Patrick Franzinelli

This weekend I went camping at a place called Carpinteria just south of Santa Barbara. While walking on the beach you can see a large number of oil rigs in the Santa Barbara Channel. These ugly steel structures have a very strong impact on the view from the beach. Nevertheless, I was instantly fascinated by them––I had never seen such structures in my life, and now I was able to see several of them. I realized that I don't really know anything about oil rigs––that is why I chose to do some research. View from the Carpinteria state park Oil platforms are indeed very interesting: they are some of the tallest buildings built by humans. Before the Burj Khalifa was constructed, an oil rig was the tallest freestanding structure with a total hight of 609 meters (for Americans: 2001 feet). These constructs are huge technical achievements. Thousands of people work hard to build them and these platforms are doing a major service to our society––nearly 30% of our crude oil production c...

The Uncomfortable Reality We all do it, but we all hate it––but why do we   dress up for work? You are getting ready for a job interview. It is understandable that you have many insecurities: are you going to be judged on your character or your skills? Are you going to be ready for the questions they ask? Are you going to like the employer? These worries are there because you have one goal in mind––you want to make a good first impression. Thus, “ Do I look good enough ?” is going to be one of the central questions of the preparation process. Before you leave for the interview, you put your best suit on and you admire yourself in the mirror until you are satisfied with your look. Thousands of people go through this process every day; we dress up for work or for special meetings. Nobody takes a break to ask themselves, “ Why am I wearing this? Is it because it is functional or are there some other hidden reasons? ” Everybody who has worn a sui...