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How tennis balls are made in a Pakistan factory

An evening pause: This was how things were done in the first century of the industrial revolution. Apparently, that century still exists in some places in today’s world.

Hat tip Tom Biggar.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

15 comments

  • wayne

    “Industrial Production of Penn brand Tennis Balls”
    2012
    https://youtu.be/3YrsqS8xhzg
    5:24

  • In some ways, not all that different than the hot metal printshop I worked at here in the U.S. 40+ years ago. The one thing that stands out is the lack of tables and chairs in the video. Everything’s being thrown onto a floor, and the workers squat or sit next to the pile and get to it. Lots of wasted effort lifting back up to haul things to the next production stage, and I can’t even imagine how stiff the workers must be by the end of a day.

  • Cotour

    And they do things like this, and they machine metal, and they fix trucks, and they machine and weld, and they cut wood, with no work benches for the most part, in the dirt, in what looks like their pajamas, and wearing sandals or bare foot.

    It’s like the 14th century meets the 21st century.

    You gotta give them some hard-working respect.

  • Phill O

    OSHA not a problem there! Little wonder companies relocate out of AmeriCanada.

  • Andi

    Wow – and this is the same country that built nuclear weapons.

  • jeff

    Fascinating, and, I agree with Cotour, I respect their effort.

  • Alton

    Andi their first nuclear weapon was a EXACT copy of the Chinese CH-4 model.

    ? Wonder where that came from ?
    Ha ?

  • Cotour

    The Wuhan lab?

  • wayne

    “Master Hands” (1936)
    Mass Production of Chevrolet Automobiles
    https://youtu.be/Pr8rCNaASlc
    31:48

  • Jeff Wright

    And a curse be upon the businessmen who moved the production there.

  • Shallow Minded Reader

    Enjoyed the video. As one who has visited Cigar factories in Brazil, shirt factories in Slovakia, Macau and Bulgaria, not surprising at all.

    Did you notice in the Penn tennis ball video, not a single white, black or latino. Gosh, where is that factory?

  • JhonB

    And I only saw one bandaid.. Similar to what someone else said, In the good old USA, they would shut down the shop and put the owners in jail. I don’t usually watch long videos, but I did watch this one in its entirety.

  • pawn

    Mr. Wright,

    I’m not sure anybody moved production there. It looks like that place has been making tennis balls since tennis was invented.

  • TL

    Not a lot of safety guards on the equipment there.

    I especially liked the guy using an exhaust valve in a drill press to abrade the seam between the two halves.

  • Wayne, thanks for that link. That is more or less how I envisioned a tennis ball factory.

    In the original, aside from playing “count the OSHA violations”, I wondered what that place smelled like.

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