mikejharrison

I used the free podcasts from Coffee Break Italian. They're very good. https://coffeebreaklanguages.com

Over the years I’ve seen a couple of fascinating applications with powdered additive manufacturing. Living metal - powdered metal parts with bacteria ‘in the gaps’. Activated with heat their byproduct was lubricant. Great for bearing faces in mechanical equipment doing long distances in space.

The other was calcium powdered 3D printed parts that had a chemical forced through their porous mass, changing its chemical composition.

Or maybe a modern car and a classic car? I have a classic car and a few classic motorcycles. Great fun, easy to work on, parts are cheap, no MOT, no road tax, and low insurance premiums. What’s not to love?

FreeAgent, it’s awesome.

I'm English. A couple of years ago I started learning Italian by listening to podcasts (Coffee Break Italian) and reading children's books. I then travelled to Assisi to try it out for the first time. The locals were fantastic, they slowed down and spoke very clearly. It's a beautiful place.

I agree though, travelling and learning about new places in another language is awesome, it unlocks so much, and really encourages you to learn.

They’ve also significantly reduced the materials consumed over the years. Cigarettes went from 8.6mm diameter to 8.5, 8.4, 7.9. Introduced slims 7.1, superslims 5.4. They started expanding the cellular structure of the tobacco with co2 to increase its ‘filling capability’. Longer filters, hollow filter tips. Thinner tipping paper. Thinner paperboard, thinner foil, less glue. The list goes on and on. Lots spent on R&D, but small material savings on billions of cigarettes soon adds up.

Quite right. The production facilities do tend to shift to less expensive regions for labour too though, which does increase the impact. The first factory was in the UK, the second Poland, the third was in China. The UK one doesn't exist anymore.

I used to design and build high speed packaging machinery. When I started my apprenticeship in the late 90's I saw machine lines running at 6000 units per minute with 3-4 operators per line and regular maintenance performed by a team of skilled engineers. Mid 2000's it was 10,000 units per minute, 2 operators per line and periodic maintenance performed by a skilled engineer. In 2012 I visited a factory with row upon row of machines running at 20,000 units per minute, fully automated lorry loading for dispatch and the machines diagnosed their own preventative maintenance. There was a guy wandering around with a broom. Two years later I jumped and changed industry.

I've got the new Hyundai Ioniq with adaptive cruise control and lane assist. Last weekend I drove 160 miles with both enabled for the first time. I just found it shifted my focus. I was much more aware of what was going on outside the car. Setting the max speed to 75 mph enabled it to follow the car in front very effectively and overcame the incline and corner speed issue. Only problem was having to intervene to prevent under-taking.

I second this. Mindfulness meditation is really easy to pick up and has worked a treat for me.

A purchase order-o-matic would be a great addition too.

I'd like a single insurance policy to cover me for everything, driving my car, riding my motorbike, health care, critical illness, theft/damage of my possessions or property etc. I'd be happy for lots of data to be collected to refine the policy and tailor the price specifically. Put a black box in my vehicles, collect data about my activity / exercise with a fitbit type device, access my medical record. If it means I have the convenience of just one policy to renew, and I'm paying an insurance premium based on me, my lifestyle, and my driving style - not the average Joe's, I'd be more than happy.

Re: "not sure if there's any science in this". Brain rules by John Medina ISBN 9780979777707 provides compelling evidence that you're probably thinking along the right lines. An interesting read.