10-4 Good Buddy! Get ready for some super-sized and super-sonic topics on the latest episode of Technically Speaking!
On this episode, we invited Zach Weiner, Illustrator in Chief of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, and co-host of The Weekly Weinersmith podcast, to come listen to us geek out about trucks and airplanes… and he said yes!
We start off with the most exciting topic – WALMART. No, really, we did. What?
So Walmart has unveiled a new Big Rig Truck design to… well, what else… haul more stuff. And from an engineer’s standpoint, they made some interesting design trade-offs in order to achieve their goal. But does it LOOK COOL? We decide when you listen!
Unfortunately, our 2nd story isn’t quite as exciting… it’s just some silly nonsense about supersonic electrically powered commercial jet aircraft (by Elon Musk). *YAWN* How would an electric jet differ from a dead-dinosaur-powered jet? And just how much POWER does a jet engine actually produce? We most likely get a bunch of numbers wrong when we try to figure this all out. Sorry.
And finally, on this episode’s patent-pending BRAINSTORM™ segment, we try to help Ryan keep his home in Wyoming warm during the cold winter months. (It’s a simple question, but it actually gets into some advanced concepts in energy efficiency and system dynamics) Let us know if we missed anything, as none of us are native cold-weather people! (We know something about cooling a home, though!)
Alright Techies, Have you still not sent us an Email/Facebook message/Tweet yet? Well hurry up and do it! We’d love to hear from you. And after you do that, go rate us on iTunes to tell everyone about how edumacated you got about “river rocks” n such. Don’t forget to send us your brainstorm ideas! Yours could be featured on the next episode!
Run time: 1 hour 5 min… or so. Joe’s Chromebook wasn’t cooperating. It’s about that.
Music: “Hello, I’m a Truck” – Red Simpson
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Joe was raised by wolves in the Black Forest of Germany, where he taught himself to build flying machines by studying the eagles and falcons soaring high above him as he apprenticed as a cuckoo clock maker. He later graduated from The Ohio State University with a BS in Aerospace Engineering, and now they let him work on real airplanes! In his spare time, Joe likes driving his car in autocrosses and track days, mountain and road biking, radio controlled aircraft, and podcasting, apparently.
You’re clearly not cold-weather guys if you think 25F is a severely cold winter. Try spending a winter in New Hampshire or Vermont, some time, or even in Massachusetts.
I was amused that, after talking about how efficient water is at storing heat, you didn’t mention hot water bottles when discussing coal pans and hot rocks for warming beds. And I’m not by any means an expert on this, but my impression was that the pans full of hot coals were not meant to be left in the bed all night, but were used (typically by one’s servants) to warm the bedclothes prior to use, but were then removed.