Today’s lunchtime news chum brings together a collection of articles about old things and their use or reuse:
- Droning On. We’ve all been reading about the increased use of piloted drones in the military. The plan had been to replace the aging U2 fleet with drones, but it looks like budgetary considerations are going to keep the U2s flying. This is the problem with the budget situation: we’re having to make do with older things longer. People are putting off purchasing new cars or hard goods, and the same goes for our military. This reduces spending, but it also stretches out any economic recovery because people aren’t being put to work manufacturing the new and improved goods.
- Old Facilities Doing Good. An interesting article in the LA Times about the Biomedical Research Institute, which has been doing remarkable science in extremely antiquated facilities. Specifically, they are doing cutting edge biomedical research in left-over WWII era barracks that were originally the Los Angeles Port of Embarkation Hospital, opened in 1943 to treat soldiers shipping out to World War II. After the war ended, Los Angeles County bought the hospital and opened it in 1946. It became UCLA’s first teaching hospital, and in 1952, several doctors started a research organization that would later become LA BioMed. The current Harbor-UCLA Medical Center opened in 1963, and the vacant barracks were turned into more research space.
- Will Arlo Sing About Any Of These? An interesting Mental Floss article looking at 11 interesting cases of reuse of old church facilities. My favorite is the atheist headquarters.
- Re-Staging It. The Nashville Tennessean has an interesting article about the replacement of the stage at the Ryman Auditorium, which was the original home of the Grand Old Opry. They are incorporating pieces of wood from the old stage into the new stage, and will evidently be doing some form of reuse of the other wood.
- When to Toss It? Lastly, an age old question: Do those little half-and-half plastic creamer containers ever go bad, as they aren’t refrigerated?
Music: Crazy for You (1992 Original Broadway Cast): Finale
