Why a shortage of toilet paper?
Toilet paper, like all paper, is made using a chemical engineering process. That means manufacturing is a continuous process that runs 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Raw…
Transportation: NTSB critical of automatic driving systems
Seems like they must require a “keep alive” (dead man’s switch) to ensure driver’s remain alert. Among other things, the office wants Tesla to improve its driver engagement monitoring systems.…
Disease: Good summary of coronavirus COVID-19 situation
Summarizes possible impacts to the U.S. and economic issues. CDC is planning for possible school and business closure mandates, summer Olympics could be canceled, and hoping the disease, like many,…
Economics: When there is no scarcity
The reality of life today is that life is actually quite good - compared to the past. (Poverty is at a global low point, for example. Literacy is at a…
Transportation: How EVs are more efficient than ICE vehicles – power on demand and regeneration
ICE vehicle engines, except in hybrids and PHEVs, run all the time. In an EV, you only consume power when you need power. This makes an EV ideal for city…
Software: Why hiring professional software engineers might have been a good idea #IowaCaucus
Oh my: It wasn’t so much that the new app that the Iowa Democratic Party had planned to use to report its caucus results didn’t work. It was that people…
Transportation: One-third of cars sold in U.S. no longer carry a spare tire
One third of new cars sold in the U.S. no longer come with a spare tire vut instead include a temporary repair kit that only works on certain kinds of…
Personal finance: “FIRE” doesn’t really mean “retire early”
True: In truth, “FIRE” should be “FICC” for “financial independence change careers.” Source: What I learned about the FIRE movement while making a doc about it I have followed several…
Climate: Eating vegetarian has little impact on your household carbon emissions
In spite of popular claims that eating vegetarian offers a dramatic reduction on your personal carbon emissions, the actual reduction is about 2%. Which means it is one of the…
Transportation: How Safe is Bicycling? No one actually knows
It’s not that there is a lack of data. Instead, it is that the data are inadequate to answer the questions. No one has good statistics, for example, on crashes…