La máquina de sumar, "Parte por parte; el equilibrio total"
The adding machine, "Piece by piece; the total equilibrium".

On September 29, 2015 (1) Android claimed it was used by 1.4 billion people. It means that  roughly 20% of the global population is controlled by this little robot.

Do you know what this logo stands for?




No, you are wrong, it is not a horse carriage rental in Central Park



Although I have to admit that the both look very similar. Now, let's add some color,

"The now iconic logo of Hermes was designed and introduced in the early 1950s. It comprises of a Duc carriage which is attached to a horse, perhaps interpreting the company’s humble origins as a horse saddlery manufacturer". 1

This company started more than one hundred and fifty years ago and still it is reference all over around the world. More than sixty years ago, they adopted this logo that is recognized worldwide. Today, this brand is no longer a small saddlery manufacturer, but instead, it became an exclusive symbol of fashion and luxury. Indeed this carriage, which can be considered in modern standards a very simple machine, has brought the whole company to be the enormously successful business that it is now.

PD: If you have extra items of Hermès that you don't use, I would welcome them!

Let's talk about some curious word in ChemEng.

Fermenters: This term refers to a reactor, where the transformation of susbtrates occurs thorugh the action of microorganisms (or simply an apparathus where fermentation takes place). We are highly linked to these processes, just think of each beer you have drank, each bread piece or in any yougurt that you have eaten for breakbast (if you are not a beer person, just imagine wine or champagne). 

The root of this word is clearly the term "fermentation". This word comes from the old French  verb fermenter, which is derived from Latin fermentare (to leaven, cause to rise or ferment) and  from fermentum (substance causing fermentation, leaven, drink made of fermented barley) but it could also be a contracted form of  fervimentum (fervere means to boil, seethe).1   

Fermentation process have been long used by humans, but the name of the specialised machines (used today to do it) has latin origins ( in different languages fermentador, fermenter, fermentatore, fermenteur in spanish, english, italian and french just to name some examples).



Membrane: These equipments are nowadays a promising technology, able to help in a huge variety of processes. The word might come from latin membrana,  "a skin, membrane; parchment (skin prepared for writing) and the etymological sense is "that which covers the members of the body." 2



Valve: they are an essential part of any industrial facility, but they are also present in our houses. It is difficult to imagine a world without valves so it could be said that they regulate the flow of our lives.

The word comes from Latin valva (plural valvae) "section of a folding or revolving door," literally "that which turns," related to volvere "to roll". 3

This is a very particular machine. It is a Bioreactor, which means that there is a biological phase in it. Normally we work with microorganism via anaerobic fermentation to produce, out of diverse organic matter (sometimes waste materials), useful products. This machine has different mechanical parts, which enables it to work properly, but the real core of the reactor are the living cells. Typical reactors in chemical engineering take advantage of different driving forces to function, but in this reactor the engine is constituted by a group of microorganism (which are perfect machines themselves) obtaining an outstanding performance.

I think that in our modern society, art has expanded savagely. Human beings are nowadays able to express their creative ideas also using machines. This cartoon shows how far has art gone, and how easily we can get confused with this interaction between art and technology.

On the other hand, design within technology development also has brought an artistic touch to some of the machines that we commonly see. I am not recalling the Manifesto of Futurism theory that stated that a "roaring car that seems to ride on grapeshot is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace", but I have to admit that some modern machines (cars, home appliances, modern buildings, etc) simply look graceful.

This time I present you the Cover of a CD called "Devil's Gun - Raising the Beast". It comes from the UK and there is a dangerous mix of styles in it (Breakbeat, Breaks, Electro). The picture shows a double pistol with large cartridges (maybe 12-13), but it also seems a scary face. The music of this CD though can be relaxing at some points, it is only a matter of preferences.

Welcome to my blog.

I hope you enjoy the content here.

I do come from a country where everything is oil-based. I mean, the entire society, not only at economic level, but also how our minds work in our daily lives (sometimes unconsciously). Indeed, oil, the modern term that we very often use, is not the natural unexplored resource that lays under the ground, but represents a refined product that undergoes a very extensive number of transformations (where MACHINES are the real protagonists). Furthermore, the interaction that oil has with machines is not only limited to the production of it, OIL is the fuel of machines (or their nutrient), the blood (grease which makes the rears rotate) and, sometimes times, oil contributes to the machines itself (plastic parts).

So, in our current world, the relation of machines and oil is a symbiosis that keeps the ball rolling.