Author: paul
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Indestructible Robot Ghostwriter #1
It’s not X, it’s Y, is a particular English construct that has drawn more than the usual amount of discussion in recent months. Language used to be for storytelling. You might begin your work with one theme, one event; as it progressed, you could explore some aspect of that world, painting a picture as you…
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Predictable
Are you exploring enough? Be honest. You’ve been exploiting again, haven’t you. You’ve been working the same reliable vein of coal that’s kept the boiler fed for years. Have you really resigned yourself to never step outside the mine again? You know it isn’t going to last forever. At some point the roof will cave…
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Try your hand at entomology
Can you identify the subject of the header image of this website? If so, leave a comment. Here is a full resolution copy. The edited version could also help.
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A TrailerTail for every EV?
For a little over a decade, the rare sight of a passive aerodynamic modifier could be seen on highways across America. Depending on your vantage point, it could look like the tail of the Enterprise Space Shuttle… or perhaps a deflated pastry box. TrailerTail® was a hand-operated origami structure that reduced aerodynamic losses at highway…
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Our rights to life and liberty, imploded
The loss of the OceanGate submarine in late 2023 didn’t really shock me much. On one hand, I knew first-hand that carbon fiber was a terrible material for submarines. Having tried to build a molded battery shell for my college RoboSub team back in 2017, I couldn’t imagine scaling up the material that I found…
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A funny kind of party
A few weeks back, I went to a funny kind of party. Someone hammered posters into telephone poles all over my commute route, and I figured I wasn’t the only one seeing them, so I looked into it. Scanned the QR code and was compelled to download an “app.” Why would I risk catching some…