06 JAN 2018 by ideonexus
Considering Art Creative but Engineering Not as a Questio...
In retrospect, Cohen and MacKeith made a number of questionable assumptions that undermine that conclusion. To be fair, these assumptions were quite common among psychologists at the time and still persist to a significant degree among the public. One of these assumptions is that some activities, such as the arts, are inherently creative, whereas others, such as science or engineering, are not. Another assumption is that creativity is a function of one's ability to fantasize, which is to say,... 1 
notes
notes03 JUN 2016 by ideonexus
Liberal Arts Majors in Technical Professions
While we’ve hired many computer-science majors that have been critical team members, It’s noncomputer science degree holders who can see the forest through the trees. For example, our chief operating officer is a brilliant, self-taught engineer with a degree in philosophy from the University of Chicago. He has risen above the code to lead a team that is competitive globally. His determination and critical-thinking skills empower him to leverage the power of technology without getting bo...
1 Reminds me of my own career graduating with an English Degree and going into Computer Programming.
06 FEB 2015 by ideonexus
We Must Think Outside the Rocket Equation
The rocket equation contains three variables. Given any two of these, the third becomes cast in stone. Hope, wishing, or tantrums cannot alter this result. Although a momentum balance, these variables can be cast as energies. They are the energy expenditure against gravity (often called delta V or the change in rocket velocity), the energy available in your rocket propellant (often called exhaust velocity or specific impulse), and the propellant mass fraction (how much propellant you need com... 1 notes
notes13 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
The Hourglass
Not the flowing waters of time but the falling sands of time have given
modern poets their favorite metaphor for the passing hours. In England,
sandglasses were frequently placed in coffins as a symbol that life's time had
run out. "The sands of time are sinking," went the hymn. "The dawn of
heaven breaks."
But the hourglass, measuring time by dripping sand, comes late in our
story. Sand was, of course, less fluid than water, and hence less adapted to
the subtle calibration required by the v...Folksonomies: engineering invention
Folksonomies: engineering invention
1 notes
notesSand vs water, the evolving art and ingenuity involved in crafting this timepiece.
13 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
The Clock, Icon of Science
Philosophers were always looking for new handles on the universe—new
similes, new metaphors, new analogies. Despite their scorn for those who
cast the Creator of the Universe in man's image, the theologians never
ceased to scrutinize man's own handiwork as their clues to God. Now man
was a proud clockmaker, a maker of self-moving machines. Once set in
motion, the mechanical clock seemed to tick with a life of its own. Might
not the universe itself be a vast clock made and set in motion by t... 1 notes
notesThe first icon to replace religous icons in Western culture.
11 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
What Happened to the Roman Apartment Buildings?
It is both a sad and a happy fact of engineering history that disasters have been powerful instruments of change. Designers learn from failure. Industrial society did not invent grand works of engineering, and it was not the first to know design failure. What it did do was develop powerful techniques for learning from the experience of past disasters. It is extremely rare today for an apartment house in North America, Europe, or Japan to fall down. Ancient Rome had large apartment buildings t...Folksonomies: engineering
Folksonomies: engineering
1 notes
notesUnlike the structures that survived to today, they must have all collapsed under poor engineering.
17 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
Engineering Requires Science
Engineering is quite different from science. Scientists try to understand nature. Engineers try to make things that do not exist in nature. Engineers stress invention. To embody an invention the engineer must put his idea in concrete terms, and design something that people can use. That something can be a device, a gadget, a material, a method, a computing program, an innovative experiment, a new solution to a problem, or an improvement on what is existing. Since a design has to be concrete, ...Folksonomies: science engineering
Folksonomies: science engineering
1 notes
notesScience passively observes, but Engineering must discover what it needs in order to make progress.
23 APR 2012 by ideonexus
Civilization is the Story of Engineering
The story of civilization is, in a sense, the story of engineering—that long and arduous struggle to make the forces of nature work for man's good. Folksonomies: civilization engineering
Folksonomies: civilization engineering
1 notes
notesAll culture is about bending nature to human will.
23 APR 2012 by ideonexus
A Bird Works According to Mathematical Law
A bird is an instrument working according to mathematical law, which instrument it is within the capacity of man to reproduce with all its movements, but not with a corresponding degree of strength, though it is deficient only in the power of maintaining equilibrium. We may therefore say that such an instrument constructed by man is lacking in nothing except the life of the bird, and this life must needs be supplied from that of man. Folksonomies: engineering
Folksonomies: engineering
1 notes
notesLeonardo da Vinci equates a bird with a machine, needing an inventor to give it life.
02 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Description of Humphrey Davy's Safety Lamp
The final version of the lamp was wonderfully simple and surprisingly small. It was a standard uninsulated oil lamp, approximately sixteen inches high, with an adjustable cotton wick, enclosed in a tall column or ‘chimney’ of fine iron mesh. Astonishingly, the lamp required no other protection. In later models Davy added various improvements, largely designed to withstand rough use in the mine.
Yet the fundamental notion that flame would not pass through gauze appeared so unlikely, so co...Folksonomies: engineering invention
Folksonomies: engineering invention
The flame was exposed, but surrounded by a wire mesh that acted as a heat sink to prevent the flame from igniting the gases surrounding it.
