#engineeringhistory — Public Fediverse posts

👷‍♂️ Oh, the riveting tale of the electric grid; because nothing sparks joy like turning on a light bulb, right? 🕯️ Meet Viktor, the unsung hero you never knew you needed, unless you're into obscure engineering history. Guess we all missed the memo on being electrified by this yarn! ⚡🙄
https://worksinprogress.co/issue/how-the-worlds-first-electric-grid-was-built/ #electricgrid #engineeringhistory #unsunghero #lightbulb #electrification #storytelling #HackerNews #ngated

The “Tin Blimp” Was a Neither Tin Nor a Blimp: The Detroit ZMC-2 Story

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://hackaday.com/2026/03/10/the-tin-blimp-was-a-neither-tin-nor-a-blimp-the-detroit-zmc-2-story/

Historic Engineering Wonders: Photos That Reveal How They Pulled It Off

https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/engineering-methods-from-the-past/

#HackerNews #HistoricEngineering #Wonders #Photos #EngineeringHistory #Innovation #Techniques

1982: Fred Dibnah shows how to erect a CHIMNEY SCAFFOLD at 200 feet [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3ma9iYx4rg

#HackerNews #FredDibnah #ChimneyScaffold #Construction #Video #1982 #EngineeringHistory

Between the wheels

Hello
#HistoryOfTechnology #WheelOrigin #InventionOfTheWheel #Archaeology #ComputationalDesign #NeolithicInnovation #EngineeringHistory #CarpathianMines #RoyalSocietyOpenScience

{ ¿Animal fat
https://youtube.com/watch?v=P2I3BJeI19U

#TheMeatrix
¿:https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/29/domestic-terrorism-and-spectacularized-violence-in-trumps-warfare-state/ #warpigs // #pigsonthewing || #spiritedaway

#Rush __
https://youtube.com/watch?v=cj1eUnNOvpY

#mixedmetaphors

#PlantOils

#ChaliceAndTheBlade #RealWealthOfNations

I spent a while fixating on trying to discover why the macOS iCloud/“CloudDocs”/“Mobile Documents” daemon is named bird, w/ a cli in /usr/bin named brctl

After some digging I’m /pretty/ sure the b stands for uBiquity— an internal codename for what was marketed as “iCloud”; this is supported by e.g. [1]’s equivalence between ubiquityIdentityToken and com.apple.bird.token

I’m still pretty at total guess on r, leaning “record” (maybe also as rc → record since bird is code-internally BRCDaemon ; though it also seems likely c = container. I don’t think rc → runcom by way of initrc, bashrc, etc)

secondary theory is br is for “barrier” based on a loose symbol or two.

I’m pretty strongly guessing that “i” in bird stands for nothing so much as “OMG [ swe coworker], it’s not pronounced Bee-Arr-Dee, it’s pronounced BIRD” (cf gif, sql, … cuddle vs c-t-l [by rights hachyderm is ku-bECK-dl / ku-Bechdel territory] )

Anyway if anybody happens to know the answer, plz lmk. #apple #icloud #macos #brctl #clouddocs #daemon #engineeringhistory #lore

[1] https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/qa/qa1935/_index.html

Check out Rudolf Diesel and his revolutionary 1897 engine—transforming heavy transport with safer, efficient fuel ignition through compression. #EngineeringHistory #Innovation #AiArt
https://invention.cards/diesel-engine

Nicklaus August Otto
Gave life to the auto.
His four-stroke brilliance, without much ado,
Transformed how we travel, it's true.
#EngineeringHistory #TechEvolution #AIArt
https://invention.cards/four-stroke-engine

Books You Should Read: The Perfectionists - After pulling late hours in my school machine shop for a few years, I couldn’t hel... - https://hackaday.com/2022/01/07/books-you-should-read-the-perfectionists/ #precisionengineering #engineeringhistory #simonwinchester #originalart #tolerances #metrology #precision #featured #interest #reviews #history