As mining operations push toward lower-grade deposits and tighter economic margins, the reliability of analytical measurement has become central to operational decision-making.

From representative sampling to traceable calibration standards and certified reference materials, the systems used to verify assay accuracy increasingly determine whether reported grades can be trusted.…

I am exploring what I think is a fundamental question in epistemology: What does it mean to say something is true? I want to approach this through the lens of cybernetic constructivism. I’ll start with a question about pi, which feels fitting given that I wrote this on March 14.

What is pi? For most purposes, 3.14 is a very accurate value. But pi is an irrational number. It goes…

In precision machining there’s a particularly deceptive failure mode. Everything looks fine. The toolpath is clean, cutting is stable, the part’s almost finished. And then you discover that you took off too much somewhere. Or the opposite—you left a small island of stock that now must be removed by hand. Or during the next setup, the tool suddenly can’t reach because the fixture wasn’t…