Viscoelastic in Vancouver

Viscoelastic was in Vancouver attending a conference on rheology. In case you didn't know, rheology is the study of material flow. Most often, it is used to describe the behavior of complex fluids, viscoelastic materials being a particular class within.

Vancouver is as dreary as I remember it. Cloudy and rainy. We did't have much time to explore the town anyway, for being a bunch of extreme slackers, we have left the preparation of our respective presentations to the very last minute. My own presentation is particularly weak, and I had this fear that I will be exposed as a fraud by the eminent professors and peers. However this fear was insufficient to push me into a work frenzy, and I spent most of the time consuming copious amounts of libations provided by the generous society of rheology. To my pleasant surprise (or perhaps in my drunken stupor), I thought my talk was not a complete disaster.

Since both Giorgia and I were away, Ali (Giorgia's boyfriend) was left in charge of the pigs. His position on the pigs remain unclear, but I have advised him that while we were away, he should start researching for a joint paper titled (Guinea Pigs Sustainability: temporal scaling of mortality rate amongst rodents under reduced nourishment and sustained abuse)... I was disappointed to find the pigs in good health when we returned.

Just before we hopped on the plane, the weather cleared enough for us to take a walk around Stanley park, a marvellously landscaped recreation area, pretty much next to downtown. There were curious looking black squirrels and raccoons. There were little birds that hopped in your path, squeakin loudly to demand for food. There were swans and other water fowls doing their strange mating dance around the lakes. There were trees with all sorts of vibrant fall colour. I imagine the garden of Eden to look something like this.

Special congratulations to the Rheologeewoldt on winning the poster competition.


Instead of a warm greeting from the pigs when I returned, I was treated to 2 pieces of pig crap on my DAQ board.

Giorgia is away

Giorgia has left me in charge of the pigs this week. My concerned readers, you probably think I have jumped on this opportunity and consumed my pigs, perhaps invited them for a BBQ this weekend before the weather gets too cold. Well, you are mistaken, the wiley Giorgia has left various safeguards in place. First of all there is the pigcam, where she and her minions monitor continuously. Then she has also promised to unleash the full fury of Donna* on me if anything happens to her precious swines. So I continue playing the humble servant.

Oh shit... I forgot to switch off the lights!!!! Sorry Giorgia

*Donna is our animal loving/ militant green peace secretary. Grown men have wilted in the face of her lectures.

Viscoelastic the pilot

fig 1. Full Function 3 Channel Indoor Double Rotor RC Helicopter is a full 3-D flight Helicopter. This ready to fly helicopter has full function with omni-directional flight. Comes with battery, charger and transmitter. The Double Rotor Helicopter can go forward, backward,(sic) left or right with precision control.

The last few days have seen me piloting my newly acquired RC helicopter. Like all fun ideas, this one came from a website recommended by agent black.

Well, this toy looks like a helicopter, but in fact it works on very different principles. So first let me describe the differences. A real helicopter has collective and cyclic pitch control, that is the rotor blade can change its "angle of attack (AOA)" as it passes through different parts of the cycle. For example, to move forward, the AOA (and therefore lift also) is increased as the blade passes over the tail of the chopper, this causes a moment tilting the airframe so that the resultant thrust drives it forward. The rear rotor is for countering the angular momentum generated by the main rotor. So to spin the airframe around the vertical axis, it adjusts the power supplied to the rear rotor.

So my dinky little craft has 3 channels (throttle/updown, yaw/turning, and rear/frontback). Mechanically, it has two co-axial counter rotating rotors, the opposing angular momentum cancels each other out, therefore eliminating the need for a side-facing rear rotor. Forward/backward flight is achieved by switching on a rear fan which points towards the sky, thus tilting the airframe forwards and backwards. However the response is extremely sluggish, and more often than not, it moves into an unstable mode of flight where it wobbles precariously in air. Yaw control is much sharper, but I have no clue how it works.

Despite its simplicity, this machine is still incredibly addictive, currently I have pretty much mastered hovering and turning, forward flight is tricky but I will continue practising till I feel confident enough to terrorize the pigs. Perhaps invite them for a ride.

This toy has wetted my appetite, and I am already planning to purchase a proper nitro powered heli with full pitch controls, like the Nexus by Kyosho.


fig2. Kyosho Nexus

check out videos of today's test flight. A few MBs each... Hehe, in the cheesey soundtrack, the girl is singing "believe me I can fly... I'm proud to fly up high..."

The Great Mystery

This problem has been bothering me for the last 5 years. Perhaps readers more familiar with the geography of Singapore can enlighten me on the subject.
Some of you will know that there are 2 SICC clubhouses on mainland Singapore. One is located at Thomson Road and the other at Bukit Timah end of Lornie road. In my juvenile years, I had the impression that these are actually the same clubhouse, it just has two entrances. But I was priveleged to be invited to dine at these clubhouses during my national service days, and have since realized that they are actually separate entities and are rather far apart.
A few years ago, one drunken night at Zouk, I came across an intrepid traveller who recounted to me a most daring feat. In his early teens, he biked from Thomson to Bukit Timah through the grounds of SICC! He also added that the journey seemed to take forever and he almost died of thirst.
Inspired by this conversation, I attempted to navigate the course in my trusty Mitsubishi Lancer. But the paved road rapidly turned into a mudpath with no street lights. Since the sun was setting, I was forced to turn back or risk getting lost in the darkness of the jungle.


More recently, Googleearth has helped me solve part of the problem. There are no paved roads connecting the two. But is it possible to navigate between them on foot or bike? I have marked out two possible routes. In fact, upon closer inspection, there seems to be another path which leads over to the Chartered Industries factory at the end of Rifle Range Road.
I am determined to attempt this treacherous journey on bike this christmas holiday... wish me luck...