement for flash memory.
- On Empathy: Everyone has two boxers.
- There's some pretty sloppy argumentation in this (apparently famous) HBR article, "First, Let's Fire All the Managers." Nonetheless it's worth a read.
Building.
- The construction of Lanzhou New Area, a city in central China, involved the flattening of 700 mountains. - part of a larger effort to move 400 million people into cities. I'm having a hard time understanding what that means, but a Google Image search gives some sense.
- Brain Corporation is a company working to develop robots that are taught (not programmed).
- Just because Alibaba's IPO is over doesn't mean you should stop keeping track of them.
- With no big players in the market and a lot of untested technology at play, developments in wave power are slow.
- How Crayola makes crayons.
- Lockheed Martin bought one of Sciaky's EBAM (electron beam additive manufacturing) machines, which are *big.*
Logistics.
- Bill Simmons was suspended by ESPN for what seem to me to be *very* reasonable comments about Roger Goodell and the Ray Rice situation (i.e. his total shirking of responsibility, coverup, etc).
- Apple will no longer keep the encryption keys for iOS users' passcodes, meaning that they'll be unable to unlock them for the police.
- A good, clear, and thorough description of Coca-Cola's supply chain and manufacturing stack.
- LittleBits = the Quirky of LittleBits (or something).
- Wolfram Alpha now lets you tweet a program using their crazy, crazy language.
Reflecting.
- A thought provoking inquiry into public bathrooms as a great, weird, social leveler. <- By a friend. It's good.
- Poe's Law. <- This was, presciently, used in reference to The Public Radio ;)
- Simple, unexciting experiences are often the ones we remember with the most fondness.
- Electric vehicles are *really* efficient if you live in NY or California. But if you live in a place that gets its power from coal, they're only somewhat better than hybrids.
- 9 cows of yesteryear. <- Literally nine old photos of cows.
Stuff that doesn't fit into my dumb/arbitrary categories.
- Glengarry Bob Ross.
- Usonian = Frank Lloyd Wright for "(not really) affordable American architecture."
- A good article about a crazy chess tournament in St. Louis, and the general state of the sport.
And.
In 1924, a cartel was formed by Osram, Philips and GE to decrease
the lifetime of incandescent light bulbs. It worked.
Love, Spencer.
ps - Thank you to everyone - especially my friends at Gin Lane, Undercurrent, and on twitter - who referred me to everything here.
We should be closer friends. Coffee's on me.
