There are stacks of subsystems that can be tested quickly, janky, yet safely. Safety is always paramount, but a relative term. Safe for an end user, and safe for a prototype engineering test need not be comparable. Similar safety, for sure, similar longevity, ease of use etc., potentially very different.
High voltage and radiation equipment here. Our products are sleek, or prototypes you literally would not touch with a 10ft pole. Jank is part of the game. If we can run a bunch of sketchy tests for $100s to find a path forward, and do pre production on the order of $1k to $10k, we might justify that $100k purchase down the track. On the other hand, we might find our own method that means the $100k solution is never required. We fail fast when we can and learn what we can.
Mech eng here as well. This advice is great. I work in a high tech firm, prototyping through in-house production. Stuff breaks and we fix it. We make prototypes with the wrong parts, the wrong tools. We do our design, send out parts for machining, and often end up fixing stuff by hand because of a design oversight (it happens, it's prototyping, not production).
If you can get access to student or lite versions of some FEA software, start using them. I've found few places have cared about my software certifications, and more than I can adjust to their software package of choice. Some places will have higher requirements, but not all.
Machinery handbook rocks, but it is far from perfect. It's great for machining, it doesn't cover all of mechanical engineering. I've leaned hard on Roarks formula handbook through my career. A materials reference book goes a long way too. More recently referring frequently to degarmos manufacturing book.
I've used a cheap-ish Windows laptop for almost all of my research and design. CAD can suffer as assemblies get large, I turn fancy rendering off as it is mechanical engineering, not making prettying renders. FEA can eat resources fast. I've pushed to a beefier desktop as required. I've done some CAD on a tablet, but I hate the form factor for it.
To start, I just used google maps to find walks around my neighbourhood long enough. I then started going by my watch and caring less about distance. I started hiking again after a few months, after a long hiatus. Small walks to start, an hour or so on a Saturday. I bought a cheap gps watch on run-out clearance mid year, to help me track miles as a friend and I set a large goal. Pen and paper could have given the same metrics though.
You can do it. I aimed to up my walking last year, stuck with it and started to really enjoy it. It went from a challenge, to doable, shifted my goals higher and hit some goals I wouldn't have imagined at the start of the year. Best of luck.
I have two exercises I do that target specific muscles. I've added them to my regular routine as I find they're a weak point in my overall strength. One helps fight a back injury from a car accident, the other helps stability when trail running. Neither muscles get used enough in anything else I do to really develop, but their lack of strength can occasionally be an issue for me. I've found it beneficial. To be clear, I'm by no means ripped, just trying to be more active.
Yep! We used to ride the rip out on boards as it was easier than paddling through the waves. Dart across once you're out the back then catch a wave in.
I've built scale track out of 25x6mm flat bar steel, plenty strong enough for people to ride on. I wouldn't call the time spent 'fun', but even after buying equipment you'd break even over the mcmaster track very quickly.
However much skill it may or may not require pales in comparison to recharging a phone rocks and sticks. Papers maps and a small compass are cheap, light weight insurance.
Ive experienced similar with some local national parks. They now expect people to rely on digital navigation rather than paper, so only produce maps suitable for driving from landmark to landmark. Though I don't personally enjoy navigation by electronic device, having a hard copy backup is critical and getting harder to have.
I've been really enjoying sucking at stuff recently. I like to think I'm pretty good at my job, and some of my hobbies. A few of my new pass times however, I am woeful at. It has been genuinely refreshing and enjoyable to sit back and watch myself suck at something, laugh, and keep trying.
A primary difference would be that this is happening now, rather than being a hypothetical. One can dislike both, but not mentioning a hypothetical surely doesn't negate the dislike of the actual.
I thought bout that at the time and preferred pushing an extra half hour away from Sydney. It corrects the half-hour minor inconvenience, while putting sunrise at a better time for more of the state, and more in line with what is normal in the eastern states. The interstate business hour compatibility arguments of the past don't seem to really hold in the modern era, but people getting up for school and work is still the normal.
I'm a big fan of these. I maintain both a simple text resume, and a 'fancy' one in a pretty latex template. I've gotten jobs from both, and have even (successfully) submitted both in separate parts of the same job application. Sometimes people want to see the 5 star skill ratings, though I'll never understand why, but having it as an option has unfortunately helped.
I truly love that book. I haven't found it specifically useful, but as background information to linger in my brain. I recommend reading it to all my graduates, very few 'get' it though.
Very much this. I will have deep opinions, based in as much fact as is available. If new facts are available, I do my best to constantly re-evaluate what those opinions are.
I agree, my pack is the first I ever bought as an adult, an upgrade in volume, materials and comfort from my Vietnam era cadet issued pack. While there is quite the difference between those two, most differences to a normal modern pack are minor. I'm disappointed it's approaching time to replace it as it feels like home, but some of the fabric is rapidly degrading with repair seeming unlikely.
Ive tended to pack just like this, though got there through trial and error. I'll often pad between heavier items and the rear most of the pack such that it stacks them close to my back. (Edit for clarity: I pack like the second image, weight int he middle for good stability in harder terrain)
I found it interesting on a hike recently, seeing my buddy's 15yr newer pack, how many little features made load carrying far easier. 'Load lifters' in particular, drawing the load forward towards your neck, made such a large difference to shoulder weight that I retrofitted them to my own pack on the trail.
Myself included. All data listed, though they couldn't specify if it was my passport or driver's license number. I haven't been a customer with them for over 5 years.
I used to sail and fairly quickly got the understanding for sailing up-wind. The thing that blew my mind, and continues to, is that the top speed you can reach is dependant upon the length of the boat and not the weight. This obviously excludes modern things like motorised craft, planing, foiling etc.
The density or complexity of traffic really has nothing to do with whether a car has been designed in such a way that it significantly impedes vision where it is most critical. In this case, a quiet roundabout with one other car almost directly in front.
I've had an entire Mazda 2 hidden from view in a roundabout, by the A-pillar and associated airbag of a VE commodore. Pedestrians and bicycles required much more effort to see in that car than any other I've ever driven.