> Engineers are an entirely distinct set of roles that among other things validate the plan in its totality, not only the "new" 1/5th. Our job spans both of these.
Where this analogy breaks down is that the work you’re describing is done by Professional Engineers that have strict licensing and are (criminally) liable for the end result of the plans they approve.
That is an entirely different role from the army of civil, mechanical, and electrical engineers (some who are PEs and some who are not) who do most of the work for the principal engineer/designated engineer/engineer of record, that have to trust building codes and tools like FEA/FEM that then get final approval from the most senior PE. I don’t think the analogy works, as software engineers rarely report to that kind of hierarchy. Architects of Record on construction projects are usually licensed with their own licensing organization too, with layers of licensed and unlicensed people working for them.
That diversity of roles is what "among other things" was meant to convey. My job at least isn't terribly different, except that licensing doesn't exist and I don't get an actual stamp. My company (and possibly me depending on the facts of the situation) is simply liable if I do something egregious that results in someone being hurt.
> Where this analogy breaks down is that the work you’re describing is done by Professional Engineers that have strict licensing and are (criminally) liable for the end result of the plans they approve.
there are plenty of software engineers that work in regulated industries, with individual licensing, criminal liability, and the ability to be struck off and banned from the industry by the regulator
It's not that PE's can't design or review buildings in whatever city the egregious failure happened.
It's that PE's can't design or review buildings at all in any city after an egregious failure.
It's not that PE's can't design or review hospital building designs because one of their hospital designs went so egregiously sideways.
It's that PE's can't design or review any building for any use because their design went so egregiously sideways.
I work in an FDA regulated software area. I need 510k approval and the whole nine. But if I can't write regulated medical or dental software anymore, I just pay my fine and/or serve my punishment and go sling React/JS/web crap or become a TF/PyTorch monkey. No one stops me. Consequences for me messing up are far less severe than the consequences for a PE messing up. I can still write software because, in the end, I was never an "engineer" in that hard sense of the word.
Same is true of any software developer. Or any unlicensed area of "engineering" for that matter. We're only playing at being "engineers" with the proverbial "monopoly money". We lose? Well, no real biggie.
PE's agree to hang a sword of damocles over their own heads for the lifetime of the bridge or building they design. That's a whole different ball game.
Those Isabel black sabel brushes in the photos are some of the softest things I've ever used. I use them more often to just brush my face than paint with them. Expensive as all hell though - I think I paid $70 each for mine (compared to a $5 bag of like 50 cheap brushes you can buy from the art store).
Sites are tracked by cultural ministries using restricted site inventories that are only open to government officials and established researchers. There are many more known sites than there is funding to excavate them so this one was likely known for decades before they got around to it.
These site inventories are generally filled using cultural resource management records submitted by surveyors, miners, construction companies, etc. who are often legally required to file them. A few tour guides I’ve used in Mexico found new ruins in the jungle and submitted their records with GOS coordinates and pictures. If locals knew about it, someone likely recorded the location a while ago.
This is fascinating, I had no idea it worked this way. I just always sort of assumed people happened upon random places that eventually make the news, not that there's a backlog of places to explore.
The backlog has actually gotten really bad in the last decade because of all the LIDAR surveys. There are many large settlements in the jungles of Central and South America that have been discovered in recent years that are both more expensive to study because they're so inaccessible and much larger so they're difficult to keep secret.
Yeah, I find it curiously delusional, but the reality seems to be a segment of the population just refuses to accept the drastic change in pace to political change.
> A single AI data center server rack takes up the same energy load of 0.3 to 1 international space station.
The ISS is powered by eight Solar Array Wings. Each wing weighs about 1,050kg. The station also has two radiator wings with three radiator orbital replacement units weighing about 1,100kg each. That's about 15,000 kg total so if the ISS can power three racks, that's 5,000kg of payload per rack not including the rack or any other support structure, shielding, heat distribution like heat pipes, and so on.
Assuming a Falcon Heavy with 60,000 kg payload, that's 12 racks launched for about $100 million. That's basically tripling or quadrupling (at least) the cost of each rack, assuming that's the only extra cost and there's zero maintenance.
Falcon Heavy does not cost 100M when launching 60 metric tons.
At 60 metric tons, you're expending all cores and only getting to LEO. These probably shouldn't be in LEO because they don't need to be and you probably don't want to be expending cores for these launches if you care about cost.
The real problem typically isn't weight, it's volume. Can you fit all of that in that fairing? It's onli 13m long by 5m diameter...
Where this analogy breaks down is that the work you’re describing is done by Professional Engineers that have strict licensing and are (criminally) liable for the end result of the plans they approve.
That is an entirely different role from the army of civil, mechanical, and electrical engineers (some who are PEs and some who are not) who do most of the work for the principal engineer/designated engineer/engineer of record, that have to trust building codes and tools like FEA/FEM that then get final approval from the most senior PE. I don’t think the analogy works, as software engineers rarely report to that kind of hierarchy. Architects of Record on construction projects are usually licensed with their own licensing organization too, with layers of licensed and unlicensed people working for them.
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