Build It

A change

For those of you who are fairly regular viewers of this blog, you'll have noticed that I changed up the overall style of the blog. I updated the style to reflect a more Real Estate Development-centric theme, because that coincides with another change.

Starting in early April, I will leave BarkerBlue to start a position in the Real Estate Development field for a firm in San Francisco. This has been my goal over the past few years, and I came across a great opportunity with a great company.

It is going to be bittersweet to leave BarkerBlue and the friends I have made in the Reprographics industry, but this is going to be a very interesting and exciting step. I will still continue to maintain this blog, and I actually hope that being on the "other side of the fence" will provide great perspective for readers, especially in Reprographics, from a Development point of view.

I can still be reached by clicking "Email Me" link near the top left of the blog under my picture, and I do hope that you will stay in touch and feel free to email.

Thanks very much for sticking with me through the first part of this journey, and I hope you'll continue to stay around for the next part.

Jared Willis

A Tribute to Japanese Engineering

I think everyone's hearts and prayers go out to Japan this morning after one of the largest earthquakes on record, anywhere.  

One thing that struck me this morning was the low number of reported deaths (so far) particularly in one of the world's most populated cities.  As of 10:00 AM PST this morning, MSNBC is reporting "hundreds" dead which is a very small number considering that the death toll from the recent Haiti earthquake (a full 1.9 magnitude smaller) has been pegged at around 47,000.  The difference is staggering.

So much of this has to be tied to building codes and engineering, and the fact that we're seeing less destruction in Tokyo than one would expect after a massive earthquake like that.  A large reason is that Japanese engineers design buildings with earthquakes in mind and build in the ability for buildings to "sway" and absorb the waves, rather than remain rigid and crack at movement points.  Here's a great video from this morning that illustrates it perfectly:

Imagine the loss of life and property damage if just the three buildings in this video crumbled, much less the hundreds of other skyscrapers in Tokyo.  It really goes to show you what kind of impact the building community can have in preparing for and preventing the worst when a natural disaster occurs.  Something we should keep in mind here in San Francisco.

Good luck and god speed to all those in Japan.

 

Jared Willis

The Intertubes

Yet another comic from the Joy of Tech folks.  "Cloud" is such a buzzword these days and I think this is a great take on the trend.