Theoretical Fluid Mechanics: Venturi Meter

Posted on by mrsoltys
A Venturi Meter is a device that allows flow rates through pipes to be calculated by measuring the difference in pressure created by a contraction in a pipe.  When the flow goes through the contraction it must speed up, and so the pressure must drop.  By measuring the two pressures, engineers can directly calculate the velocity of the fluid.  Knowing the pipe...Read More

Tool of the Week: Mendeley

Posted on by mrsoltys
Mendeley is a program that sorts and organizes PDFs, allowing you to easily keep track of papers you've read.  Mendeley allows you to highlight and take notes on your PDFs, and all of your notes (as well as the full text of PDFs) are searchable... so you can quit saying "I read a paper somewhere..." and find exactly where it...Read More

Tool of the Week: Dropbox

Posted on by mrsoltys
<Update>: This is an older post.  I've recently started using Google Drive for all my cloud storage. </Update> This week's tool of the week is Dropbox. Dropbox is like a flash drive that you can never loose. Its a folder on your computer that gets backed up online automatically. So if you spill coffee on your laptop, or are in a...Read More

Trip Report: Mount Rainier

Posted on by mrsoltys
As with most of the things on my bucket list, I don't know why I wanted to climb Mount Rainier, other than the fact that its majestic (if you've ever been to seattle, you know what I'm talking about) and there's the challenge of it: I've done a few 14ers, but Mt. Rainier is the most glaciated peak in the lower 48,...Read More

Trip Report: Valley of Peace, Belize

Posted on by mrsoltys
[caption id="attachment_310" align="alignright" width="300" caption="New Year's Day Lunch with Omar and his Family."][/caption] I've been on a number of service trips with various churches and by myself, ranging from hiking through the Zongolica mountains, Mexico handing out bibles to doing construction on a hospital in rural Ghana. The question is always "what do I bring to this trip?" And the...Read More

Trip Report: Mt Shasta

Posted on by mrsoltys
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="720" caption="View of Shasta from Bunny Flats"][/caption] Mt Shasta was my first 14er ever.  In fact, before I climbed Shasta, I had never even heard of a 14er.  The idea got in my head when my uncle Larry suggested I come out and climb it with him, and the resulting road trip was some of the best...Read More

Trip Report: Pine Creek Canyon

Posted on by mrsoltys
[caption id="attachment_291" align="alignleft" width="224" caption="Rappelling into Pine Creek Canyon in Zion National Park"][/caption] Before my friend Kyle suggested we do a canyoneering trip in Zion National Park, the idea of canyoneering had never popped in my head. On getting to Zion, we did some poking around the most popular spots: Angles Landing and The Narrows. Both were spectacular: but I...Read More