Some historical background In my last article, I mentioned the avoirdupois pound, but I avoided any side story about this measurement unit to focus on the horsepower story. But after researching its origins and evolution, I discovered, IMHO, a fascinating story. The avoirdupois system is a system for the measurement of weight developed in the …
Like everybody else with a broadband internet connection, I spend an embarrassing amount of time watching YouTube videos. Shame on me. The only redeeming factor of my worthless habit is that the videos I like to watch are usually about stuff I like; history, science, engineering, planes, cars, astronomy, space, computers, well you get the …
A forgotten war There was a war that took place in 2020, and I am fairly sure you did not know much about it. After all, we were all caught in the middle of the Covid19 pandemic, so news about a small war declared between two little-known countries located in Southeast Asia, over the possession …
An unexpected shortage You may have heard some news about the worldwide shortage of chips. Not potato chips, or wood chips. We are talking about integrated circuit chips, a.k.a. silicon semiconductor chips, like the ones you could find inside your PC, at least when manufacturers still allowed you to open the case without voiding your …
There are other good things about Sweden, apart from köttbullar (Swedish meatballs) If you think that Sweden is just a place to find boxy Volvos and weird Saabs, then the following fact will surprise you: One of the three fastest production cars in the world was designed and built in Sweden. In a world dominated …
