How It's Made
Okay, I have a new TV show of love. How It's Made on Discovery. It has a pleasant narrator who keeps the cute comments to a minimum, innocuous music, and a great premise: show how things are made.
Did you know that the average North American child will go through 730 crayons by the time they're 10? The best-selling packages of crayons are those of 16 and 24.
Did you know that the modern trumpet is made with five feet of tubing? Before they bend the bell, they fill it with soapy water, which they freeze. The ice keeps the bell tubing from buckling when they bend it, and the soap keeps the ice from shattering. So cool.
The factory machines are often ingenious, but I think it's even more fascinating what they don't do, and what the factory needs people for. You can see the jobs that will eventually be automated, and what will probably always (or at least until we have super-robots) need people.
posted by Julia at 6:17 AM
1 Comments:
hmmm, ninety bucks worth of crayons. Well I'm sure they're worth it. I feel sort of sorry for the factory workers, I mean, how much can they really enjoy or appreciate their jobs? Knowing any second that they should probably be replaced by a machine, and instead of a variety of tasks I bet they do one tedious thing over and over. And only because they can't find or qualify for something better. Actually, if someone else would take care of my kids I would gladly go do their tedious mind numbing job for awhile.
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