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 // STA NDA R DS //

1 2 3 4 5

November My Pop Life From the Editor It’s Fun to Take Home Powersports
2019 Tips, gear picks & Why and how your Things Apart Winter-proof your Tear through dirt
confessions from car can be more like A cordless garage now to save with a friend in
our staff your phone band saw your tools—and Honda’s side-by-side
p.6 p.10 p.12 your money p.20
p.16

6 7 8 9 10 11

Machines Deep Math Cars & Trucks Games & Toys Food Sci-Fi
Inside the Air Solving a 2,000- The Toyota Scrabble hacks Breakfast What Terminator
Force’s X-37B year-old camera 4Runner, one of that don’t require cereals brewed gets right (and
spy plane lens problem the last real trucks word wizardry into beer wrong) about
p.22 p.24 p.26 p.33 p.36 time travel
p.40

12 13 14 15 16 17

Hoax Tools Outdoor Stuff This Changes Editors’ Choice How to Be Good
Could there Essential stud Folding and fixed Everything The year's best at What You Do
really be aliens sensors for home blade knives for How the Technics gear, rigorously Chelsea Miller,
roaming Area repair (and how every adventure 1200 turntable tested knife maker
51? to use them) p.80 transformed hip-hop p.86 p.92
p.44 p.76 p.84
F R O M L E F T: C A R E N C H E S L E R ; CO U R T E S Y ATO M P O W E R ; CO U R T E S Y T R A N S B AY P O W E R AU T H O R I T Y; CO U R T E S Y F O R D

// FE ATURES //

What Really The A San Francisco Ford’s Best

Happens Inside Breakthrough Transit Center’s Car—Ever
a Crematorium Circuit Breaker Cracked Beam The story behind the
GT40 and the race
And why cremation is This new digital system Salesforce’s new station
behind the movie. Plus,
increasing in popularity. could stop 30,000 looks toward reopening.
we drive one. p.48
(Hint: It’s not just because electrical accidents a p.54
graveyards are getting year. p.62
crowded). p.66

// ON THE COVER // P HOTOGR A P H BY H AY DEN STINEBAUGH

November 2019 3
 POPUL AR MECHANIC S STUDIO FOR ARC'TERY X

PURSUE
POSSIBILITY
I
Kai Lin researches by doing and
learning at an indoor climbing
facility in Brooklyn, NY.
nspired by mountain goats and a
desire to help people, NY-based
"WHAT HAS
industrial designer Kai Lin formed
an unlikely alliance with an adaptive
climber—Arc’teryx athlete Craig
DeMartino. With empathy, efficiency, NATURE DONE
THAT I CAN
and a willingness to adapt, the pair
serves up a holy grail for adaptive rock
climbers: a badass prosthetic foot that
won’t just level the playing field but
will dish up, if not superpowers, then
LEARN FROM?"
a real sense of empowerment. Which
is almost the same thing.

After surviving the 110-foot fall that probably should have killed him,
DeMartino’s new reality looked like a fused neck and spine, a junky Craig DeMartino
tests a prototype
ankle, and a missing right leg. He redesigned his life and his mindset, design from Kai Lin
but DeMartino is not an engineer. He relies on other technical people
to invent things - and no one is investing resources in improving
prosthetic climbing limbs.

In 2014, Lin’s mountain-goat inspired prosthetic leg, KLIPPA,

(Swedish for “cliff”) was a US national finalist for the James Dyson
Award. The internet lapped him up – a smart young design student
conceives a nature-inspired piece of uber-tech that could help
US veterans climb their way through trauma and PTSD! He was
introduced to DeMartino by some filmmakers, made headlines, did
interviews, but the project languished. He needed money to build a functional
prototype, he needed collaborators to test it, and after finishing school, he was
busy working his day job as an industrial designer.

Still, the feedback he was getting from adaptive climbers, family members, and
prosthetists kept him tinkering with the design, knowing it could make a huge
difference in the lives of a small group of under-served people. Researching the
prosthetic even inspired him to try climbing. “I think looking at this problem with a
unique set of eyes allowed me to come
up with a design that a professional
rock climber might not have.”

It makes Lin smile to think back five LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WAY OF THE PROBLEM SOLVER AT
years to when he first started this ARCTERYX.COM/EXPLORE/PROBLEM-SOLVERS
project. Connecting the dots between
Kai Lin sketches concepts
inspired by mountain goats. mountain goats, prosthetic limbs,
Arc’teryx is a group of designers, perfectionists, makers, and
and amputee rock climbers came out outdoor-lovers. In these stories, we celebrate people leaning into
of nowhere. “Little did I know that the idea would turn into years of research and hard problems, applying design to create possibility.
development and so many opportunities. I wish I could do more volunteering in my
free time. But I guess I’m helping by designing. I can design specific things that will Now is the time to think beyond the product and make problem-
solving contagious. Design is our way forward.
make people’s lives better through the objects they interact with on a daily basis.
That’s what I’m good at. And that’s something I can do.” Make it yours.
Craig DeMartino
Climber

Arc’teryx specializes in technical, high-performance apparel,

outerwear and equipment. Design is our way forward. Make it yours.

Arc’teryx Equipment | Vancouver, Canada | arcteryx.com

 1 Alexander George
// E XPERT H ACKS, GE A R RECS & LIFE-TESTED W ISDOM FROM OUR STAFF //
Favorite App
AllTrails. It’s usually
the first place I check
when I’m searching
for a hiking trail in
unfamiliar territory.
CURRENT
PASSION PROJECT
Since January, I’ve been
making a new cocktail
every week to teach
myself to become a bet-
ter bartender. This might
be the only New Year’s
resolution I can actually
stick with.
W
•
SVP/International Editorial
The Coolest Thing
I Have on My Desk
I’m keeping things pretty
minimal these days, but
I use my Grand Canyon
National Park coffee mug
daily. I also have a pocket
multitool from Gerber to
help me open gear that’s
sent for testing.
The Best Money
I Ever Spent
$100 for my REI Co-op
Camp Dome 2 when my
original tent failed mid-
camping trip.
6 November 2019
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Matt Allyn Features Director;
Brian Dalek Director of Content
Operations; Leah Flickinger
Director of Content Creation; Lou
Mazzante Test Director Suzanne
Perreault Senior Managing Editor;
Jesse Southerland Creative
Pro Camping Tip Director
Even with all the great DESIGN + PHOTO
Amy Wolff Photo Director; Colin
camp kitchen gear out McSherry Senior Art Director; Eleni
Dimou Senior Designer; Zack Kutos
there, cooking is my Designer; Kristen Parker Photo
least favorite part of a Editor; John Hamilton Associate
ADRIENNE DONICA weekend in the woods. I
Photo Editor
EDITORIAL
Outdoors Editor found it’s slightly better Molly Ritterbeck Health & Fitness
Director; Tracy Middleton Senior
My ideal day starts when I prep as many Features Editor; Darren Orf,
Christa Sgobba Deputy Editors;
on a trail and ends ingredients as possible Tyler Daswick, Taylor Rojek
with a drink in hand. Associate Features Editors;
before leaving my house. Andrew Daniels How-To Editor;
Courtney Linder, Senior News
Editor; Hailey Middlebrook, Jordan
Smith Editors; Danielle Zickl
Associate Health & Fitness Editor;
Jennifer Leman, News Editor;
Daisy Hernandez, Paige Szmodis
Associate News Editors; Ezra Dyer
PRODUCTS I’M USING RIGHT NOW Automotive Editor; Katie Fogel
Social Media Editor; Drew Dawson
Gear & News Editor; Jessica Coulon
Assistant Editor; Leah Campano
Editorial Planning Associate; Lori
Adams Administrative Assistant;
Gabrielle Hondorp Editorial Fellow
Kit Fox Special Projects Editor
Caroline Dorey-Stein Assistant
Special Projects Editor
TEST TEAM
Will Egensteiner, Jennifer Sherry
Associate Test Directors; Jeff
Dengate, Matt Phillips Senior Test
Editors; Roy Berendsohn, Adrienne
Donica, Brad Ford, Amanda Furrer,
Bobby Lea, James Lynch, Riley
1 2 3
Missel, Morgan Petruny, Dan
Roe Test Editors; Jimmy Cavalieri
Gregory Maya 16 Ultimate Ears BOOM 2 Schmidt’s Image Editor; Lakota Gambill,
Trevor Raab Photographers; Joël
Day Pack This powerful Bluetooth Deodorant Nankman Logistician
It’s big enough for what speaker is light and The only natural
VIDEO
I need. Small enough durable enough to bring deodorant I’ve tried Derek Call, Pat Heine Producers
to carry comfortably. on all my adventures. that controls the funk.
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Joe Pappalardo, Daniel Dubno,
Wylie Dufresne, David Grossman,
David Owen, Richard Romanski,
James Schadewald, Joseph Truini,
Nicholas Wicks
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Bill Strickland
Popular Mechanics International
Kim St. Clair Bodden Russia, South
Africa
Director
Editorial Offices
3939 West Drive
Center Valley, PA 18034
HOW TO REACH US: Customer
4 5 6 Care Visit Online POPCustServ@
CDSFulfillment.com; Phone 800-
333-4948; Mail Customer Care
Big O Ginger Earth Pak Torrent Smartwool Service Dept. Popular Mechanics,
Liqueur Dry Bag Socks PO Box 6000, Harlan, IA 51593-
0128.
When I don’t feel This bag is super- My favorite
like making my own convenient for style is anything LICENSING AND REPRINTS:
ginger simple syrup, spending a day on in a lightweight Contact Wyndell Hamilton, Wright’s
Media, at 877-652-5295 ext. 102 or
I reach for this. the water. crew cut. hearst@wrightsmedia.com.
NOVEMBER 2019
FOR BET TER COCK TAILS
Elevate your cocktail game by using fresh-squeezed
T R E VO R R A A B
lemons, limes, and other citrus juices for brighter flavor.
Also, consider making your own simple syrups for a
totally customized cocktail tailored to your liking.
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
 1 Jack Essig
SVP, PUBLISHING DIRECTOR
// E XPERT H ACKS, GE A R RECS & LIFE-TESTED W ISDOM FROM OUR STAFF //
William Upton Associate
Publisher; Cameron
Connors
Executive Director,
Head of Brand Strategy &
Marketing; Samantha Irwin
General Manager; Chris Peel
Executive Director, Men’s &
Enthusiast Group, Hearst Magazines
CURRENT Digital Media

PASSION PROJECT ADVERTISING SALES OFFICES

NEW YORK: Caryn Kesler
Finding old Cannondale Executive Director, Luxury Goods;
John Wattiker Executive Director,
CAAD bike frames to
TREVOR RAAB
Global Fashion & Retail; Doug
rebuild and modernize. Zimmerman Senior Grooming
Director; John Cipolla Integrated
Photographer I’m currently on the hunt for Account Director Spirits,
Entertainment & Travel; Kimberly
a Caad7 Saeco Tour Buonassisi Account Director;

of skis and leave me

de France edition. Joe Pennacchio East Coast
Automotive Director; Jake Heffez,
Samantha Wolf Integration

W
in the woods, and I’ll
Associates; Caroline Hall Sales
be just fine. Assistant; DETROIT: Marisa Stutz
Group Advertising Director, Hearst
Autos; Toni Starrs Intregration
Associate; CHICAGO: Justin Harris
Midwest Sales Director; Autumn
Jenks Midwest Sales Director;
Madeline Bednar Sales Assistant;
The Best SALOMON SHIFT LOS ANGELES: Stacey Lakind
Southwest Sales Director; Anne
Money BINDINGS Rethmeyer Group Sales Director,
Hearst Autos; Olivia Zurawin Sales
I Ever Spent The most innovative bind- Assistant; SAN FRANCISCO: William
G. Smith, Smith Media Sales, LLC;
L.L. Bean boots. ings I’ve used to date. They DALLAS: Patty Rudolph PR 4.0
Media; HEARST DIRECT MEDIA:
Lifetime warranty, provide confident Alpine per- Brad Gettelfinger Sales Manager

durable, versatile. formance and are ready for MARKETING SOLUTIONS

Jason Graham Marketing Solutions:
some touring when needed. Executive Director, Integrated
Marketing; Jana Gale Executive
Creative Director; Karen Mendolia
Executive Director, Events &
Promotions; Mike Sarpy Design
Director; Yasir Salem Director,
PRODUCTS I’M USING RIGHT NOW Group Marketing; A’ngelique Tyree
Senior Digital Marketing Manager;
Alesandra Ajlouni Senior Manager,
Integrated Marketing; Amanda
Bessim Marketing Associate; Jaclyn
D'Andrea Marketing Coordinator;
William Carter Executive Director,
Consumer Marketing; Peter Davis
Research Manager

ADMINISTRATION/PRODUCTION
Aurelia Duke Finance Director;
Regina Wall Advertising Services
Director; Eric Espada Production
Manager

PUBLISHED BY HEARST
Favorite App Steven R. Swartz President and
Chief Executive Officer; William
1 2 3 and Why R. Hearst III Chairman; Frank
A. Bennack, Jr. Executive Vice
2002 Cannondale Rylo Camera Black Diamond Right now, Ride Chairman

Caad5 USA This camera Dawn Patrol with GPS. Very help- HEARST MAGAZINES, INC.
Touring Pants Troy Young President; Kate
Brought this project lets me capture ful for mapping Lewis Chief Content Officer;
bike back to life with smooth footage Perfect for everyday Debi Chirichella Executive Vice
out next weekend’s President, Chief Financial Officer
a modern drivetrain and reframe shots skiing, and they don’t
and wheels. as needed. hold you back. adventures. and Director of Global Operations;
Catherine A. Bostron Secretary

David Carey Chairman; Gilbert C.

Maurer, Mark F. Miller Consultants

300 West 57th Street

New York, NY 10019

The Coolest Thing

I Have on My Desk
There is always some-
thing cool hanging out
on my desk. Currently
a Wahoo Roam cycling
4 5 6
GPS for mapping and
Sony RX100 iii Big Agnes Thrustmaster TMX tracking bike rides,
The perfect Bikepacking Tent Racing Wheel chocolate, and a simple
T R E VO R R A A B

companion when This lightweight and An impulse buy after

reminiscing about my
click counter to see how
I don’t want to compact tent easily
carry a full setup. mounts to my bike. childhood one day. many times my cowork-
Still don’t regret it. ers visit the mail room.

8 November 2019
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 2
// BY ALE X A N DER GEORGE //
How to Make
Your Car More
Like Your Phone
T
H E N E W E S T B M W S H AV E
this function that makes
my geek heart sing. Foot
on the brake, you hit the
start/stop button, and the
infotainment system—
t hat big screen in t he
center of the dashboard—fills up
with a tiny version of your phone,
condensed down to the half-dozen
or so apps you need while driving.
You don’t even have to take your
phone out of your pocket or purse.
Unlike most other cars with Apple
CarPlay, BMW’s system connects
over Wi-Fi, so you don’t need to plug
in a Lightning cable. Brilliant, bor-
derline dystopian convenience.
I’m probably alone in loving
CarPlay so much. The tech is five
years old, so you don’t really hear
about it outside of car dealerships
or Apple developer conferences.
Consider that flattery, because the
best-designed tools are intuitive to
the point of being ignorable. Part of
that is its speed. CarPlay makes the
default systems in modern cars feel
obtuse and lethargic. An expensive
car with wonderfully responsive
steering and acceleration still feels
cheap when it takes several counts
to skip to the next track.
10 November 2019
And CarPlay is arguably safer How to Survive Really
than mounting your phone on the Long Drives
windshield or dash. The system
blocks the stuff that you shouldn’t
1. Never get off an goes out, I hang
be doing while driving. If you tap
exit that has A and B one up and use it
on Messages, you can select a text ramps. That means as a pendant light/
convo. But if the car’s moving, it’s sending you lantern. Oh, and
the screen won’t show the text. It onto a road that’s they’re also good
reads them to you, then asks if you’d either divided or for jump-starts.
super busy, and thus
like to dictate a response. (Yeah,
obnoxious when 3. Don’t be afraid
voice-to-text is still fallible, but it’s you’re trying to get to stop and get
good enough to curb my texting-at- back on the high- gas, go to the bath-
stoplights habit.) way. Look for the room, buy a coffee,
Count me among the remaining towering signs that whatever. Use the
signify a gas station reward of a stop to
few who consider it a joy to drive really
or fast food joint keep you going.
far on an unfamiliar route. There’s the that’s right next to
kinetic satisfaction of operating a big the highway. 4. Practice until
machine smoothly through a turn. you can distinguish
And I like the existential simplicity 2. Buy a Weego beef jerky from the
jump-starter ($60 silicone preservative
of having no responsibility except to
and up). My kids use packet by feel alone.
keep going. CarPlay preserves all that, them as phone bat-
then adds just enough functionality to teries, and at home, —Ezra Dyer,
satisfy the modern part of my brain when the power Auto Editor
that’s grown accustomed
to being able to know
P H OTO G R A P H BY L A KOTA G A M B I L L
exactly where I am on a
map, and instantly listen Charge Your Phone Faster in a Car
to any song in history. The In some cars, the USB-A ports (the rectangular ones that take two tries to insert
Tesla software update into correctly) are so low-amperage that it is worthwhile to buy a charger for the
cigarette lighter and plug in there to recharge a phone or tablet. Now, manufac-
that gives us sci-fi-grade
turers are building cars with USB-C ports, which charge at higher amperages.
Level 4 autonomy is still Depending on the devices you’re powering, if you have a new car with one of
far away. And until then, these, buy a USB-C-to-Lightning or USB-C-to-USB-C cable from Anker (usually
this is how I’ll drive. around $20). They make the strongest, most durable cables I’ve tested.
 3
// BY DA N ROE //

NOTES: If you’re a plumber, electrician, or militant DIY-er with

Milwaukee a bunch of pipe to cut, Milwaukee’s cordless band saw is a

gift from the tool gods. It’s a favorite of contractors and tool

Cordless renters because this saw is as burly as they come. Power comes
from a high-speed brushless motor (1) that rotates the toothy
metal band (2) at 380 surface feet per minute. The 5x5-inch NUMBER

Band Saw cut capacity is the biggest you’ll find on a cordless band saw,
allowing you to blast through wide pipes, thick fence posts,
OF PARTS:

PRODUCED:
CHINA
and steel bollards. It’s also less prone to breakdowns, thanks
to a direct-drive system that removes the need for a chain, a
component destined to stretch and require servicing. At 13.1
217
pounds, without the lithium-ion battery (3), the M18 isn’t the
TIME TO DISASSEMBLE :
most portable or the easiest to carry, but there’s no better way
1 HOUR, 59 MINUTES to make clean, spark-free cuts through steel pipe.

cleaning with any degreaser or paper towel or shop towel.

powerful ammoniated cleaner
before you begin to sand; you
don’t want to spread the resid-
ual grease from the threading
process. Denatured alcohol also
works well to break down the oil
and clean off pipes—be careful,
the threads can be very sharp.
STEP 2 SCUFF-SAND AND
C L E A N / Sand the pipe and
S T E P 3 P A I N T / Apply primer
when painting metal that has
been abraded/cleaned, espe-
cially if there are bare spots
or areas where rust needed
to be removed. (Do not paint
galvanized pipe with oil-based
primers or paints that are called
“alkyds.” Use paints that are
called “acrylics.” Otherwise, the

PROJECTS /
like Wayfair. fittings with fine sandpaper or paint will peel when exposed
The path of least resis- so-called wet-dry paper (sand- to humidity.) Use one coat of

REASONS TO ENJOY tance would be to have Steve

at The Home Depot cut and
YOUR MASSIVE thread the pipes for you, but
DIY cutting and threading
BAND SAW gives you more flexibility (and
fewer trips back to the store
when you get the measure-
ments wrong).
Before you embark on
the pipe-based coffee table
or bookshelf of your dreams,
check out these tips from
Senior Test Editors Roy Berend-
sohn and Brad Ford to nail your
favorite industrial pipe look.
S T E P 1 D E G R E A S E / Give
the pipe and fittings a thorough
paper that can be used with a
cutting lubricant). You don’t
need anything much coarser
than 120- or maybe even
220-grit paper. The import-
ant thing is to abrade off shiny
spots, rust, deep scratches,
and the like. You can even
use an ammoniated house-
hold cleaner in conjunction
with wet-dry sandpaper while
you’re doing this. Next, use
damp and clean paper towels
to wipe down the pipe and dry
the pipe thoroughly. Follow
with one more wipe using a
solvent such as mineral spirits
or alcohol and a clean piece of
spray metal primer, followed by
at least two coats of top coat,
which may be gloss enamel or
satin enamel. Hold the can so
that it’s not pointing directly at
what you want to paint. Press
the can’s trigger and move
over the object in a sweeping
motion. Once the spray pattern
clears the other end, let go of
the button.
Alternatively, preserve the
pipe’s industrial finish with a
butcher’s wax coating. You
might have to reapply periodi-
cally to maintain the finish, but
it protects already-rusting pipe
from corroding further.

12 November 2019
 3

P H OTO G R A P H Y BY TO D D M C L E L L A N November 2019 13

 4
// BY DI A N A BOCCO //

Prepare
Your
Garage
for
Winter

G
ARAG ES O FTE N H OUSE
the mechanical systems
that run your home—
f r om t h e e l e c t r i c a l
br e a ker b ox t o you r
HVAC system, explains
home-renovation
specialist and Trane partner
Anthony Carrino, the star of
HGTV’s Kitchen Cousins. As a
result, even seemingly small dam-
ages can have pricey implications
if the garage gets too cold.
Whether you want to keep
using your garage as a workspace
or just want to make sure your
tools are safe from the tough win-
ter conditions, it’s important to
properly winterize your garage,
according to Adam Mennenga, a
licensed and certified HVAC tech
and president of billyGO. ROCK Volcanic rock, forged in the bowels of the earth, should be the material of choice
for your next insulation project. Mineral wool, or rock wool, insulation is made

WOOL
Here are three tips on doing from melted basalt and recycled steel slag by spinning the molten material into
just that before the cold weather threads, like cotton candy. The threads are collected in sheets and combined
arrives. to make batts of insulation. While rock wool is typically 20 to 25 percent more
expensive than traditional fiberglass insulation, it is pretty amazing stuff, and there are
numerous advantages to using it—especially in garages and workshops.
■
STOP DRAFTS PERFORMANCE / fiberglass, means moldy. And, because batts are easy to
Preventing drafts from sneaking Rock wool insulation that it can slow the they are denser, cut accurately, and
shares an import- spread of fire in the the batts also make consequently they fit
in will not only keep the garage
ant property with event of a catastro- very good sound tighter, won’t droop,
warmer but will also save you the rock it’s made phe. Rock wool is insulation. and do not require
money on energy bills. The easi- of: fire resistance. also resistant to fasteners or support
est way to know if you have drafts That, combined with water absorption, so INSTALLATION / to stay in place—even
that need to be addressed? Close a higher R-value than it is less likely to get The dense rock wool in ceilings.

16 November 2019 P H OTO G R A P H BY T R E VO R R A A B

The Toyota Prius with impressive cargo space
 4

your garage door and look for light 2

coming through at the bottom or
sides, says Mennenga. This is a
sign that the seal is deteriorated
and needs to be replaced.
Because rubber seals crack
over time very easily, they are
often one of the first garage door
components to go. Mennenga
recommends checking the seals
for visible signs of problems —
including not only cracks but also
adhesion loss or seals that have
become hard or brittle—and then
replace them if necessary. “Always 3
seal switches and outlets as well,
1
as between 2 percent and 5 per-
cent of air infiltration comes from
outlets on outside walls,” says
Mennenga. He also recommends
caulking around your garage door No Heat? Try One of These
frame to stop air from getting in.
1.HEAT YOURSELF 2. HEAT THE WORK AREA 3. HEAT THE GARAGE
■ LASKO OSCILLATING DELONGHI MICA THERMIC DE WALT PORTABLE
INSULATE EVERYTHING CERAMIC HEATER / $45 PANEL HEATER / $95 FORCED-AIR HEATER / $151
If you’re approaching this project You don’t need to heat an Another way to get warm is To heat a large workspace
entire space to feel warm. to heat the objects around quickly, there’s no substitute
on your own, you can purchase A small, powerful heater you with this micathermic for big BTUs. This 68k BTU
fiberglass batt insulation at any pointed at you can make heater from DeLonghi. A heater from DeWalt deliv-
hardware store. “It’s important to all the difference. Lasko’s mica panel emits electro- ers heat fast, fueled with a
make sure you choose the proper portable ceramic heater magnetic rays that warm standard 20-pound propane
thickness—you need to securely oscillates and pushes objects in the room, which tank, and powered by 20V
1,500 watts of heating in turn warm the ambient MAX or FLEXVOLT batter-
fasten the batt insulation, make
power—enough to cover a air. The slim heater is porta- ies. Keep the tank outside,
sure it is properly suppor ted small area around you and ble, and can be hung out of crack open the garage door,
and that it is cut properly for the take the edge off the cold. the way on the wall. and run the hose under it.
space so it fits snuggly, but not too
tight,” says Mennenga.
When insulating the garage,
don’t forget your garage door.
There are plenty of kits avail- ■ heating system in your garage,
able specifically designed for DECIDE HOW TO HEAT Carrino recommends looking at
garage door insulation, including Perhaps the best solution and eas- using a portable electric unit or
foam board, reflective barriers, iest way to warm up your garage electric baseboard instead. “The
and fiberglass batt insulation, is to install a single-zone ductless sizing and count of these units
according to Mennenga. The type system with a wall-mounted heat should be done by a trusted pro-
of insulation you choose needs to pump. “This kind of slim, wall- fessional so you get the optimal
properly fill the garage door pan- mounted indoor unit is easy to amount of heat for the volume of
els for it to work. “Installation on install (without the need for major space,” says Carrino. The proper
garage doors that have recessed construction and remodeling), garage heater, according to Car-
paneling can sometimes be tricky, gives you maximum zone comfort rino, should not only make you
and in those instances, it may be control, and is energy efficient,” feel warm and toasty, but also
best to call on a professional for according to Carrino. prevent mildew and mold from
help,” Mennenga adds. If you can’t install a proper forming in the first place.

18 November 2019 P H OTO G R A P H BY L A KOTA G A M B I L L

 P ROM OT IO N

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800.996.9901
 5
// BY EZR A DYER //
The Ultimate
Off-Road Toy
M
O ST S I D E - BY- S I D E S ,
even outrageous
t urbocharged Baja-
slayers from Can-Am
and Polaris, use con-
t i nu o u s l y v a r i a b l e
automatic transmis-
sions that deliver power via drive
belt. The problem: those belts.
The design works great in snow-
mobiles, which don’t have to
worry much about heat, excessive
weight, or too much traction. But
sink a 1,500-pound four-wheel-
drive side-by-side in a mud pit
on a hot summer day and it prob-
ably won’t be long before you’re
extracting the frayed shards of the
drive belt from your transmission.
Side-by-side owners seem mostly
resigned to this outcome, saying
things like, “Well, when the belt
breaks, that prevents more expen-
sive transmission parts from
breaking.” Honda, though, has
a different proposal: How about
nothing breaks in the first place?
That’s the premise with the
Talon 1000X and Talon 1000R,
both of which use a six-speed
dua l- clutch t ra nsmission.
Besides eliminating the drive belt,
Honda’s DCT is more fun to use.
Instead of stepping on the accel-
erator and sending the engine to
a constant droning RPM, as CVTs
do, the Talon moves up through
the gears like a car. You can either
drive it in automatic mode or
20 November 2019
shift it manually with paddles on
the steering wheel. The ability to
choose your own gears is also a
boon when you’re heading into a
corner or down a hill, when you
might want to manually grab a
lower gear. A CVT can’t do that.
The dual-clutch’s advantages
are so thorough that you can see
why GM engineered one from
scratch for the new Cor vette. TURN UP THE FUN
/ The dual-clutch
Other vehicles that use a dual-
transmission lets
clutch transmission? The Bugatti you shift through the
Chiron. The McLaren 720S. The gears manually. But if
Acura NSX. But the Talon is the you choose fully auto,
only side-by-side that has one. “Sport Mode” shifts
Fortunately, the Talon isn’t at higher RPM for
more thrills.
just a rolling support system for
a nice transmission. The engine,
the same 999cc two-cylinder from
the Africa Twin dual-sport bike,
makes 104 horsepower and is
admirably smooth.
The Talon X is the trail model,
sized to squeeze betwixt the trees,
but still offers Fox Podium 2.0
shocks and about 15 inches of
travel front and rear. The 1000R The Talon 1000X the earth’s furrowed brow. In fact,
is a little shorter
is your desert racer, wider, longer and narrower the faster you go, the smoother the
and with even more suspension than the 1000R, ride. You can’t fall into a rut if you
and combined
travel. Either one will let you run with a three-link skip across the top.
in two-wheel-drive or four-wheel- rear suspension, As Honda’s first sport effort,
is nimble over
drive, w ith the former mode tight trails. the Ta lon is a strong play. It
existing pretty much so you can doesn’t have the power to hang
drift the rear end and have big with the big boys on the Glamis
goofy fun on dirt. In four-wheel- dunes, but out on the trails it’s
drive, the Talon X is locked down more than quick enough. And you
and stable, even at 65 mph over know you’ll never have to stop to
sine-wave moguls that look like change a belt.
P H OTO G R A P H BY C H R I S TO P H E R W I L S O N
 MAKE⁄MODEL

HONDA TALON X
PRICE $19,999
ENGINE
999cc liquid-cooled
parallel-twin

TRANSMISSION
6-speed automatic
dual-clutch (DCT]

BED CAPACIT Y
299 pounds

LENGTH WIDTH
123.9 64.0
inches inches

WHEELBASE:
87.6 inches

CURB WEIGHT
1,490 pounds

CLEARANCE FUEL
CAPACIT Y
12.7
inches 7.3
gallons

Like a car, a new mower undergoes performance and dura-

Honda’s bility tests before it goes into production, and that mower
CO U R T E S Y H O N DA (L AW N M O W E R T E S T I N G)

Lawnmower abuse happens at Honda Research and Development Ameri-

cas in Swepsonville, North Carolina. Ever run over a rock with
Torture your mower and flinch as it ricochets under the deck? This is
the place where Honda makes sure that when mower meets
Chamber rock, mower wins.
One test involves shooting half-inch steel ball bearings
under a running mower to ensure that they can’t perforate the deck or break the blade. There
are heat chambers, cold chambers, machines that flex blades hundreds of thousands of times
to test metal fatigue. There’s a sound room that looks like a recording studio, to tune the
exhaust note. Outside, a self-propelled mower attached to a tether runs around a bumpy circu-
lar track for days on end. And yes, out back they’ve got a whole lot of lawn to mow.

November 2019 21
 6
// BY K YLE MIZO K A MI //
How the
Air Force’s
Secret
Spaceplane
Disappears
W
ITH ITS BULLET
shape and stubby
w i n g s , t h e U. S .
Air Force’s X-37B
Orbital Test Vehicle
looks like the little
brother of NASA’s
classic Space Shuttle orbiter. But
the comparisons end there: The
X-37B is built to spend months
and even years in orbit, carrying
out classified missions for Ameri-
ca’s military space program.
In the 1990s, NASA needed
a cheaper option to boost space-
plane readiness. The Space Shuttle
couldn’t lower its payload-to-orbit
costs, and it took months to refur-
bish between flights. The agency’s
solution? An unmanned space-
plane (a vehicle that moves like
an aircraft in our atmosphere and
like a spacecraft in space), which
would require less thrust and a
smaller rocket to send it into space.
22 November 2019
Without a crew, it could spend as
long as the mission needed in low-
Earth orbit before coming home.
NASA and the Air Force simul-
taneously planned similar craft,
but after a few fits and starts—
including the lone X-40A that
Boeing built for the military—
NASA let the Pentagon’s Defense
Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) take control.
DARPA’s X-37, an Approach and
Landing Test Vehicle, eventu-
ally gave way to the sequel: a fully
capable vehicle with heat-resistant
tiles and a propulsion system that
would fulfill the mission profile of
an unmanned spaceplane.
Boeing’s X-37B went to space
for the first time in 2010. The two
X-37B spacecraft have carried
out a total of four missions, rack-
ing up 2,086 days in orbit. At press
time, the fifth mission, OTV-5, is
more than 700 days in orbit.
The X-37B is At 29 feet long and 9 feet wide,
placed inside the
nose cone of an the X-37B has a wingspan that
Atlas V booster stretches almost 15 feet and has a
rocket before
launching into launch weight of 11,000 pounds,
space. excluding the booster rocket. The
spaceplane is powered by Gallium
Arsenide Solar cells with lithium-
ion batteries, and has thrust-
ers for orbit maneuvering and
de-orbiting, but no engines to
travel long distances in space,
or for powered f light through
the atmosphere.
So it can push itself down into
Earth’s atmosphere for a landing
but can’t, for example, travel to a
higher geosynchronous orbit or
place itself on a path to the moon.
The X-37B’s payload bay mea-
sures 7 feet by 4 feet—the size of a
truck bed. What makes it unique
among current spacecraft is its
ability to take cargo loads into
space and return them to the engi-
neers who built them on Earth.

As an Air Force platform, it’s
natural to think of the X-37B as
an exotic weapon system. Some
even speculate it could be used to
snatch enemy satellites for study.
In reality, the X-37B’s most
likely mission, per the Secure
World Foundation, a space policy
nonprofit, is as an “on-orbit sen-
sor platform and technology test
bed.” The X-37B could allow the
Air Force to test upcoming tech
bound for the next generation of
spy satellites.
Even if the X-37B carries out
missions that aren’t the stuff of
spy novels, it still drives our ene-
mies nuts. Former Secretary of the
Air Force Heather Wilson recently
said the X-37B “can do an orbit
that looks like an egg and, when
it’s close to the Earth, it’s close
enough to the atmosphere to turn
where it is.”
That means when the X-37B is
out of sight on the other end of the
Earth from adversaries, it can dip
down into the atmosphere by using
its wings and maneuvering thrust-
ers. This increases drag, slowing
down the spaceplane so it doesn’t
pop up on a predictive schedule.
Imagine that the Chinese mil-
itary has located the X-37B in
space and is guiding satellites to
get a closer look. If the U.S. gets
wind of the operation and spots
the approaching Chinese sats, it
could order the X-37B to change
its orbit—idea lly over South
America, the opposite end of the
U . S . A I R F O R C E (L E F T ) ; R A L F VA N D E B E R G H (I N O R B I T )
Earth from China. The X-37B
would simply fail to show up at the
designated time, forcing the Chi-
nese to reacquire the spacecraft
and start all over.
Although more capable space-
planes are almost certainly in
development, they’re unnecessary
for deploying most space-based
weapon concepts. The X-37B gets
the job done—even if we don’t
actually know what that job is.
HOW TO
TRACK AND
PHOTOGRAPH
SECRET
SPACECRAFT
Earlier this year, Dutch science journalist and satellite tracker Ralf
Vandebergh successfully snagged detailed images of the X-37B in low
orbit using a hand-tracking method—catching sight of the vehicle and
guiding his 10-inch reflector telescope manually—and video-based
imaging techniques. Want to capture a satellite, booster rocket, or the
ISS in action? Follow Vandebergh’s lead. —Eric Adams
1 CHOOSE are processed into style reflector on a
YOUR SCOPE the final products. bearing-supported
Larger-aperture box mount. “The ISS
telescopes generate 3 FOLLOW travels at 1 degree per
brighter and more THROUGH A FINDER second when it passes
detailed images, but You’ll want a wide- overhead, which is 2
even scopes with angle, low-magnifica- full moon diameters
apertures as small as tion finder telescope per second,” Vande-
4, 6, or 8 inches from attached to the pri- bergh says. “Objects
Celestron, Meade, or mary scope. That’s in lower orbits, includ-
Orion can bag images how you’ll actually ing the X-37B, move
of larger objects like acquire and track your even faster.”
the ISS. target—not through
the scope itself. (The 5 LOCATE
2 ATTACH higher magnifica- YOUR TARGET
A CAMERA tion makes it virtually Vandebergh uses
Vandebergh uses a impossible.) Let the astronomical software
dedicated astronom- camera run while that includes satellite
ical CCD camera, you keep the object positions, like CalSky,
but simple webcams centered in the finder so he can anticipate
mounted above tele- scope. If they’re when and where they’ll
scope eyepieces work aligned properly, the pass over. But any
just as well. Same object should end up planetarium app with
goes for mirrorless nicely centered in the satellite data will work.
or DSLR cameras video frames. As the object comes
attached directly to over the horizon, start
the telescope with 4 KEEP A your camera and fol-
an adapter. The goal: STEADY HAND low along. Just keep
capture as many The hard part is pan- your screens dim and
usable frames as pos- ning smoothly along the software switched
sible of the objects, with fast-moving tar- to astro mode so you
since the vehicle’s gets. Keep your scope can preserve your
illumination varies as on a stable mount night vision. You’ll
it moves in and out of with a smooth action need to see the target
direct sunlight. Even- that you’ve practiced with your naked eye
tually, the best and sweeping across the before flagging it with
most detailed frames sky, like a Dobsonian- the finder.
November 2019 23
 7
// BY DAV ID GROSSM A N //

How One
Mathe-
matician
Solved a
2,000-Year-
Old Lens
Problem

I
T ’ S A N I S S U E T H AT H A S
plagued photography since its
Light passing
creation: blurring, even when through into a
ever y thing is in focus. No camera’s lenses
never meets at
matter how high-quality the exactly one point,
camera, math has dictated causing blurr like
this.
that the cur ve of spherical
lenses means that rays of light
c om i n g t h r o u g h w on’t c on -
verge on the exact same spot. At
least, that was the problem until
Rafael G. G onzá lez-Acuña , a
doctoral student at Mexico’s Tec-
FIGURE 2

nológico de Monterrey, up and

solved it.
The problem goes back thou-
T R E VO R R A A B (G R A S S) ; T H E B O O K W O R M /A L A M Y (F I G U R E 1)

sa nd s of yea r s t o t he Gre ek
mathematician Diocles. A con-
tempora r y of A rchimedes,
Diocles wrote a book titled On
Burning Mirrors, in which he
FIGURE 1

describes what would become

known as a “spherical aberra-
tion.” As light rays fall on a lens,
different rays don’t meet in a sin-
gle focal point. Even the most
high-end lenses can’t tota lly
remove the aberration. Since
Diocles brought up the problem,

24 November 2019
 Do You Need a (Real) Camera?

Modern pro makes dedi- for anyone who so convenient

cessors and cated cameras wants to really that, unless you
the photo- so good at their control aperture really love the
enhancing job. Specifically, or shutter speed, medium, the
software that real cameras know that the images your
runs on them have bigger sliders on smart- phone captures
means modern sensors, which phone camera are probably
smartphones means they can apps are just a good enough for
take incredi- capture more simulation of however you'll
ble photos. But light, which the mechanical use them. But if
keeping smart- means more parts on a real you really love
phones small detail. Same camera. All that photography,
enough to fit thing applies said, for most you need a ded-
in your pocket to all the glass of us who take icated device.
means they’ll on big camera photos and look Think of it as
never accom- lenses that feeds at other people’s a chef’s knife
modate the light to those photos, backup compared to a
hardware that sensors. And and sharing is Leatherman.

The iPhone 11
Pro’s wide, ultra-
wide, and tele-
photo cameras
simulate the fidel-
ity of a dedicated
camera.

Figure 1: Light’s nobody in history had been able ing I was making myself a slice surface, which is provided by the
path through
a typical lens. to find a good answer. And con- of bread with Nutella, when sud- user, as well as the object-image
Spherical aber- sidering the massive uptick in denly, I said out loud: ‘Mothers! It distance,” González-Acuña said.
ration prevents it
from converging camera ownership over the last is there!’” González-Acuña said “The second surface is such that
on a single point. two decades, in the form of bil- in an interview with PetaPixel. it corrects all the aberration
Figure 2: Without
lions of smar t phones, that’s How did he crack the aber- generated by the first surface,
aberration, light saying something. r at ion? B y u si ng a comple x and the spherical aberration
would converge
on a focal point,
But Héctor A. Chaparro-Romo, mathematical formula, published is eliminated.”
eliminating blur. a doctoral student at the National in an article titled “General For- González-Acuña’s formula
Autonomous University of Mex- mula for Bi-Aspheric Singlet Lens has serious real-world potential.
CO U R T E S Y A P P L E (P H O N E)

ico (UNAM), had a feeling that
the problem could be solved.
He began working on a solution
three years ago, and later invited
González-Acuña to work with
him. “I remember one morn-
Design Free of Spherical Aber-
ration,” in the journal Applied
O ptics. “In this equation we
describe how the shape of the
second aspherical surface of the
given lens should be given a first
Be yond prov iding direc t ion
for manufacturers to produce
optimized lenses on consumer
products, it could make for sharper
lenses on scientific equipment,
from telescopes to microscopes.

November 2019 25
 8
// BY EZR A DYER //

I
The Toyota AM O LD E NOUG H TO RE M E M -
ber when SU Vs first took
off, and mobs of people who
For all our griping about the
basic lameness of crossovers,
t he a dvent of t he c a r-ba se d

4Runner Is formerly drove wagons or

minivans piled into body-
on-fra me E x plorers a nd
faux truck represented a posi-
tive realignment of capability
with reality. Compared with a

Outdated, set off for outdoorsy adven-

tures, like driving to the mall to
body-on-frame SUV, a unibody
crossover will typically weigh

Clunky—and get an Orange Julius while listen-

ing to the new Collective Soul CD.
The first wave of four-door SUVs
less, handle better, have more
interior space, and get better
fuel economy. That’s why Nis-

Awesome were hastily adapted trucks, basi-

cally pickups with back seats and
a roof over the bed. Then came the
crossovers.
san mor phed the Pathf inder
from body-on-frame truck into a
mega-Maxima. Why Ford turned
the Explorer into a Taurus wagon.
Why the Chevy Blazer is a taller
Impala, and the Jeep Cherokee
is a Chrysler 200 that sells 200
times better. Aside from the Jeep
Wrangler, which is its own cate-
gory, there’s only one truck left:
the Toyota 4Runner.
Last year, Toyota sold nearly
140,000 4Runners, despite the
current generation dating to
2010. It outsells all Lexus cars
combined. I always try to warn
people what they’re getting into
with the 4Runner, which is to say,
a time machine that takes you
back to the era of keyed ignitions
and horrible gas mileage. I typi-
cally launch into a sermon on the
dynamic and packaging virtues of
the Highlander. “It’s so much bet-
ter to drive,” I say. The 4Runner
drives like a bag of rocks pulled
by a Clydesdale that was recently

A COOLER CAN I took the 4Runner TRD Pro on a weekend trip with my Coleman Steel Belted cooler
strapped to the roof rack. I didn’t really need to put the cooler on the roof, but I wanted my

KILL YOUR MPG

fellow motorists to fully appreciate my outdoors lifestyle. “That guy’s probably going to
camp by a lake at the end of a rugged trail,” they’d say. “So cool.” ¶ I removed the cooler
after realizing that it knocked four miles per gallon off the 4Runner’s already grim fuel econ-
omy (18 mpg down to 14 mpg on the highway). The 4Runner’s V-6 is labored in the first place, churning those big
CO U R T E S Y

tires through only five forward gears. It’s the kind of vehicle where you notice when you’re driving into a headwind
even without a cooler on the roof. Aerodynamics aside, a top-heavy rig like this doesn’t need an extra 60 pounds in
the crow’s nest. In the end, I decided that the roof would be used only for real roof-rack-requiring emergencies, like
if I developed the sudden need to buy a kayak. —E.D.

26 November 2019
MAKE⁄MODEL

TOYOTA
4RUNNER
BASE ENGINE
PRICE
4.0-liter
$35,310 V-6

HORSEPOWER 270

TORQUE 278 lb-ft

TRANSMISSION
Five-speed
automatic/rear-
wheel-drive,

November 2019 27
 8

The Last of the True Trucks

The TRD Pro is the most off-road-ready model
in the 4Runner lineup. Here’s why.

exhumed from the pet sematary.

If the 4Runner could commu-
nicate, it would do so through
TRD PRO
pointing and grunting. The 4Run-
PRICE /
ner’s so old, its VIN is 1. $ 4 6 , 81 5
After I complete a half-hour
roast of the 4Runner, my inquis-
itor will usually reply, “Oh, well,
I’ve got a 2017 4Runner. I love it.”
And then I backtrack. I backtrack
like a 4Runner in reverse, which is
to say slowly and accompanied by
soft whining. “Well, it does have
character,” I say, “and the back
window rolls down.” Then we
agree that the back window, which
rolls down, is pretty sweet.
If crossovers represent rebel-
lion against the minivan, then
the 4Runner represents rebel-
lion against crossovers. It’s just
got a cool vibe. One recent morn-
ing when I was dropping a kid
off at school, the car ahead of me
was a 4Runner. The rear window FRONT SKID
was halfway down, with a placid PLATE / A
German Shepherd peeking over quarter-inch-
the glass. And I thought, “OK, I thick metal
plate protects
want that scene.” I want it despite
the underside
the fact that a cool dog window of the front end.
is inseparable from klutzy steer-
ing and a V-6 that always feels like
it’s been rudely awakened from a
peaceful slumber.
I recently drove a 4Runner
TRD Pro, which is a 4Runner with
exaggerated height and extrover-
sion. Some of the qualities that
make a TRD Pro excellent off-
road—solid rear axle, towering
ground clearance, Nitto Terra
Grappler all-terrain tires—exact HUGE TIRES / The
a penalty on the asphalt trail. 4Runner’s puppy-
But the reality is that from with-big-paws
now on, when someone a sk s stance comes from
me whether they should buy a its unusually large
tires. The TRD Pro’s
4Runner or a Highlander, I’ll say 265/70-17 Nitto
I really don’t know. Do you prize Terra Grapplers are
competence or authenticit y? almost 32 inches in
That’s the question. Because the diameter.
4Runner has its faults. But on
the other hand, the back window
rolls down.

28 November 2019
 BODY-ON-FRAME / The
body and frame are two
separate pieces bolted to-
gether, which is how most
trucks are built. Crossovers
are unibody, with the body
and frame integrated.

LIFTED SUSPENSION /
The TRD Pro is an inch
taller than other 4Runners
and gets Fox shocks.

SOLID REAR AXLE /

Off-roaders like solid
axles because when
one side goes up,
the other side goes
down. If one tire is
TWO-SPEED TRANSFER CASE up on a rock, the oth-
/ With low-range four- er will naturally be
wheel-drive, the 4Runner can forced down toward
creep over obstacles without the ground, where it
revving the engine very high. can find traction.
Important for off-roading, but
can also be helpful for, say,
yanking a boat out of water.

November 2019 29

// BY W ILLI A M HER K E W ITZ //
N
How OWH E RE IS SCRABBLE
ta ken more seriously
than in Africa, where
Scrabble m a ny cou nt r ie s r e c-
ognize the game as an
official sport. We spoke
Pros Bend to Kenya’s Jared Omolo,
a professional player (and CDC
Words to epidemiologist) who earns his
t it le w it h de ep prepa r at ion
and tested techniques.
Their Will WORD POWER / As you might
expect, pro Scrabble players live
and die by their voluminous vocab-
ulary. “We call it ‘Word Power,’
and it’s definitely the most criti-
cal element in Scrabble strategy,”
says Omolo. But not all words are
weighed equally.
A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S
Any Scrabbler with pro-level
aspirations must memorize every
one of the 127 internationally
legal two-letter words, and the
9
1,347 three-letter words. These
are vital because “often you’re
playing words parallel to each
other,” instead of crosswise, says
Omolo. So it pays to know that a
word like ABODE can sit right on
top of AIMED and form five per-
fectly legal two-letter words. Yes,
AA and DE are legal words.
Other words worth master-
ing are small ones that can easily
extend (like PACE to SPACE or
PACES), words loaded with the
most abundant letters in the
Scrabble bag, and words that can
be tacked on to stand-alone stems.
“For example, you’ll hear studying
players say things like, ‘Yeah I’m
working on the “outs” right now:
outhouse, outwork, outgunned,’
and so on,” says Omolo.
“And I can’t emphasize enough
the importance of knowing seven-
and eight-letter words that consist
November 2019 33
 9
of high-probability letters,” he
says. “Like the six in RETAIN.” In
Scrabble, if you clear your whole
rack of seven letters in one turn,
you get a huge 50-point bonus.
So plan for it. If Omolo draws
RETAIN, and a C, he’s ready with
NACRITE or CREATIN. Draw a D
or F? TRAINED or FAINTER.
Of course, in Scrabble, “know-
ing” a word doesn’t mean you have
to know the definition, only that
it’s a legal option. Omolo couldn’t
define NACRITE (it’s a clay min-
eral,) but he gleefully points
to Nigel Richards, the current
English-language Scrabble world
champion and reigning French
Scrabble champ, who’s won twice
despite not speaking French.
BOARD VISION / Let’s say you’ve
memorized a few thousand high-
value words. Now you’ve got to
work on what Omolo calls Board
Vision, the ability to “recall and
spot potential words, using both
the letters on your rack and those
on the board, all while maximizing
the premium squares, like the tri-
ple word and double-letter bonus.”
And Board Vision doesn’t stop
with your own letters. “You have
to spot potential setups from
your opponent, and play defen-
sively when needed,” he says.
Players dream of glorious triple-
triples, massive-value words that
span across two separate Triple
Word Score premium squares.
Anyone with excellent Board
Vision will keep their opponent
away from these devastating
chances at all cost.
Omolo says your Board Vision
naturally improves as you play,
but you can help it along with
Scrabble puzzles, or by review-
ing master games, analyzing
why t he g r e at s pl aye d wh at
they played.
34 November 2019
Weird Words That Are Scrabble-Legal
Official U.S. tournaments abide by the official Word List compiled
by the North American Scrabble Players Association. Here are
some of our favorite totally legal oddities.
HAECCEITY EISTEDDFODAU
The essence of A Welsh festival
individuality. of arts and literature.
SYZYGY TSUTSUGAMUSHI
The perfect A bacterium carried
alignment of three by mites.
celestial bodies.
UNUNUNIUM
PIMPMOBILE The former
Exactly what you name of element
think it means: 111—now called
a big, showy car. Roentgenium.
LEXICAL FLEXIBILITY / “Begin-
ning players don’t realize this, but
what you leave on your rack is some-
times even more important than
the word you just played,” he says.
For example, you can cripple your-
self for multiple turns by leaving
behind three vowels, only to nab
up four more.
All pros keep a running tally
of the letters still left in the bag.
Based on what’s left, they bal-
ance playing their best words with
leaving themselves letters that
are still likely to combine nicely
next round. Some combinations
you know to avoid altogether. “For
instance, the combination of W,
V, and U strikes fear into players
because there are so few seven- and
eight-letter English words that use
them,” he says.
His advice? “Generally speak-
ing, you want to play off duplicate
letters, leave a rough balance
of vowels and consonants, and
stick with tiles that you know
combine nicely—like R ES or
RET,” says Omolo.
BRR and BRRR
Sounds that
indicate one is cold.
(But not BR or
BRRRR.)
AA
Rough-surfaced lava
(origin: Hawaiian).
CRWTHS
Ancient stringed musical
instrument (plural).
Scrabble’s endgame also has a
strategy all on its own. “When you
get down to 10 tiles left in the bag,
you can usually work out what your
opponent has, and start to lock up
the board and make setups only
you’ll be able to use,” he says. “With
strategy and mental resilience, I’ve
found you can pull ahead of oppo-
nents, even if they’ve got better
Word Power than you.”
To really excel in Scrabble, for
each turn, you must manage a
delicate dance of lexical f lexi-
bility using all of your skills and
awareness, “where you’re con-
stantly balancing the score you’d
get from potential moves with
what they would leave behind on
your rack—and how the letters
would combine with what you
know is left in the bag—all while
making sure to block when you
L A KOTA G A M B I L L (L E T T E R S)
need to, and not create a comfort-
able scoring opportunity for your
opponent.”
“Your options can feel infinite,”
says Omolo. “That’s the beauty of
the game.”
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 10
// BY A N DRE W DA NIELS //

How to Turn Old

Rice Krispies, Cocoa
Krispies, and Corn
Flakes Into Beer

W
ITH NEW MICRO-
1 breweries popping
up every where—
589 opened in
t he U. S . a lone
between 2017 and
2018, according to
the Brewers Association—find-
ing new ways to innovate among
2
a crowded pack of craft produc-
ers is a tall task. But the brewers
at Seven Bro7hers in Salford,
England, have arrived at a solu-
tion for separating theirs from
the rest: using leftover cereal.
3 Last year, the brewery teamed
up with BrewDog in Manches-
ter to whip up a milkshake IPA
called “Cornshake,” which used
leftover Corn Flakes in the mash.
But Seven Bro7hers owner and
founder Keith McAvoy expected
the Kellogg’s legal team would
make sure the brew didn’t last.
“A few days after we launched
the beer,” McAvoy says, “Kel-
logg’s got in touch, and as we had
used Kellogg’s branding on the
label, we thought we were in trou-
ble, and they were going to ask us
4
to remove the reference. But it
was quite the opposite: They loved
what we had done.”
McAvoy got the go-ahead from
the cereal king to continue using
the Kellogg’s name. What’s more,
the company actually wanted to
collaborate on a new beer, one that
used other leftover cereal that
would have otherwise gone in the
trash.
So Seven Bro7hers began creat-
ing Throw Away IPA—created with
Kellogg’s rejected Corn Flakes. As
discussions continued, McAvoy
says, “it became apparent that the
wider issue of food waste could be
addressed, and we decided to offi-
cially continue the partnership
and make two more beers.”
One is made from repurposed
Rice Krispies. Another uses sur-
plus Cocoa Krispies.
McAvoy won’t say what cereals
he plans on using next, but calls
Seven Bro7hers’ involvement in
Kellogg’s sustainability program
“fantastic,” and says, “We’ll con-
tinue working with Kellogg’s for
the foreseeable future.”

MORE BEERS 1 TWISTED PINE BREWING

COMPANY’S GHOST FACE
2 HIGH WATER BREWING’S
CAMPFIRE STOUT / Brewed
3 SCRATCH BREWING
COMPANY’S OYSTER
4 WYNKOOP BREWING
COMPANY’S ROCKY

MADE WITH
KILLAH / This wheat ale is with graham crackers and WEISS / This sour wheat MOUNTAIN OYSTER STOUT
brewed with six different molasses, this beer also beer is brewed with the / Initially an April Fool’s
types of chili peppers— has hints of chocolate and brewery’s own turmeric joke, this stout is brewed
WEIRD ghost, serrano, jalapeño,
habanero, Fresno, and
marshmallow so that it
tastes as close to a real
and oyster mushrooms, and
it’s fermented with Scratch
with roasted barley, seven
specialty grains, and one

INGREDIENTS Anaheim—for maximum

heat when you taste it.
s’more as you can get with-
out a campfire.
Brewing Company’s house-
mixed culture.
special ingredient: bull
testicles.

36 November 2019 P H OTO G R A P H Y BY L A KOTA G A M B I L L

 ENJOY RESPONSIBLY.
©2019. DEWAR’S BLENDED SCOTCH WHISKY 40% ALC. BY VOL.
IMPORTED BY JOHN DEWAR & SONS COMPANY, CORAL GABLES, FL.
 10

Make
Some 1 2

Yourself
1
Sanitize all brewing equipment
before beginning. Pour 2.5 gal-
lons of water into a brew pot
and heat to 150° to 165°F.

2
Fill two grain bags with 2 parts
grain to 1 part cereal. Add the
bags to the brew pot.

3
Steep for 20 minutes and
remove both bags. Allow liquid
to drain back into pot with-
out squeezing. Your water is
3 4
now wort.

4
Bring wort to a rolling
boil. Add malt extract. Stir
continuously.

5
Sprinkle hops into boiling
wort. Continue to boil for
one hour, adding one ounce
roughly every 10 minutes.

6
Cool wort to about 70°F by
placing brew pot in sink filled
with ice water. Siphon wort
into plastic tub.
5 6
7
Add enough purified water
to plastic tub to bring wort
to about five gallons. Stir
thoroughly.

8
Sprinkle yeast over wort
surface and shake or stir with
spoon or paddle. Put lid on
tub and move to dark, warm
area (64° to 72°F).

9
Wait for wort to ferment for
about two weeks.

10
Bottle or keg, and wait two
weeks before drinking. 8 9

38 November 2019
 11
// BY DA RREN ORF //

S
Causality Loops CIENCE FICTION IS A
literar y laborator y for

and Terminator’s
ideas that could one day
fill our future. And no
idea has been examined
mor e v ig or ou sly t h a n

35-Year Struggle time travel. Terminator,

the biggest time-travel franchise
of them all, gets its sixth install-
to Make Time ment with Dark Fate. The film
marks James Cameron’s return to

Travel Convincing the series, as executive producer.

This is good news. Because after
199=1’s Judgment Day, Cam-
eron’s last Terminator movie,
things got...confusing. In 2003’s
T3: Rise of the Machines, the
Judgment Day apocalypse wasn’t
really averted, just postponed.
Which felt more like a plot device
for the studio to make movies that
could take place after August 29,
1997, the date of the series’ orig-
inal end-of-the-world conclusion.
From there, Salvation and Geni-
sys would go on to muddy things
beyond recognition. Even Tim
Miller, director of Dark Fate, calls
these films “misfires.” 
Fate, however, ignores every-
t h i n g a f t er Ju d g m e n t D a y,
allowing the series to return to
time travel’s core debate: fate
versus choice.
In the original Terminator,
Cameron taps into what’s called a
predestination paradox, or causal-
ity loop: An event causes another
event that necessitates the first
event. Cyberdyne, the evil robot
baddies behind Skynet, sends
back a T-800 (aka the Terminator,
aka Arnold Schwarzenegger) to kill
Sarah Connor and prevent John
CO R B I S V I A G E T T Y I M A G E S ( T E R M I N ATO R)

Connor (the leader of the human

resistance and perpetual thorn in
Cyberdyne’s side) from ever being
born. The resistance sends back its
own soldier, Kyle Reese, to protect
Sarah. Reese goes on to become
John’s biological father, creating
John Connor, necessitating Sky-
net’s actions in the future.

40 November 2019
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But when Cyberdyne sends the freedom, T2 taps into a many-

Terminator back in time, it falls
into the hands of the company
that would eventually develop
Skynet, becoming part of a boot-
strap paradox: an object from
the future sent back in time that
becomes central to its own cre-
ation. By sending a T-800 back
in time, Cyberdyne created both
itself and its destruction.
This logic game is what makes
The Terminator a movie plot mas-
worlds interpretation of quantum
mechanics, where actions in the
past create various futures. In
one world, Judgment Day goes off
without a hitch. In another, it never
arrives. (Back to the Future works
similarly: Marty McFly’s actions
in the past create multiple reali-
ties leading back to 1985.)
It’s easy to chock up Cameron’s
back-and-forth as inconsistent
world building. Actually, it’s the

WE ALREADY KNOW HOW

terpiece. Since its release in 1984, opposite. Throughout Judgment
other films since have used simi- Day, the most compelling char-
lar a structure—12 Monkeys,
Predestination, even Harry Pot-
acters, especially Sarah Connor,
fight against the idea of a predeter- TO BUILD A TIME MACHINE
ter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. mined future. She carves “no fate”
Characters travel to the past and into a wooden table before going off Time travel already would it take to go
unknowingly create the pres- to drastically change the future. happens. Kind of. bigger, into tangible
ent they just left. The humanity Even Cameron couldn’t decide The Large Hadron Terminator-style
comes from how, inside these cau- on a philosophy, though, and cre- Collider can send human time travel?
subatomic particles “If you want to visit
sality loops, there is no more free ated two endings. In the first one,
at 99.9999 percent Earth in the year
will. We just play out a future that the one he ultimately rejected, the speed of light 3000,” Gott says, “all
is already written. Sarah Connor lives, watching her (just below 186,282 you have to do is get
But somewhere in the years grandchildren play in a park, safe miles per second). on a spaceship and
bet ween The Terminator and in the knowledge that Judgment At that speed, the go 99.995 percent of
particles experience the speed of light.”
Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Day will never come. In Cameron’s
time 6,900 times At that speed, if a
Cameron changed his mind about actual ending, Connor’s voice is as slowly as the sci- crew traveled 1,000
time travel. Instead of a causal- heard over an ominous stretch of entists working the light-years round-
ity loop, our heroes—now, with road, speaking about the uncer- thing. According to trip to exoplanet
Schwarzenegger’s Terminator tain future ahead. Is the future general relativity, Kepler-186f, the
by traveling at that Earth would be in
on the side of good—are allowed what we make it? Or is it ultimately
speed, those parti- the year 3019 upon
to change the future by blow- unavoidable? It’s a question that is cles are going into return. But their
ing up Cyberdyne. With this new never really answered. the future. The same internal clocks would
principle applies to have slowed relative
astronauts, just on a to Earth’s chronol-
much smaller scale. ogy. “They are only
In September 2015, going to age about
cosmonaut Gennady 10 years,” says Gott.
Padalka returned to While a millennium
Earth after 879 days would pass for us,
in orbit, where he for them it would be
Ronald Mallet, But what they going to time traveled around at a decade. But get-
An professor of found out was travel, it would 17,000 mph. “When ting to that speed
Accurate physics at they had trav- likely be into Mr. Padalka came is a problem. The
University of eled so fast that the future. back, he found the fastest spacecraft
Time- Connecticut, they had arrived Traveling into Earth to be 1/44th to date, the Parker
Travel explains: “The into Earth’s the past? of a second into the Solar Probe, only hits
Movie: astronauts
thought they
future. That
accurately de-
That’d require
phenomena
future of where he
expected it to be,”
0.00067 percent of
the speed of light.
Planet of had landed picts Einstein’s like wormholes, says J. Richard Gott, The most promising
C E R N (L H C)

the Apes on another special theory stuff that has professor of astro- solution? Antimatter
planet that was of relativity.” In yet to be ob- physical sciences fuel. Let’s get going.
(1968) ruled by apes. short, if we’re served in space. at Princeton. What —Matt Blitz

42 November 2019
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// BY M ATT BLITZ //

Are There
Aliens in
Area 51?

O
N M O S T E A R LY M O R N -
ings, eagle-eyed visitors
in the Las Vegas desert
can spot strange lights
in the sky moving up and
down. No, it’s not a UFO.
It’s act ually the semi-
secret commuter airline using
the call-sign “Janet” that trans-
ports workers from Las Vegas’s
McCarran Airport to the infa-
mous Area 51, just north.
Since the base opened in the
1950s, “alien” aircraft have been
reported. Though unlikely, the
base’s secretive history has invited
conspiracies to run wild about
what is truly concealed in the
southern Nevada desert.
But if not aliens, what is hid-
ing behind the walls of Area 51?
There are other, non-intergalactic
theories that are just as fantasti-
cal. But in reality, the base’s true
purpose and likely cause for dis-
cretion lies in its origins.
reconnaissance aircraft called Commercial pilots started
■ the U-2 in November 1954. The reporting the peculiarities right
THE ORIGINS OF A MYSTERY test site for the secret plane? The away. In resp on se, t he ba se
When the Soviet Union lowered southern Nevada desert. couldn’t just announce its stealth
the Iron Curtain and attempted At the time, commercial air- capabilities or plans, so “natu-
P H OTO D I G I TA LG LO B E V I A G E T T Y I M AG E S

to block itself from contact with
its allies and the Western world
in the late 1940s, there was a
near-total intelligence blackout
to the rest of the world. Worried
about the USSR’s potential tech-
nology and intentions, President
Eisenhower approved the secret
development of a high-altitude
lines were still in their infancy,
f lying at bet ween 10,000 and
20,000 feet compared to up to
38,000 feet today. Aircraft in the
U-2 program could reach 60,000
feet. So, in 1944, seeing a plane
at this seemingly unreachable
height looked completely other-
worldly to anyone below.
ral phenomena” or “high-altitude
weather research” became the gov-
ernment’s go-to explanations for
the “UFO” sightings.
For decades, that answer suf-
ficed. Then, in 1989, conspiracy
theorist Bob Lazar went on Las
Vegas local news and said that
he’d seen aliens and had helped to

44 November 2019
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 12

reverse-engineer alien spacecrafts

while working at the base.
Without confirmation about
what truly existed inside the
base, wild speculation reigned for
decades. Most theories pertained
to galactic visitors tucked away
somewhere, but other rumors were
just as—if not more—sensational.
One of the more colorful rumors
insists that the infamous 1947
Roswell crash was actually a Soviet
aircraft piloted by mutated midg-
ets and the wreckage remains on
the grounds of Area 51. Another is
that the U.S. government filmed
the 1969 moon landing in one of
the base’s hangars.
The CIA declassified a heavily
redacted report about the U-2 pro-
gram in 1998 (and subsequently
released nearly in full in 2013) that
details many of the early sightings
by commercial pilots. But the lore
of Area 51 remains strong.
Fact or fiction, people still gawk So maybe there aren’t original reports and
to see what lies beyond those chain- See aliens inside Area 51. following up investi-
link fences. And if anything is true Something? That doesn’t mean
your own encounters
gations, their experts
thoroughly examine
about extraterrestrial beings, it’s
that they are a big tourism draw.
Say need be ignored. If your case, whether
you’ve found yourself that’s a UFO sighting,
Something! amidst extrater- abduction, or entity
■ restrial entities or interaction. And they
AREA 51 TODAY technology, you’ve go through every
probably wondered inch of your case,
Since the alien craze boomed after
what to do with that from shape, smell,
Lazar’s claims, surrounding towns information. and size of what you
P H OTO I L LU S T R AT I O N C R E AT E D BY CO L I N M C S H E R RY U S I N G G E T T Y I M AG E S

and even the state have capitalized A number of orga- saw to whether you
on curious visitors. In 1996, the the desert, so be prepared with nizations accept these were assigned a task
state of Nevada renamed Route proper gear and equipment like types of reports. You while abducted, or
have to be careful whether you long for
375—the highway closest to Area a physical map, a compass, and
about where you send a reunion with your
51—as the “Extraterrestrial High- weather-appropriate apparel—it your data, however, as abductors.
way,” and destinations such as gets hot during the day and cold many require personal Once that’s filed,
the Alien Research Center and at night. Second, the government and contact informa- you’ll likely hear from
the Little A’Le’Inn (in the town of doesn’t really want you peering tion to file a report. a state or national
That’s why we recom- director based on
Rachel) dot the road. into Area 51. Some experts and
mend the Mutual UFO the location of your
Then there’s the actual base. historians who have visited the Network. incident. So if you’re
While getting inside is not per- base confirmed that they have Since 1969, going to report your
mitted, civilians can drive up to been closely observed or even MUFON has han- alien encounter any-
front and back gates. (You can intimidated by guards and secu- dled more than where, MUFON is the
80,000 reported place.
find directions on dreamland rity (including an F-16 fly-by). So
cases of alien-related To submit a report
resort.com.) do not trespass, under any cir- claims from around or review data from
If you do venture out there, cumstances, or arrests and heavy the globe. Taking past investigations, go
remember two things. First, it is fines await you. detailed data from to mufon.com.

46 November 2019
 U D
Drivers rush to their vehicles

E
for the start of the 1966
24 Hours of Le Mans.

HE F
T THAT C R EAT ED

G E T T Y I M AG E S

48 November 2019
 ER I CA’ S T
A M A TES

ACE
GR
CAR
E
R
I N A T I NG
I W A S DOM T.
, FER R AR AN CE T ES
T H E 1 960 S
AT E EN DUR B Y E Z R A D Y E R
IN ’S ULTIM FO RD .
G
RACIN EY PISSED OF F
THEN TH

November 2019 49
IT ALL STARTED WITH A The quickest way to acquire a sports car, the Deuce
thought, was to buy Ferrari, then a race car company

BUSINESS DEAL GONE BAD.

that only sold street-legal machines to fund its track
exploits.

IN 1963, HENRY FORD II,

Ford sent an envoy to Modena, Italy, to hash out
a deal with Enzo Ferrari. The Americans offered
$10 million, but as the negotiations neared their con-

“THE DEUCE,” DECIDED clusion, Ferrari balked at a clause in the contract that
said Ford would control the budget (and thus, the deci-

HE WANTED FORD MOTOR sions) for his race team. Ferrari, known otherwise as
“Il Commendatore,” couldn’t stomach the surrender

COMPANY TO GO RACING.
of autonomy, so he bailed, sending Henry Ford II a
message the Deuce didn’t often hear: There was some-

THE ONLY PROBLEM: FORD

thing his money couldn’t buy.
In lieu of the sale, Ford decided to direct his com-
pany’s cash and engineering toward petty revenge. He

DIDN’T HAVE A SPORTS decreed Ford would start its own race team, with the
singular goal of beating Ferrari in the world’s most

CAR IN ITS PORTFOLIO. prestigious race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“These two guys were larger than life,” says A.J.

50 November 2019

Clockwise, from left: Bruce McLaren and
Chris Amon’s #2 Ford Mk II opposite Richard
Attwood and David Piper’s #16 Ferrari 365 P2
Spyder; Henry Ford II, a.k.a. “the Deuce”;
Enzo Ferrari, a.k.a. “Il Commendatore.”
Baime, author of Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and
Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans. “Here
you have arguably the most famous and powerful
CEO in America, Henry Ford II, up against Enzo Fer-
rari—the most narcissistic man to walk the earth, but
deservedly so, because he was a genius. You couldn’t
write it better.”
The clash of these titanic egos would propel Ford
to design America’s greatest race car: the GT40. An
G E T T Y I M AG E S (3)
unstable engineering mashup of California hot-rod
ethos and high-speed NASCAR expertise, the GT40
failed to finish Le Mans in 1964 and 1965, but bold
testing innovations and a never-before-seen brake
strategy had them primed for 1966. Weeks before the start at Le Mans,
Henry Ford II handed race program boss Leo Beebe a handwritten note:
“You better win.”
T
he 1966 GT40 Mark II is more comfortable than you might expect.
Designed for long-distance driving, the seat is soft and ventilated.
Forward visibility is excellent. Somehow there’s plenty of interior
room, considering the tiny exterior dimensions. If Le Mans circa
1966 amounted to a frantic 3,000-mile road trip, this seems like the
car you’d want to do it in. But the moment you fire up the mid-mounted
427-cubic-inch V-8, you’re reminded this is a race car, capable of modern
race-car speed—more than 200 mph—in 1960s analog form. No power
steering. No power brakes. No electronic safety systems. A hundred miles
per hour in third gear feels like you’re in a sidecar strapped to the Space
Shuttle and you’re not even halfway to top speed. The guys who ran these
things down the Mulsanne Straight at 210 mph, at night, on 1966-spec
tires, after driving for four hours straight, must’ve been brave. Or crazy.
Or a heady mixture of both.
This car, a Superformance GT40 Mark II, is a “continuation car,” a
street-legal re-creation of the winning 1966 Le Mans car. In fact, this
particular GT40 Mk II was used in the new film Ford v. Ferrari, based on
the legendary story. Watch the trailer, in which Matt Damon as Carroll
Shelby takes Henry Ford II for a hell ride. This is that car. It’s magnifi-
cent. And like both the 2005–2006 Ford GT and the current GT model
released in 2017, the Superformance owes its existence to that long-ago
battle of egos between two stubborn industrialists. The 1966 GT40 Mk II
feels like such a fully realized race machine, it’s hard to believe it started
out as a half-baked effort that was not only uncompetitive, but dangerous.
It might seem like a foregone conclusion that Ford, an international
car-building colossus at the height of its powers in the 1960s, could crush
a small independent company like Ferrari on the race track, but that was
far from a given. As countless car companies have learned, money doesn’t
directly translate to victory.
“They spent a lot of money, but that was no guarantee you’d win a race,”
says Preston Lerner, author of Ford GT: How Ford Silenced the Critics,
Humbled Ferrari and Conquered Le Mans. “[Ford] also had to bring in
the right people to win. They had to have the mechanics, the race organi-
zation people, the drivers. It could’ve been a glorious failure.”
And in 1964 and 1965, it was. Ford’s new race car was fast, but they
couldn’t figure out how to make it last for 24 hours. Gearboxes broke. Head
gaskets blew. The aerodynamics were a mess, too, with cars developing so
much lift they’d see wheelspin at 200 mph. After two aerodynamically
unstable GT40s crashed during testing in 1964, one test driver, Roy Sal-
vadori, quit. “I opted out of that program to save my life,” he said.
And the brakes were a constant problem. Ford engineers calcu-
lated that when a driver hit the brakes at the end of Le Mans’ Mulsanne
Straight, the front brake rotors would spike to 1,500 degrees Fahren-
heit within just a few seconds, causing the rotor to fail. Trying to slow
a 3,000-pound car from 210 mph, every three-and-a-half minutes, for
24 hours was a new problem in racing. “Dan Gurney told me that every-
thing he did driving that car was about saving the brakes,” Lerner says.
“At the end of the Mulsanne, he’d back off well before the brake zone and
coast down so he wasn’t scrubbing 180 mph all at once.” Carroll Shelby
November 2019 51
 THE CARS //
THERE ARE THREE GENERATIONS OF FORD GT. HERE’S HOW THEY STACK UP.

1966 Superformance GT40 Mk II // Superformance’s
GT40 is so historically accurate that two-thirds of the car’s
rolling chassis is interchangeable with a 1966 Le Mans car. You
can opt for a more modern engine or go all-in with a bruising
427, just like the original race winner. Tall drivers will want the
Gurney bubble on the roof, for a little extra headroom.
2005–2006 Ford GT // The GT returned in the mid-2000s—
minus the “40”—with retro styling and a supercharged
550-horsepower V-8. A straight-line rocket but not much of
a track car, the GT is nonetheless one of the few modern cars
that hasn’t depreciated. New, they were $150,000. Now they
cost $216,000 and up.

told Baime: “We won [Le Mans] on brakes.”
That’s because Phil Remington, an engineer on the Ford team, devised
a quick-change brake system that allowed the mechanics to swap in new
pads and rotors during a driver change, meaning drivers didn’t have to
worry about making the brakes last beyond their stint. Other teams cried
foul about the GT40’s pit-stop advantage, to no avail. “They complained
that it was breaking the rules,” says Baime. “But there were no rules.” And
that wasn’t the only area where Ford was pushing boundaries.
To ensure their engines could survive Le Mans, Ford ran them on a
dynamometer operated by a program that simulated performance and
durability. They logged the RPM and shift points of a lap around Le Mans,
and then had computer-controlled servo actuators “drive” a test engine
in exactly the same way in a lab, even simulating pit stops with periodic
shutdowns. The engineers would run an engine until it exploded, examine
what went wrong, and fix the next iteration. Eventually, when the engi-
neers could make a 427-cubic-inch V-8
last for almost two back-to-back Le
privately owned GT40s claiming victory each year.
Over the span of a few years, Ford had unveiled the
Mustang, won at Le Mans, and vanquished its fuddy-
duddy image. Some of the GT40’s engineering lessons
might have translated to Ford’s street cars, particu-
larly the computer-driven durability testing, but Ford
considered the Le Mans program a marketing exer-
cise rather than a quest for innovation.
Manufacturers are still willing to spend big on
internal race programs. During Audi's recent reign
of dominance at Le Mans, the company spent about
$250 million per year on its race team, and Ferrari
reportedly spends $500 million each year on its For-
mula One program. It's hard to say if those massive
budgets translate to car sales, but most Audi custom-

“YOU HAVE ARGUABLY THE MOST

Mans simulations, they decided their
design was hearty enough.

POWERFUL CEO IN AMERICA UP

And in 1966, it actually was, with
Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon’s #2

AGAINST THE MOST NARCISSIS-

car leading a dramatic 1-2-3 Ford vic-
tory at Le Mans. The next year, Ford
returned to France and won again. With
repeat wins in hand and the Deuce’s
ego assuaged, they withdrew official TIC MAN TO WALK THE EARTH.
Le Mans factory support after the 1967
race—but still won in ’68 and ’69, with YOU COULDN’T WRITE IT BETTER.”
52 November 2019
Want to drive a GT40? Check out https://gtracinglegends.com.
 2017—current Ford GT // Reborn as a half-million-dollar
hardcore track car, the current Ford GT uses a 3.5-liter twin-
turbo V-6. But this EcoBoost pushes 647 horsepower, or in the
new track-only Mk II version, more than 700 horses. Only 45
Mario Andretti on What It’s
Mk II cars will be built, but a notable option for its interior: a
passenger seat. Like to Drive the Ford GT40
The famed driver, now 79, raced for the Holman &
Moody team at Le Mans in 1966 and 1967. We talked
to Andretti about his years with the GT40.

PM: What was it [with Ferrari] came is fun. You fall in love
like joining the Ford over and looked at with the car.
team at Le Mans so the cockpit of the PM: The GT40 was
ers probably haven’t heard of the R18 e-tron quattro, early in your career? Ford with envy. He known for brake
the last Audi to win Le Mans. Racing is still integral to MA: For me per- said, “It looks like an problems. Did that
brands like Ferrari, but mainstream companies like sonally, the Le Mans airplane in there.” change the way you
effort couldn’t have PM: When you drove the car?
Audi and Toyota struggle to justify the high price tag.
come at a better were driving a GT40 MA: We were having
It’s estimated Ford spent $25 million or more on time. Being a rookie, down the Mulsanne brake issues with
their way to victory at Le Mans. They even burned developing a rela- Straight, did it occur the rotors cracking,
$1 million in 1968 before withdrawing financial tionship with Ford to you that you were but we learned
played perfectly driving faster than to live with them
CO U R T E S Y F O R D (G T4 0 M K I I , 2 0 0 5) ; H AY D E N S T I N E B A U G H (2 0 17) ; G E T T Y I M A G E S ( A N D R E T T I)

support from the race program. The GT40 itself was

into my hands as far anyone else on the because there was
obsolete by 1970 (Ford hasn’t had an overall victory
as developing some planet? no choice. Ford
at Le Mans since 1969), but the car’s story continued. of my skills in road MA: Not until after- came up with a
In 2005, Ford released a modern reincarnation racing. I remember ward, when they solution where they
of the GT40, the Ford GT, a retro-styled homage to all of it with great were telling us the added beryllium to
the greatest American endurance racer ever built. It fondness. speeds we were the rotors so there
PM: Ford was new reaching. I loved was no danger of
was (and is) so popular that the model, built for only
to racing, but they doing that kink flat them coming apart.
two years, can now be sold for more than double its went in big, didn’t and using every You had to live with
original MSRP. In 2017, Ford went even bigger, unveil- they? inch of the road, it until you got a
ing the current-generation Ford GT. Priced at about MA: They pulled going from grass to brake change at the
$500,000, it’s a sheer bedroom-poster fantasy car, out all the stops. grass at 214 mph. end of the stints.
In 1966, I think, we The cars were fast, PM: Have you been
a machine that looks like it drove straight out of the
had cracking wind- amazingly fast. back in a GT40 any-
winner’s circle at the Circuit de la Sarthe. In 2016, 50 shields. And they PM: When you’re time in the years
years after its first win, Ford won the GT class at Le were buying seats driving that hard since you raced it?
Mans with the new car, beating—who else?—Ferrari, in first class and for hours on end, is MA: I have no inter-
by a mere 10 seconds. flying replacements there room to have est in vintage racing.
over the next day. fun, or is it all focus? You’re not supposed
“The Ford GT40 story encompasses all of these
We had our own MA: When you’re to push the limit. I
larger-than-life characters: Enzo, Lee Iacocca, Shelby, medical unit. It was in a competitive survived that era,
Henry Ford II,” says Baime. “But the car is a charac- amazing. I remem- machine with a so I’d hate to kill
ter, too, and it’s larger than life. That’s why we’re still ber we were at great team and you myself in one of
talking about it 53 years later.” Daytona and Bandini know the car well, it those cars now.

November 2019 53
 “THE
How the
Salesforce
Transit
Center
went from

SAFEST
BUILDING
IN THE
5
4

N
O
V
WORLD”
to one of
the century’s
biggest
B Y J O H N
B R A N
T

E
M
B
construction
E
R
debacles.
2
0
1
9
An aerial view of the
Salesforce Transit
Center and Salesforce
Park on July 1, 2019.
ON THE AFTERNOON
of Tuesday, September 25, 2018, Marc
Benioff, founder and co-CEO of Sales-
force, stepped on stage at the Moscone
Center in San Francisco to deliver the key-
note speech at Dreamforce, his company’s
annual conference. The event—a com-
bined business meeting, marketing rally,
and New Age retreat—attracted more than
100,000 people from around the world,
closing off an entire city block.
Benioff had built Salesforce and its core
product of cloud-based customer man-
agement software from a Telegraph Hill
apartment into a $13 billion-revenue-
a-year juggernaut employing 30,000
people worldwide, with 8,500 in San Fran-
cisco. Just a few days before Dreamforce,
he’d sealed a deal to purchase the strug-
gling Time magazine, prompting an
admiring profile in The New York Times.
Completing his apotheosis, Septem-
ber 25, 2018, was Benioff’s 54th birthday.
After his speech, he could return to his
office in the 1,070-foot-high Salesforce
Tower, the second-tallest structure west of
the Mississippi, whose naming rights he’d
purchased in 2017, and look down upon
the Salesforce Transit Center and Park,
his native city’s new crown jewel.
Conventional wisdom warned against
Benioff buying naming rights to the tran-
sit center. What if there was a wreck or
derailment, chaining your brand’s name
to a disaster? But to Benioff, the potential
payoff seemed to outweigh the risk.
Built at a cost of $2.2 billion, the Sales-
force Transit Center and Park formed the
cornerstone of the Bay Area’s ambitious
regional transportation plan: a vast, clean,
efficient web of trains, buses, and street-
cars, running through a hub acclaimed
as the Grand Central Station of the West.
Naming this structure—the embodiment
of a transformative idea—could yield mar-
keting gold for Salesforce. It also could
make Benioff a household name on the
level of Bezos, Gates, or Zuckerberg.
Benioff took the gamble in 2017, pledg-
ing $110 million over 25 years, with $9.1
million up front and the rest committed
to supporting operations when the trains
started running. For now, the train box sat
vacant on the bottom level, awaiting a 1.3-
mile tunnel connection.
The rest of the complex had been open
for six weeks. Bus traffic was running
through the terminal, cutting commute
times to the East Bay by up to 20 minutes
thanks to its direct ramp to the Bay Bridge.
Visitors flocked to the sumptuously land- T R A N S B AY J O I N T P O W E R S AU T H O R I T Y; G E T T Y I M AG E S (P R E V I O U S S P R E A D)
scaped rooftop park, compared by many to
Manhattan’s famous High Line. The entire
four-block-long, million-plus-square-foot
structure formed a modernistic gem, envi-
ronmentally sustainable, covered in an
undulating white aluminum exoskeleton
patterned by physicist Sir Roger Penrose.
Suffused with natural light, the building
featured striking, playful art everywhere
you turned.
As he took the stage on his birthday at
the Moscone Center, Marc Benioff must
have been confident his gamble on naming
rights had paid off. He couldn’t imagine
that at that moment, less than a mile away,
the ambassadors trained to welcome the
public to the STC were now frantically wav-
 ing commuters away. Rather than Grand
Central Station or the High Line, the Sales-
force Transit Center and Park suddenly
resembled the Titanic.
E A RLIER T H AT D AY,
workers installing panels in the STC’s
ceiling beneath the rooftop park un-
covered a jagged crack in a steel beam
supporting the park and bus deck. “Out of
an abundance of caution,” officials said,
they closed the transit center, rerouting
buses to a temporary terminal. Inspectors
were summoned. They found a similar
fracture in a second beam.
Str uct ura l steel is exceptiona lly
strong, but given certain conditions—
low temperatures, defects incurred
during fabrication, heavy-load stress—
it remains vulnerable to cracking. Two
types of cracks occur in steel: ductile
fractures, which occur after the steel has
yielded and deformed, and brittle frac-
tures, which generally happen before the
steel yields.
Ductile fractures develop over time, as
the steel stretches during use, explains
Michael Engelhardt, Ph.D., a professor
of civil engineering at the University of
Texas at Austin and chair of the peer-
review committee overseeing the STC’s
response to the cracked-beam crisis.
“Engineers can predict ductile frac-
t ure and ma ke adjustments during
design, such as redistributing the load
among various parts of the structure,”
Engelhardt says. “Brittle fractures, by
contrast, happen suddenly and release a
great deal of energy. They’re concerning.
They aren’t supposed to happen.”
The cracks discovered beneath the
rooftop park were classic brittle frac-
tures. The tapered 4-inch-thick steel
beams—2.5 feet wide and 60 feet long,
with a horizontal flange on the bottom—
undergirded the 5.4-acre park on the
building’s fourth level, and buttressed the
roof of the bus deck on the second level.
By themselves, the cracks formed a point
of weakness with potentially hazardous
consequences. But they also suggested
the possibility of a larger crisis.
If two brittle fractures had appeared
in the building’s 23,000 tons of structural
steel, couldn’t there be others?
AT THE PEAK OF THE
JAM ES TENSUAN
evening rush hour, the transit center that
normally teemed with buses was summar-
ily closed. Mass confusion, an epic traffic
If two fractures had appeared in the
building’s 23,000 tons of structural
steel, couldn’t there be others?
jam, and a stampede toward BART trains prehensive review of its seismic design,
and Ubers ensued. TV crews reported live which halted progress for 18 months. For
outside the STC, interviewing angry and a massive construction project in the heart
bewildered citizens. of earthquake country, however, the time
Engineers and officials at the Trans- seemed well spent. After the reworking
bay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA), the of the seismic plan, Fred Clarke, the proj-
agency managing the transit center, were ect’s lead architect, had declared the STC
trained to deal with emergencies, but this as “probably one of the safest buildings in
was especially shocking. The project had the world.”
been built by some of the most respected
firms in the industry. Pelli Clarke Pelli
Architects conceived the design. Thornton AT F I R S T, E V E N T S
Tomasetti, Pelli's collaborators on Malay- moved swiftly after the cracks were
sia’s iconic Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala discovered. To ensure safety and stabil-
Lumpur, served as the designer and engi- ity, 20-foot-high hydraulic jacks were
neer of record. The Bay Area’s preeminent installed to shore up the affected Fre-
contractor, Webcor/Obayashi, led the con- mont Street overpass. Crews stripped the
struction. Skanska, the construction firm fireproofing from the steel so engineers
behind New York’s World Trade Center could begin inspection. Reporters arrived
Transportation Hub and Oculus, won the from CBS, The Wall Street Journal, and
$189 million subcontract to furnish the The New York Times. An Associated
structural steel. And the Herrick Corpo- Press story cited the transit hub as the
ration, another California construction “...latest example of problems in a city
heavyweight, had shop-fabricated the gird- brimming with homelessness and poor
ers in question, using steel flange plates infrastructure.”
supplied by two subcontractors. Engineers conferred, contractors
There had been layers of inspection scrambled to dig out blueprints proving
and code verification, including certifica- the problem wasn’t their fault, and attor-
tions of quality for the steel neys braced for lawsuits.
in the beams that fractured. Left: The first above- Then the pace slowed, as
In 2011, a year after workers ground structural steel officials realized that the
column being placed in
broke ground on the STC, 2014. Below: Pedes- t w o c e nt r a l q u e s t i on s
the TJPA had ordered a com- trians cross Fremont raised by the fractures—
Street in front of the
STC in 2019.
5
7
N
O
V
E
M
B
E
R
2
0
1
9

MIND-BOGGLING
CONSTRUCTION DISASTERS
AND HOW THEY COMPARE
IN COST AND CONSEQUENCE
Big Dig Boston, Mass.
Cost: $24.3 billion // An overhaul of Boston’s
infrastructure—spanning three decades until its
completion in 2007—included billion-dollar cost
overruns, massive leaks, shoddy epoxy, falling
light fixtures, and a fatal ceiling collapse.
Consequences: Finished nine years late and
more than $20 billion over the original estimate,
Boston will be paying off the Big Dig until 2038.
The Mose Project Venice, Italy
Cost: $6.3 billion // The Italian government
designed a system of gates to alleviate flood-
ing. But political disagreements and the 2014
arrest of Mayor Giorgio Orsoni and 35 others
on charges of corruption, bribery, and misuse of
public funds resulted in serious delays.
Consequences: The unfinished project keeps
the city vulnerable to rising water levels.
Sagrada Família Barcelona, Spain
Cost: Annual budget of $28 million and
growing // Construction on the basilica started
in 1883, yet remains unfinished, afflicted by
civil wars, funding hiccups, and architect Antoni
Gaudí’s untimely death by trolley accident. It’s
rumored the project will be completed in 2026.
Consequences: $41 million in unpaid permit
fees.
The Millennium Dome London, England
Cost: $976 million // It was supposed to be
emblematic of the third millennium and feature
exhibits. But the Dome failed to attract the antic-
ipated visitors, leaving it out of money and lacking
a long-term purpose. It was repurposed in 2007
as the O2 Arena—an entertainment complex.
Consequences: Cost taxpayers millions to build,
and about $1.4 million a month to maintain, until
bought by the AEG corporation in 2002.
American Dream Meadowlands East Rutherford, N.J.
Cost: $5 billion // Called “the ugliest damn
building in New Jersey, and maybe America”
by ex-governor Chris Christie, this mega-mall
has seen three developers, near-bankruptcy,
and the 2008 recession. It is set to open this fall
after 16 years of construction.
Consequences: Taxpayers have paid $80 million
(and counting) since 2003 to support construc-
tion and modify surrounding infrastructure.
what went wrong? and was the problem
localized?—would take months rather
than days to resolve.
On October 4, the mayors of San Fran-
cisco and Oakland sent a letter directing
the Metropolitan Transportation Com-
mission to assemble an elite peer-review
committee to oversee the investigation
and repair. The agency selected Engel-
hardt to lead the effort.
P R OFESSIO N ALS IN
steel-fracture mechanics tend to learn
from catastrophes. For Michael Engel-
hardt and many of his peers, the defining
disasters included the 1994 Northridge
earthquake in Southern California and
the 1995 Kobe earthquake that devastated
Japan. While Engelhardt was earning his
doctorate in metallurgy at University
of California, Berkeley, the 1989 Loma
Prieta earthquake knocked down a sec-
tion of the Bay Bridge, destabilized the
Embarcadero Freeway in San Francisco,
and disabled the city’s aging Transbay
Bus Terminal. These events precipitated
the demolition of the freeway and ter-
minal, and the eventual construction of
the Salesforce Transit Center and Park
in their place. Now, to square the circle,
Engelhardt had been summoned back to
the Bay Area to help rescue the project.
“Our job wasn’t to decide who was going
to get sued,” he says. “Our job was to find
out what went wrong, determine the scope
of the problem, approve the fixes, and
make recommendations moving forward.”
In assembling the review committee,
Engelhardt made a point of including a
welding expert. “In the world of structural
steel,” he says, “it’s usually the connec-
tions and joints that tell the tale.”
These points in a steel-formed building
are also the potential weak spots, places
where art and error come into play.
“For function and economy in large-
scale construction, steel is quite possibly
the best choice,” says Amit Kanvinde,
professor and chair of civil and environ-
mental engineering at University of
California–Davis. “The tricky part is mak-
ing connections in steel construction,
accounting for the various geometries
and the changes brought about by welding
during fabrication.”
ON DECEMBER 1 3,
2018, Robert Vecchio, CEO of LPI, Inc.,
a New York City firm that provides foren-
sic metallurgy services, rose to speak at
 5
9

N
a TJPA board meeting. The gallery was O
packed with city and state officials, report- V
ers from local and national media outlets, E
construction and civil engineering pro- M
B
fessionals, and members of the public, all E
hungry for news about the Salesforce Tran- R
sit Center, whose ignominious closure now
stretched into its fourth month. 2
An internationally recognized expert in 0
1
steel-fracture analytics who had worked on 9
the breakage in the hull of the Exxon Val-
dez and the collapse of the Twin Towers
during the 9/11 attack, Vecchio had been
hired to determine the “root cause” of the
STC’s fractured beams. He was about to
announce his preliminary findings to the
board, and along the way provide a crash
course in steel-fracture analytics.
Seven weeks earlier, shortly after the
transit center shut down, Vecchio’s team
had traveled to San Francisco to supervise
the removal of core samples from the dam-
aged beams and bring them back to the
New York lab for testing. LPI technicians
performed scanning electronic micros-
copy, Charpy V-notch testing, Rockwell
hardness testing, tensile testing, and frac-
tographic analysis, with representatives
from the project’s key stakeholders look-
ing over their shoulders.
Now, in a concise PowerPoint presenta-
tion, Vecchio explained to the board that
the cracks were due to a “perfect storm”
of the three factors that Engelhardt says
characterize brittle fractures: weakness
in the metal, damage during fabrication,
and the stress of load during use.
The investigation focused on the 2-by-4- A crack is seen on a
inch “welding access holes” that had been driven wedge slams down beam that runs across After a moment of silence,
Fremont Street in
thermally cut into the beams. Vecchio dis- on a notched plug of steel to September 2018. a b oa rd memb er f ina l ly
played a photo showing the red oxidized measure its ability to with- asked: “Would a failure of
color of the metal around the holes, indicat- stand the stress of welding. this type suggest other places
ing that microscopic cracks formed due to “The toughness level at the surface of the we should look in the design and fabrica-
the intense heat generated by an acetylene sample was good,” Vecchio said, “but as tion of this structure?” In other words,
welding cutting torch. He pointed out the you went to mid-thickness, the toughness could other beams crack?
G E T T Y I M AG E S (D I S A S T E R S ) ; T R A N S B AY J O I N T P O W E R S AU T H O R I T Y (C R AC K)

buildup of martensite, a brittle substance
with a crystalline structure, which formed
around the cuts as they cooled.
Vecchio explained the high hardness
of the structural steel made it prone to
microcracks. But at the same time, he
emphasized, the metal had been tested
prior to welding and met all specifications
and requirements. The problem was that
the martensite deposit around the cuts
hadn’t been ground smooth and polished
after the welds had cooled. The martensite
produced microcracks, which eventually
grew into brittle fractures.
Vecchio’s team also found a rela-
tive weakness in the metal during the
Charpy-V testing, in which a pendulum-
dropped down quite a bit. Toughness in
the centerline was very low, so the defects
were sitting in material that had very low
toughness. The plate itself did meet the
requirements for this type of construc-
tion.” Along with the microfractures in
the unpolished steel around the holes and
the stress produced by the weight of hun-
dreds of 15-ton buses rolling above it each
day, this weakness eventually produced the
cracks, which likely started in July, and
were discovered on September 25.
The microcracks showed up during
welding, Vecchio said in summary, and
the combination of stress and load popped
the microcracks into full-blown brittle
fractures.
Mark Zabaneh, the TJPA execu-
tive director, stepped in to reply. “These
reports are being turned over to the peer-
review panel. We will follow their recom-
mendation.” He later told reporters, “We
want to make absolutely sure the building
is safe before we let the public back in.”
T H E Y E A R T U R N E D,
and the center remained closed. Thou-
sands of commuters continued to use the
Transbay Bus Terminal on Folsom Street,
which felt less “temporary” with each pass-
ing week. And every day, workers poured
into the Salesforce Tower, where their boss
looked down on his tarnished crown jewel.
Aside from an apologetic and supportive
tweet after the cracks were discovered the
previous September, Marc Benioff had
been publicly silent regarding the closure.
Meanwhile, at the STC, engineers pored
over documents and explored every cor-
ner of the structure. Officials examined
21,000 inspection reports. Ron Alameida,
director of project management for the
city of San Francisco, told a reporter that
“essentially 64,000 times, things of con-
cern were addressed and reviewed.”
Investigators sought places in the build-
ing that could be affected by the same
combination of factors that caused the
cracks in the beams above Fremont Street.
They wanted to find out whether the per-
fect storm of defect, weakness, and stress
formed a singular anomaly or a more gen-
eral problem.
The focus settled on the girders above
1st Street, designed virtually identical
to the girders above Fremont Street. The
1st Street girders supported the same
bus deck and were composed of the same
steel fabricated by the same subcontrac-
tor. However, the 1st Street beams hadn’t
fractured.
There turned out to be a difference in
the construction sequence of the girders.
On the Fremont Street girders, the weld
access holes were cut before the main welds
were performed. During subsequent weld-
ing, the stresses caused very small cracks
to form in the unpolished thermally cut
access holes. These small cracks grew into
the brittle fractures that appeared when
the center opened and heavy bus traf-
fic stressed the girders. For the 1st Street
girders, which did not fracture, the ther-
mally cut holes were made after the main
welds were made. There were no small
cracks when the buses started to roll. This
minor detail proved to be critical.
Four levels of inspection—by Skanska,
Herrick, Webcor/Obayashi, and Turner—
had missed the detail of the unpolished
microcracks. After a March board meet-
“If those workers hadn’t discovered
the cracks by chance, we
still might not know about them.“
ing of the TJPA, Zabaneh said, the holes
“were not installed to code in both dimen-
sions and treatment, [meaning] they were
not ground to bright metal finish… Had the
weld access holes been ground per code,
fissures would not have taken place and the
girder’s bottom flange would not have been
cracked.” In an April letter to the mayors
of San Francisco and Oakland, an official
wrote that “…the TJPA staff believes the
steel subcontractor is the party responsi-
ble for the fracture.”
The various subcontractors argued
vehemently about the specific identity
of that party, a dispute which may take
arbitrators and courts years to settle. For
Zabaneh and the TJPA, it was enough that
the investigation showed the errors hadn’t
affected any other piece of steel in the
building. The two cracked beams proved
to be sui generis, the problem confined
to a single stretch of roof above Fremont
Street.
Contractors performed a relatively
straightforward, old-school fix: They
sandwiched the affected beams between
two giant steel plates fastened to the gird-
ers by hundreds of steel bolts, no welds
required. Inspectors started to recertify
the building, and the TJPA began plans
to reopen.
FROM A C I V I L-
engineering perspective, Engelhardt views
the affair as a valuable learning experience,
one that will likely lead to more stringent
code requirements and upgraded inspec-
tion processes. “Most important, nobody
got hurt,” he says. “And the review deter-
mined that the two affected beams, both
over 60 feet long, barely moved an inch
due to the fractures. The redundancies in
design guaranteed the beams’ stability.
The overall safety of the building was never
compromised. If those workers hadn’t dis-
covered the cracks by chance, we still might
not know about them.”
For the TJPA and the greater Bay Area,
however, the ordeal took a heavy toll. The
closure stretched commute times, forced
people to alter their daily routines, idled
contractors and STC employees, and
increased traffic congestion. For almost a
year, people in San Francisco had to navi-
gate around the giant, glittering, glaringly
idle structure. In October 2018, citing the
cracked-beams fiasco, the San Francisco
City Council gave a vote of no-confidence
to the TJPA, suspending funding for Phase
2 of the transportation project, which
would deliver train traffic to the transit
center.
Nonetheless, officials chose Monday,
July 1, 2019, as the day to reopen Salesforce
Transit Center and Park. The date fell at
the start of a holiday week, when foot traffic
would be lighter, and most people wouldn’t
be paying close attention.
THERE WOULD BE NO
pomp or glitz for the STC’s reopening.
No block party, no crowd lining up for a
“once-in-a-lifetime” walk along the Bay
Bridge–replica ramp, and no celebratory
tweets from Marc Benioff, who has main-
tained his silence regarding the closure.
(Salesforce did not respond to repeated
interview requests for this story.)
On July 1, only the grand entry hall
and rooftop park would reopen. (City bus

DUCTILE Ductile fractures are the most common type of cracks that can occur in steel; they result from use and
develop over time. Brittle fractures, the kind that engineers discovered in the beams of the Salesforce

VS.
Transit Center, happen suddenly and without warning. “Brittle fractures aren’t supposed to happen,”
says Michael Engelhardt, Ph.D., head of the peer-review committee reviewing the STC investigation.

BRITTLE × × × × × ×
FRACTURES Original beam Brittle fracture Ductile fracture

service would resume in mid-July, and
Transbay buses would start rolling August
11.) For the first time, however, citizens
would be able to board the 20-passenger
gondola on Fremont Street, a few steps
away from where the beams fractured, and
take a 30-second ride to Salesforce Park.
On the day of the soft reopening, I
arrive at the center shortly after 6 a.m.,
just as workers take down the barriers and
open the doors. I walk through the Grand
Hall, resembling a cathedral with its vault-
ing Tower of Light Column and terrazzo
marble floor, inlaid with renderings of
poppies and hummingbirds and Islam-
inspired patterns.
My footsteps echo in the empty hall.
Outside, pedestrians flow around the
building in the morning rush hour. They
could take a shortcut through the hall to
their offices, but they choose to keep to the
sidewalks. It will take time for the city to
JAM ES TENSUAN
trust the building again.
Paul Gribbon, a civil engineer who
brought Portland, Oregon’s $800 mil-
lion Big Pipe sewer project in on schedule
6
1
N
O
V
E
M
B
E
R
2
0
1
9
An update message on
a screen at the Sales-
force Transit Center
and within budget, points that's supposed to kids’ play areas and a cozy
out that, along with cost show bus times on Starbucks, yet these gestures
August 1, 2019.
and time overruns, there’s toward intimacy only mag-
another general law regarding nify the dwarfing immensity
megaprojects. “Once it’s up and running, of the neighboring Salesforce Tower. The
once there’s a shining new bridge or light- entire scene feels gigantic, and as fragile
rail station, people tend to forget about as a dream.
how much it cost, in all senses of the word.” I wander past the bamboo and cactus
I step onto the 90-foot-long escalator, groves and the monkey puzzle tree. I read
polished spotless by overnight work crews. a plaque explaining that the park rests on
I ride up past the idle bus bays on the third a base of structural foam, designed to let
level, continuing on to the fourth level and the structure ride out earthquakes, which,
entrance to the park, which stretches like here on the lip of the San Andreas Fault,
a stream-watered canyon through the sur- are sure to come. I recall architect Fred
rounding office towers. Clarke’s claim that the STC was probably
It’s hard not to gape at a place where among the safest buildings in the world.
flowers and trees sprout out of concrete At the mere thought of an earthquake,
and steel rather than soil. I envision the however, I reflexively imagine a transit-
park when the transit center goes fully center apocalypse: buses crashing through
online: 15-ton buses coming and going like the roof of the grand hall, smoke rising
freighters in the deck below, Caltrain shut- from shattered steel.
tling between The City and Silicon Valley, The vision passes as quickly as it arose.
and farther down, in the deepest reaches of With a combination of fatalism and blind
the terminal, the sleek cars of the Califor- faith, I again trust the minds and hands
nia bullet train delivering passengers from that have built the $2.2 billion dream of
Los Angeles. The park features whimsical the Salesforce Transit Center.
3,000 times as fast as
the fastest mechanical
breaker, this innovation could
radically alter how we manage power.
BY JILL KIEDAISCH

62 November 2019
November 2019 63
 T H I S PA S T M AY, T H E W O R L D ’ S F I R S T A N D O N LY D I G I TA L C I R C U I T B R E A K E R WA S C E R T I F I E D F O R C O M M E R C I A L U S E .
The technology, invented by Atom Power, is not only 3,000 times as fast as the speediest mechanical breaker, it could make
power management simpler, more accessible, and more efficient on a scale far beyond the fuse box in your basement. ¶
Picture your circuit breaker panel. Each switch is assigned to a different electrical component of your home, and when
a circuit in any of those components becomes overloaded, the breaker throws the switch to cut off power and prevent
overheating. That’s when you traipse to your mechanical room and flick the switch on again. ¶ Multiply that system for
city high rises and industrial buildings. These might have 250 circuit breakers on any given floor, each ranging from 15 to
4,000 amps. At this scale, the limitations and dangers of a manual power system become much more evident—and costly.

ing amperage as needed based on

Ryan Kennedy, CEO of Atom Power,
has been working to build a better
electrical system since he began
his career 25 years ago, first as an
electrician and then as a project
manager on large, commercial elec-
trical projects. His experience has
led him to believe our current analog
infrastructure doesn’t allow us to
control power the way we should be
able to. So he asked himself: What
would it take to make power sys-
tems easier to control, and could
you root that control in the circuit
breaker itself?
In 2014, Kennedy and Atom
Power CTO Denis Kouroussis began
designing an infrastructure of digi-
tal circuit breakers that would use
solid-state semiconductors to
manage the flow of power from
separate sources. Solid-state means
the semiconductor has no moving
parts and responds to digital sig-
nals, so a circuit breaker equipped
with this technology doesn’t have to
rely on moving mechanical switches
to control power. Solid-state semi-
conductors can consolidate multiple
incoming power streams into one
hyperintelligent device, adjust-
Power
demand and application.
The number of semiconduc-
tors in a digital circuit breaker
will vary with a situation’s power
demands, but whether you’re work-
ing with one small semiconductor in
your home or multiple devices in a
downtown office building, the con-
trol system for each breaker will
remain the same, according to Atom
Power’s vision. This is where the
company says their concept could
be most impactful for the industry
as a whole.
“Instead of using mechanics to
switch the power, like two pieces of
metal coming together, we use digi-
tally controlled semiconductors,”
says Kennedy. “Now I have the abil-
ity to connect things like iPhones
and iPads for remote power man-
agement, which increases safety
and improves efficiency. I can set
the distribution panel to a sched-
ule so the flow of power is seamless,
unlimited, and shifts between
multiple sources automatically.
You literally wouldn’t notice [a
shift between sources]. The lights
wouldn’t flicker.”
Power Out
The microcontroller
and digital logic are the
brain of the solid-state
circuit breaker and
contain the software
controls.
Solid-state semi-
conductors made of
Right now, switching between
renewable energy and grid-central-
ized power sources in your home is
difficult for your electrical system.
Kennedy believes the static nature
of existing power distribution sys-
tems is one reason we haven’t seen
widespread adoption of renewable
energy at the residential level.
For a grid-connected solar home,
for example, residents sometimes
have to temporarily disconnect
their solar input because traditional
power systems (including circuit
breakers) aren’t advanced enough
to manage multiple, variant power
sources. Kennedy says solid-state
circuit breaker technology would
solve that problem because it could
"transition between any source you
want,” be it a solar array or another
energy storage system.
For most people, managing an
analog breaker isn’t much more
involved than flicking a switch,
but Atom Power’s digital circuit
breaker would give you full control
and visibility of your home’s electri-
cal infrastructure, from anywhere.
That electrical panel hiding in your
basement or closet would be more
accessible and manageable because
all your circuits would be monitored
within a single interface. You could
turn specific circuits on and off, label
panels, and manage your home’s
power sources from a smartphone
app. A real-time metering function
would let you monitor your power
consumption over time, too.
Another benefit to a digitized
electrical system is its ability to
communicate with all the smart
technology in your home, from your
garage door opener to your kitchen
appliances. This lets you check if
CO U R T E S Y

silicon-carbide do
In the digital power
switching.

64 November 2019
things are on or off, open or closed,
awake or asleep. “Solid-state
switching is the only technology
that enables you to integrate your
power system with anything,”
claims Kennedy. “We’re already
doing this on the commercial side,
and it’s all scalable to residential.
Right now, we’re on a path to min-
iaturize this tech to make it more
cost-effective.”
Within the next 12 months,
Kennedy expects Atom Power to
scale digital circuit breaker tech-
nology down to a cost-effective
size that will make it ready for res-
idential use. Their challenge at the
moment is reducing thermal losses
in their products. As they are now,
digital circuit breakers aren’t con-
ducting power as efficiently as their
mechanical counterparts, meaning
more energy consumption on the
consumer end.
Atom Power claims “the modern
world has outgrown the risks and
constraints of traditional circuit
breakers,” citing the inefficiencies
and dangers of the way we manually
address power surges and failures.
There are 30,000 non-fatal
shock accidents per year, and arc-
flash events can take out a building
for weeks. Digital circuit breakers,
however, could interrupt 100,000
amps with unprecedented speed,
potentially eliminating these risks.
On the residential front, this
means a digital circuit breaker could
lower your risk of a house fire. The
National Fire Protection Agency
(NFPA) has recommended stan-
dards to make analog breakers
safer in recent years—most building
codes now require ground-fault or
arc-fault circuit breakers—but these
systems are limited on speed, and
they won’t grow with your home as
your power sources change.
“Samsung might have a new
power supply in one of their refrig-
erators two years from now,”
explains Kennedy. “When you plug
it in, that signature will look unfa-
miliar to your old circuit breaker,
which may think that it’s an arc fault
3 breaker can adjust itself depend-
Ways to
Upgrade
Your Analog
Breaker
1. MAKE IT EASIER
A huge hassle of analog circuit breakers
is figuring out which outlets corre-
spond to which breaker in your home.
A tool like Klein’s ET300 circuit breaker
finder saves you the guesswork.
2. MAKE IT TALK TO YOU
An energy monitoring system like
Sense can track device usage in your
home and calculate how much each
item contributes to your electric bill.
You can monitor all the data, from your
sump pump’s consumption rate to
whether you left the garage door open,
via an app on your phone.
3. MAKE IT SMARTER
For the most intel and control over
your breaker, Leviton is releasing a
smart breaker box that lets you not
only track energy costs and con-
sumption on a granular level, but
troubleshoot your breaker and even
turn off specific circuits via a mobile
app. If your analog breaker is a sundial,
this is the Apple Watch.
and trip offline. A solid-state circuit
ing on what your home is doing. It
can learn you have a new Samsung
refrigerator and not worry about it.”
The next step for Atom Power
is to make this tech available to
companies that specialize in resi-
dential systems. “We’re expanding
our business model to allow other
manufacturers to use our chips
for whatever breaker product
they want to make,” says Kennedy.
“We’re already using them. We want
to enable the rest of the community
to enhance their own products, and
in doing so, bring solid-state circuit
breaker technology to the market.”
Today, traditional analog break-
ers are purpose-built for their
specific application. This requires
thousands of different models
of breakers to meet all the varia-
tions in the industry. Atom Power’s
design, however, would allow man-
ufacturers to build any variant of
circuit breaker using the same parts.
The only differences: the size and
number of semiconductors. It’s a
sensible and intuitive approach, and
major energy players have taken
note. Investments from Siemens,
ABB, and Eaton—three leading cir-
cuit breaker manufacturers—affirm
Atom Power’s model.
“With greater uniformity, your
opportunities for software devel-
opment, software control, and
applications are unlimited,” says
Kennedy. “Now the manufacturing
enablement is massive.”
This is especially compelling
when you consider the potential
impact of every home equipped
with a circuit breaker that can
adapt to not only a family’s needs,
but the energy industry’s broader
profile as it changes over time. This
system could be ready for more
renewables, more energy storage,
more electric vehicles—the future.
The possible shift to digital break-
ers would represent a sea change,
not just for breaker manufactur-
ers, but for every household on the
planet that requires power.
November 2019 65
66 November 2019
What Really
Happens
Inside a
Crematorium
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY

CA R EN CHESLER
 R O S E H I L L C E M E T E RY I N L I N D E N , N E W J E R S E Y,
is awash in small-town trappings: tree-lined roads,
rolling lawns, and street signs at every corner. On
this Wednesday midsummer morning, the familiar
routine of loss plays out across the acres. A yellow
taxi waits at the end of a row of graves for some-
one paying their respects. Men and women clad
in church clothes line up their cars along the curb
and make their way to a gravesite. A backhoe digs
out some earth, another spot for another resident.
This is the textbook way we treat our dead.
Someone dies, they’re buried, a headstone marks
their place out among the rows in the borough of
the departed. But today I’m bound for a different
part of the cemetery, one fewer people see.
This place is called the columbarium, and
at first, the very existence of this vast chamber
full of urns can come as a surprise. In the movie
version of life and death, a cremated person’s
68 November 2019
remains sit up on the shelf at home, or friends
scatter the ashes over a sacred locale. In the real
world, many cremated people stay in the ceme-
tery, just like their buried counterparts.
We are seeing a fundamental shift in how we
approach death and what comes after. Compared
with just a few decades ago, vastly more Ameri-
cans are forgoing the old-fashioned burial and
D E A / B I B L I OT E C A A M B R O S I A N A / G E T T Y I M AG E S
turning to cremation. This is what brought me
to Rosehill, and now my tour with Jim Koslovski,
president of the Rosehill and Rosedale Cemetery,
is about to reveal how cemeteries are dealing with
America’s after-death revolution.
As I follow him deeper inside the columbar-
ium, we come to a set of stained-glass doors.
Koslovski slides them open to reveal a hidden
set of spy-movie doors made of metal. They are
solid for a reason: Behind them lies the crema-
torium itself.
 Left: An 1880
illustration of the
Garinis cremation
furnace in Milan,
Italy. Below: The
Nimtala cremation
ground in Kolkata,
India.

ion on cremation during the Vatican II reforms

BACK I N 1980, LESS THAN 10 PE RCE NT O F AM E R - and said cremation was permitted.
icans were cremated. That figure now stands at Today, there are more than 3,000 cremato-
about 53 percent, according to the National Cre- ries around the United States, and the cremation
mation Association of North America. Changing resurgence isn’t just about cost. There are fewer
cultural and religious standards are at play here, religious prohibitions, and consumers are seek-
but no event accelerated the change more than the ing simpler, less ritualized funerals.
Great Recession. Acceptance varies by state and ethnicity,
“We saw an increase in the cremation rate according to a report by the National Funeral
when there was the economic downturn in 2008 Directors Association. While the practice is not
and people were losing their jobs,” Koslovski says. as popular in the Bible Belt and among certain
“Cremation is a less expensive alternative to tra- cultural groups, including Catholics, Jews, and
ditional in-ground burial.” African-Americans, in places like California,
Rosehill charges just $190 to cremate a body, Oregon, and southern Florida, 60 to 80 percent of
although the funeral home charges extra for the the dead are now cremated.
urn, flowers, and service. A grave, by contrast, can And there’s one more force pushing cremation
cost $2,500, plus an additional $1,900 to open the as an alternative: Cemeteries are running out of
ground with a backhoe. space, Koslovski says. He estimates Rosehill has
Rosehill, located about a half-hour from Man- only 15 years before it’s out of available ground.
hattan, now cremates about 30
bodies a day using six cremation
units, and has been expanding
its facility to meet the growing
demand.
Of course, burning the dead isn’t
a new concept. Cremation began
in the Stone Age, and it was com-
mon in ancient Greece and Rome.
In certain religions such as Hindu-
ism and Jainism, cremation was
preferred.
The rise of Christianity put the
brakes on the practice in the West.
By 400 A.D., around the time that
the Emperor Constantine Chris-
tianized the Roman Empire, Rome
had outlawed cremation as a pagan
practice. The theological reason for
the ban was related to the resurrec-
tion—it was good to keep the body
whole and in one place. Jewish law
also banned the practice. By the 5th
century, cremation had all but dis-
appeared from Europe.
The practice saw a resurgence
W I N - I N I T I AT I V E / G E T T Y I M AG E S

in Europe in the 1870s, mostly in

an effort to curb the spread of dis-
ease. The first modern crematory
was built in the U.S. in 1876. By
1900, there were 20. The practice
got another boost in 1963, when the
Catholic Church reversed its opin-

November 2019 69
 Trays of
cremated
remains await
a technician,
who will remove
ferrous materi-
als that did not
combust during
heating.

KO S L OVS K I A N D I PA S S T H R O U G H T H E D O U B L E
doors. As we stand on the floor of the cremato-
rium, a bell rings out. It indicates that there’s a
hearse backing up to the door.
The bodies arrive in caskets occasionally made
of wood or metal, but more commonly cardboard,
and are kept in these containers during the entire
stay. Human remains must be enclosed in caskets
for ethical and health reasons, such as protect-
ing the cremation technician from infectious
diseases, but also for the safest handling of the
remains prior to cremation.
The caskets go into the crematorium’s refrig-
erated storage area, which is lined with shelves
of them. One casket has a label on it from Delta
Airlines that says “Human Remains,” and under
it, “Delta Cares.” At Rosehill, bodies typically
remain a day in the cooler. Koslovski says that
Rosehill endeavors to perform all cremations
and return remains to the family within 24 hours.
And most states require a 24-hour waiting period
between when someone dies and when cremation
can occur. When something is so final, you want
to take a pause.
Six large cremation units occupy the floor,
each covered in aluminum diamond-plate like
you might see on a fire truck or a high-end tool-
box. It’s called a cremation unit, by the way, not
an “oven.” There are certain words you’re not sup-
posed to say in a crematorium. “With ovens, you
think of Auschwitz,” says Brian Gamage, direc-
tor of marketing at U.S. Cremation Equipment in
Altamonte Springs, Florida.
When a body is ready to be cremated, the cas-
ket is removed from refrigerated storage and
placed on a hydraulic lift table that looks like a
gurney, then wheeled over to one of the machines.
An error would be catastrophic and unforgivable,
so Rosehill uses two forms of ID to make sure the
family gets back the right remains. A copy of the
receipt is attached to the outside of the cremation
unit, and a metal ID tag accompanies the deceased
inside the unit.
While the door can open about 30 to 36 inches
wide, most operators open it only a foot or so,
enough to accommodate the width of the body.
Any more than that will let out too much heat,
exposing the operator and the room to fiery tem-
peratures. Rollers on the table slide the casket in.

70 November 2019
 1

4
3

November 2019
THE CREMATION PROCESS (1) Body is identified and the deceased’s family grants authorization to cremate. Medical devices and prosthetics are removed and jewelry is recovered
before the body is placed in a combustible box. (2) The box is positioned inside a cremation chamber and heated to 1,400° to 2,000°F for 1.5 to 2 hours. (3) Remains are cooled and

71
a technician removes metal pieces with a magnet. (4) Remains are pulverized to a fine powder. (5) Ashes are put into a container or urn and returned to the family. —Leah Campano
 A cremation unit has two chambers: the pri-
mary chamber, where the body goes, and the
secondary or “after” chamber, which consumes
the gases generated by the cremation process. The
typical primary chamber has brick-lined walls,
and a floor and roof made of high heat refractory
concrete. A burner in the roof heats the chamber
to about 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit.
72 November 2019
The exhaust The resulting gases and particulates travel
stack of one of
the cremation into the after-chamber, a 30-foot maze designed
chambers to retain the gases for at least one second. The
at Rosehill
Crematorium. after-chamber subjects the gases to a temperature
of 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit to make sure the par-
ticles and odor are negligible before everything
goes up the stack and out into the atmosphere.
Gamage compares the secondary chamber to the
catalytic converter on an old car, which neutral-
izes the emissions of the exhaust system.
“Any solid will turn to gas if heated to the right
point. That’s essentially what happens to the
body when the tissue is heated to the point where
its solids turn to gas and become combustible,”
Gamage says. “The key is to design equipment
that consumes most of the emissions so that they
fall within the state environmental regulations.”
The particulates emitted must be less than 0.1
grains per dry standard cubic foot, according to
environmental agencies in most states. Problems
arise when the volume of gases (smoke) becomes
too great for the after-chamber to process and it
overflows. That can happen if the machine isn’t
designed properly or if the operator overloads
the primary chamber, which can happen for sur-
prising reasons—for example, putting an obese
person in the unit at the wrong time of day.
As macabre as it may sound, weight is some-
thing crematorium operators must worry about.
The machine doesn’t know the difference between
a person who weighs 150 pounds and a person who
weighs 400. It just does its job. The cremator’s rule
of thumb is that 100 pounds of human fat is the
equivalent of 17 gallons of kerosene. If you have a
body that weighs 400 pounds, at least 200 of them
will be fat that burns rapidly. If you put that person
into a very hot machine, as a cremation unit tends
to be at the end of the day, the chamber may emit
smoke and odor out of the stack.
Although some crematories can process a
body faster, basic facilities finish a cremation in
about an hour and a half. And that varies depend-
S P E N C E R LO W E L L / T R U N K A R C H I V E (B O N E S)
ing on the person’s weight and the type of casket
they’re in. The time-consuming nature limits the
number of cremations each unit can handle in a
day. During my visit, all of Rosehill’s machines
were in various states of operation to keep up
with demand. Each needs to get five bodies done
in eight hours. Rosehill’s cremation units run six
days a week, standing idle only on Sundays.
“For religious reasons?” I ask Koslovski. “No,”
he says, “we just need a day off.”
November 2019
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS DURING ALKALINE HYDROLYSIS This process takes around 3 hours and is considered better for the environment than cremation or burial. (1) An alkaline solution of 95 per-
cent water and 5 percent lye is heated up to 300°F at high pressure. (2) Steam passes through a coil, and the body’s soft tissue dissolves into a liquid. (3) Liquid is cooled and the fluid, now less alkaline, is emptied

73
into a separate tank and passed through the sewer system. (4) The remaining skeleton is rinsed and dried, then ground into a powder and returned to the family. —L.C.
Burning
Out
We come from the Earth, we return to
the Earth. That may be true, but the
way we return to the Earth matters on
more than an emotional level. It’s an
environmental concern. As cremation
continues to replace burial as a go-to
way of dealing with the dead, the emis-
sions that come along with this process
have become a concern—so much so
that people are starting to consider
some wild-sounding alternatives.
There is now a water-based process
called alkaline hydrolysis, which was
invented as a way to dispose of animals
infected with mad cow disease. It is
being marketed as a more environmen-
tally friendly postmortem option for
humans because it produces less car-
bon monoxide and pollution. Alkaline
hydrolysis involves placing a body in a
chamber that is then filled with water
and potassium hydroxide and heated
up to 300 degrees Fahrenheit at high
pressure. After three hours, the body
becomes a green-brown-tinted liquid,
and bones are soft enough to be crushed.
The bones can be returned to the fam-
ily, while the liquid can be sent into the
sewer system.
74 November 2019
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this process
has not really taken off. It’s slower. The
technology is more expensive: A stain-
less-steel pressurized unit can cost from
$175,000 for a basic unit to $500,000
for a high-end unit, while a cremation
unit costs about $110,000. There are
legal issues, too, because the process is
prohibited unless a state passes legisla-
tion specifically allowing for it.
And then there is the “ick” factor:
We’re talking about reducing a human
body to a soupy mess that goes into the
sewer.
When Lisa Tomasello was growing up in
a large Italian Catholic family, the death
of a relative was just the beginning of
a grueling two or three days. Visitors
would arrive at the funeral home and
sign the guest book, then form a line
to get to the casket. People would sit in
front of the body of the deceased, kneel-
ing and praying and making the sign of
the cross, before kissing them on the
hand, face, or lips. “The closer the rela-
tion, the closer to the lips,” she says.
The immediate family sat in the
front row, receiving visitors in front of
the dead body. Tearful outbursts and
cries in Italian were commonplace.
During the breaks in the wake, the fam-
ily would go out for dinner and laugh
and tell stories before returning to the
funeral home for several more hours
of crying. And all that was before the
funeral, which would start at a funeral
home, resume at a church, and culmi-
nate at a cemetery before everyone was
invited back for lunch.
But once the body was buried and
the headstone placed, then what? “My
grandparents’ graves haven’t been vis-
ited in 30 years,” Tomasello says.
When Tom a sel lo’s ow n mot her
pa ssed away, she and her siblings
decided to have a small service and to
cremate their mother’s body. When her
father followed a few years later, they
made a toast to him with a shot of Jack
Daniels, then had him cremated and
divvied up the ashes.
“I have my parents in my bedroom,”
she says. “There is no pressure or guilt
of having to visit them in a cemetery,
and they will stay with me until the end
of my time.”
It’s hard to let people go. We want
to keep them near, sometimes even
anthropomorphizing the urns that hold
them as a way of bringing our loved ones
back to life. The urn doesn’t contain
mom’s ashes; the urn is mom.
There is no easy way to say it: The phys-
ical attributes you picture when you
envision a loved one—the eyes, the skin,
the hair—disappear during the crema-
tion process. “Cremated remains are
typically bone fragments and casket
ash,” Koslovski says. “Remember, we’re
60 percent water.”
Once the cremation process is com-
plete, the remains are put onto what
looks like a silver baking tray. A tech-
nician runs a magnet over them to
remove ferrous materials that did not
combust during the cremation pro-
cess. These often come from a person’s
staples, screws, hinges, and prosthetic
joints. The technician will then visually
inspect and remove any material the
magnet missed—say, the bits of glass
left behind because someone wanted
their father cremated with a bottle of
Scotch. Those pieces are disposed of by
the crematory.
The crematorium puts the bones
and ash that remain into a pulverizer,
not unlike a food processor, to reduce
them to a more uniform powder-like
consistency. The remains are then put
into a container for the family— but not
always. Some Asian cultures want to be
able to pick through the unpulverized
remains to take bone fragments. A skull
or hip bone is prized. They don’t want
the bone fragments processed at all.
Hindus often want the eldest son to
commence the cremation process as a
rite of passage, so he’s allowed on the cre-
matorium floor to turn on the machine.
Other families just want to observe
the process—about a dozen make that
request each week. Rosehill allows them
to do so, from an observation deck. To
Koslovski, it’s about making sure people
understand the process, that they’re not
afraid or skeptical of cremation because
of misinformation or rumor.
I press him on the stories, the urban
legends about crematoriums. Is any of
it true? Do cremated remains from one
person ever wind up getting mixed in
with another? He explains that every
cremation is performed individually
and the cremation unit is swept thor-
oughly after each one.
Howe ver, I r ememb er Ba rb a r a
Kemmis, the spokesperson for the Cre-
mation Association of North America,
telling me that while operators do their
best to remove recoverable remains, it’s
possible that minute amounts of one
person’s cremated remains could inad-
vertently wind up in someone else’s.
Another part of the process that’s per-
haps best not to think about.
Cremation, like death, is final. But that
doesn’t mean you won’t have second
thoughts. Susan Skiles Luke, a market-
ing consultant in Edwardsville, Illinois,
had her mother cremated and buried in
a family plot. Now, she wishes it was her
mother’s body in the grave.
“When I go there, which isn’t often,
I want to feel like her body is under-
ground, not some heav y shoebox of
something that looks like cigarette
ashes,” she said.
When her older brother, Tom, with
whom she was very close, died tragically
of a drug overdose 13 months later, skip-
ping the burial in favor of cremation
was a godsend. It allowed her to avoid
the whole public ordeal of a funeral.
That’s one of the advantages of cre-
mation: You can address your emotional
issues with the dead on your own terms.
The disadvantage? Now you’re left
with the remains, this tangible object
impressed with memories. After Luke’s
brother passed away, she picked up his
ashes on the way home from work, as
if it were just another weekday errand.
“I wasn’t prepared for how personal it
would feel,” she said. “I threw my broth-
er’s ashes in the trunk with a thump and
cried all the way home.”
A few years later, when her step-
fat her pa ssed, she cou ldn’t br ing
herself to pick up his ashes, even as the
funeral home kept calling. One day, she
returned home to find her dad’s ashes
sitting on her doorstep. She now has two
boxes of remains in storage, though she
doesn’t know exactly where. She asked
her husband to hide them. “Not the
healthiest reaction,” she admits.
Sometimes, instead of burying peo-
ple in the ground, we bury them among
our stuff. We lose them among the emo-
tionally charged paraphernalia of our
lives. It is just too hard.
In movies, characters are always scat-
tering the ashes of a loved one over the
side of a boat or off the top of a moun-
tain. In reality, cremation rarely ends
that way. The Cremation Association of
North America estimates that 60 to 80
percent of cremated remains go home
with people who intend to place them in
a cemetery or scatter them at a future
date. But scattering is not as popular as
people think.
“Based on recent media coverage
of people seeking to recover cremated
remains lost in fires, floods, and mud-
slides, I suspect a high percentage of
remains are in homes,” Kemmis says.
There are actually laws dictating
where ashes can be spread. “You can’t
just run down Main Street and throw
them in the air or sprinkle them in your
neighbor’s driveway,” says Robert Big-
gins of Magoun-Biggins Funeral Home
in Rockland, Massachusetts.
W h i le s c a t t er i n g a s h e s s e e m s
romantic, there’s something to be said
about keeping your loved one in one
place, and then marking that place with
a name so we don’t forget them.
As I leave Rosehill cemetery, I decide
to stop by the grave of my friend David,
who was dealt a bad set of cards. His
mother was an alcoholic. His father had
left. He was sent to a city-funded board-
ing school and managed to graduate
with a football scholarship to college,
but lasted just one semester. And like
something out of a bad movie, he met
a girl, was introduced to crack cocaine,
lost his job, wound up with HIV, and
ultimately developed kidney issues that
landed him on dialysis for well over a
decade. He was on the kidney donor list
and was near the top when he died of
heart failure in 2015.
I’d gone to his funeral but hadn’t
made it to the cemetery—the one in
which I now found myself. I’m surprised
to see nothing marking the spot where
he’s buried. It’s just a patch of dirt with
a number “83” handwritten in concrete.
There are big marble headstones on one
side of him and on the other side, a pile
of plastic flowers, bits of light blue rib-
bon, and Styrofoam crosses that say “I
Love You.”
The lack of fanfare seems unfair.
Without a headstone, no one would even
know he was under there—or for that
matter, that he’d been up here.
Whether it’s a burial or a cremation,
the hard part is letting a loved one just
float off into obscurity. We need that
physical marker, a headstone, a bench,
an urn, to show that the person existed,
that they once walked this Earth.
I go to my car and find a football tro-
phy my son had dug out of the garbage
and thrown on the floor of the back seat. I
use a black Sharpie and write on the front
of the trophy: “David, April 23, 1954 to
April 23, 2015.” I walk over to Grave 83
and place the trophy at the top of the
patch of dirt where a headstone might
go. I leave a pebble, as people sometimes
do, and walk back to my car.
November 2019 75
 13
// BY BR A D FOR D //

Stud
Finders
for
Every
Job

A
STUD FINDER IS GOOD
for, well, finding studs
you can’t see. Knowing
where those are is cru-
cial so you can be sure to
screw into them instead
of just the drywall when
you’re hanging something heavy,
like a mirror or a mount for, say,
a flat-screen TV. But some stud
finders have other features, too,
like deep scanning and AC wire
detection. That doesn’t mean
they always do what they’re sup-
posed to. There’s a lot going on in
walls, and it can be hard, despite
advances in tech, for any device to
parse it all and determine what’s
a pipe and what’s a wire from out-
side of the wall. To test all the
features, we put a selection of stud
finders through their paces on a
wall of our own making, as well as
walls in existing homes.

Most studs are spaced at 16-inch intervals—find one, and the next stud should be about that same dis-
tance in either direction. Changes in spacing usually happen near the ends of walls or near doors and windows.
What's If your stud finder seems to be picking up things between the studs, it could be detecting metal or plastic
plumbing components, electrical boxes or wiring, or metal ductwork. ¶ Electrical wires usually run vertically
Hiding on the side of a stud and sometimes horizontally between outlets. Keep this in mind, and if there are light fix-
Inside tures, switches, and outlets on a wall, you can make an educated guess as to where the wires might be. ¶ And
Your Wall? pay attention to where the kitchen and bathrooms are. Water-supply and waste pipes for the second floor are
often found in walls on the first floor, below sinks, tubs, or showers. PRO TIP If your basement is unfinished,
you can go down there to see on the ceiling where exactly the pipes go up.

76 November 2019 P H OTO G R A P H Y BY T R E VO R R A A B

 For our test, we built a four-by-eight-foot wall out of common materials: wood
and metal studs; drywall; copper, black, pex, and PVC pipe; and nonmetallic
How sheathed cable. Then we scanned the wall with each of the stud finders. All

We functioned as expected when it came to detecting the studs, but we quickly

found that a number of them designed to pick up the location of live AC wiring STUD-
FINDING
simply didn’t. We checked with product engineers and found that steel studs,
Tested metal pipe, and ductwork could impair live-wire detection. So we went back to
our test wall, removed the steel studs and metal pipes, and built a second four-
by-four-foot wall to test only the steel studs. Again, stud detection went as expected, but the devices
did only a slightly better job of finding the live wires. A couple did, however, manage better than the
others. We also took the stud finders to two homes—one a mid-1800s house with lath and plaster,
TIPS
and the other a 1970s tract house—for real-world testing. Be careful not to
touch the wall with
either hand while
you’re using a stud
finder—this can
alter its readings.

Some tools need

to calibrate before
scanning, so
start away from
switches, outlets,
and light fixtures.

Apply some
painter’s tape over
the area you want
to scan. It’ll give
you a surface on
which to mark your
findings without
having to write on
the wall.

When you detect

studs, objects,
or live wires,
mark them.

And where you

detect a stud
specifically, scan
above and below
that point to make
sure it continues
to the floor or
ceiling. Other read-
ings, not at regular
intervals, could be
wiring, plumbing,
or ductwork.

Freshly painted
walls may be diffi-
cult to scan for up
to 2 to 3 weeks,
due to the mois-
ture in the paint.

Be careful about
assumptions, err
on the side of
caution, and take
your time.

November 2019 77
 13
B E S T F U L L- W I D T H S C A N N E R
RYO B I LE D W H O LE ST U D
D E T E C TO R E S F5 0 0 0
$30 Scan Type: Full-width Scan Depth: N/A
Scans For: Wood, metal, and live wiring
Ryobi’s Whole Stud Detector lives up to
its name. When it finds a stud in the wall,
it shows the width by illuminating some
of its seven LEDs: Whichever are over the
stud will turn on, and whichever aren’t will
remain off. And it didn’t matter if the studs
were wood or metal, this Ryobi found them
both under half- and three-quarter-inch
drywall. It also picked up pipes but couldn’t
tell us what they were made of. (Though in
fairness, the pipes were four inches apart,
a sure indication they weren’t studs.) We
detected live AC wires in five-inch swaths
and followed their paths—so we knew
where they were, although not precisely.
78 November 2019
BEST VALUE
STA N LE Y S5 0 E D G E - D E T E C T
$12 Scan Type: Edge-finding
Scan Depth: 0.75 inch Scans For: Wood
and metal studs
If you just want to locate a stud, Stanley’s
basic S50 is all you need. It was designed to
locate the edges of wood or metal studs.
Just press the button and glide the S50
slowly along the wall, keeping an eye on the
indicator. When it lights up, you’re at the
edge of one. It’ll stay on until you pass the
other side, so once you do, slide the unit
back over the stud to confirm and mark
the edges, then measure halfway between
them to find the center. In our testing, the
tool consistently found studs under half-
inch drywall. Detecting the edges through
three-quarter-inch drywall was slightly
less accurate, though.
WIDEST SCAN AREA
F R A N K LI N S E N S O R S
PROSENSOR T13
$60 Scan Type: Full-width
Scan Depth: 1.7 inches Scans For: Wood
and metal studs
With 13 sensors spread out over its
seven-inch surface, the ProSensor T13
scanned deeply to accurately locate
studs. When we encountered one, the
LEDs over it lit up to show its full width.
The T13 even proved wide enough to
show doubled-up studs around door
frames and windows. We found it simple
and easy to use, and it reliably detected
wood and metal studs under three-
quarter-inch-thick drywall. While this
unit isn’t designed to locate pipes or wir-
ing, we did get a blink of one LED when
we ran it over copper piping.
BEST OVERALL
BOSCH GMS 120
$70 Scan Type: Center-finding Scan
Depth: 4.75 inches Scans For: Wood,
metal, and live wiring
Bosch’s GMS 120 is much more than a
stud finder (though it did locate the cen-
ters to within an eighth of an inch). It can
also detect live AC wiring, metal objects,
plastic pipes that are filled with water, and
even rebar in concrete. The Bosch unit has
audible tones, an illuminated ring around
the sensor area, and an LCD screen—and
all three work in concert, guiding you to
what you’re scanning for. The ring turns red
when over a stud, while the screen provides
live-wire alerts and displays a bull’s-eye to
indicate the stud’s center. Though the GMS
didn’t find wiring in our wall, it did pick it up
fairly accurately in the test houses.
MOST COMFORTABLE
Z I R CO N ST U D S E N S O R A1 0 0
$20 Scan Type: Edge-finding Scan
Depth: 2 inches Scans For: Wood, metal,
and live wiring
The StudSensor A100 accurately located
edges of metal and wood studs through our
three-quarter-inch drywall. Surprisingly, it
detected the edges somewhat early under
half-inch drywall, but measuring to the mid-
point between the edges, still got us to the
center. We like the one-handed operation
and the red arrow the unit projects on the
wall where it finds an edge. Deep scan mode
identified objects inside the test wall, yet
the unit won’t differentiate between mate-
rials. The shallower stud scan mode picked
up the pipes, too, just not consistently. We
detected AC wires in a three-inch-wide area
on our test wall and in the homes.
EASIEST TO USE
D E WA LT DW01 5 0
$24 Scan Type: Center-finding Scan
Depth: 1.5 inches Scans For: Wood,
metal, and live wiring
DeWalt’s DW0150 was consistent in
finding stud centers, locating both wood
and metal equally well through both half-
inch and three-quarter-inch drywall. An
alert in the form of an LED arrow pointed
toward the studs, and we found that trav-
eling over the stud and then back until the
DW0150 picked up the center was nearly
100 percent accurate. (We’ll give DeWalt
kudos, too, for including a window in the
center, which made marking stud cen-
ters with a pencil easy.) The device also
detects AC wiring—it was reliable through
a half inch of drywall but only intermittent
under the three-quarter-inch variety.
November 2019 79
 14
// BY JA MES LY NCH //

W
H E N I T CO M E S T O For part one of our test, we sliced
Knives for purchasing an
o u t d o o r k n i fe ,
into a ripe tomato. We didn’t saw with
the knives but placed them on the

Surviving a the most import-

ant decision you’ll
have to ma ke is
tomatoes and slowly applied force.
Next, testers held a length of quarter-
inch, cotton-wrapped, nylon-core

Disaster— choosing between

an everyday carry (EDC) and sur-
vival model. The former is often a
rope over the blade and pulled, again
without any back-and-forth motion.
Then we took each knife to a quarter-

Or Just folding or pocketknife, good for

keeping on you. The latter tends
to be a fixed-blade with a full tang
inch-thick dried aspen twig placed on
a cutting board and pressed as hard
as we could to see how well they did

Carrying (the part of the blade that extends

into the handle) for sturdiness,
meant to sustain abuse when
against something denser. We noted
both how large of a notch the knives
left and how comfortable they were in
Around you’re deep in the backcountry or
dealing with the aftermath of a
our hand under the strain. Finally, we
took the knives out in our daily lives.

Every Day natural disaster. To determine the

best knives from those two cate-
gories, we tested 15 designs from
established brands in a battery of
tasks you’d experience every day.
The top eight performers are what
you see on these pages.
The EDCs stayed in our pockets so we
could see how they felt and looked in
our office pants, plus how well they
stayed in place as we strode in hiking
shorts. We carried the survival knives
in our packs and in their sheaths on our
belt to judge how they moved with us.

80 November 2019 P H OTO G R A P H Y BY L A KOTA G A M B I L L

 B E S T S U R V I VA L K N I F E

CRKT TIGHE BREAKER

PRICE WEIGHT BLADE LENGTH T O TA L L E N G T H
$70 3.5 ounces 4.3 inches 8.7 inches

B L A D E M AT E R I A L H A N D L E M AT E R I A L
8Cr13MoV steel Cord-wrapped tang

the knife’s usefulness. We only had

to get a good grip without it. That
means you can use the cord sepa-
rately in a pinch and not sacrifice
to apply the slightest force for the
blade to glide through the tomato
and slash through the rope, and it
notched about a third of the way
through the stick. Bonus points for
the aesthetics, too: The knife has an
overall aggressive look that we love.
CRKT’s molded holster kept the
knife secure, but some people may
not like how it only carries vertically

BENCHMADE 585
5 Types of Locking
Mechanisms to Know PRICE WEIGHT
$150 3.4 ounces
Liner // One side of Pro: Ambidextrous. BLADE T O TA L
the handle’s inner liner Con: Can wear out, LENGTH LENGTH

is bent, causing it to causing the blade to 2.9 inches 6.9 inches

act like a spring. When wiggle when deployed.
CLOSED LENGTH 4 inches
you open the blade,
that springing liner Axis // This is a pro- BLADE HANDLE
slides over behind the prietary Benchmade M AT E R I A L M AT E R I A L
tang of the blade to design: A steel bar 154CM steel Valox
keep it from closing. passes through the
Pro: Simple and inex- knife handle and slots The 585 is a great little folding knife.
pensive. Con: Fingers into a notch in the Where smaller size can often make
are in the way when tang. It’s almost three one-handed opening feel cramped,
closing. times as strong as Benchmade gave the 585 a snappy
a liner lock, and you spring assist that takes over once
Frame // Like a liner don’t have to adjust you get the blade partially out. And
lock, but this system your grip to operate it. it’s easy to engage both right- and
has one side of the Pro: Ambidextrous. left-handed, thanks to thumb studs
knife’s frame slide Con: More small parts on both sides of the blade. Similarly,
behind the blade that can break. the knife’s stout axis lock can be
when you deploy it. disengaged from either side of the
Pro: Secure. Con: Not Collar // Here, a cir- handle. Speaking of the handle, it’s a
ambidextrous. cular collar around bit wider than we expected for such
the base of the blade a small knife. That makes the 585
Lock Back // A lock- twists to lock it closed comfortable to use despite its stat-
ing bar runs up the or open. Line up the ure. And even though the blade is
spine of the knife’s gap in the collar with one of the shortest we tested, which
handle and springs the blade for unim- can limit both the size of the jobs it
up into a notch in the peded deployment. can take on and the dexterity larger
tang. To close, press Pro: Simple. Con: hands have with the knife, it had no
on the bar close to the Collar can wear out issue slicing through the tomato and
butt of the handle to over time and not rope and putting a notch about a
pivot it out of the tang. operate as smoothly. third of the way through our stick.

November 2019 81
 BLADE LENGTH T O TA L L E N G T H
2.7 inches 7.2 inches
CLOSED LENGTH B L A D E M AT E R I A L H A N D L E M AT E R I A L
4.5 inches 420HC stainless steel Steel

WEIGHT
2.7 ounces
T O TA L
LENGTH
7.1 inches

4 inches
HANDLE
M AT E R I A L
Aircraft-
grade
aluminum

7.3 ounces 4 inches

without being super-heavy. It also
T O TA L L E N G T H B L A D E M AT E R I A L didn’t create any uncomfortable
9 inches 7CR17 stainless steel
we laid into it. The blade deployed
H A N D L E M AT E R I A L
quickly and easily (with both our
Textured nylon over stainless steel frame
right and left hands) with the flip of
a lever on the bottom—it leaps out
The F402 is as affordable of a survival knife as you can ask for of the handle shockingly fast for an
without risking quality and capability. The blade cut smoothly
through the tomato and quickly through the rope, though both through the tomato the best of any

82 November 2019
SOG PILLAR LTD
EXPLORE
PRICE WEIGHT
$240 7.3 ounces
BLADE T O TA L PRICE
LENGTH LENGTH
$49
5 inches 9.9 inches
BLADE
BLADE HANDLE LENGTH
M AT E R I A L M AT E R I A L
4 inches
CPM-S35VN Linen
steel Micarta
BLADE
Compared with typically utilitar- M AT E R I A L

ian survival knives, the SOG Pillar 12C27

LTD is beautiful. Its linen Micarta Sandvik
(a synthetic laminate that’s grip- stainless
pier than the fiberglass variety) steel
handle is both eye-catching and
effective, as it feels soft and
grippy even when wet. The Pillar
also had the sharpest blade of all
the knives we tested, moving eas-

PRICE
$300
BLADE

BLADE

steel

through the stick, this blade repeatedly snapped it in half. And while the straight blade didn’t
have any trouble with the rope, the serrated knife quickly tore through it. The thick handle
made it comfortable to hold at any angle. And if you run into more serious trouble, the 365
also has a window breaker and an inset rescue hook for cutting seat belts and rope.

November 2019 83
 H
clubs, where hip-hop gained wide-
This
I P - HOP AN D EVE RY THING
it has influenced—from spread attention.
electronic dance music to In 1969, Shuichi Obata of Tech-

Technics modern pop and R&B—

wouldn’t be the same
without one extraordi-
nics’ parent company, Matsushita
(now Panasonic), designed the
SP-10, the first turntable pow-

Turntable nary tool: the Technics

SL-1200 turntable and its power-
ered by a direct-drive motor
instead of a rotating belt. When

Powered ful direct-drive motor.

Introduced in 1972 but per-
fected with 1979’s MK2 version,
Obata perfected his direct-drive
technology with the first 1200
a couple of years later, he didn’t

Hip-Hop’s the 1200’s unique design made

turntable techniques possible.
Pioneers like Grandmaster Flash,
Early breakbeat inventor Kool Herc, and
have hip-hop DJs in mind—they
didn’t exist yet. But the genre’s
early innovators soon developed
moves made possible by the 1200’s
CO U R T E S Y O F T E C H N I C S

scratching trailblazer Grand Wiz- high-torque direct drive. With no

Sound ard Theodore made it the go-to

deck for DJ culture, first in their
’70s South Bronx street jams and
then in the downtown Manhattan
breaking belts to worry about and
virtually no lag in startup time,
the turntable freed DJs to follow
their instincts and start build-

84 November 2019
ing the tools of their trade: the
scratching, backspinning, break-
beats, and more.
“You need a pret t y strong
motor to move a record back and
forth without slowing down the
platter,” says producer, DJ, and
Fools Gold Records cofounder
A-Trak. The 1200’s direct drive
did just that. Steve Cohen of New
York City audio shop In Living
Stereo adds that the 1200’s torque
got it back up to speed faster than
others. “It had the most speed
stability, and superior pace and
rhythm to similarly priced belt-
driven turntables,” he said.
By 1979, Obata was working
with New York DJs to make the
1200 MK2 even more of a mix
magician’s friend. While the ear-
lier model had an evenness of
speed that made it ultra-accurate,
the MK2 allowed users to bypass
that automatic speed regulation
using a pitch-control slider. That
made it easier for DJs to alter one
record’s speed and sync it with
another, perfecting the founda-
tional technique of beatmatching.
And the MK2’s molded rubber–
insulated, die-cast aluminum
body made it less vulnerable to
vibrations, feedback, or breaking
in two. This was invaluable to DJs
heading into the battleground of a
live performance. “It’s built like a
tank,” says A-Trak.
Technics introduced a dozen
updates of the 1200, but Pana-
sonic discont inued a na log
turntables in 2010, perceiving
lower demand for vinyl. But after
outraged DJs collected 27,000 sig-
natures on a petition to bring the
1200 back, Panasonic relented,
resurfacing the 1200 in 2016 and
releasing another update in 2019,
the MK7.
It’s been 50 years since Obata
developed the direct-drive turn-
table. Its legacy is a profound one,
and versions of the first 1200
are still the instrument of choice
among top DJs. “The 1200 still
plays a huge role in turntablism,”
says A-Trak.

5 HEADPHONES 1 BOSE NOISE

C A N C E LL I N G
2 GRADO
S R 8 0 E / $9 9
3 AU D I O
TECHNICA
4 SENNHEISER HD
6 6 0 / $5 0 0
5 SONY MDR-
75 0 6 / $1 3 0

WORTHY OF YOUR
H E A D PH O N E S An insane value, AT H - M 5 0X B T These deliver excep- Versions of this
70 0 / $3 9 9 these deliver / $1 9 9 tional sound that classic have
Excellent noise-elim- fantastic sound, With cans that picks up subtle notes, existed since the
FAVORITE VINYL inating tech makes
places like public
especially high
notes like cym-
swivel, strong
sound, and lots
especially in jazz and
classical music. The
’90s, and the lat-
est model delivers
transit more peace- bals. And the of comfort, these open-back design the same comfort,
ful, but it does reduce external wires Bluetooth-ready sounds magical in a fit, durability, and
sound quality some. make them look phones are great quiet space but lets musician-grade
Still, a great feature if as cool as an old for the studio or some noise escape— quality at an amaz-
you travel often. ham radio. everyday use. so best used at home. ingly low price.

November 2019 85
 Editors’
16 Choice
// AWA R D-W IN NING TOOLS A ND GE A R RIGOROUSLY VETTED BY OUR TEST TE A M. BY A DRIEN NE DONICA //

M errell Z ion M id KN I PEX 10 " Ma kita 18V L X T Cordless

WaterProof H iking Boot Pliers Wrench 5 3/8" M eta l Cutting Saw

The Merrell Zion combines a
sneaker-like fit with support from
dual-density EVA inserts and a
compression-molded EVA mid-
sole. Springy and light, the boot
held up to long miles on the trail.
And when the weather turned wet,
we stayed dry, thanks to Merrell’s
M Select DRY waterproof-breath-
able membrane. $150
With a wide range of adjustability,
these German-made pliers grip
everything from thin sheet metal
to 2-inch-diameter pipe and fit-
tings. You can set your desired jaw
width with the press of a button,
and even when the jaws are fully
open, the plastic-coated handles
are still comfortable—and not too
far apart—to grip. $78
Rated for a 2-inch cutting depth,
this Makita workhorse cuts
almost anything—including pipe,
threaded rod, steel plate, and con-
duit—with speed and efficiency.
The fast-charging 18-volt lithi-
um-ion battery allows the motor
to spin the blade a respectable
3,600 times per minute, and the
electric brake lets you stop it on
a dime for rapid repeat cuts. We
also appreciate the convenient
chip-collector box and built-in LED
light that illuminates the saw’s
cutting line. $ 439

We test the latest tools, gear, and tech every day in

HOW WE PICK EDITORS’ CHOICE AWARDS the Pop Mech Test Zone to find the best for you.
Every product in this section has been thoroughly evaluated by our test team. Only the best of the best earn an
T R E VO R R A A B

Editors’ Choice Award. Each offers exceptional performance, durability, value, or innovation—or a combination
of all those traits. This is the stuff that makes every project or adventure easier and more enjoyable.

86 November 2019
 Editors‘
16 Choice

Stih l H SA 66
H edge Trim mer

Stihl’s hedge trimmers are

longtime favorites in our
testing. The HSA 66 contin-
ues that tradition because
it delivers undeniable
power and an exception-
ally clean cut from its
20-inch blade. Powered
by a 36-volt battery, this
trimmer is quieter than
one that runs on gas, and
you never have to worry
about accidentally severing
a power cord while you’re
in the thick of taming
unkempt hedges. $5 0 0 for
tool, battery, and charger

GCI O utdoor
RoadTrip Rocker

Instead of traditional,
curved rocker rails, which
are hard to fold, GCI uses
pistons on the legs. The
cylinders compress to
let you lean way back
without sacrificing sta-
bility or portability. The
Roadtrip’s steel frame and
PVC-backed polyester
fabric have proven to be
exceptionally durable and
comfortable in our testing.
Of all the folding chairs we
tested, this is the one our
test editors keep reaching
for when packing for out-
door adventures. $ 8 0

I nSinkE rator
Evolution Com pac t

Small but mighty, the

Evolution Compact uses a
powerful ¾-horsepower
motor to grind food in two
stages (the first grinds
while the second stage
breaks it down further
with a grind shear ring-
before discharging it).
That makes the continu-
ous-feed disposal capable
of handling bones and
other tough scraps like
raw corncobs. Best of all,
InSinkErator gives it better
sound and vibration reduc-
tion than you find on most
standard disposals—it was
a full 16 decibels quieter
than the next-quietest
model we tested. $16 8

88 November 2019
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 17
// CHELSE A MILLER, 35, K NIFE M A K ER, BROO K LY N, NE W YOR K //

Art Craft

Sculpting Shaping

Minimalist1 Hoarder

Old New

Instructions Innovation

Handmade Machine-Made

Gas Forge Coal Forge2

Toolbox Toolbelt

Studio Workshop

Linseed Oil Wax Finish3

Sharpening Honing

Headphones Speakers

Paper Towels Shop Rag4

Forging Woodworking

File Dremel

Hammer Anvil5

Pocketknife Multi-tool

AC Natural Air
LET ME EXPLAIN
Precision Estimation6

Epoxy Glue (1) I choose to surround myself with quality items that will last. (2) The process of starting
M O R G A N C R O S S L E Y/ " M A D E H E R E " V I D E O

the fire and tending it is a beautiful dance, with many more steps than gas. (3) I make my
Grinder Sander
own wood-cream from mineral oil and beeswax. (4) From wrapping a finger together on the
Finished Product Process7 way to get stitches, to tying my hair up and away from spinning wheels. I have at least 50
colorful handkerchiefs handy in the shop. (5) My anvil was made 100 years ago in Brooklyn.
Natural Materials Man-made
It belonged to my grandfather, my father, and now me. (6) Practicing estimation strength-
Apron Casual ens my intuition and creativity. What a delight when muscle memory knows where the
edges are without a pre-set! (7) If the process isn’t fulfilling, then the product lacks value.
Home Depot Local Hardware8
(8) Having a local hardware that understands my needs is everything. They even source
Imperial Metric work gloves in a size-small for me. That’s love.

92 November 2019
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