The Dreamlifter: Boeing's mega plane

The craziest thing about this plane is that it was built with the sole purpose to transport parts for this plane.

via Core77 on 11/27/09

One more thing about Boeing's Dreamliner, which is fascinating from a manufacturing perspective: Rather than produce the behemoth at a single plant, Boeing has spread component production out over no less than nine countries (the U.S., the U.K., Canada, France, Italy, Russia, Japan, Australia, and India) with final assembly done Stateside. So how do they get the gi-normous, partially-finished fuselage from Nagoya, Japan to Charleston, South Carolina and then Everett, Washington? By using these beasts:

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Those are what Boeing is calling "Dreamlifters," heavily modified 747s purchased from China that have a volume of 65,000 cubic feet. They're seven stories high and swallow more than 52,000 gallons of fuel in their tanks.

Boeing has stated that the Dreamlifters were made purely for transporting Dreamliners and that they will not be manufacturing any for sale. Which is too bad, because you just know that somewhere some oil sheik is looking at this thing going "I have to have one of these! I must!"

via flight story

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The 10,000 Year Design Challenge

This is an incredibly fascinating topic to me, first uncovered during a liberal arts course at RISD some years ago: how do you tell civilizations 10,000 years from now to avoid nuclear waste? Juliet Lapidos elaborates more on the topic for the Slate. According to the article, the oldest languages we have are from the Chinese, dating back some 5,000 years. She doesn't mention the prehistoric caves of Lascaux in France, which at 16,000 years old, contain symbols we can recognize. The bulls, bison, and cattle still make sense - they are from our environment - but there are other marks which have not yet been deciphered. They mean something, but the signs are unrecognizable. What signs can be created today that will outlive languages and generations? It's a big question, and the answer is probably in the one continuous vehicle that outlives us; nature. 

Fail Harder

Via Swissmiss: While visiting W+K Portland yesterday, I noticed this magnificent Fail Harder Mural, done by Wieden + Kennedy 12.

Over 100,000 thumbtacks were used over 351 hours to create this typographic mural that spells out Fail Harder, a message that underlines the importance of failure during the creative process. Absolutely fantastic. I would love to do something similar in my studio! Hat tip! (Make sure to watch the video below!