• LISTEN: Thieves Make Off With $1 Million in Sammy Hagar & Guy Fieri's Tequila in Wild Heis
    Nov 21 2024

    About two weeks ago, thieves targeted a major Santo Spirits shipment as it crossed the border into the United States. The tequila company is co-owned by celebrity chef Guy Fieri and musician Sammy Hagar.

    First reported by People, thieves hijacked a pair of Santo trucks carrying an estimated $1 million in spirits in an incredible caper that continues to unfold as the investigation continues. The cargo included 4,040 cases of tequila, nearly 25,000 bottles. Some bottles included a special aged añejo that took 39 months to produce.

    The trucks had just crossed into Laredo, Texas, and were headed to distributors in California and Pennsylvania. Neither made it and Santo's logistics partner, Johanson, was thrown off by some sophisticated technology.

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    4 mins
  • LISTEN: Hackers Steal MLB Player's Lamborghini By Rerouting Delivery
    Nov 20 2024

    Last month, Colorado Rockies third baseman Kris Bryant awaited the imminent delivery of a $300,000 Lamborghini Huracan to his home in Las Vegas … but it never came.

    Bryant, who was having the vehicle transported for the offseason from Denver, where he plays ball, enlisted a transport company to do the job. But what happens next sounds almost too strange to be true.

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    3 mins
  • LISTEN: AI Taught to Hear Battery Fires Before They Start
    Nov 19 2024

    NIST reported that these fires can produce a jet of flame that reaches up to 2,012° Fahrenheit, nearly the heat of a blowtorch, in approximately one second. This hazard differs from traditional residential fires that start more slowly, which allows for smoke to reach a smoke alarm before the fire spreads.

    During the research, NIST mechanical engineer Andy Tam said he noticed that a battery’s safety valve would break right before the fire started and make a small “click-hiss” sound that resembled opening a bottle of soda. Lithium-ion battery manufacturers design this safety valve to break when internal pressure builds up and can no longer expand due to the battery’s hard casing.

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    3 mins
  • LISTEN: Commercial Jet Flies Nearly 300 Hours with Tool Stuck in its Engine
    Nov 18 2024

    Chalk this one up to either dumb luck or stupid-mistake resistance design, but a commercial jet just managed to fly the equivalent of almost two weeks with a tool stuck in one of its engines.

    A newly published report from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau details the adventures of the Airbus A380 that picked up the stowaway on December 7, 2023 after maintenance engineers forgot about the lost tool procedure sending the aircraft back into service. The Qantas Airways jet was in Los Angeles while undergoing an inspection on the left outboard engine’s intermediate-pressure compressor. One of the engineers who had checked out the tool, a roughly four-foot nylon rod, headed out early for a medical appointment and left the remainder of the inspection to the other engineer. When the work was finished, the subsequent inspections failed to see the tool still stuck in the engine compressor.

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    4 mins
  • LISTEN: Stanley Black and Decker Expects $200M Hit from Tariff Hikes
    Nov 15 2024

    Stanley Black & Decker indicated in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that proposed increases in tariffs under the forthcoming Trump administration could affect its pre-tax operating income by some $200 million on an annual basis.

    That figure would equate to 12.5% of the company’s projected 2025 operating income of $1.6 billion, according to a compilation of estimates cited by the Wall Street Journal.

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    2 mins
  • LISTEN: Calif. Highway Patrol Tests Lucid EV
    Nov 14 2024

    One state’s highway patrol is perhaps the most famous nationwide – and that’s California’s, a unit that inspired the 1970’s cop drama CHiPS.

    And anyone who’s viewed it knows that CHiPS was associated with motorcycles – specifically classic Kawasakis that were common on police forces at the time.

    Well, today’s California Highway Patrol might look a lot different. Carscoops is reporting that the California Highway Patrol is testing an EV – the Lucid Air, to be specific.

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    2 mins
  • LISTEN: Costco Butter Recalled for Forgetting to Mention it Contains Milk
    Nov 13 2024

    The FDA announced a recall for about 79,200 pounds of Costco butter. The reason: the product’s packaging failed to mention that it contains milk.

    The recall covers 1,300 cases, or 46,800 pounds, of Kirkland Signature Unsalted Sweet Cream Butter and 900 cases, or 32,400 pounds, of the salted version. According to an FDA document, the butter lists the word “cream” but may have omitted the ever-so-important “contains milk” statement.

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    3 mins
  • LISTEN: Natilus Plane Concept Could Compete with Popular Boeing 737, Airbus A320 Aircraft
    Nov 12 2024

    Based in San Diego, Natilus is an aerospace startup developing a portfolio of efficient blended-wing-body aircraft that could transport passengers and cargo more sustainably.

    According to the company, compared to the traditional tube-and-wing aircraft we use today, these designs could reduce fuel consumption by 30% while increasing payload capability by 40%.

    Natilus recently unveiled Horizon, the company's first passenger aircraft that could compete with the popular Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 narrowbody aircraft. Horizon is in the same payload class with the ability to transport 200 passengers with cargo along intercontinental and transatlantic routes.

    Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

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    4 mins