Model Airplanes

After the party, came the lecture. A young boy walked through the arena to a tree, at which point Judi Dench could be heard reading a poem, and a video took over (another cost saver). This video spoke about climate change, CO₂ emissions, the melting polar ice caps, rising sea levels. Maps of Amsterdam and Florida, Lagos and Dubai, Shanghai and Rio were shown subsumed by floodwater. A graphic displayed the rising temperature. (Again, try to imagine something like this at an American opening ceremony.) As the athletes, so happy, so fit, began to walk into the arena, they were led by a child carrying a sapling. Each Olympian was given a seed of the same type of tree, that they placed in a canister when they arrived in the arena, to be planted later in a forest, to grow into a tree. It was trees that, at the end of the show, were used to create the Olympic rings. When the Rio Olympics are done, maybe those trees will still be there, and the spectacle will have done some good after all.

Article source: http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/fivering_circus/2016/08/the_rio_olympics_opening_ceremony_was_an_odd_austere_exuberant_spectacle.html

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• Article source: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/education/article/Flying-free-9126259.php

In deciding whether to formally prohibit plane sales that already seem commercially infeasible, Washington should consider one question: if the Islamic Republic is going to shoot itself in the foot, why refuse it the gun?

In the continuing debate about the proposed Boeing and Airbus plane sales to Iran, the focus has been on whether the United States will license the deals. Yet a more important question is whether Iran would ever proceed with the purchases if approved.

THE DEALS MAKE LITTLE SENSE FOR IRAN AIR

Currently, Iran’s airlines have a total of about 150 large planes, with more than two-thirds of them in the hands of private airlines rather than the state-run Iran Air. Earlier this year, Iran Air signed three agreements to purchase about 260 planes: a firm contract with ATR for 20 turboprops, a preliminary agreement with Airbus for 118 planes, and a preliminary agreement with Boeing for about the same number. The airline currently has 22 Airbus planes, all of which were certified by the EU’s Air Safety Committee for flights to Europe as of June 16. Assuming it retires its two Boeing 747s and fifteen Fokker-100s not certified for European flight, Iran Air would have about 280 planes if the agreements go through as announced.

Yet there are four basic reasons why that plan makes no commercial sense: financing, competition,

Article source: http://breakingenergy.com/2016/08/03/why-iran-will-never-proceed-with-the-proposed-plane-purchases/

Taking Gov. Cuomo to Task for His Higher Ed Record

Andrew Cuomo put forward a progressive face at the Democratic National Convention (“Cuomo Assails Republican Agenda,” July 29). Yet, his record on public higher education belies his assertions. The state’s community colleges, serving the least among us, are at 2008 funding levels. In Gov. Cuomo’s 2015 State of the State address he expressed utter contempt for community…

Article source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/readers-sound-off-on-gov-cuomos-record-on-public-higher-education-1470359889

The opening ceremony was relatively matter of fact about two things opening ceremonies are not usually forthright about: the host nation’s and the world’s problems. The evening began in Maracanã Stadium with hundreds of dancers waving massive sheets of Mylar in shimmering harmony, as if ready to warm hundreds of giant marathon runners post-race. It soon turned to the creation of the Amazon, and an arboreal peace sign. A handful of kinetic sculptures, representing microbes, walked the stadium floor, leaving green in their wake. Long pieces of string and light beautifully represented the forest, which was slowly populated. First came indigenous people, then the Portuguese, in clever partial boats, then enslaved Africans, wearing wood blocks on their feet to stand in for shackles, then immigrants from Syria, Lebanon, and Japan, each group leaving behind a trail of development, a streak of white on the rain forest’s green floor. Later in the night, the aforementioned tinsel yeti, some in red, some silver, some gold, danced at each other in rectangles of light, meant to illustrate the differences that continue to divide Brazilian society.

Article source: http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/fivering_circus/2016/08/the_rio_olympics_opening_ceremony_was_an_odd_austere_exuberant_spectacle.html

3D printing has long been a cool technology in search of a huge market. The industry may have found one in mass production.

Because of its high cost and slow pace, 3D printing’s use in manufacturing has been limited mostly to prototyping, making plastic molds for teeth alignment and creating tools. That may be about to change, potentially lifting the shares of printer makers 3D Systems Inc. and Stratasys Ltd. after a long slump. 

HP Inc. will introduce a $130,000 printer later this year, which it says can make parts at half the expense and at least 10 times faster than rival printers — and likely use lower-cost materials. While HP’s entry could be a competitive blow, it may also help expand the market for 3D mass production, where other printer companies have already turned their focus.

Jabil Circuit Inc. plans to be an early adopter of HP’s device, printing end plastic parts for aerospace, auto and industrial applications that it currently makes using processes such as injection molding, John Dulchinos, vice president of digital manufacturing at the electronics-manufacturing service provider, said in an interview.

“We have use cases in each of these segments,” Dulchinos said. “Parts that are in hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of units — it’s cheaper to 3D print them than mold them.”

HP’s technology may usher in a new era for the industry. Production applications for 3D printing could eventually grab at least 5 percent of the worldwide manufacturing economy, and translate into $640 billion in annual sales,

Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-04/this-time-3d-printer-makers-think-they-ve-found-a-sweet-spot