Common Sense 101 - Engineering - December 16, 2012 Edition

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Common Sense 101: Engineering There’s a reason why there’s empty space below. Figure it out, if you haven’t already. Page 14
O 7. You C A N Take it With You f course, moving our stuff around for a short distance is good, but hardly enough. We may need to move it across town, or even across the country. What are we going to do with our kitchen table and chairs, for instance, if we need to loan them to the in-laws for Christmas dinner? How about taking our cordless electric lawnmower to the cottage once in a while, and then bringing it back home? How about … whatever. They say “You can’t take it with you”, and they’re right! Ikea has for a long time been making furniture that can be packed flat and shipped long distances, even overseas. But even their furniture, once assembled—and it takes a fairly long time to do that: not just minutes—is not easy to disassemble and then re-pack flat for transport in one’s car. Sometimes it can’t be done at all. Do people not have a problem with that? Not only should stuff be made possible to put together easily, but also to take apart easily. That goes for large pieces of furniture too. Why can’t sofas be made that way? Wardrobes? Roll-top desks? Kitchen cabinets, counters and sinks? Look around you—you surely have stuff right where you are reading this, which would be a friggin’ chore to transport. Why should you not be able to take it with you? The house too. We already spoke about snap-in-snap-out houses. They could go further: they could be made in pieces that can easily be loaded onto a truck, so that when you’re moving coast to coast—or even if you don’t like your neighbourhood any more—you can take it with you along with your furniture. All you’d need to buy, when you got there, would be a plot of land. Or a large raft on which to float it on your favourite lake. (Floating homes are all the rage nowadays, didn’t you know that? See http://www.floatinghomes.com.) Maybe the only thing you won’t be able to take with you will have to be your garden lawn. (Flower beds, not a problem: make them in containers.) And, of course, your basement, if you have one, will have to be left behind. Everything else—why not take it with you? This nude was sketched by Rodin, one of the greatest artists of all time. Telling you just in case you didn’t know. Page 15
Page 1: Common Sense 101: Engineering Laser
Page 5 and 6: Common Sense 101: Engineering by La
Page 7 and 8: T Dedication his book is dedicated
Page 9 and 10: T The No-Small-Print Warranty he pr
Page 11 and 12: I Introduction am not an engineer.
Page 13 and 14: 25. Everything should be easy to ge
Page 15 and 16: E 1. Good Intentions verything shou
Page 17 and 18: Good Intentions The boom problem co
Page 19 and 20: T 2. Oh, the Humanity! here’s a d
Page 21 and 22: M 3. Come Together, Right Now ost t
Page 23 and 24: A 4. Do it Yourself nd when I say
Page 25 and 26: T 5. Get Lost here’s also another
Page 27: T 6. I Like to Move it, Move it ake
Page 31 and 32: T 8. Cleanliness is Next to Godline
Page 33 and 34: T 9. The Pyramids here’s an Arabi
Page 35 and 36: I 10. Heirlooms n the old days, peo
Page 37 and 38: 11. Put Your Money Where Your Mouth
Page 39 and 40: I 12. Maintenance t’s simply not
Page 41 and 42: T 13. Coolth he word “warmth” i
Page 43 and 44: D 14. Quark o you remember Quark? I
Page 45 and 46: A 15. What’s in a Name? ctually,
Page 47 and 48: I 16. Something Old, Something New
Page 49 and 50: I 17. The Eliminator kea has a phil
Page 51 and 52: A 18. The Sum of its Parts pparentl
Page 53 and 54: I 19. Don’t be Shy t’s no use h
Page 55 and 56: B 20. K.I.S.S. y K.I.S.S. I mean—
Page 57 and 58: I 21. Deliver Us t bears repeating,
Page 59 and 60: I 22. Easy, Pal! t all started in t
Page 61 and 62: A 23. Play it Again, Sam few years
Page 63 and 64: O 24. Upgradability ne problem Stra
Page 65 and 66: W 25. The Numbers Game hen you firs
Page 67 and 68: M 26. Recycling aybe some day whate
Page 69 and 70: E 27. Cool it, Man! verything shoul
Page 71 and 72: O 28. The Dark Side ne of the worst
Page 73 and 74: W 29. Finders Keepers, Losers Weepe
Page 75 and 76: J 30. It’s a Steal ust about ever
Page 77 and 78: O 31. Check this out! nce upon a ti
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Y 32. Autopilot ou know that airlin
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W 33. It’s Standard hen you go to
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W 34. Waterproof hat could be so ha
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W 35. The Rotary Club e often derid
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C 36. Friction ontrary to what most
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O 37. Wireless f course we all get
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O 38. Swiss Army Knife nce upon a t
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W 39. Ouch! hat’s up with manufac
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T 40. Square Peg in Round Hole here
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D 41. Paint Job id you know that a
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W 42. Break Down hy do so many thin
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O 43. Deterioration ne of the worst
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T 44. Corrosion here are corrosive
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O 45. Rock and Roll ne of the worst
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T 46. R.T.F.M. hat stands, as you s
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W 47. Pinch Me hen I was a very you
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I 48. Shocking am a fairly good han
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R 49. Leaks emember the Exxon Valde
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B 50. The Future is Where You’ll
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The Future is Where You’ll be Spe
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Write or draw something. Be an arti
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T About the Author he author is a n
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Common Sense 101 - Engineering - December 16, 2012 Edition

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