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Machine Design Blogs
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What should you tell your boss? Start with the truth. That's what the folks at Computerworld found out when they talked to their IT leaders. Other things to tell the boss include your ideas, your successes, your wants, and, when appropriate, tell them...
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I always thought it was a little screwy that the grade I got in a high school typing class counted as much as my grade in precalculus. Looks like I wasn't the only one with this idea. Texas is apparently going to fold course difficulty into the calculation...
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Well, so much for the idea that fewer and fewer students are studying math and the sciences. The National Center for Education Statistics compared surveys of high school seniors in 1972, 1980, 1982, 1992, and 2004. One result: The percentage of seniors...
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Here's a news flash: People who take higher level math courses tend to make more money than those who do not, regardless of what they majored in. As reported in the blogs of the Chronicle of Higher Education, In raw terms, the two scholars found the usual...
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For just writing a $10,000 check for a conversion kit, you, too, can have a plug-in hybrid. Oh, and if you drive 40 miles daily, you'll break even on your investment after about eight years: http://www.forbesautos.com/news/features/2008/plug-in-electric-vehicles-story.htm...
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Avatars or online alter-egos can help individuals with Asperger syndrome deal with frustration in a computer-simulated environment to better cope in the real world, say researchers at the Univ. of Texas at Dallas Center for BrainHealth . Asperger...
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At the AUVSI unmanned systems show earlier this week, it was interesting to note all the interest in engine technology for UAVs. The image most people have of the typical UAV powerplant is something pulled out of an RC plane and tweaked for military use....
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You may remember from your calculus classes that symmetry can sometimes be used to solve equations that at first look daunting. But some symmetries are so complicated that they are tough to spot, even for a computer. University of Michigan researchers...
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This sort of makes you wonder about other inventors who might have been buried in what they invented: Associated Press June 3, 2008 - Cincinnati--The man who designed the Pringles potato crisp packaging system was so proud of his accomplishment that a...
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Unfortunately, I can only attend one day of PTC's three-day Global Media Event, being held in Long Beach, Calif. This morning's presentations covered the business side of things. It was said that 2,046 registrants from some 24 countries attended the conference....
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I happened to come upon this piece of information from D.R. Barton, a financial columnist, on the cost components of gasoline. It makes interesting reading. ---------------------------------------- What is the breakdown in the cost of a gallon of gasoline?...
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There has been yet another study that has concluded that corn-based ethanol is bad news from a variety of angles. To quote the summary, The study looked at factors such as the energy needed to produce a renewable fuel source compared with how much energy...
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A few readers wrote in to MACHINE DESIGN commenting on the mistake I made on my blog item "Artistic EDM" . In it, I said that "electrically conductive materials cannot be EDMed." Ovbiously, this is incorrect. As one reader says, "EDM will spark-erode...
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Here's a situation a lot of us have experienced: You take a class that gives you headaches. After a lot of soul searching, you start to wonder if the problem is not you and not the material, but the instructor. Well, the problem might well have been a...
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Later this afternoon, I’m headed to the RAPID 2008 Conference held in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. In manufacturing, “rapid” does not really have an exact definition. Sometimes it connotes additive fabrication techniques (certainly not rapid as in “made...
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Awhile back I wrote about a mutual funds manager who took FedEx management to task for investing in hybrid delivery vehicles though there was no economic justification for it: http://machinedesign.com/ContentItem/57416/Costlybutgreen.aspx Then on Friday,...
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If you're looking for a job and tired of sorting through unrelated job listings, check out Machine Design's new Design Engineer Job Zone at designengineerjobzone.com. All posted resumes are anonymous, so you can post yours knowing your current boss won't...
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Interestingly, PTC is now offering a free download of CoCreate personal version. As you recall, not long ago, PTC -- well known for inventing history-based modeling -- purchased CoCreate, an explicit or non-history-based modeler. PTC says the download...
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A few issues ago, I wrote an editorial challenging the conclusions of a report called Engineers of Jihad, which claimed engineers had a linear-thinking mindset that predisposed them to recruitment by Islamic terrorist groups. You can read the editorial...
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Someone emailed me a link to Rockwell Automation's spoof of several years ago wherein they created a short video for their new "retro turboencabulator." I had forgotten about this thing. It is still funny. I also found out there is even a Wikipedia page...
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You always hear about interoperability problems in CAD. Well, I have a gripe about interoperability issues with everyday software. If like me, you travel a lot on business, you probably find it sometimes hard to keep up with your work at the office. What...
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Sure makes you think twice about taking a helicopter ride......................... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbmLauL0GtU...
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We've all heard about "Googling" your own name to see what your online trail says about you. I discovered a tool called the Online Identity Calculator that helps you assess your online "personal brand" and where you stand. Using my maiden name (been married...
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A while back I wrote an editorial wherein I quoted Duke University's Vivek Wadhwa about the role of foreign PhD's in U.S. innovation. Wadhwa recently coauthored a report about the character of U.S.-born tech entrepreneurs. What he found was that they...
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MIT's media lab recently posted on YouTube a video of a creation called Nexi. Its claim to fame is a set of eyebrows that can rise in surprise, slant in anger, and register other emotions, with some help from eyes that can change shape somewhat to help...
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