Friday's Fact

An earlier post described maglev or magnetic levitation as applied to high speed trains. The concept of using electro-magnets to propel objects is being applied in another unique area. Can you name it?

Last week’s fact: The Lesotho diamond was found in 1967 and it remains the largest to be found by a woman. Mrs. Ernestine Ramaboa found the 601-carat rough diamond and walked for four days and nights to deliver it to a reputable diamond dealer. Except for the diamond Ernestine was penniless. The House of Harry Winston purchased the stone and broadcast the cleaving live on American television in 1968. Over the course of the next year eighteen gemstones were polished out of the stone. The Lesotho II is a 40-carat diamond that Onassis presented to Jacqueline Kennedy as an engagement gift.

The Lesotho I, recently came back to Harry Winston and is pictured here. It’s the big one at 71 carats.

California Regional Maglev Project

Have you ever heard of Maglev? Imagine a train that rides on a cushion of air along an elevated track at speeds over 300 miles per hour. Special magnets on the train work to oppose the force of electro-magnets positioned along the track in such a way as to provide the lift and propulsion simultaneously. It is ingenious. Shanghai, China installed the first commercially operated maglev system in 2003 which runs 40 kilometers between Pudong Airport and downtown.

Now, imagine such a train connecting airports from San Diego to Los Angeles so that travelers would make the trip in about 30 minutes. Sound far fetched? Well it doesn’t when you listen to Mr. Sandor Shapery describe it. I first met Sandor on the trip to Spanish Fork to watch Spectrum fly for the first time. Sandor is a very interesting person. He is an attorney and real estate developer who changed forever the skyline of San Diego when he built the Emerald Shapery Center, know known as The Emerald Plaza. Sandor is also an inventor who has come up with some truly amazing inventions.

You should check out what Sandor has to say regarding the California Regional Maglev Project. It is amazing and this is a project we shall push through to completion.

Battle Over RIM

Well I guess the legal turmoil between Research In Motion Ltd., (RIM) and NTP Inc., took another turn toward a possible shut down of the extremely popular Blackberry service when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene in the on-going technology dispute. There are over 4 million Blackberry users that could be affected by such a shut down and I am one of them. Apparently neither company will discuss a settlement. A spokesman for RIM said that the company has a work-around design that is “ready and will be implemented if necessary.” What do you think? Will the company’s settle? What will happen to the wireless world if Blackberry is shut down?

Friday's Fact

The Lesotho One diamond is a 71.73 carat beauty cut from a 601 carat rough stone found by a woman. Tell me what is famous about the Lesotho II cut from the same rough stone?

Last week’s fact: An infusion pump is a clever device that is used to administer a controlled dose of medication. It simply uses the plastic tube from drip bag and squeezes it in such a way as to deliver the dose. It’s ingenious! The pump never comes into direct contact with the sterile fluid.

Boring Engineers Make Life Exciting

For the past month or so I have been twisting a friends arm to endow the sum of $5 million to help build a new engineering building for the school. Of course the building would be named after him and would be a great way to memorialize his family. The thing is he doesn’t appreciate engineers. He says they are boring and he can’t bring himself to support something that is not useful. I got so frustrated with him and I told him so. I reminded him that every time he makes a deal on his mobile phone he can thank the engineer that invented it and every time he deposits another million in his bank he should remember that engineers developed the computer systems that he uses to make his business more efficient. He has his own plane and I pointed out that engineers make the plane fly. What you think that faith makes it fly? He actually had the audacity to say yes! He has faith every time he gets on board and although he doesn’t know how or why the plane flies he just has faith it will. I told him that all the faith in the world will not make that plane fly if one of the wings is taken off…there is a logical reason the plane flies and I can explain it to him. Anyway, I am wearing him down and we have a deal on the table we are negotiating. I don’t know if he will ever fund the school but he has a new appreciation for how ‘boring’ engineers make his life more exciting!

Snoop Dog on Engineering

Just about one year ago I was in Las Vegas with my wife and oldest daughter for a conference and as we were walking through the lobby my daughter almost ran into Snoop Dog. She was so shocked and excited that by the time she gained her composure he was gone. She told all her friends that she saw Snoop and she swore that she would meet him.

Yesterday, while I was touring the diving school my wife and daughter flew to Los Angeles in a private jet to attend the Lakers game. Guess who walked in and sat nearby? As soon as she saw Snoop my daughter decided that the opportunity had arrived and she was not going to let anything or anyone stand in the way. She marched right over and asked if she could have his picture. Even better she got a picture with her friend and Snoop. What does this have to do with engineering…well nothing…except that persistence, will power, and seizing the moment are great traits? Thank's Snoop...you made her year.

Commercial Deep Diving

This afternoon was spent visiting the National Polytechnic College of Engineering and Oceaneering located at the port of Los Angeles. It’s an affiliate of the National University System that basically teaches students to become eligible for certification as underwater divers. Dan, our tour guide and an instructor, began by showing us three large above ground dive tanks that are used to acquaint students to the different types of helmet apparatus and introduce them to the underwater environment. The platform above the tanks was a beehive of activity as teams rapidly changed out dive gear and lowered teammates into the drink.

Next, Dan directed us to where they teach the students various underwater tasks from rescue to conduit assembly. This part of training is conducted in about 40 feet of murky L.A. harbor water, where visibility is generally less than 5 feet, giving students a feel for what’s in store for them as professional divers. Next came the hyperbolic chambers and I can tell you they don’t look fun. Imagine living in a 12 by 4 foot bottle with three other people for a week while your body eliminates nitrogen. After your week getting prepared you are transferred to a diving bell, lowered to work depth (500+ feet deep) where you spend the next four weeks working in shifts only to return to the surface to spend another week in the bottle so you can start breathing real air again. The professional diving world definitely does not provide 5 star accommodations and it takes a very unique person to handle the lifestyle. If you are interested in the exciting life of a deep diver here you go.

Posting from Blackberry

It's a lazzy Sunday afternoon and I am experimenting with my Blackberry to see if I can post to the blog. This is proof that I can. I am really quite amazed at what can be done with this device and the EDGE (highspeed data link) allows fast connections to the web so meaningful work can be accomplished in short order. If you are active and need to stay connected this is a must to have. Check out the Blackberry 8700c.

Friday's Fact

An infusion pump is a device often used in hospitals to administer medication intravenously at a consistent rate. The mechanics are quite cleaver. When you think about it you have to ask, “How does it pump a sterile fluid?” Can you explain how?

Last week’s fact: What is the widest point of the ocean? The largest ocean is the Pacific Ocean. Covering between 63-65 million square miles, this huge body of water is larger than the land area of all seven continents combined. At its widest point it is about 11,000 miles across. The waters of the Pacific Ocean touch the shores of five continents and more than 10,000 islands.

Mayor Jerry Sanders

My wife and I attended San Diego’s newly elected mayor, Jerry Sanders, state of the city address. Sanders speech was well organized and delivered with power. It is refreshing to hear a public official openly take responsibility for the predicaments that the city finds itself in and offer a clear set of solutions to lead the way back to a solid foundation. Sanders has a strong team in place including his chief of staff, Ronne Froman, who I know well, and I believe they will straighten out city hall. Sanders addressed pensions, finances, infrastructure issues, housing, water and sewer, and what to do about long term airport constraints.

It was my privilege to introduce Dr. Evans, Dean of the School of Engineering and Technology at National University to Mayor Sanders. We visited with Ronne Froman, Jessie Knight, CEO of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, his wife Joy, and Reo Carr, Editor in Chief of The Daily Transcript. (Reo and I flew to Spanish Fork last Saturday to see Spectrum fly)

The Chairman's RoundTable

While on the trip to Spanish Fork to see Spectrum fly I met a very nice man named Dave Duval who invited me to attend The Chairmen’s RoundTable. The meeting took place yesterday in San Diego. The basic premise is that a group of highly experienced business leaders provides free mentoring, as a way of helping out the community, to young organizations seeking advice . The group is quite impressive. During the meeting three companies’s made brief presentations and garnered feedback. The process seems to be working well due to the fact that all the company’s that make it through the process are doing significantly better than they were prior to meeting with the RoundTable.

The three companies’ that presented are:

Ranch & Coast, a luxury lifestyle magazine targeting 35,000 copies each month to the affluent north coastal communities of San Diego. Each month readers are kept abreast of what’s taking place in their world.

Design Scape, an on-line landscape design company who uses a template process to designers nationwide. The company is in the process of rapid growth thanks to the great advice from RoundTable.

IntelliTouch is a company that offers a wide variety of innovative communication products. What I found interesting with this company is that it actually has been around for 17 years as a successful music-on-hold business. The founders made a wise choice when they sought out a new management team capable of identifying and exploiting new markets.

The three presentations were all interesting but I think the winner is DesignScape due to the leverage they can get from technology and some of their eminent business partners.

Spectrum's First Flight....Cont.

Spectrum shortly after take off on its maiden flight. What a perfect shot with the snow covered mountains in the background.

For more information on the company see Spectrum's site directly.

Spectrum's Maiden Flight

Some of you may recall previous discussion about Spectrum, an advanced composite light jet that is being developed by Linden and his team. The plane was introduced to the world in Orlando last November prior to its maiden flight and we have kept up with the planes progress. Late Friday night I got the call to meet at Montgomery field to fly up to Utah where Spectrum was to make its historic flight. We arrived at a small airport near Provo just before noon on Saturday. While the test pilot’s met for a long pre-flight briefing we had a nice lunch at a local Chinese food restaurant. As 3:00 PM local time approached the pilots strapped on parachutes, climbed into the jet and prepared for a historic flight.

Neil Armstrong (YES the first man on the moon guy), Dan Goldin, retired head of NASA, Sandy Shapery and a few other interesting folks were present to watch the flight. What an experience it is to have the opportunity to speak with a couple of national treasures…thank you Neil & Dan!!

Just after 3:00PM on January 7, 2006 a crowd of 200 hundred strolled behind the jet as she headed out to the runway for her first take off. What a thrill it was to hear her jet engines winding up as she gained speed, lifted her nose wheel off the ground and leapt into the sky. Absolutely beautiful and what an engineering marvel the Spectrum is. She sure lived up to expectations for being extremely light weight yet very strong. Advanced Composites are here to stay and I witnessed proof of that…..see for yourself.

Friday's Fact

This is fact less Friday because I have been busy and didn’t get around to thinking up a fact. Come back next week!!

Motorola HS820

Along with the Blackberry 8700c I also bought a Motorola HS820 Handsfree Headset. Using the Voicedial service from Cingular I can easily make calls while driving without taking my hand from the wheel. Well….almost. I have to press one little button on the headset then the rest is completely voice activated. The system uses the TellMe technology which has improved greatly from when I first used it back in 2000. (It is interesting watching the network traffic on their site just for the fun of it.) Anyway, the HS820 is very easy to use, is lightweight, and comfortable to wear. Pairing it with my Blackberry was extremely easy and the device holds a good connection over a fairly long distance. The cell service here on the hill in La Jolla is not the greatest so I leave the Blackberry in a location where it gets a strong signal then I can walk around using the Handsfree to deal with calls. It works great.

Blackberry 8700c

I just bought a new Blackberry 8700c. Yes, I am aware of the potential shutdown of the Blackberry network in North America but I simply wanted it and from what I have heard any decision on the case could take more than two years so I think it is a safe buy. It handles all the usual things like email, phone, contacts, calendar, and can also hook into an enterprise network but what I like is the EDGE full wireless coverage with high-speed data capabilities. The downloading is blazing fast so surfing is a breeze. It is nice to be really connected as I run around San Diego. I am not sure what the list of cities nationwide that offer full EDGE through Cingular but around here it works great. The size of the device is just right for me, providing a decent size screen and workable QWERTY keypad yet still keeping the overall size on the small side. My wife calls it my new girlfriend so I must be getting some use out of it….