We took all of our employees at Renaissance on a “field trip” to the GM Moraine Assembly plant yesterday. This plant produces nearly 1,000 SUVs (Trailblazer, Envoy, etc.) every day and employs over 2,500 laborers over 2 shifts. The tour
Category: Engineering
Water .vs. Wine
This is a good one from Mark Kelly… It has been scientifically proven that if we drink 1 liter of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli (E.
New Technology for Hard Drives
For those of you not aware, we are starting to see a subtle change in the core technology for computer hard drives. For the last 20 years, mass storage for computers has been based on the spinning magnetic disk. The
Carnage & Culture
I just finished reading the book from Victor Davis Hanson entitled, “Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power”. The basic premise of his story is that Western civilization has prevailed in numerous battles over the past
Big 30K lb Bomb
The US Defense Threat Reduction Agency has stepped out of its usual verification, detection, destruction programs to fund a project called the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). This 30,000 pound weapon could well become the biggest conventional bomb ever used. The
Do You Like Fast Cars?
Here’s one for us car nuts… The Bugatti Veyron that goes 250 mph. Hat tip to Michael Shaffer. [youtube]NMBCw6fJfEA[/youtube] 3 min 15 sec
Models for Artificial Intelligence
An interesting discussion on the Hierarchical Temporal Model… “If you look at the history of big obstacles in understanding our world, there’s usually an intuitive assumption underlying them that’s wrong. In the case of the Solar System it was intuitively
The Ultimate Model Railroad
Similar to many kids, I used to love toying with HO and Lionel model trains… Well, this site shows the worlds largest railway model. Over 450 railway cars, more than 7,000 trailers, 50,000 trees, 3,000 figures, and plenty of bridges
US Soldier – Standard Gear
It’s interesting how the standard equipment that a soldier carries has changed over the years. When we visited the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans in 2005, there was an exhibit that showed all of the gear issued to the army
Top 10 Lessons for Software Developers
Developer Andres Taylor shares his experience in software development with this gem: “Top ten things ten years of professional software development has taught me.” There are some decent insights on this list, and if you’re a developer you should take