Author Archives: Ravi Narasimhan

Get in, get out, get back to work: Wes Bos on the McMaster-Carr website

I was introduced to McMaster-Carr corporation early in my postdoctoral career, now well over thirty years ago.  The firm is renowned for stocking all sorts of parts and equipment and getting them to customers fast.  I went up one floor to the rapid orders room, checked the massive catalog, filled out a simple slip, and had electrical, mechanical, and/or vacuum parts the next day.  Sometimes they came the same day if I got the slip in early.  The paper catalog is not easy to get but I managed when I started my research position at UCLA after that postdoc.  The warehouse in Santa Fe Springs enabled California McMaster-Carr to meet the responsiveness of the New Jersey operation.

Fast forward to the era of e-commerce and the firm inspires affection even from the cynical, world-weary souls of HackerNews.  mcmaster.com is simple, well-organized, cruftless, and faster than any of its competitors in the Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul market.  Consumer websites aren’t even in the discussion.  I’ve even ordered from them for my personal needs when the slightly higher prices are more than offset by the speed from order to delivery.  Youtuber Wes Bos dives into why the website is so fast, marvels at the developer team that enables it, and the management team that maintains focus on the customer’s desire to search, order, and get back to business.

Youtube Channel: Wes Bos

But to what end?: Branch Education on GPUs

Branch Education produces stunning videos comprehensively explaining aspects of modern technology for the interested layperson.  Whether it is a simple 3 way switch or a wafer fab, each video contains deep research, exquisite 3D animations, and honest narration.  It is one of the few sites I’ve whitelisted on SponsorBlock.  The recent release on GPUs is up to their usual Gold medal standard.  I knew the gizmos were powerful but I did not know that they were running at 36×1012 operations per second or that they had so many specialized subcores for raytracing and matrix processing.

Youtube Channel: Branch Education

These chips are based on years of R&D in physics, chemistry, materials science, chip design, fabrication engineering, algorithms, and 137 other developments to do it at a large scale to create reliable products at a price that at least some consumers can afford.  The performance gains are what basic researchers dream about when they invent some small piece of that puzzle with some vague hope of making the world a little better.

Where does it actually go?  Videogames, cryptocurrency, and now AI – whatever that is.

Youtube Channel: 3dfxhistory

 

 

This is innovation, is it?: The CTG 2024-2025 season

Given the largely justified hand-wringing about the state of the arts in LA, I looked into the beleaguered Center Theatre Group’s upcoming season.  For thirty years, the CTG has meant nothing to me but Michael Ritchie is gone, there’s a new guy in charge, Covid has left the arts reeling, and maybe it is time to give the 800-lb gorilla another look.

As we unify our communities across all three theatres, we are building a sustainable future for art and innovation.

Or, maybe not.  Four musicals, a puppet show, and Hamlet is innovation?  Or maybe it is the Free Parking that comes with the subscription.  That must be it.  The Kirk Douglas which had the occasional hit among many misses is relegated two kiddie musicals.

The Onion called it nearly 20 years ago:
Our Global Food-Service Enterprise Is Totally Down For Your Awesome Subculture

Over the years I’ve seen so many bold, insightful, daring companies fold due to lack of audience, lack of attention, lack of money, and the exhaustion they bring.  And yet, this large-assed Creosote lives off of what largesse is left.

 

 

Fly-by-ear: The SIMONA flight simulator and the LN-3 INS

FlyByMax presents two terrific videos on how real and perceived forces play into flight simulator and inertial guidance systems.  Simulators don’t just mimic the motions of their vehicles.  Designers have to use the human vestibular and visual systems to mix the physical movements and scene projections to maximize realism.

Youtube Channel: FlyByMax

Exploded Views: Animagraffs on the SR-71

Jake O’Neal’s meticulously researched and lovingly rendered engineering animations are one of the highlights of modern-day Youtube.  He’s outdone himself with his recent masterpiece on the SR-71’s innards and outards.  The Blackbird is one of the last century’s artistic triumphs and has inspired admirers all over the world.  O’Neal dove deeply into the literature and pulls back the covers from beak to tailfeathers.  The section on the inlet and J58 powerplant is as accurate as the 2015 benchmark from “Tech Adams.”

O’Neal goes beyond the “glamorous bits.”  Pay close attention to the “mixer” that translated pilot stick inputs into precise actuator motions to control a plane flying at Mach 3+.  I’ve been following the Blackbird family for decades and I never knew about this.

On top of that, he has just released a behind-the-scenes film on how he created the model and animations using the free Blender program.

Youtube Channel: Animagraffs

LAX Maintenance: Stig Aviation

SpeedbirdHD has dramatically cut back on his insider views of LAX.  Stig Aviation is a new channel that fills that gap.  SpeedbirdHD focused on insane closeups of takeoffs and landings thanks to his unparalleled access.  Stig is a maintenance technician for a major airline who documents interesting aspects of the job through sixteen hour shifts which he nevertheless enjoys.  Tires, engines, cockpits, or fluids, he’s got the scoop.  He optimizes for mobile phones so the videos are all in portrait mode but other than that, There’s a lot of good stuff for the aviation curious.

Youtube Channel: Stig Aviation

 

King Louis: The 2023 Nobel in Chemistry

It’s always great when one of the good guys is justly rewarded.  The Nobel Committee put a smile on many faces this morning when it announced that Louis Brus was among the winners of this year’s Chemistry Prize.  I had the great fortune to know him in the early 1990s during my postdoctoral years at the old Bell Labs.  I did not work with him directly but I was in the same organization, talked to him many times over coffee and at the famed “lunch table.” Always a respected scientist, he had achieved interdisciplinary fame in the late 1980s for initiating the quantum dot work recognized today. Despite the then-accolades, he was always gracious, patient, and willing to listen. When it came time for me to leave the Labs, he reviewed my research statements, listened to my practice job-talks, and gave me excellent advice. Although postdocs had a principal collaborator/sponsor, the culture was that we were the responsibility of the institution. We could go anywhere, walk into any office, and get the attention of the top person or people in any field. That industrial lab was everything a great University wants to be and I still can’t believe I got to experience it. It was taken for granted that Louis would go to Stockholm and frankly, it is long overdue.

Youtube Channel: Nobel Prize