Metal Band Buys Vinyl Record Plant

Heavy Metal band Metallica is getting heavy into vinyl with the purchase of Furnace Record Pressing, a 70,000-square-foot vinyl pressing plant in Alexandria, Virginia. The band isn’t alone. Musician Jack White owns the Third Man Records vinyl pressing plant in Detroit, another one of the 88 disk pressers in the US.

Metallica sold 387,000 vinyl albums last year. Industry-wide, vinyl outsold CDs last year, the first time since 1987, becoming the single most popular format of physical media in music, accounting for $1.2 billion in sales.

More:

“Metallica Sells So Much Vinyl It Just Bought Its Own Pressing Plant,” Robert Levine, Billboard

“Metallica have bought their own vinyl pressing plant,” Will Richards, NME

“Metallica Just Bought A Northern Virginia Record-Pressing Company,” Elliot C. Williams, DCist

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Ferrari

How to build a Ferrari. A look inside Ferrari’s car factory in Maranello, Italy.

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Kodak Can’t Make Enough 35mm Film

Kodak, which filed for bankrupcy a decade ago, can’t keep up with a new surge in demand for 35mm film. The firm needs to hire more technicians. The growing popularity of analog photograpy and a shortage of silver for emulsions is driving up film prices.

More:

“Kodak is Hiring Film Technicians: ‘We Cannot Keep Up with Demand,’” Matt Growcoot, PetaPixel

“Film photography’s resurgence is leading to huge price increases,” Zachery Eanes, Axios

“Does This Chart Reveal Kodak Self-imploding Again? Are Other Film Manufacturers Following Their Lead?”  James Madison, Fstoppers

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Boeing Screwed Up 737 MAX, Blamed Pilots

When it became clear that the Boeing 737 had reached the end of its lifecyle and couldn’t compete with newer Airbus A320, the company’s aerospace engineers wanted to design a new model from scratch to maximize performance and safety. Corporation executives, focused on costs and shareholder profits, insisted that they tarted up the old 737 and called it the “737 MAX.” Worse, Boeing facilities, once centralized in Seattle, were now scattered around the country, so designers, engineers, and test pilots couldn’t communicate as readily.

When the “new” 737 MAX planes began falling out of the sky, Boeing executives quickly blamed the failures on “pilot error,” not their own disasterous decisions.

More:

“Boeing knew doomed 737-MAX plane was ‘pig with lipstick’ but still let it fly,” Gavin Newsham, NY Post

“How Shareholder Capitalism Crashed a Plane (Two, Actually),” Moe Tkacik, New York Magazine

“Boeing built an unsafe plane, and blamed the pilots when it crashed,” Peter Robison, Business Live

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Cast Iron Pans

The Lodge Cast Iron factory sandcasts about two million skillets a month. Any cookware not up to snuff is given a second chance, melted down and poured into new molds. Daniel Geneen of Eater tours the Tennessee factory.

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The Light Bulb Conspiracy

Incandescent light bulbs could last a century, like this one. Why don’t they? Here’s an actual 20th century corporate conspiracy, the Phoebus Cartel. a Veritasium video.

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Glas

“Glas,” directed by Bert Haanstra, 1959, an Oscar-winning short documentary contrasting the production of handmade crystal and automated bottle making.

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Shutting Down Our Town

“Shutting Down Our Town,” written by Troy Cassar-Daley, recorded by Jimmy Barnes, 2019.

Jimmy Barnes website

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Wilbur Ross on the New U.S. Economic Stimulus: Coronavirus

Commerce Secretary, inveterate liar, and noted grifter Wilbur Ross is going viral for claiming that China’s novel coronavirus epidemic “will help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America.” Kinda like how the Black Death stimulated real estate opportunities by emptying Europe’s cities, apparently.

The comment is not just morally appalling, it demonstrates complete ignorance of 21st century manufacturing processes, just what you want in a Secretary of Commerce. Vehicles assembled in the U.S., for example, contain 40 to 50 percent imported parts and components. If China’s factories shut down due to quarantine, U.S. auto assembly lines will grind to a halt. The Rust Belt won’t save the day by sprouting new factories. the corporate billions liberated by the Trump tax cuts were supposed to fund factory development but were used for unproductive stock buybacks instead.

More:

“Wilbur Ross Says Coronavirus Could Bring Jobs Back to the U.S.,” Ana Swanson and Alan Rappeport, New York Times

“Wilbur Ross says Coronavirus could boost US jobs,” BBC News

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Boeing Stops Production of 737 Max 8 Passenger Planes

Boeing has stopped production of 737 Max 8 jets until FAA regulators say they’re safe to fly. Two of those planes crashed, killing 346 people, after FAA regulators originally took Boeing’s assurances that the planes were good to go. De-regulation kills.

More:

“Boeing suspends production of 737 Max model involved in fatal crashes,” Dominic Rushe, The Guardian

Related:

“How Did the F.A.A. Allow the Boeing 737 Max to Fly?” John Cassidy, The New Yorker

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