When it comes to making rope, there's no school like the old school. I love that, despite the advances made in the areas of fabrication and industrial automation, there are still products made using methods that haven't changed in a century. Some things, as this video from How it's Made illustrates, are better off without updates.
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4:40 pm Mon
Dec 10, 2018
Traditional industrial-scale rope-making is all kinds of neat
Louis Vuitton converting perfume production lines to hand sanitizer manufacturing
French conglomerate LVMH — owner of Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, and Christian Dior, and other luxury brands — is converting its perfume production lines to crank out hand sanitizer. And no, they won’t be selling high ticket hand sanitizer bottles in their boutiques. “These gels will be delivered free of charge to the health authorities,” the […]
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When contracting with Chinese manufacturers, it's very hard to avoid forced labor
The China Law Blog (previously) is one of my favorite sources of insight into the secret workings of the businesses that produce the majority of the world's daily-use goods.
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Before you ask your Chinese factory for a discount, make sure you won't be kidnapped and/or have your product cloned
A post called "The Right Way to Reduce Your China Product Costs" on China Law Blog (previously) sounds like pretty anodyne stuff, but it turns out to be a catalog of several technothrillers' worth of ultra-weird, real-world skullduggery and chicanery from the world of late-stage capitalism and trade war.
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Your barista may be at home, but that doesn’t mean your coffee game should suffer
Gather round, young and old — and hear tales of bygone days. Back in olden times, citizens would mass at a house of coffee, wherein skilled java alchemists would concoct special blends and apply artisanal wizardry to make each steaming chalice an appointment for the taste buds. Granted, said wizards, once known as baristas, were […]
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Learn to play the piano, but not in that horrible after-school way you’re thinking
Whether it was Bach or Chopin, Ray Charles or Jerry Lee Lewis, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Alicia Keys or Norah Jones, there was someone whose mastery on the piano made you think, wow, I wish I knew how to do that. It’s a singular, almost timeless skill — and if you love music, there’s no […]
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These weighted blankets will help soothe those frayed nerves
With everything happening now, even the most jaded among us are bound to feel some pangs of anxiety now and again. It’s a crazy time. When we crawl into bed each night, it’s common for our brains to go into overdrive and start thinking — and worrying — about what’s going on and what’s to […]
