Jihad needs scientists
in [Design]
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From: Eeyore on 9 Nov 2006 13:09 lucasea(a)sbcglobal.net wrote: > "George O. Bizzigotti" <gbizzigo(a)mitretek.org> wrote in message > news:u6d6l2d5vbhkvqoiqarfqkeq05rr4uvl4r(a)4ax.com... > > On Wed, 08 Nov 06 13:03:03 GMT, jmfbahciv(a)aol.com wrote: > > > A junior chemical engineer is much less likely to come up > > with something revolutionary (working in a 100+ year-old field versus > > a much younger field), whereas the downside risk is wasting $billions > > on construction of a faulty design and the lives of the workers if > > uncaught faults compromise safety. > > This latter risk of lives *cannot* be overstated. It is *the* primary risk, > and chemical plants are extremely complex beasts. It takes a huge amount of > experience to see all of the "gotchas", where condition A combines with > condition B which combines with conditions C, D, E and F, to cause the plant > to blow up. And add to this the fact that most of those conditions are a > result of out-of-spec operation (operator error, out-of-spec starting > material, etc.) or other unanticpated events. Ya gotta think of *all* of > them...and then think of some more...and only a person who has participated > in many, many plant designs would have internalized how important that is, > well enough to lead the next plant design project. It's called cascade failure and certainly is one way to sort the men from the boys. Graham
From: Eeyore on 9 Nov 2006 13:15 lucasea(a)sbcglobal.net wrote: > Something approaching 20% of the people in our country can't afford any sort > of health care. To say that "ain't broke" is one of the most morally bereft > statements I've heard in a very, very long time. Congratulations, you've > demonstrated the lack of a conscience along with a lack of a brain. BAH may not be aware that it was a social conscience that drove Britain to look at the possibility of a National Health Service. A society that condemns its less well-off members to poor / inadequate health provision is no great example to anyone. Heck, there's an American chap I chat with on MSN who simply couldn't afford to buy the best medicine for his wife's condition. Graham
From: Eeyore on 9 Nov 2006 13:17 unsettled wrote: > jmfbahciv(a)aol.com wrote: > > unsettled <unsettled(a)nonsense.com> wrote: > > >>I object because they're not heavy industry. > > > > > > Now define heavy industry. > > Heavy industry is capital intensive and difficult to relocate. Not impossible though. Asian companies have bought entire US steel plants and moved them overseas. Graham
From: lucasea on 9 Nov 2006 13:24 "Eeyore" <rabbitsfriendsandrelations(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message news:45536EC1.828B0793(a)hotmail.com... > > > lucasea(a)sbcglobal.net wrote: > >> "George O. Bizzigotti" <gbizzigo(a)mitretek.org> wrote in message >> news:u6d6l2d5vbhkvqoiqarfqkeq05rr4uvl4r(a)4ax.com... >> > On Wed, 08 Nov 06 13:03:03 GMT, jmfbahciv(a)aol.com wrote: >> > >> A junior chemical engineer is much less likely to come up >> > with something revolutionary (working in a 100+ year-old field versus >> > a much younger field), whereas the downside risk is wasting $billions >> > on construction of a faulty design and the lives of the workers if >> > uncaught faults compromise safety. >> >> This latter risk of lives *cannot* be overstated. It is *the* primary >> risk, >> and chemical plants are extremely complex beasts. It takes a huge amount >> of >> experience to see all of the "gotchas", where condition A combines with >> condition B which combines with conditions C, D, E and F, to cause the >> plant >> to blow up. And add to this the fact that most of those conditions are a >> result of out-of-spec operation (operator error, out-of-spec starting >> material, etc.) or other unanticpated events. Ya gotta think of *all* of >> them...and then think of some more...and only a person who has >> participated >> in many, many plant designs would have internalized how important that >> is, >> well enough to lead the next plant design project. > > It's called cascade failure and certainly is one way to sort the men from > the > boys. I'm not talking about cascade. This is a situation where each of these pathological conditions exist on their own. It's a confluence of several very unlikely but independent events. Frequently, plants will run for years experiencing situations where n-1 of the listed conditions occurs, and nothing bad happens. Then there's that one time when all n occur at once, and that's when people die. Eric Lucas
From: lucasea on 9 Nov 2006 13:25
"Eeyore" <rabbitsfriendsandrelations(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message news:455370BA.E2A633A4(a)hotmail.com... > > > unsettled wrote: > >> jmfbahciv(a)aol.com wrote: >> > unsettled <unsettled(a)nonsense.com> wrote: >> >> >>I object because they're not heavy industry. >> > >> > >> > Now define heavy industry. >> >> Heavy industry is capital intensive and difficult to relocate. > > Not impossible though. > > Asian companies have bought entire US steel plants and moved them > overseas. But the point is that the barriers to entry into that industry are very high, in large part because of consolidation, and it's true in a large number of sectors of the US economy right now. |