Practical Engineering

Hear hear. The word "Technology" has also been redefined to mean computer or phone stuff. As a real (manly) engineer, this pisses me off no end! :-) To answer the OP, this Civil engineering blog / video site is really good. I always learn something new, and his enthusiasm is infectious. Well worth giving it a look: https://practical.engineering/

Here's the text version: https://practical.engineering/blog/2021/9/16/repairing-underground-pow… Noteworthy: That power line is only 10 miles long. Madison to Dubuque would be about 10X longer.

Probably Grady from Practical Engineering: https://practical.engineering/about YouTube creator with civil engineering videos (I only do software, so learning about the physical world is super interesting). His new book about engineering in plain sight (engineered things you see but may not think about in day to day life) is fantastic too.

Not sure it will go deep enough for what you’re asking here but the “Practical Engineering” YouTube channel (which has some great videos about random bits of civil infrastructure) recently released a book “Engineering in Plain Sight” https://practical.engineering/book

After reading https://www.hillelwayne.com/post/are-we-really-engineers/ I am convinced that Software Engineering is the same as any other engineering field. Sure, it looks like like and death is at play in the other fields and all we do is debate what color fonts should be on a web page, but their projects seem a lot like that too. In every engineering field, projects usually go well enough to get another project, which is the best you can really hope for in the real world. Our whole "I can't do work today, I have to apply these security fixes 83 levels deep" also sounds a lot like: https://practical.engineering/blog/2022/8/2/you-spend-more-on-rust-tha… All in all, yeah, I don't understand the inferiority complex. Engineering always looks amazing to people that aren't in the thick of it, but we hide a lot of the flaws, and fix the other ones through iteration.

Nice! I can finally locate LA's Scattergood-Olympic underground transmission line that was repaired in 1989 to much engineering prowess [1]. https://openinframap.org/#10.58/33.9452/-118.3529 I love infrastructure engineering. There's so much going on that allows us to take things for granted. Even the 2021 Texas power grid failure fared relatively well for how close it skirted absolute disaster. [1] https://practical.engineering/blog/2021/9/16/repairing-underground-pow… (I should give Grady more money) People here may remember jwz's post on the topic in 2002, copying the emails from 1989 (note the following link may display something unsavory with the HN referrer, in which case copy-and-paste it): https://www.jwz.org/blog/2002/11/engineering-pornography/

not software engineering, but https://practical.engineering/

This doesn't surprise me a bit. It's very much Musk's MO: he applied "move fast and break things" to Tesla and SpaceX [0], why would he drop it now that he's actually running the kind of software company the phrase was coined for? [0] Was Starship’s Stage Zero a Bad Pad? https://practical.engineering/blog/2023/6/16/w47wdfg7h5uojks1c85boeyjh… > Unlike NASA that spends years in planning and engineering, SpaceX uses rapid development cycles and full-scale tests to work toward their eventual goals. They push their hardware to the limit to learn as much as possible, and we get to follow along. They’re betting it will pay off to develop fast instead of carefully. But this wasn’t just a test of the hardware. It was also a test of federal regulations and the good graces of the people who live, work, play, and care about the Boca Chica area. And, SpaceX definitely pushed those limits as well with their first orbital test. It’s still yet to be seen what they’ll learn from that.

What you are missing is that this is an extremely complex version of a drowning machine — very good read here [0]. Under the water is turbulence that just traps a person and keeps them tumbling underwater. In addition the article points out that there are numerous rock outcroppings underwater against which an unfortunate person's head would likely get bashed, reducing or eliminating consciousness. I also notice that the water is quite frothy and full of air bubbles. This reduces it's net density and thus reduces the buoyancy available to any objects that would otherwise float. It can be enough to sink ships [1]. So, basically, the turbulent water will pull you under, bash you hard against the rocks, give you less-than-normal buoyancy, and hold you under. It's kind of a toss-up whether you lose consciousness first from the head injuries or the lack of air, and after a few minutes of that, you're dead. Have a nice afterlife [0] https://practical.engineering/blog/2019/3/16/drowning-machine-the-dang… [1] https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1350-bubbling-seas-can-sink-shi…

He made a previous video about washboarding: https://practical.engineering/blog/2026/6/2/why-roads-get-washboards

Kitty litter is not a bad choice for a class D metal fire but make sure you have the correct type. You want the stuff made out of bentonite clay, not the stuff made out of grain byproducts. https://practical.engineering/blog/2025/4/15/when-kitty-litter-caused-…

Re the environment thing, practical engineering has a good video on landfills. There's a bunch of engineering that goes into making waste less harmful https://practical.engineering/blog/2024/9/3/the-hidden-engineering-of-…

At least that misunderstanding didn’t cause a nuclear accident: https://practical.engineering/blog/2025/4/15/when-kitty-litter-caused-…

Its very hard to repair and keep track of underground. https://practical.engineering/blog/2021/9/16/repairing-underground-pow…

It's also a communication problem, because labels like "100-year/1000-year event" are easily misunderstood. * they're derived from an estimated probability of the event (independently) happening each year. It doesn't mean that it won't happen for n years. The probability is the same every year. * the probabilities are estimates, trying to predict extreme outliers. Usually from less than 100s of years of data, using sparse records that may have never recorded a single outlier. * years = 1/annual_probability ends up giving large time spans for small probabilities. It means that uncertainty between 0.00001% and 0.00002% looks "off by 500 years". https://practical.engineering/blog/2025/9/16/an-engineers-perspective-…

Scary. Glad it turned out okay. The rule should be any standing water feature below 3' (1m) above grade should be enclosed by a fence to a height of 4' (1.3m) above grade if kids are anticipated to occupy the space. And, for oceans, rivers, and flood water: remember that 1m³ of water weighs 1.1 ton/1 tonne. Also dangerous: low head dams. https://practical.engineering/blog/2019/3/16/drowning-machine-the-dang… Finally, don't sleep in or build homes in flash flood areas: (US): https://msc.fema.gov/portal/home

Landfills are designed to prevent that sort of leaching. There’s an interesting Practical Engineering article / video about it: https://practical.engineering/blog/2024/9/3/the-hidden-engineering-of-…

However kitty litter will take them out https://practical.engineering/blog/2025/4/15/when-kitty-litter-caused-…

A cool recent one for large-scale infrastructure is "Engineering in Plain Sight": https://practical.engineering/book

>However there's another company that buys cheap land from farmers in the Amazon, with cheaper labor, ships it up via freight, and sells it for marginally cheaper. The costs in the latter example are largely driven by transportation - and while cheaper, has a significantly larger carbon impact. How does this apply to recycling though? Landfills in developed countries have little, if any externalities, because they're engineered to contain waste. https://practical.engineering/blog/2024/9/3/the-hidden-engineering-of-…

Really interesting blurb about how electricity prices are set in North America. It may not be the same in Europe. https://practical.engineering/blog/2024/11/14/which-power-plant-does-m…

The German system is undoubtedly different to the American system - but [1] an American bridge that collapsed despite regular inspections might give you some idea of how this sort of thing can come about. [1] https://practical.engineering/blog/2024/6/18/this-bridge-should-have-b…

Well, a better title is "how power gets to your house." But for an explanation of how "power grids" work, with respect to the multiple generation stations and varying load conditions, see this: https://practical.engineering/blog/2024/6/4/the-most-confusing-part-of…

Landfills really aren't so bad. Article from a previous HN post: https://practical.engineering/blog/2024/9/3/the-hidden-engineering-of-…

Houston is gigantic. Maintaining underground infrastructure can be very difficult. https://practical.engineering/blog/2021/9/16/repairing-underground-pow…

Author: Grady Hillhouse Videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMOqf8ab-42UUQIdVoKwjlQ Blog: https://practical.engineering/blog/ Feed: https://practical.engineering/blog?format=rss

I think all of the blogposts are just transcripts of videos from his youtube channel. You could use the feed from youtube to tell when there's a new release. Wait, I just checked the page source after writing the above to confirm and it looks like it does have one: https://practical.engineering/blog?format=rss

One of the largest time components can be due to soil compaction. This period can look like no work is being done, but is a vital step. That's not to say that sometimes no work is being done because of scheduling, equipment, funds, or any number of other reasons. This video/article does a good basic job explaining why it can take so long: https://practical.engineering/blog/2020/6/1/why-does-road-construction… edit: I think someone linked this down below too.

Also Practical Engineering also publishes their content as blogposts for those who like reading better than watching: https://practical.engineering/blog/2023/12/19/how-engineers-straighten…

This came up on HN recently. tl;dr: it's harder than it looks https://practical.engineering/blog/2023/6/28/why-is-desalination-so-di…