Author Archives: mike@standardsmichigan.com

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Kahn Health Care Pavilion

Our tenure in the 2026 National Electrical Code will result in at least a 10 percent reduction in the cost of building premise wiring — (mostly in the feeder power chain) — in healthcare facilities; based on the results of last month’s meeting of Code Making Panel 15.

Assuming electrical power infrastructure is 15 percent of in a $920 million facility like this (excluding interior moveable fixtures), that would have meant an approximate $14 million reduction in cost.  That cost savings cannot be realized because it was designed to an earlier version of the National Electrical Code.

Facilities and Operations

National Electrical Code CMP-15

Healthcare Facilities Code

Hospital Plug Load


Related:

New University of Michigan hospital to be named after philanthropists D. Dan and Betty Kahn

ORT America

$920M Michigan Medicine tower tops out, targets 2025 opening

 

Communication in the Presence of Noise

Communication in the Presence of Noise

Claude E. Shannon

University of Michigan – Bell Telephone Laboratories – Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Abstract. A method is developed for representing any communication system geometrically. Messages and the corresponding signals are points in two “function spaces,” and the modulation process is a mapping of one space into the other. Using this representation, a number of results in communication theory are deduced concerning expansion and compression of bandwidth and the threshold effect. Formulas are found for the maximum rate of transmission of binary digits over a system when the signal is perturbed by various types of noise. Some of the properties of “ideal” systems which transmit at this maxmum rate are discussed. The equivalent number of binary digits per second for certain information sources is calculated.

CLICK HERE to order complete paper

 

Spring Break

Michigan Central

 

One MSU Professor Singlehandedly Started Spring Break

Hillsdale to Hilltop: The Story of Michigan Lass Kat Timpf

🐦Homophily Michigan 🐦

“You’d get married? Well, what about school?”

“Girls like me weren’t built to be education. We were made to have children. That’s my ambition: to be a walking talking baby factory”


"What are you afraid of losing, when nothing in the world actually belongs to you." -- Marcus Aurelius

Home Rule: Limits of Inspection Authority

“The Dressmaking Factory” 1914 | Charles Ginnar
@Tate

Building inspection authority refers to the governmental power granted to building officials and inspectors to enforce building codes, conduct site visits, review plans, issue permits, and ensure construction complies with safety, structural, zoning, and environmental standards.

Its significance lies primarily in protecting public safety by identifying hazards, preventing structural failures, fire risks, and health threats from substandard work. This authority mandates minimum quality levels, reducing risks of collapses, injuries, or fatalities—lessons reinforced by historical disasters.

It promotes accountability among designers, builders, and owners, ensuring durability, energy efficiency, and accessibility while supporting sustainable urban development. By halting non-compliant projects or requiring fixes, inspectors safeguard communities, preserve property values, and minimize long-term costs from repairs or liabilities.

Ultimately, this regulatory framework upholds trust in the built environment, balancing innovation with life-protecting oversight for residents, workers, and the public.

Here are the primary **ANSI-accredited standards developers that develop and publish model building codes, related consensus standards for construction safety, inspection, structural integrity, energy efficiency, plumbing, fire safety, and similar areas incorporated into or referenced into public law:

– **International Code Council (ICC)** — Develops the International Building Code (IBC), International Residential Code (IRC), International Fire Code (IFC), and other model codes widely adopted for building inspection and enforcement, plus ANSI-approved standards.
Link: https://www.iccsafe.org

– **National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)** — Publishes NFPA 1 (Fire Code), NFPA 101 (Life Safety Code), NFPA 5000 (Building Construction and Safety Code), and numerous fire safety/inspection standards referenced in building codes.
Link: https://www.nfpa.org

– **International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO)** — Develops the Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC) and Uniform Mechanical Code (UMC), key for plumbing/mechanical inspections.
Link: https://www.iapmo.org

– **ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers)** — Develops ANSI/ASHRAE standards like 90.1 (Energy Standard for Buildings) and others for HVAC, energy, and indoor air quality, often referenced in codes.
Link: https://www.ashrae.org

– **ASTM International** — Produces thousands of material, testing, and performance standards (e.g., for construction materials and inspection methods) referenced in building codes.
Link: https://www.astm.org

– **American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)** — Develops ASCE 7 (Minimum Design Loads), ASCE 24 (Flood Resistant Design), and structural/inspection-related standards.
Link: https://www.asce.org

Building inspection authority, while essential for safety, can be abused through corruption, such as inspectors accepting bribes to approve substandard work, overlook violations, expedite permits, or ignore stop-work orders. Examples include cases in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Honolulu, where inspectors took cash, gifts, or favors to falsify approvals or fast-track processes, enabling unsafe or non-compliant construction.This abuse distorts fair competition, favors corrupt developers or connected parties, and erodes public trust in regulatory systems.

More critically, it limits economic development by inflating costs (e.g., bribes add 10-30% to projects), causing delays from bureaucratic extortion or backlogs exploited for payoffs, deterring legitimate investment, and misallocating resources toward sub-optimal or risky builds.Corruption in permitting and inspections discourages foreign and domestic developers, slows urban growth, reduces infrastructure quality, and hampers long-term competitiveness. In booming markets, it exacerbates inefficiencies, diverts funds from productive uses, and ultimately stifles job creation and sustainable expansion.

 

Chapel Prank

Practical Jokes 2026


Blanchard Hall 1858

Edman Memorial Chapel

Capital Improvement Plan | 2022-2026

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Illinois

Midnight Breakfast

Financial Position 2024: $6.784B (Page 21)Capital Projects • General Revenue Bonds


Alabama

Kitchens 100

Coffee Equity Lab

Standards Tennessee

“How Vanderbilt University is Getting it Right” | Chancellor Diermeier

Vanderbilt University 2023 Financial Statement: Net Position $13,181 M

Vanderbilt University was founded in 1873 in Nashville during the post–Civil War Reconstruction era.

The university arose from a partnership between Cornelius Vanderbilt, one of the wealthiest figures of the Gilded Age, and Holland McTyeire, a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. McTyeire, who was related to Vanderbilt by marriage, persuaded him to donate $1 million—an enormous sum at the time—to establish a university that would help heal sectional divisions and strengthen education in the American South.

Originally affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the institution aimed to combine moral instruction with rigorous academic training. Classes began in 1875, and the university quickly became a leading center of higher learning in the region. Over time, Vanderbilt evolved into an independent, nonsectarian research university while retaining its founding emphasis on scholarship and service.

Davidson County

Benton Chapel

Vanderbilt University Series 2024 Bond Document


Photo Highlights – Aerial Views of Renovations Around Campus | Vanderbilt University

West End Neighborhood

Facilities Department

End of Year Exhibitions

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“Whatever It Is, I’m Against It”

Zoning

International Zoning Code

Electricity

Electric Service Metering & Billing

Natural Gas

Natural Gas Transmission & Distribution

Traffic

7th Edition (2018): Geometric Design of Highways & Streets

Water

Standards March: Water

Noise

“Backup” Power Systems

Taxation

Tax-Free Bonds

Security

Secure perimeter management

 


Relata:

Dr. Gad Saad Named Global Ambassador for The Northwood Idea and Visiting Professor

Gad Saad (Northwood University Michigan) & Jordan Peterson (University of Toronto) discuss the intellectual intransigence in education settlements

The $7 Billion Stargate “Barn”

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