Category Archives: Engineering

And Now For Something Steampunk: The Waterworks Museum

Posted on March 21, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

Last weekend, I decided to hie on out to the Waterworks Museum in Chestnut Hill, outside of Boston. I didn’t expect much: just how interesting could water pumps be? Actually, the pumps at the museum don’t run anymore, so you … Continue reading →

Posted in Boston, Engineering, Museums etc. | 4 Comments

Apple, Supply Chains, and Industrial Policy

Posted on January 26, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

There’s been some really good commentary about the NY Times piece that discusses Apple and Chinese manufacturing, but something about the article didn’t quite wring true. There was a lot of talk about how the U.S. doesn’t have the manufacturing … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Engineering | 1 Comment

In Defense of (Some) Large Author Lists

Posted on November 14, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

While I was convalescing, a minor kerfuffle erupted over ‘courtesy authors’ on scientific papers, when the British Medical Journal announced its new rules for authorship inclusion: The uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to medical journals state that authorship credit should … Continue reading →

Posted in Engineering, Funding, Genomics, Publishing | 4 Comments

With ‘Progressive’ Wisdom Like This, Our Economy Is Doomed: Thoughts on Apple’s Future, and Development Versus Production

Posted on October 17, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

Progressive wunderkinder Matthew Yglesias demonstrates he doesn’t have a clue as to what it takes to actually manufacture a consumer good: What I think is interesting, however, is a scenario that we can be completely confident won’t be next for … Continue reading →

Posted in Computers, Engineering, Jobs | 3 Comments