Stanford is a special place, a picturesque oasis in Silicon Valley attended by some of the most fascinating and brilliant people I’ve ever met. I was an undergraduate there at a particularly special time, when Jerry Yang and David Filo were founding Yahoo, Larry Page and Sergey Brin were starting Google, Tiger Woods could be seen walking on campus, and Stanford was beating Cal every year in the Big Game. The year after I graduated, Chelsea Clinton moved into my freshman dorm complex.
&title=Jet-Powered VW Beetles "Volkswagen does not currently make any jet-engined hybrid cars. So, Ron Patrick created his own. (Photo by Ron Patrick's sidekick.)")
“Look at what Stanford mechanical engineering PhDs do in their spare time,” advised my friend Tom B.
Apparently, Ron Patrick likes to “smoke” other sports cars on the street. He also could “burn” high-performance vehicles on the drag strip.
How? With his jet-powered/4-cylinder hybrid VW Beetle. Continue reading »
&title=DARPA Grand Challenge "The Stanford team's robotic car Stanley came in first at this year's DARPA Challenge. (Photo copyright Associated Press)")
Usually I do not blog about anything I had absolutely NOTHING to do with. But anyone reading this website has to be interested in this event, as it involved cars, racing, engineering, Death Valley, and a two million dollar grand prize. Also, it was won by my alma mater’s robotic vehicle (a VW Touareg) named “Stanley”! Stanley is now off to its new home in a museum in Germany. Let’s just hope the technology is primarily used for civilian purposes instead of starting yet more wars. Read more about history being made! This may be a glimpse of our transportation future.
I finished my Class Notes for the Stanford Class of ‘97 Reunion in 2002. Requires the DjVu browser plug-In to view.
My favorite class at Stanford was ME130, a class about the theory of internal combustion engines.
For our final project, my friends A.J., Nalu, and I were rebuilding a late 70s small-block V8 from a Chevrolet Corvette. Our task was to make it operational again in the engines laboratory for use in the next year’s class. Continue reading »
