Featured
latest post image will be prominently displayed on the featured top part of the front page.
3-D Printing: the Ultimate Intellectual-Property Threat?
Courtesy of Bloomberg News. Spend a few minutes on Shapeways.com, an online marketplace, and you get a glimpse of a very odd future. You can buy mustache cuff links, a pencil [...]
Do you try to be like your father?
Every month I get an emailed catalog from DelMonico Hatter, promoting their stylish hats — Borsalino, Stetson, Kangol — the best brands. Ernest DelMonico, who runs the firm, is a [...]
To Share or Not Share
This is an unpaid, unprompted shout-out to the Precision Machined Products Association’s (PMPA) Listserve. Every day, members jump on the association’s email forum with technical problems they encounter. It’s esoteric [...]
The Shift from More to Better
I’ve closely studied two recent auctions of screw machines and ancillary equipment – Anderson Fittings in Chicago and MTTM in the Twin Cities last week – for indications of market [...]
The Davy Crockett of Screw Machines
Tim Haendle was pleased with himself when I talked to him Wednesday. He had bought 100 carbide inserts – used of course – for a hundred bucks at a Hoff [...]
Turning Iron Into Gold
I love the used machinery business because it is a competitive treasure hunt every day. It asks us for impossible calculations about realizable values for illiquid, flawed, sometimes rickety, filthy [...]
I’m Distracted
So many nights I go home discouraged and numb, with the sickening feeling that I accomplished nothing and wasted my workday reading emails and contemplating my navel. Recently, I read [...]
He Gave His Father “The Talk”
Sometimes the line written for a laugh rings true as a bell. The most recent Dos Equis beer ad ends with, “he gave his father ‘the talk.’” I heard the [...]
GM’s China Bet Mimics Toyota’s Bet on U.S. Last Century
By Keith Naughton of Bloomberg. General Motors Co. (GM), the largest carmaker in the U.S., is shifting its center of gravity toChina, where it sells more cars and now invests more [...]
Inside the Medical Tent at Boston
Martin is so skilled at waterskiing he seldom uses the skis anymore. He prefers the challenge of barefoot skiing on Lake Hopatcong that hugs his summer residence in New Jersey. [...]