From the Weird History YouTube channel, an epic undertaking: telling the (US-centric) cultural history of the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s in just (just!) 16 hours.
This is like a mega ultra monster extended mix of We Didn’t Start the Fire. The videos are organized chronologically, with each year taking 15-30 minutes to summarize, so you can watch small bits here and there instead of having to ingest a whole decade in one go.
The Hyundai-LG Metaplant in Georgia is a joint battery production facility set up by the two South Korean giants. Representing at least $7.6 billion in direct investment, it's the largest economic development project in Georgia's history; it's expected to provide 8,500 jobs directly at the plant and 40,000 direct/indirect jobs statewide, bringing in a total of $4.6 billion a year. In short, once it's up and running, it will be good for the U.S. economy.
So I was surprised to learn that an immigration raid on the plant arrested over 300 South Korean workers. These were predominantly engineers and technical specialists, brought over by Hyundai subcontractors to install equipment for the battery and production line. "No company in the U.S. makes the machines that are used in the Georgia battery plant," an immigration lawyer told PBS, "so they had to come from abroad to install or repair equipment on-site — work that would take about three to five years to train someone in the U.S. to do."
The issue appears to be that the arrested workers were here on B-1 business visitor visas, but that the installation and repairs were taking longer than the visa period. However Christi Hulme, an American labor leader in Savannah, says local unions "believe Korean workers have been pouring cement, erecting steel, performing carpentry and fitting pipes."
"Basically our labor was being given to illegal immigrants," Hulme said, without providing evidence. ( I have a hard time believing Hyundai saved money by flying people over from Korea, and putting them up in a hotel, to do carpentry and plumbing.)
In any case, this post isn't about immigration, although that raid falls neatly into our culture of sensationalized news. And hot-button sensationalized news provides a gigantic distraction from a much quieter, yet far more radical occurrence that recently happened at another foreign automaker's plant in the American South.
At BMW's Spartanburg, South Carolina plant, humanoid robot company Figure has been running trials with their 'bots working on the production line. And they've set a record: A Figure 02 robot successfully completed a 20-hour continuous shift handling sheet metal panels, and it did it autonomously.
To be clear: The robot worked two shifts. Without taking a coffee break. Without going to the bathroom. Without stopping to eat, check its phone or field calls from its kids.
At press time, you could find a lot of media ink spilled about the Metaplant immigration raid. But you can't find any news of any labor unions protesting the robot that flawlessly worked a double shift. You'd think we'd see at least one labor leader saying "Basically our labor will be given to robots."
Even in these degenerate times this (gift link) is a shocking story, to the extent that anything these people do can be shocking any more.
Two extremely sophisticated satellites that were launched at great expense 15 years ago, but are operating at a small fraction of the cost to launch them in the first place, are going to be destroyed by the Trump administration. This despite — or rather because of — the fact that they are in perfect working order, and are gathering crucial data to track climate change, which is why they were launched in the first place.
The reporting here frames this in terms of a “cost savings” measure, because that’s the Vought-Miller administration’s explanation for this, but that of course is simply a lie. The total cost of these missions is almost all sunk costs: trashing these satellites saves almost no money, but it does accomplish the real mission here, which is to continue to destroy the capacity of the United States government to do critical in every sense scientific and medical research.
If a genuine political opposition should somehow arise in this country, and go on to win political power, the people who are trying to revoke the best part of the last couple of centuries (at least; the integralist types want to go back about seven) need to be treated as the treasonous criminals that they so publicly and obviously are.
The post Trump administration trying to destroy two satellites gathering critical climate change data appeared first on Lawyers, Guns & Money.
The Rail is by Cleveland-based product designer Brian Hendricks, a/k/a Lofted Goods. It's a rail-based, wall-mounted planter system consisting of a wood dowel and 3D-printed components.
The vessels are easily removable, and slot into the brackets via a sliding dovetail.
The bottom of each vessel is unscrewable, allowing you to drain water as necessary.
What I really appreciate is that Hendricks put careful thought into how the system could be easily installed and assembled:
Hendricks doesn't sell The Rail as a product, but posts the files here so you can 3D print it yourself.
Some words are carved into regulation, others were invented during a lunch break in brand strategy.
The post What Terms on Alcohol Labels Really Mean: The Words You Trust and the Tricks You Miss appeared first on Primer.
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