2021-06-07
With their astronomical cost, each tiny part of any aerospace mission has to be carefully considered. It sounds obvious...…
The Prepared Archive
From late 2013 through late 2022, we published a weekly newsletter called The Prepared; it evolved into Scope of Work in 2023. Our Members- and Supporters-only archive includes all back issues from this time period.
469 posts
2021-05-31
In March 2020, I abdicated the lifestyle of an intellectually promiscuous on-demand fixer of hardware, design, and production projects...…
2021-05-24
For as long as I can recall, I’ve believed that the marginal cost of buying a nice tool is usually lower than the marginal cost of the time I would...…
2021-05-17
We’ve been watching a lot of The Repair Shop recently, a British show where people bring in broken family heirlooms with the hope that expert...…
2021-05-10
I recently moved, and was therefore reminded about how terrible moving is. Why is it so hard to bear? As an engineer...…
2021-05-03
The pandemic impacted many of the things I am most interested in: cities, buildings, and logistical systems. As a design architect by training...…
Dan Hui
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2021-04-26
A pretty rad visualization showing how the USPS expanded westward and, as the author argues in the accompanying book, “made the nineteenth century...…
2021-04-19
Habitat 67, a brutalist apartment complex arranged like an alien beehive, looms in the distance from the city side banks of downtown Montreal...…
Notes, 2021-04-15.
It is perhaps counterintuitive, but in many ways I find it more enjoyable to be asked a hard question than…
2021-04-12
I’ve always been a huge fan of meet-cutes. It’s rare and incredibly special to find someone or something you care deeply about...…
Notes, 2021-04-09.
After almost seven and a half years in publication, this newsletter crossed 10,000 subscribers last month - and then…
2021-04-05
The White House’s American Jobs Plan's fact sheet is littered through with infranerd catnip: Over $100B in mass public transit; $20B in improved...…