Category Archives: Engineering

Career Retrospective – 1990

Posted on Sun, 04 September 2016 by Chris Penningroth

Operation DESERT SHIELD commenced after Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invaded Kuwait. The U.S. suffered a relatively brief economic recession. I earned my Private Pilot certificate. My grades were substantially better throughout 1990; however I was still only managing average grades in … Continue reading →

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Career Retrospective – 1989

Posted on Tue, 02 August 2016 by Chris Penningroth

As 1989 began, George H.W. Bush took the presidency as the Reagans rode off into the sunset. Prior to the inauguration, U.S. Navy F-14s shot down Libyan fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. On the ninth of November, Germans began … Continue reading →

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A New Kind of Sunroof?

Posted on Thu, 02 January 2014 by Chris Penningroth

This gives a whole new meaning to the term “Sunroof!”

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Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Posted on Sun, 27 January 2013 by Chris Penningroth

This post has been gathering dust as a draft for seven months now.  It looks like now is a good time to dust it off and finish it, it may go some small way to explain some of the back-story … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts, Internet, Literature, Programming & Technical Computing | 4 Comments

Computer Karma Restored

Posted on Fri, 18 January 2013 by Chris Penningroth

As you may recall from a previous entry, I’ve been promising myself I’d get my old Pentium 4 up and running again with a Linux operating system. I had loaded Kubuntu 8.10 (I think) onto a new hard drive that … Continue reading →

Posted in Hobbies, Internet, Programming & Technical Computing | 4 Comments

Clarke’s Third Law Applied

Posted on Mon, 11 August 2008 by Chris Penningroth

     It appears that the highly-desired Cloak of Invisibility that my Dungeons and Dragons characters were searching for over 25 years ago was finally found in a lab at UC-Berkeley.      No wonder Ug the Barbarian-Ranger never found it, it … Continue reading →

Posted in Engineering | 1 Comment

Wild Ride

Posted on Sun, 13 January 2008 by Chris Penningroth

     Here’s a computer-generated video of the F-15 that broke up in mid-flight back in November via Air Force AimPoints and CNN. 

Posted in Engineering, Structures, USAF | Comments Off on Wild Ride

Keep Working On It

Posted on Thu, 01 November 2007 by Chris Penningroth

     Some guy built a 21′ replica of an X-Wing.  Good on him!      Too bad this looks like it’s just an oversized Estes model rocket.      When someone builds an actual X-Wing, let me know.  I know of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Aerodynamics & Propulsion, Engineering, General Aviation | 1 Comment

Test Anxiety

Posted on Mon, 30 October 2006 by Chris Penningroth

    I just took my second exam in my controls class.  Somehow, I’ve managed two straight times to convince myself I understood the material well enough to do great on an exam.  That, and he allowed us to have a … Continue reading →

Posted in Engineering, Stability & Control | Comments Off on Test Anxiety

MatLab

Posted on Sat, 23 September 2006 by Chris Penningroth

    MatLab is an extremely versatile program, it’s actually almost like another computer programming language.  It is far, far easier to perform arithmatic operations with it than FORTRAN.  It’s especially good at matrix operations.  Just type in the matrix, and … Continue reading →

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