How Do They Do It? - all eps

3585 Views 16 Replies 5 Participants Last post by cwerdna, May 26, 2013

cwerdna

Discussion Starter · Jun 25, 2011

There are way too many eps and I haven't seen a fraction of them. I recently watched an segment about how they prepare fugu (poisonous Japanese blowfish). Its was actually somewhat interesting since about the only prior knowledge I had was from a Simpsons ep.

http://science.discovery.com/videos/how-do-they-do-it-fugu-fish.html is a clip but doesn't go into how they catch them, how the fugu will fight each other in a tank (so the fisherman has to remove their teeth), the market or how much poison it takes to kill a customer. They also left out the part where the chef said he'd been practicing every day for five years to get his license. They'd also mentioned each fish can be sold for >$300 each.

While glancing thru the fugu Wikipedia entry, I found a link to http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0505/feature1/multimedia3.html w/some of the crazy facts.

Discuss your favorite or interesting eps/segments here.

1 - 17 of 17 Posts

scooterboy

· #2 · Jun 29, 2011

They all blend together for me. It really doesn't matter what they're making - it's the automation that fascinates me.

verdugan

· #3 · Jul 7, 2011

cwerdna said:
Its was actually somewhat interesting since about the only prior knowledge I had was from a Simpsons ep.

HAHA I had the same reaction. I found it very interesting. I even showed it to my wife (she never watches this show) and she sat through the whole segment.

cwerdna

Discussion Starter · #4 · Sep 20, 2011

I watched most of an ep today that featured cargo ships building in South Korea and newspaper printing (from waste paper to making new newsprint to printing). I'd always seen footage of newspaper being printed but hadn't heard any numbers about how quickly they run thru a spool of paper nor heard any details.

I visited Philly last year and saw a demo of printing presses from the Ben Franklin era (setting type by hand, putting in lead between lines, hand operated press, etc.) If one could somehow bring a printer from that era forward in time to see the newspaper printing presses today, I think their head would explode.

cwerdna

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 16, 2012

I just watched an ep that covered Leatherman and their factory. I found out that they're located in Portland and have a tour (http://www.leatherman.com/about/tour).

Unfortunately, I've left WA state and it's unlikely I'll ever be in Portland anytime in the near future. I visited Portland a few times and would've liked to have gone on the tour.

verdugan

· #6 · Jul 16, 2012

cwerdna said:
I just watched an ep that covered Leatherman and their factory. I found out that they're located in Portland and have a tour (http://www.leatherman.com/about/tour).

Unfortunately, I've left WA state and it's unlikely I'll ever be in Portland anytime in the near future. I visited Portland a few times and would've liked to have gone on the tour.

I was in Portland for work last year (found a brochure in the hotel lobby.) I wanted to go to the tour, but the hours were very inconvenient. 9 to 5 only.

omnibus

· #7 · Jul 16, 2012

Ford's river rouge plant is located on the Detroit river just south of it's namesake. There are docks for boats carrying iron ore which becomes steel within the plant.

Fact is, everything except some plastic parts go into the plant in their raw state and come out a finished automobile and as of about 25 years ago that included glass and rubber.

cwerdna

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jul 17, 2012

omnibus said:
Ford's river rouge plant is located on the Detroit river just south of it's namesake. There are docks for boats carrying iron ore which becomes steel within the plant.

I have toured the Rouge Plant and saw the Ford F-150 pickups in production.

omnibus said:
Fact is, everything except some plastic parts go into the plant in their raw state and come out a finished automobile and as of about 25 years ago that included glass and rubber.

I know that was true in the past but I highly doubt that's true now. Most automakers buy parts from a huge network of suppliers. It doesn't seem cost effective for automakers to be totally vertically integrated anymore.

redrouteone

· #9 · Jul 18, 2012

That is awesome. I love visting factories. I think the coolest was the Boeing factory in Everett Wa. It is amazing seeing an assembly in that large of a scale.

I would like to list a car factory. How its made is one of my favorite shows. That automation is really cool. I can't image how much effort goes into building it.

cwerdna

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jul 18, 2012

^^^
Have you been to http://www.toyotatexas.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7&Itemid=2?

From http://www.caranddriver.com/feature...ation-of-whats-really-made-in-america-feature, it looks like the only other TX auto plant is in Arlington.

I've personally toured NUMMI (now defunct and owned by Tesla), Ford Rouge, and in Japan: Toyota, Mazda and Nissan.

scooterboy

· #11 · Jul 18, 2012

I've toured the Harley Davidson factory in York PA. Fascinating.

cwerdna

Discussion Starter · #12 · Aug 28, 2012

I watched an ep recently that featured Underwriters' Laboratories. That was pretty good.

The large building they had set aside for fire testing was interesting. They simulated a warehouse and filled it w/various goods, including dashboards and kegs of whiskey, then set it on fire, to test some sprinkler system.

I have an SP for the show and set KAM to 5. Every now and then, I watch eps/segments that look interesting.

cwerdna

Discussion Starter · #13 · Dec 31, 2012

Looks like Science Channel is having a huge marathon of eps on 12/31/12, starting at 3 am Pacific.

redrouteone

· #14 · Jan 2, 2013

cwerdna said:
From http://www.caranddriver.com/feature...ation-of-whats-really-made-in-america-feature, it looks like the only other TX auto plant is in Arlington.

I grew up in North Texas and drove past that GM plant more times that I could count. Unfortunately it was closed to the public and they didn't do tours. Ever once in a while they'll have an open house, but I've never been able to make it.

The Toyota plant in only about 2 hours away. I forgot about it. I should go down there sometime. Too bad the tours are only M-F.

cwerdna

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jan 5, 2013

Looks like Science Channels got another marathon on 1/6/13.

cwerdna

Discussion Starter · #16 · Mar 23, 2013

Looks like Science Channel's got another marathon on 3/24/13.

cwerdna

Discussion Starter · #17 · May 26, 2013

Another marathon going on today.

1 - 17 of 17 Posts

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