The Seed and the magic

In memoriam.

We want to express our most severe condemnation to the bomb attacks occured in the Boston Marathon.

Our sincere condolences to the families and the friends of the victims.

We hope that those responsible for these despicable acts are brought to justice.

DIP-team

Today, we will continue where we left it the last time, with our top ten ranking of aeronautic designers in history. As we haven’t had enough feedback yet to make a proper statistic, I will start my own top ten ranking.

Number 10 is for Rostislav Evganievich Alexeyev (1916 – 1980) as the ground effect aircrafts’ creator (aka Ekranoplan). Nowadays you can find a lot of information on the web about them, although until the end of the Soviet Union these aircrafts were a well-kept secret.

 

These ground effect aircrafts represent an imaginative solution to a specific problem that the soviet military had, transporting large cargos to remote places, too far away from the helicopters’ action radius and in places where a standard aircraft couldn’t land.

Therefore my number 10 in the ranking goes to Alexeyev.

Continuing with my thoughts about the newbie engineers’ lack of contact with the real world, I have to point out that all the knowledge that a fresh graduated student has acquired (that nowadays is, without any doubt, more complete than in our time) is nothing more than an unknown and mysterious seed in a field. To grow they need water and fertilizer, and there is where the magic happens. Depending on the water’s quality and the fertilizer we use, we can obtain melons or strawberries.

La semilla y la magia

In memoriam.

Queremos expresar nuestra mas profunda repulsa por el salvaje atentado de la maratón de Boston. Nuestras mas sinceras condolencias a los familiares y amigos de las víctimas. Ojalá los culpables no queden sin castigo.

El equipo de DIP.

Hoy continuaremos en donde lo dejamos la última vez, esto es, con nuestra clasificación de los diez mejores diseñadores aeronáuticos de la historia. Dado que aún no tenemos entradas para hacer una clasificación rigurosa, voy a empezar yo mismo a hacerla. Obviamente esta seria mi lista.

En el número 10 estaría Rostislav Evgenievich Alexeyev (1.916-1.980) como padre de las aeronaves de efecto suelo (mas conocidas por Ekranoplan). Hoy en día podéis encontrar un gran cantidad de información en la red sobre ellas aunque, hasta la caída de la antigua Unión Soviética, eran un secreto celosamente guardado.

 

Este tipo de aviones de "efecto suelo" representan una aproximación imaginativa a un problema concreto que tenían los militares soviéticos de la época como era transportar grandes cargas a lugares aislados donde los helicópteros no podían llegar, por su corto radio de acción, y en los cuales un avión convencional no hubiera podido aterrizar.

Vaya pues mi número 10 para Alexeyev.

Continuando con mis comentarios sobre la falta de contacto de las nuevas generaciones de ingenieros con el mundo real, he de enfatizar que cuando un joven titulado ha terminado sus estudios, todos los conocimientos adquiridos (que hoy en día son, sin duda alguna, mas completos que los que teníamos nosotros en su época) no son sino una simiente desconocida y misteriosa plantada en un campo. Para que fructifique necesita riego y abono, y ahí es donde entra la magia. Dependiendo de la calidad del agua y del abono empleado podemos obtener melones o fresas.

Presentation of our blog

Today I start a new experience, so very exciting. It’s said that for considering your life lived, each human being should have done three things:

1. Have a child
2.  Seed a tree
3. Write a book

I can confirm the first and the second one, but the third has been a “to do” until now. At this time in my life, when the days pass faster, writing this blog could be a way to fulfill this last task.

My only goal is to find a meeting point where all people that love technics find a place where they can discuss their ideas and, what is even more important, sharing their experiences, enabling that the new generations have access to a knowledge that is not taught at school and perhaps, but only perhaps, these new generations may understand that there is different way of engineering, far away from the patterns that nowadays are used in most technological companies.