Notes.
Happy Labor Day! You can catch me in Crown Heights this weekend, painting fences and labeling circuit breakers (literally). And wearing all the white I can :)
Wayfinding & Strategy.
- Alphabet/Google shut down Project Ara. This was presumably because 1) modular phones are challenging, and 2) Google wants to consolidate/rationalize their hardware efforts. There are some smart people working there; I'm looking forward to seeing what they do next.
- Concept Laser may be looking for a buyer.
- A strong argument for breaking up the NY/NJ port authority.
Making & Manufacturing.
- A pretty interesting article on the potential for flexible airplane wings.
- Adding a little distilled water to internal combustion engines cools them, resulting in some pretty impressive efficiency improvements.
- I've been really enjoying the Sinica Podcast recently, which covers contemporary China from a variety of angles. This week's episode was an interview with the director of Bulkland, a documentary on the coastal city of Yiwu - a place where crazy amounts of cheap goods are manufactured. I'm looking forward to watching the film.
- A good video of the automation systems at Counsyl, a company doing genetic testing.
- An all American smartphone just isn't possible.
- How SD cards are made. Also, some good slow-mo CNC porn.
Maintenance, repair and operations.
- A huge explosion occurred while SpaceX was fueling a Falcon 9 during pre launch engine tests, destroying the rocket and its contents. This will presumably have a nonzero effect on their plans for the next year, though the loss will apparently be covered by insurance. Separately, SpaceX signed a contract to launch a satellite using a "flight proven" Falcon 9.
- The US side of Niagara Falls is going to be shut off (literally!) for 5-9 months sometime in the next few years.
- A short tour of Mouser's distribution facility. I want to know more about when cut tape orders are actually cut!
Distribution & Logistics.
- Ben Thompson on Google vs. Uber.
- The Acela Express trains will be replaced in 2021 - and they'll be faster and more frequent as well.
- The British Olympic team apparently bought 900 identical duffel bags, causing havoc when they all showed up in the UK at the same time.
- This single map, showing NYC's subways *and* buses, is pretty neat - even if the requirement to show everything at a single scale is a bit predigital. See also: 10 secret subway tunnels in NYC.
- Sweden has some pretty advanced speed bumps.
Inspection & Testing.
- Square form stakes have big advantages over their round counterparts.
- A very thorough description of how the Large Hadron Collider works.
- A Representative Volume Element is a sample of a (typically composite) part that's used to simulate (using FEA) the whole part's performance. I've been playing with RVEs of lattices recently, and hope to be able to share results soon.
- An architectural analysis of NYC fast (and iconic semi-fast) food joints.
- The do-not-call registry is not working.
- Spark testing is a quick, easy way of distinguishing between types of ferrous metals.
Tangents.
- There's an amusement park in NJ where you can operate heavy construction equipment. Field trip?
- The Rocketdyne plant that built (among other things) the F-1 engine is being demolished.
- On codex vitae.
Credit to Jordan, Dan, Gabe, and Dan for sending links this week. If you see something, send something :)
And.
Photos from CATA, where GE's (non aerospace) business units
figure out how to use AM in their industries.
Love, Spencer.
p.s. - We should be better friends. Send me a note - coffee's on me :)
