24/7; new use for smart phones - take control of your plane!

This is a little off the usual subjects, but it's something that puzzles me.

Some smart guy showed it's possible to bring down a plane by cell phone, without even being on the plane. I'm not sure; should we thank him for inspiring all the ne'er do wells who blindly assumed this couldn't possibly be done, or should we be thankful for this demonstration of technical prowess, and hope that maybe, someday, someone will figure out a way to prevent it from happening?

At about the same time, the brilliant people at TSA, who, for many years, would confiscate nail clippers

24/7; infoglut

The recent demise of CSI's NewsBrief was not a surprise. In fact, I had decided only days before that I was going to unsubscribe. The reason? It didn't offer anything unique.
As a CSI member, I am already aware of its Practice Groups, certification program, and other activities. More to the point, as a subscriber to other SmartBriefs, from AGC, ASCE, and NRCA, and the SmartBriefs on Sustainability and Leadership, I found too much redundancy. Many of the same links appeared in many of the briefs, as well as in other information sources. It's possible that the CSI NewsBrief was intended more for non-members, but its termination suggests it wasn't of much value to CSI.

Infoglut is nothing new...

No such person

After sending my latest newsletter article to my distribution list, I got the usual half dozen or so "undeliverable" messages. One of them stood out as an example of what such messages should be. Rather than the typical cryptic message:

xl4mhibx02.myunbelievablesite.com rejected your message to the following e-mail addresses:
Joe Blow (joeb@somewhere.com)
xl4mhibx02.myunbelievablesite.com gave this error:
... User unknown

I got this:

24/7; gone fishing

My, how things have changed! The brave new world of 24/7 interconnectivity certainly is marvelous; each day brings new ways to learn more about everything, sometimes too many. I'm not going to give you the old line about "When I was a kid, we had to walk two miles to school, through the snow, uphill both ways!" And I'm not going to rail against progress. I am fascinated by new technology and new products, and I still enjoy learning about everything possible.

But I do wonder if we're giving up much of the adventure and fun of life in favor of trying to do as much as possible.

Do what with the Owner?

Drawings and specifications often have many references requiring coordination with the owner. While that makes sense for some things, for example, location of grommets or selection of paint color (as long as it doesn't include non-standard colors), it doesn't work for quantities. The reason, of course, is that during bidding, the bidders have no direct contact with the owner, and even if they did, I'm sure owners would not appreciate a barrage of calls from various contractors and subcontractors, all trying to obtain information that should have been in the documents. If I were the owner, I'd be on the phone, asking the architect why in blue blazes those questions had not been addressed in the bidding documents.

Directions to the contractor, requiring coordination of various items, appear to make more sense, except for the fact that the AIA conditions of the contract make the contractor responsible for coordination of the entire project,

Loose products and equipment should be NIC

While it may seem like a good idea to specify every last item necessary for a complete, ready-to-use building, specifying loose items - those that are merely set in place - in the construction contract incurs needless expense for the owner. 

In most cases, the owner is better off buying loose items directly from suppliers, with installation provided either by the supplier or by the owner's employees. Going through a contractor adds labor cost and at least one markup for overhead and profit; additional markups will be added by each subcontractor involved.

National Engineers Week, CSI style

The Minneapolis –St. Paul Chapter, CSI, is participating in National Engineer’s Week by hosting a “Teach In” at Robbinsdale Middle School in Robbinsdale, Minnesota.

On February 20, CSI members will enter the 6th grade classroom of Robbinsdale Middle School teacher Todd Norholm to give interactive presentations on basic engineering principles and how they apply to construction. Students will receive instruction and build small structures using gumdrops and toothpicks. When completed, the students will have constructed their own geodesic spheres.