How Your Guitar is Like a Nuclear Power Plant

The two things have more in common than meltdowns.

Guitar fretboard. Closeup view.  Guitars and nuclear power plants have something in common.  Sort of.
Yes, guitars and nuclear power plants have something in common. In a way. Kind of.

If you’ve ever Googled the phrase “nuclear power plant” and “guitar” together — and really, who hasn’t — you’ve probably watched several epic videos of guitarists playing in abandoned cooling towers. You may have even bought some picks off Amazon featuring mushroom clouds or radioactive radiation symbols(for the guitarist who needs nuclear-powered picking.)

But what you probably didn’t know, even after perusing all of the Google results, is sometimes nuclear power plants and guitars share components. It’s true. Yes, thermal power stations that work by splitting atoms may actually have a small commonality with your guitar.

(thanks to Dan Phelps for use of his video.)

It’s your capacitor — or it might be. Many guitarists prize vintage paper and oil capacitors because they say they give off a brighter, more complex tone that can’t be duplicated with newer capacitor stock.

Continue reading “How Your Guitar is Like a Nuclear Power Plant”

Seven States Account for Half of Manufacturing Jobs Lost in April

Close up of part of an industrial facility.  Manufacturing jobs were lost in 2020, but overall fared better than other sectors.
April saw more job contraction in the manufacturing sector than any time in the last 74 years.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national unemployment rate increased by 10.3 percentage points over the month of April. Manufacturing jobs experienced a 10.4% decline over that time with a cumulative job loss of just over 1.3 million. The industry has not felt such a contraction in employment in almost 75 years, the last time being September of 1945.

Labor Statistics on Manufacturing Jobs

Below is data pulled from the Bureau of Labor Statistics April report, broken down by state and compared to March 2020 employment numbers. The states posting the highest numbers of lost jobs have been highlighted.

March 2020 job numbersStateApril 2020 job numbersChange% change
272600Alabama248,400-24,200-8.88%
10,700Alaska9,200-1,500-14.02%
176,600Arizona172,700-3,900-2.21%
158100Arkansas150,500-7,600-4.81%
1,299,500California1,180,500-119,000-9.16%
149,500Colorado139,200-10,300-6.89%
161,900Connecticut149,400-12,500-7.72%
26,700Delaware24,300-2,400-8.99%
1,300D.C.1,200-100-7.69%
389,600Florida358,000-31,600-8.11%
399,200Georgia359,800-39,400-9.87%
13,900Hawaii10,700-3,200-23.02%
67,500Idaho66,400-1,100-1.63%
571,600Illinois521,700-49,900-8.73%
526,700Indiana448,400-78,300-14.87%
221,800Iowa211,400-10,400-4.69%
168,200Kansas157,200-11,000-6.54%
251,200Kentucky197,000-54,200-21.58%
135,100Louisiana125,000-10,100-7.48%
52,400Maine44,000-8,400-16.03%
112,800Maryland98,700-14,100-12.50%
242,000Massachusetts221,000-21,000-8.68%
615,900Michigan442,900-173,000-28.09%
317,200Minnesota295,900-21,300-6.72%
147,500Mississippi136,000-11,500-7.80%
274,700Missouri240,000-34,700-12.63%
19,900Montana17,900-2,000-10.05%
98,900Nebraska95,800-3,100-3.13%
58,500Nevada54,300-4,200-7.18%
70,600New Hampshire65,200-5,400-7.65%
251,700New Jersey218,500-33,200-13.19%
28,300New Mexico23,400-4,900-17.31%
435,900New York355,300-80,600-18.49%
470,800North Carolina419,800-51,000-10.83%
25,600North Dakota24,700-900-3.52%
697,700Ohio600,100-97,600-13.99%
135,400Oklahoma130,600-4,800-3.55%
192,500Oregon181,700-10,800-5.61%
571,100Pennsylvania497,300-73,800-12.92%
39,500Rhode Island37,200-2,300-5.82%
258,400South Carolina245,200-13,200-5.11%
43,600South Dakota42,700-900-2.06%
350,600Tennessee301,900-48,700-13.89%
904,100Texas858,800-45,300-5.01%
135,500Utah134,100-1,400-1.03%
29,000Vermont24,500-4,500-15.52%
239,900Virginia233,200-6,700-2.79%
289,600Washington261,500-28,100-9.70%
46,200West Virginia43,600-2,600-5.63%
478,000Wisconsin438,100-39,900-8.35%
9,900Wyoming9,700-200-2.02%
74,800Puerto Rico70,600-4,200-5.61%
800Virgin Islands80000.00%
1272100011,396,000-1,325,000-10.42%

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Nearly 10K Manufacturing Jobs Added in March in 12 States

Despite a shrinking job market due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the manufacturing sector showed job growth in twelve states.

A person cutting metal.  Manufacturing jobs like this can pay well.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, US manufacturing jobs showed growth in twelve states.

Over 700,000 workers lost their jobs in March across all sectors of the economy; 34,000 of those were manufacturing jobs. While news of large manufacturing layoffs and furloughs like ones at GE and Boeing have sparked alarm about the strength of the industry as a whole, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows manufacturing posting significantly less than 1% job loss across all states. Twelve states, including Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisana, New Jersey, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Utah all posted gains in employment that totaled 9200 jobs during the month of March. Additionally, four states reported no job losses.

Data below is broken down by state and compared to February 2020 employment numbers. All data was sourced from the US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Updated March employment numbers can be found in our next post regarding April unemployment. These numbers were updated and released by the BOL on May 22, 2020.

Manufacturing Jobs Data by State

StateFeb 2020March 2020change% change
Alabama270,4002725002,1000.78%
Alaska11,20010900-300-2.68%
Arizona176,9001773004000.23%
Arkansas159,600158100-1,500-0.94%
California1,306,6001,304,500-2,100-0.16%





Colorado150,500149,000-1,500-1.00%
Connecticut161,300162,1008000.50%
Delaware26,80026,600-200-0.75%
District of Columbia1,4001,300-100-7.14%
Florida388,100389,1001,0000.26%





Georgia402,000401,100-900-0.22%
Hawaii13,90013,90000.00%
Idaho67,50067,7002000.30%
Illinois573,300573,200-100-0.02%
Indiana532,900530,100-2,800-0.53%





Iowa222,300221,800-500-0.22%
Kansas167,500168,2007000.42%
Kentucky252,200251,700-500-0.20%
Louisiana133,900135,3001,4001.05%
Maine52,30052,100-200-0.38%





Maryland113,700112,500-1,200-1.06%
Massachusetts243,000242,800-200-0.08%
Michigan621,600619,200-2,400-0.39%
Minnesota318,100317,400-700-0.22%
Mississippi148,600147,700-900-0.61%





Missouri276,300274,600-1,700-0.62%
Montana20,20020,000-200-0.99%
Nebraska99,00098,900-100-0.10%
Nevada59,00058,400-600-1.02%
New Hampshire71,20070,800-400-0.56%





New Jersey251,800252,7009000.36%
New Mexico28,80028,80000.00%
New York436,600435,800-800-0.18%
North Carolina476,700473,000-3,700-0.78%
North Dakota25,60025,7001000.39%





Ohio700,900698,300-2,600-0.37%
Oklahoma137,600137,400-200-0.15%
Oregon193,200192,300-900-0.47%
Pennsylvania573,700571,000-2,700-0.47%
Rhode Island39,20039,5003000.77%





South Carolina258,400258,40000.00%
South Dakota43,40043,8004000.92%
Tennessee354,100353,900-200-0.06%
Texas910,500900,700-9,800-1.08%
Utah135,400136,3009000.66%





Vermont29,30029,000-300-1.02%
Virginia241,400240,100-1,300-0.54%
Washington290,900290,000-900-0.31%
West Virginia46,20045,800-400-0.87%
Wisconsin477,600477,400-200-0.04%





Wyoming10,00010,00000.00%
Puerto Rico75,30075,000-300-0.40%
Virgin Islands80080000.00%






Totals:
12,778,70012744500
-0.27%
A chart showing manufacturing job numbers by state.