Vanagon EuroVan
Previous messageNext messagePrevious in topicNext in topicPrevious by same authorNext by same authorPrevious page (December 1997)Back to main VANAGON pageJoin or leave VANAGON (or change settings)ReplyPost a new messageSearchProportional fontNon-proportional font
Date:         Wed, 3 Dec 1997 16:45:06 -0900
Reply-To:     Chris Wyatt2 <syncro@GI.ALASKA.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon mailing list <Vanagon@Gerry.SDSC.EDU>
From:         Chris Wyatt2 <syncro@GI.ALASKA.EDU>
Subject:      TRIP REPORT: I met Gerry!  Thanks, Chris Smith
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Hi Volks,

I must apologize for personally delaying the latest revival of the list by more than an hour, by distracting its caretaker.

A business trip took me to Pasadena for several days in November, and I added a weekend in San Diego to visit some former Fairbanks folks. While there, I thought I would look up Chris Smith (our list co-admin), and actually meet another Vanagon owner. I did, and he invited me and a friend over to the San Diego Supercomputing Center.

I anticipated a conversation populated with phrases like "rear heater core" and "head gasket" and "intermittent cut-out", but it wasn't that way at all. Chris showed my friend Kaarin and I around the Center, and it was the best thing I saw indoors on my trip to CA. The rows of Cray T3Es, SGI Challenges, with external waterfall cooling systems, and there in the middle of them was Gerry. Chris said that all Gerry does is run the listserv, but I suspect it actually coordinates all research activities at the SDSC.

The coolest thing they had was the Telemanufacturing Facility (http://www.sdsc.edu/tmf), where a Laminated Object Manufacturing device builds protype solid 3-D models to represent digital data. Built with layer upon layer of paper precisely cut with a laser, the finished product feels like wood. Examples of its output on display included tiny hurricaines, the sea floor, and airplane wings. Chris and I briefly discussed attempting to use the LOM to build topographic models of volcanoes or other geomorphological features using the satellite radar data that I work with. I'm looking into that on my end.

The state of the art meeting room was most amazing as well. To get an idea of what I am more accustomed to, around here they use a broken ski pole as a pointer.

So, thanks a bunch for the tour, Chris! I encourage everyone to drop Chris a note if you are going to be in that area, and see if he can break away long enough to show you around. And be sure to rub Gerry for good luck and wish him continued good health...

Cheers,

Chris Wyatt '87 Syncro GL Fairbanks, Alaska


Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main VANAGON page

Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!


Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com


The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.

Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.