John Cox

Blogs · @wyome

Tagged engineering · everything

mahmood.tv

From the Cockpit to Code: Mahmood Al-Yousif’s Journey from Aviation Engineer to Bahrain’s “Blogfather” – Mahmood's Den

Mahmood Al-Yousif discusses his seemingly disparate careers—from aviation engineer to blogger to app developer—as chapters of a single story unified by an engineer's problem-solving mindset. His apps like Masadir Child Health Tracker and My Medical Vault emerged directly from observing real frustrations (his wife's notebooks tracking their daughter's health, his mother's medical information scattered across hospital systems), demonstrating his philosophy that technology should serve genuine purpose rather than chase profit. He advises aspiring entrepreneurs to stay employed until they discover a problem that genuinely haunts them, emphasizing that curiosity and solving real problems should precede financial ambition.

Permalink technologyengineeringaientrepreneurship

kottke.org

Supersonic Trebuchet

Kottke flags a Tom Stanton video documenting his attempt to build a fully mechanical trebuchet capable of firing a plastic pellet past the speed of sound, complete with an audible sonic boom. What hooks him isn't the final feat but the iterative engineering process—the weight and strength problems Stanton has to solve along the way—which he compares favorably to old PBS process shows and suggests could inspire kids toward engineering the way it might have inspired him.

Permalink engineeringsciencevideo

www.gearpatrol.com

This Immaculate Vintage Mercedes Q-Ship Reminds Us Why It’s One of Benz’s Coolest Cars In the Past 50 Years

Gear Patrol traces the legend of the Mercedes-Benz W116 450SEL 6.9, the AMG-adjacent hot rod born from Erich Waxenberger and Hans Werner-Aufrecht's "Red Pig" racing experiments, which stuffed a massaged 6.8-liter M100 V8 and Citroën-derived hydropneumatic suspension into a full-size luxury sedan to create the world's fastest production sedan of the mid-1970s. The piece uses a pristine, Cannonball Run-podium example currently listed on Bring a Trailer as a hook to explain the engineering (dry-sump lubrication, anti-squat/anti-dive geometry, early Bosch ABS) that let a 4,400-pound sled outrun contemporary sports cars while retaining Mercedes comfort and safety, earning praise from journalists like David E. Davis and Brock Yates. Worth keeping as a compact history of a cult classic that prefigures both AMG performance and modern adaptive suspension tech.

Permalink engineeringperformance1970s