ENGINEERING: China has a two-ton electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft; what does the USA have?

Sunday, August 10, 2025

https://interestingengineering.com/transportation/china-evtol-offshore-rig-delivery

World’s first two-ton electric cargo aircraft cuts 10-hour trip to under 1 hour

  • This Chinese heavy-lift drone is a game changer for offshore missions.

Updated: Aug 04, 2025 08:42 AM EST

*** begin quote ***

China has completed what it calls the world’s first offshore oil-platform cargo mission by a two-ton electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft.

The unmanned V2000CG CarryAll took off from the coastal city of Shenzhen on Sunday, carried fresh fruit and emergency medical supplies across open water for 58 minutes, and touched down 150 kilometers (about 93 miles) away on a China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) platform.

*** and ***

From ten-hour boat runs to one-hour drone hops

*** and ***

Taken together, the advances point to a logistics sector on the verge of rapid change. Long-haul trucking and maritime shuttles remain indispensable for bulk freight, but heavy-lift eVTOLs offer a new middle ground. They are faster than ships, cheaper and cleaner than helicopters, and can reach small landing pads or parking-lot “vertiports” that fixed-wing aircraft cannot.

The Shenzhen-to-rig mission is expected to become regular sorties carrying maintenance parts, food, and medical kits. At the same time, the sale of the first fully certified V2000CG CarryAll signals the beginning of commercial deployment for large-scale eVTOL operations in real-world logistics environments.

*** end quote ***

I’ve often thought that the Gooferment, private industry, or some tech mogul could spark innovation here in the USA by offering something like “Nobel Prizes” for a SPIRO (Specific, Performance or results, Involvement or support, Realistic, Observable) achievement.

I’m not sure that the dollar amount would be as motivating as the prestige of winning it.

Someone should give DJT4547 a list of what would be EPIC HEROIC accomplishments.  Like the various awards that are given out, for BEST of something.

“Some men see things as they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not.”” — RFK

“Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country” — John F. Kennedy inaugural address

Use the “bully pulpit” to inspire action.

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ENGINEERING: What other hidden disasters don’t we know about?

Saturday, June 7, 2025

https://nypost.com/2025/05/28/us-news/nyc-citicorp-tower-skyscraper-was-almost-toppled-by-winds/

This famous NYC skyscraper was almost toppled by winds — and the people who worked inside it had no idea of the danger they were in

By Steve Cuozzo 

Published May 28, 2025, 4:44 p.m. ET

*** begin quote ***

The Citicorp Tower has been a Manhattan skyline icon for nearly a half-century with a glimmering silhouette and unique, prism-topped roof. 

The 54-story skyscraper was dedicated on Oct 12, 1977, by Gov. Hugh Carey and Mayor Abe Beame. Less than a year later, chief engineer William LeMessurier found it had a 1 in 16 chance of toppling over in hurricane winds. 

*** end quote ***

Fascinating read.  And what about all the occupants would would have been killed if the wind blew in the “wrong direction”?  Notice that the elites in the know never told “We, The Sheeple” that they were in mortal danger.

Argh!

Special place in hell fo those in the know.

What other hidden disasters don’t we know about?  Can we trust anyone, any institution, or anything?

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ENGINEERING: Almost all of our infrastructure has this corrosion problem

Thursday, May 29, 2025

https://news.mit.edu/2025/allium-engineering-enables-100-year-bridges-corrosion-resistant-steel-0520?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter&user_id=66c4b9c55d78644b3a882a4d

Startup enables 100-year bridges with corrosion-resistant steel

  • Allium Engineering, founded by two MIT alumni, has developed a process for improving steel rebar to triple the lifetime of bridges and other infrastructure.

Zach Winn, MIT News

Publication Date: May 21, 2025 

*** begin quote ***

Now Allium Engineering, founded by two MIT PhDs, is tripling the lifetime of bridges and other structures with a new technology that uses a stainless steel cladding to make rebar resilient to corrosion. By eliminating corrosion, infrastructure lasts much longer, fewer repairs are required, and carbon emissions are reduced. The company’s technology is easily integrated into existing steelmaking processes to make America’s infrastructure more resilient, affordable, and sustainable over the next century.

*** and ***

Allium is also experimenting with other cladding materials and composites. Down the line, Jepeal sees Allium’s tech being used for things beyond rebar like train tracks, steel beams, and pipes. But he stresses the company’s focus on rebar will keep it busy for the foreseeable future.

“Almost all of our infrastructure has this corrosion problem, so it’s the biggest problem we could imagine solving with our set of skills,” Jepeal says. “Tunnels, bridges, roads, industrial buildings, power plants, chemical factories — all of them have this problem.”

*** end quote ***

Considering that the Gooferment is up to “its elbows” in bridge construction, it’s no wonder that the bridges are falling down.  If an entrepreneur was “selling bridges”, then we would have bridges that would last virtually forever.  But politicians and bureaucrats have no incentive to solve the problems of the world. 

Argh!

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ENGINEERING: Sad state of affiars when “our” bridges can’t stand up to a little rain

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

https://nypost.com/2024/09/29/us-news/shocking-video-shows-entire-bridge-washed-away-by-hurricane-helen-floodwater/?ICID=ref_fark

Shocking video shows entire bridge washed away by Hurricane Helene floodwater: ‘Get out of the way!’
By Angeli Gabriel, FOX Weather 
Published Sep. 29, 2024, 9:22 a.m. ET

*** begin quote ***

Watch a Tennessee bridge collapse into the Nolichucky River on Saturday, when the river surged with floodwater caused by remnants of Hurricane Helene.

After Helene made landfall in the Big Bend of Florida Thursday night, the Category 4 hurricane drenched parts of the Southeast with torrential rains and dangerous floodwaters.

New video shows one of the affected areas was East Tennessee, where the Nolichucky River rose and produced a powerful current that picked up trees and other debris downstream.

The power of this current was evident when Kisner Bridge on Highway 107 in the town of Afton collapsed into the Nolichucky, which had risen high enough to reach the bridge.

“Get Out Of The Way!” said Landon Duckett, who filmed the video, to a man standing close to the river as the middle of the bridge collapsed.

*** end quote ***

Yeah, a “little rain”!  Was it a 100 year flood?  Hugo came through Charlotte in 1989 and it was a disaster.  So that’s only 35 years ago.  How short our memories are.  If I was in FEMA, after Hugo, I would have asked for a survey of the bridges that were most at risk of flooding damage or in such poor repair that they could be expected to fail.  Then, I’d offer to share in a percentage of the repair or replacement. We all know it’s cheaper to fix something than waiting for disaster to strike.  Not like they were spending the money in Hawaii or East Palestine.  I’d suggest that all Federal “Foreign Aid” be suspended until “we” (a) the care of our infrastructure and (b) eleminate the National Debt.  Let’s see how much “We, The Sheeple” want to send overseas for relief by reinstitution private charity like the Care Packages after WW2.  

“Foreign aid is taking money from the poor people of a rich country and giving it to the rich people of a poor country.”  — Ron Paul 

America First.

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ENGINEERING: Building hurricane proof housing developments

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13907567/hurricane-helene-storm-proofed-florida-neighborhood.html

Miracle Florida neighborhood that survived Hurricane Helene without a scratch
By Sonya Gugliara For Dailymail.Com
Published: 07:30 EDT, 2 October 2024 | Updated: 08:40 EDT, 2 October 2024

*** begin quote ***

In the midst of crumbled homes and flooded communities stands a single Florida development that survived Hurricane Helene without a scratch. 

Hunters Point, a housing development in Cortez, Florida, avoided flooding and kept electricity while nearby streets were filled waist-deep with water and houses lost power. 

The community’s first residents arrived in 2022 and have since experienced three devastating hurricanes – Ian, Idalia and Helene – without serious damage. 

*** end quote ***

So it is possible to build housing that can withstand a hurricane!

When the Gooferment “approves” site plans, why don’t they insist on some, if not all, these “lessons learned”.

Federal and State flood insurance should be the big cheerleaders for these type of actions.

Swales, raised roads, beefed up studs, solar panels  —  all seem to be very cost effective.

I don’t understand why Gooferment seems to always be in the way,

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ENGINEERING: “Lifetime” is not forever!

Monday, September 30, 2024

https://www.ericpetersautos.com/2024/09/25/how-long-is-a-lifetime-2/

How Long is a “Lifetime”?
By Eric – September 25, 2024

*** begin quote ***

One of the great scams perpetrated on car buyers is selling them on the idea of “lifetime” fluids – such as transmission fluid, for instance. And coolant. Also oil changes that don’t require doing but once every 7,500 (or even more) miles.

It’s sold this way to sell them on “low maintenance costs” – and that’s true. You just pay for it later, in the form of expensive repair costs caused or hastened by those “low maintenance costs.”

The trick works like this:

Advertise “lifetime” fluids – which leads the mark to believe that means forever. As in the fluid never needs to be changed. What it actually means is for the lifetime . . . of the warranty coverage. And that’s probably true. Those numbers – ten years, 100,000 miles as an example – are not picked out of a hat. They are arrived at after extensive durability studies that accurately foretell how long a component such as a transmission will probably last before it fails if it isn’t serviced during its “lifetime.”

*** and ***

It’s not so much that the fluids – such as the hydraulic fluid in an automatic transmission (or the gear oil in a manual transmission or engine oil) go bad. It is that they get contaminated with the byproducts of mechanical components meshing and unmeshing in an environment of high heat and pressure. Inevitably, the contaminants build up, inevitable reducing the anti-friction properties of the fluid. Fine particles accrue, like plaque inside our arteries, with the same inevitable result. A filter will filter out a lot of these small bits but what happens when the filter can no longer filter – because it’s full of those small bits and pieces?

It stops filtering.

*** end quote ***

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ENGINEERING:The interlocking bricks of glass are like future building Legos

Friday, September 27, 2024

https://news.mit.edu/2024/engineers-3d-print-sturdy-glass-bricks-building-structures-0920?utm_placement=newsletter

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Engineers 3D print sturdy glass bricks for building structures

  • The interlocking bricks, which can be repurposed many times over, can withstand similar pressures as their concrete counterparts.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News
Publication Date: September 20, 2024 

*** begin quote ***

What if construction materials could be put together and taken apart as easily as LEGO bricks? Such reconfigurable masonry would be disassembled at the end of a building’s lifetime and reassembled into a new structure, in a sustainable cycle that could supply generations of buildings using the same physical building blocks.

That’s the idea behind circular construction, which aims to reuse and repurpose a building’s materials whenever possible, to minimize the manufacturing of new materials and reduce the construction industry’s “embodied carbon,” which refers to the greenhouse gas emissions associated with every process throughout a building’s construction, from manufacturing to demolition.

Now MIT engineers, motivated by circular construction’s eco potential, are developing a new kind of reconfigurable masonry made from 3D-printed, recycled glass. Using a custom 3D glass printing technology provided by MIT spinoff Evenline, the team has made strong, multilayered glass bricks, each in the shape of a figure eight, that are designed to interlock, much like LEGO bricks.

*** end quote ***

As a fat old white guy injineer with a 7 year old boy, I will quibble that Lego blocks are easy to assemble and disassemble.  Not withstanding this critique, I find this very interesting.  Almost as good as that African handy fella making buildings out of soda bottles filled with water and mud.  Or the other fellow who made indoor daylights from water filled soda bottles.  

I was taught that “engineers turn interesting ideas into something valuable and useable.

Sounds like these people at MIT have a winner.

Very impressive.

I look forward to the practical use of these new (fangled) “bricks”.

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ENGINEERING: China has another enginering feat to its credit

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-13828953/giant-escalators-China-mountains.html

Pictured: The giant escalators that China installed to save tourists the effort of hiking up mountains

  •     China has built a 1,100ft escalator that takes visitors up Tianyu Mountain
  •     It comes after a 2,260ft escalator was installed at scenic Enshi Canyon

By Jessica Hamilton
Published: 08:37 EDT, 9 September 2024 | Updated: 08:52 EDT, 9 September 2024

*** begin quote ***

The rise and rise of mountainside escalators continues in China.

We previously reported on a 688-metre-long (2,260ft) escalator being installed at scenic Enshi Canyon, Hubei province.

Now China has built a 1,100ft (350-metre) escalator costing $2.2 million/£1.6million that takes visitors up Tianyu Mountain in Zhejiang Province – and it even sprays mist on them to keep them cool.

*** end quote ***

What has the USA built lately?  Planes that are defective, cars that burst into flames, roads that are barely drivable.

Where are our pyramids?

IMHO it starts with Gooferment debt, Gooferment Skrules, and a lack of visionary engineering talent.

It’s a national disgrace that the only thing that seems to grow is the Military Industrial Complex’s big budget weapons and Big Pharma’s killer “vaccines”!

Argh!

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ENGINEERING: Who does installs directly into production? Only incomptent sys admins and sys engineers!

Tuesday, July 30, 2024

https://www.fark.com/comments/13328522/171781856?f=FbVk9IcbaK0iiRpoC_GZuxx7kiD-pW7W485gx#c171781856

xrayspx [TotalFark]  

Smartest (114) Funniest (6)  

*** begin quote ***

No matter how hard I try, I can’t blame Crowdstrike for this being a “Global Outage”. I blame “Crappy Sysadmins”. The fact that 911 systems, hospitals and other “life & death” essential services chose to auto-install untested vendor updates with no internal vetting whatsoever makes me pretty mad. To say nothing of airlines, banks, schools, govt. and everyone else who should goddamn know better.

My company runs Crowdstrike and this didn’t impact us because of exactly that, we push updates in a controlled fashion through Test before releasing anything to Production which could take us down. We do this with MS Updates, Linux updates, Oracle, etc. etc., why would I ever allow Crowdstrike to auto-update on my systems?

/old man yells at cloud
//kids these days
///so over this nonsense 

*** end quote ***

I swear to God that this is exactly what I thought when all these “production” environments went down from one update.  For heaven’s sake, didn’t anyone think that this could happen.  Disaster Recovery?  Information Security? Uninterruptible Service?  Life ’n’ safety critical?

If I was a CEO or CFO, them I’d fire the CIO and CTO in a heartbeat.

Argh!

Thanks FARK for making me think I am NOT the crazy one.

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ENGINEERING: Ominous Views of Japan’s New Concrete Seawalls

Friday, April 27, 2018

Can these 41-foot-high walls protect the country from another tsunami?

Source: Ominous Views of Japan’s New Concrete Seawalls

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ENGINEERING: Aren’t “wrong way” accidents preventable?

Thursday, October 27, 2016

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_WRONG_WAY_FATALITIES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-24-12-20-15

Oct 24, 12:20 PM EDT
5 DEAD IN WRONG-WAY CRASH ON MASSACHUSETTS HIGHWAY

*** begin quote ***

MIDDLEBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — State police say five young adults have died in a fiery wrong-way crash on a southeastern Massachusetts highway.

*** end quote ***

At the very least, can’t those “wrong way” tire destroyers that are use in parking lots be deployed at entrances and exits to the interstates?

Maybe every so often in the main road way?

Triggered by motion detectors?

Activate “lane closed” and “roadway closed” warning lights?

Argh!

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