Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Notes from Underground


Monday, August 29, 2016

Death in Kansas City

From ENR - regarding the recent waterslide tragedy in Kansas City:

"The Verruckt was the brain child of Jeff Henry, co-owner of the Schlitterbahn waterpark empire, and John Schooley, the company’s head designer, according to the Star, citing a bevy of interviews granted to various media outlets over the years by Henry.

No slouches, Henry and Schooley, have teamed up on eight patents related to waterpark rides, the Star has reported.
 
“Henry holds numerous patents for ride innovations and has brought inland water surfing, uphill water coasters and endless tube rides to the industry,” Schlitterbahn notes on its website.” The Henry family operates four Schlitterbahn parks around the country.”
 
But neither one is a licensed engineer, according to the paper, which reported that Schlitterbahn employee Mark Stuart was listed on the building permit as the project’s architect.
 
Henry and Schooley designed the ride using trial and error. Sandbags fell off the ride in earlier versions, prompting a series of changes to the angles of the ride, according to the paper.
 
A Schlitterbahn spokeswoman declined to answer whether any other certified engineers, beyond BSE, were involved in the “vetting, review or design of the ride,” and, if they weren’t, then why?"

Autonomous Driving and Bridges May Not Mix

The Tech Behind Donald

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Are Mashed Potatoes a Real Pizza Topping?

From the FAQ world of PIN and password protection issues at United Airlines.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Can You Write as Well as a Summer Intern - Charlotte Yang of the New York Times


Monday, August 22, 2016

The Compexities of Managing Teams

From Ed Abbey, author of numerous books and articles, including the Monkey Wrench Gang -

"One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothing can beat teamwork."

The Characteristics of Geniuses

From The Creative Architect: Inside the Great Midcentury Personality Study by Pierluigi Serranino -
  • The power of deep concentration, tremendous patience, and self-discipline in accomplishing difficult work.
  • Skepticism combined with a paradoxical willingness to believe.
  • Passive surrender to his mental task, and honest frankness to belief in its expression, along with the courage to buck the current of the times.
  • Spontaneity of intuitive and insightful expression.
  • Unusual and original, often surprising ideas.
  • Ability to generalize from the particular significant form the unimportant and the capacity for recognizing a problem that others fail to notice.
  • Periodicity of productive creativity.
  • Intense emotions along with strong capacity for self-control.

Defining Your Personal Tech Ecosystem

Great example from economist Tyler Cowen - Link:

"A few of you have asked, I considered that question in 2012, here is a significantly revised update:
1. Now I know how to text, sort of, though I hardly ever do it.  It strikes me as the worst and most inefficient technology of communication ever invented (seriously).  It’s not that fast, and it’s broken up into tiny bits of back and forth.  I don’t see how it makes sense beyond the “What should I get at the supermarket? — Blueberries” level.  There is intertemporal substitution, so just, at some other point in time, spend more time talking, writing longer letters, making love, whatever.  Not texting.  It is never the best thing to be doing, except to answer some very well-defined question.
2. I now carry only one iPad around, as I donated my spare iPad to a poor Mexican family.  I use it very often for directions, book and restaurant reviews, and general life advice.  Plus email and keeping current on my Twitter feed.  I simply don’t want a screen any smaller than that.  My iPad now also has a rather pronounced crack on the front glass, but that adds to its artistic value.  I dare not drop it again.
3. I have an iPhone, which I hardly ever use for anything.  Occasionally someone calls me on it, or I use it to check email in situations when it might be rude to pull out the iPad.  Other times I am rude, but it’s actually a form of flattery if I am willing to check my iPad in front of you.  You may not feel flattered, however.
3b. Except for the occasional Uber ride, I don”t use apps and hate reading news sites through the apps, I won’t do it.  I’m used to the web, not your app, and I hope I can get away with being a stubborn grouch on this forever.
4. I now have a Bloomberg terminal, which is very cool.  It is amazing that a product designed in the “before the internet as we know it” era still is the clear market leader and the best option.  Bloomberg is a great company with a great product(s).  Right now I can do about 5 of the 25,000 separate commands, but the fault is mine not theirs.  In the meantime, send me email at my gmu address, not what is listed on the Bloomberg column.
5. I use my Kindle less over time.  It remains in that nebulous “fine” category, but I prefer “real books.”  Kindle is best for works of fiction when I know in advance I wish to read every page in the proper order.  I am continuing with my long-range plan to read Calvin’s Institutes on my Kindle, bit by bit, in between other works.  This will take me ten years, but a) he is a brilliant mind, and b) in the meantime I won’t lose sight of the plot line.
6. I have a new Lenovo laptop, sleek and fast, plus some computers at work.  I don’t even know what they are, but probably they are quite subpar.
Way more iPad and way less texting are I suppose the main ways in which I deviate from the dominant status quo.  Come join me in this and we shall conquer the world."

Engineering the Future of Retailing

Future Management Skills for Engineers

From MIT Sloan:
"We ask these executives to consider how they see the future and to assess the current capability of the corporation. From this, we were able to identify the “future risk factors” — the aspects of the corporations that would be important in the future, but are currently poorly executed. The same top risks came out every year: how to manage virtual teams; how to manage in multi-generation groups (particularly with regard to differential use of technology); how to support rapid knowledge flows across business units.
Notice what all three areas of risk have in common: They are all fundamentally about management. But this is a very complex form of management — managing virtually rather than face to face; managing when the group is diverse rather than homogenous; managing when the crucial knowledge flows are across groups rather than within. These are highly skilled roles in terms of both managerial capabilities (for example, to build rapid trust, coach, empathize, and inspire) and management practices (for example, team formation, objective setting, conflict resolution). It is these managerial skills and practices that will be augmented by technology over the coming years in ways we may have not yet grasped but which will emerge, just as the use of personal technology has emerged."

California Water Hogs

Hyperloop Technology Looks at Shipping

Engineer of the Year - Marc Edwards

Walmart's Crime Problem

From the current issue of Bloomberg Businessweek -

  • More than 200 violent crimes, including attempted kidnappings and multiple stabbings, shooting, and murders, have occurred at the nation's 4,500 Walmart's this year, or one a day.
  • Walmart has one worker for every 524 square feet of retail space - a 19% increase in space per employee from a decade ago.
  • Greeters have been removed from all Walmart stores.  No greeters, removing people for self-checkout, less security guards > crime per Walmart store?
  • Target < crime than Walmart, but Walmart >operation hours than Target.
  • Walmart decides on the security budget each store based in part on a database of how much crime happens on its property.

Trump - The Engineer

The Science of Scheduling

From ENR:

"Stuart Ockman is president of Ockman & Borden Associates, project management consultants based in the Philadelphia area. He started his career at Bechtel working on power projects but now specializes in project planning and control, claims management and claims avoidance. He talked recently with ENR Deputy Editor Richard Korman about the state of construction scheduling, what makes a good scheduler and how schedules are manipulated.

ENR We first met over a decade ago when you and some other old-school experts in critical-path method scheduling raised concerns about how the most popular scheduling software in the industry allowed users to "game" the results to create schedules that suited the users' purposes. Is this still a problem?  

Ockman Yes. What's killing the scheduling part of the industry is that scheduling software products are available to anyone at low cost. The users rather quickly become good at using the product but don't know what they've got and don't understand that it's just a tool and the importance of honesty. Construction's a tough industry, with all sorts of agendas, and when it comes down to claims, law firms shouldn't be allowed to hire consultants that will give them any answer they are looking for.  Schedulers must be intellectually honest."

Driverless Uber Set for Pittsburgh


Energy Storage Can Make Money Right Now


Survey Results on Infrastructure Attitudes

From the American Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) - link.


Underwater on Your Home Mortgage?

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Will It Matter if China Controls Critical Water Technology?

Funding Infrastructure in the Era of Labor Shortages

How We Get From Point A to Point B

From Kevin Kelly in The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces that Will Shape our Future:
  1. Buy a car, drive yourself (the default today).
  2. Hire a company to drive you to your destination (taxi).
  3. Rent a company-owned car, drive yourself (Hertz rental).
  4. Hire a peer to drive you to your destination (Uber).
  5. Rent a car from a peer, drive yourself (RelayRides).
  6. Hire a company to drive you with shared passengers along a fixed route (bus).
  7. Hire a peer to drive you with shared passengers to your destination (Lyft Line).
  8. Hire a peer to drive you with shared passengers going to a fixed destination (BlaBlaCar).

Dematerialization

In 1950 a beer can was made of tin-coated steel - - the weight was 73 grams.  The aluminum beer can in 2016 weighs 13 grams.

In 1972 the lighter beer cans eliminated the need for an additional manufactured product - - the beer can opener.




Apple on Augmented Reality

The World of 500-Year Floods

A paragraph to ponder from Medium on the historic Louisiana flooding:

Today’s rainstorm in Louisiana is at least the eighth 500-year rainfall event across America in little more than a year, including similarly extreme downpours in Oklahoma last May, central Texas (twice: last May and last October), South Carolina last October, northern Louisiana this March, West Virginia in June, and Maryland last month.

Climate Change and a Future of Zombie Algae Blooms


Linear Labs - Granbury, Texas

The Elements of a Good Question

From The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces that will Shape our Future by Kevin Kelly:

A good question is not concerned with a correct answer

A good question cannot be answered immediately

A good question challenges existing answers

A good question is one you badly want answered once you hear it, but had no inkling you cared before it as asked

A good question creates new territory of thinking

A good question reframes its own answers

A good question is the seed of innovation in science, technology, art, politics and business

A good question is a probe, a what-if scenario

A good question shirts on the edge of what is known and not known, neither silly nor obvious

A good question cannot be predicted

A good question will be the sign of an educated mind

A good question if one that generates many other good questions

A good question may be the last job a machine will learn to do

A good question is what human are for

The Elements of a Good Question

From The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces that will Shape our Future by Kevin Kelly:

A good question is not concerned with a correct answer

A good question cannot be answered immediately

A good question challenges existing answers

A good question is one you badly want answered once you hear it, but had no inkling you cared before it was asked

A good question creates new territory of thinking

A good question reframes its own answers

A good question is the seed of innovation in science, technology, art, politics and business

A good question is a probe, a what-if scenario

A good question skirts on the edge of what is known and not known, neither silly nor obvious

A good question cannot be predicted

A good question will be the sign of an educated mind

A good question is one that generates many other good questions

A good question many be the last job a machine will learn to do

A good question is what human are for

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

AR Maybe Here Faster Than Anticipated

RAND Report on Infrastructure Risk from Climate Change

The Era of Not Willing to Invest in Infrastructure

From the Wall Street Journal today - link:

"Plunging global interest rates have made borrowing cheaper than ever. But instead of spending on aging roads, bridges and buildings, many state and local governments are scaling back.

New government-bond issues have dropped to levels not seen in the past 20 years. Municipal borrowers issued about $140 billion in bonds for new projects last year. Adjusted for inflation, that is 53% lower than in 2006 and 21% lower than in 1996. So far this year, municipalities have borrowed $95.1 billion, about $10 billion more than at this time last year.

Seven years after the recession ended, voters and government officials remain scarred by the deep budget cuts they endured at the height of the financial crisis and the sluggish revenue growth that has constrained spending since then."

Friday, August 5, 2016

Climate Change Comes to the Olympics

Not Knowing Where the Olympics Will be Held

From Gallop:

"Despite controversies in the news about the Rio Olympics, fewer Americans are able to identify where the Olympics are taking place than in years past. Less than half (46%) know the Olympics will be held in Rio, with an additional 17% correctly identifying Brazil as the host nation. This is down from 65% who correctly named London as the location for the 2012 Games, in addition to 8% who were partially correct in naming England as the site of the games."

The Need to Design for Resilience

Thursday, August 4, 2016

The Ugliness of the Trump Rallies

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Civil Engineering Term of the Week - Submerged Floating Bridge


Olympics Start This Friday!!!


OSU Engineers Helping Others

Great blog and project - - engineers helping others in Africa.

The Key to Trump's Success Came from an Engineer

From CNN:

"Trump pinpointed the moment when he realized the key to success. The year was 1964 and the 18-year-old accompanied his father to the ceremony opening of New York's Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. He noticed that the man most responsible for this stupendous piece of engineering, Othmar Ammann, was present but ignored by the politicians and others who spoke. He concluded that Ammann was too weak to seize the credit he deserved and vowed he would never "be made anybody's sucker.""

Koch on Management

A fascinating interview with Charles Koch - link:

"So the next step is I want to apply this in our businesses. So I said, "Okay, we've got to build better information sources, better knowledge sharing, and have a challenge culture here -- that no one has all the answers." And if you're a leader at any level and your people aren't challenging you, you've got to change that or you can't be a leader here because you're not going to be using ideas, you're not going to have innovation, you're not going to fully develop your people. And if you're working in a group and you don't challenge, then you're not really doing your job."

How the 1% Eat KFC