2017-04-17

Notes.
If anyone in NYC has ~500SF of assembly/shipping space to sublet, holler! I'm looking for a spot to stretch out on nights/weekends.

Planning & Strategy.

• Toshiba, the Japanese conglomerate which was once part of the Mitsui zaibatsu, is in danger of being taken down by the perfect storm surrounding their nuclear energy arm, Westinghouse. "Westinghouse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States last month, and Toshiba took a loss of more than $6 billion as it wrote down the value of the subsidiary, which it acquired in 2006 to further ambitions to become a world-leading nuclear-energy provider. Spiraling costs at American reactor projects, the upheaval caused by the 2011 Fukushima meltdown in Japan and competition from shale oil and gas output have hurt the company." Now their chip business is on the auction block, and rumors are running wild.
• Saul Griffith, of Otherlab, on the importance of ARPA-e. Trump's draft budget would effectively eliminate the agency.
• Joe's looking for someone to match his longbet on the future of US fossil fuel consumption. His argument is strong; I'm curious to see if someone else can counter it :)

Making & Manufacturing.

• An NYU grad student spent six weeks assembling iPhones in a Pegatron factory outside of Shanghai. This interview with him is very thorough, and avoids the hysteria that often comes with Apple exposés.
• An American software engineer went to the phone malls in Huaqiangbei, Shenzhen and built himself a refurbished iPhone 6s. Pretty clever.
• Arconic completed construction of its Very Thick Plate Stretcher, which reduces manufacturing stress from *really* big pieces of aluminum.

Distribution & Logistics.

• A distribution center in China with dozens of Kiva-like robots moving packages to trap doors in the raised floor. See also a 2014 video of Kivas in use in an Amazon warehouse, and note the little QR fiducials *everywhere*.
• The Port of Savannah is planning an upgrade, which involves dredging an additional 5' of draft; it's scheduled to be completed in 2022 at a cost of $973 MM.

Inspection & Testing.

• An excellent and highly scientific review of a mug warmer which shows, in incredible detail, how much of a piece of crap it is. I recommend reading this to the end, as it's quite rewarding.
• A planimeter is a measuring instrument used to determine the area of an arbitrary two-dimensional shape.
• Some engineers at Berkeley figured out why shoelaces come untied. Finally.

Tangents.

• On the Kaiser roll and the supremacy of East Coast bacon, egg & cheese sandwiches. I lived in California for six years, and that beautiful state's total ignorance of cornerstore deli culture was a major sticking point for me. To me, BEC on a roll is a unifying, class-leveling force - and a pure unalloyed good.
• Delta Airlines: Very good at overbooking, and very willing to pay when they bump you.
• Keyboards and trade, coming together as "symbolic of what makes life in the 21st century great."

Thanks as always to our recurring donors for supporting The Prepared. Credit also to Derek, Eric, and Kane for sending links.
War Tubas: Pre-radar instruments for detecting incoming aircraft.