2016-09-03

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.