FRidh's blog

In my previous post I wrote how few foreign tourists could be found in Shimla. Well, I’ve spend some weeks now here in McLeod Ganj, and I  can tell you it’s quite the opposite. You really have to look hard to find Indian people around here! Okay, they’re still here, but seem to be a minority compared to the huge amounts of Tibetan people and foreign tourists.

Anyhow, let’s continue where I finished last time. I spend quite some time in Shimla, and during my stay I met again some travelers I met before in Udaipur and Jodhpur, which was quite nice. Unlike me they have been to many more places since we split ways so it was very nice to catch up and hear their stories of their travels. It was actually the last day for me in Shimla when I met two Canadians I had met before in Jodhpur. While they decided to spend Holi in Shimla I went back to Delhi.

So….Delhi and Holi. Quite some people are afraid of this combination, but I must say there is no reason at all. While it can get chaotic (drunk rickshaw drivers doing tricks on their rickshaws, waterballoons coming at you from all directions), it is a VERY nice and colourful day! I had a great day and stay there and look forward to a next Holi

Some days after Holi I took the bus again, and this time to Dharamsala or more precise, McLeod Ganj. McLeod Ganj is the area where the Tibetan government in exile can be found and as such many Tibetan refugees live here. Many foreigners could also be found due to popularity of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan Buddhism. While I am one of the foreigners here I must say I am definitely not here for this reason. Most foreigners that I met here in McLeod Ganj come to learn about that culture, for meditation or to smoke.

Again I met some travelers from before here, which was nice to spend some time with again. By now though they’ve all left, and so I feel it’s time to move on again as well. As I’ve been working real hard on my thesis again for a while (except last week due to a stupid injury) I feel like having a short break again. Therefore my plan is to go to Dalhousie for a dat or two, departing at the end of the weekend. After that I continue my plans by heading to Srinagar. I haven’t figured out yet whether I go there via Udhampur or Jammu. While I don’t want to go via the latter I am told it is easiest to go from there. Hmmm, I’ll have to think about it. Maybe when I go up Triund again and spend the night at the Snowline Cafe?

Development of FreeCAD-SEA is progressing well. Yesterday I committed a massive change in how Connections and Couplings are implemented. The commit also included many many other changes. Though the current version is still broken, as in, you cannot solve the modal powers, it does offer already some nice features:

• Besides structural components, cavities are now included as well.
• Initial work on couplings to and from cavities has been done. What is basically left is implementing the radiation efficiency, but that’s a small thing not taking much time.
• Automatically building an SEA model from a geometry works a lot better now. Connections between Components are detected, and Couplings are added as well. It doesn’t work flawless yet, but its still a WIP.

What’s next?

1. ‘Finalizing’ the change in how Connections and Couplings are implemented. There is still quite some work left, like on how to detect and store where or how components are connected. This influences the boundary conditions and is therefore an important factor to consider.
2. Fix solving for the modal powers. With this massive change the storing and indexing of couplings has changed and broke this method.
3. Implement a radiation efficiency model so that the coupling with cavities works.

In the future other features will be added as well, like composite structures and plotting functionality. For more information regarding the milestones and issues, see the tracker at GitHub.

When creating an SEA model it is possible to add all SEA objects automatically. The tree browser on the left shows the objects.

I want to see mountains again, mountains Gandalf!

And mountains I definitely see here in Shimla. What a beautiful area this is! It was quite a journey to get here so let’s just start from where I stopped last time.

After spending a couple of days on the back of a camel I returned to Jodhpur where I stayed again a long time, almost 3 weeks! After those 3 weeks I took a ‘week off’ and looked around in some other places in Rajasthan. I first took the nightbus to Udaipur, which is a story on its own. Imran, friend and ‘manager’ of the guesthouse in Jodhpur brought me on his scooter to the bus stop. When we got there, there was no bus. Apparently the bus had already left, or it departed from a different spot. It didn’t matter, we had to go in pursuit of the bus! So after 15 minutes of driving including some parts on the highway we found the bus and I wasn’t ‘forced’ to stay any longer in Jodhpur.

Udaipur is a very nice city and the views are amazing. I wish I had spend some more time there. During the breakfast of my supposedly last day in Udaipur I met a guy from Equador who told me he and someone else were going to Kumbalgarh fort in half an hour and asked whether I wanted to join. Since I very much wanted to see that fortress I of course said yes, finished my breakfast quickly and unpacked my bag again.

After Udaipur I took a government express bus to Chittaurgarh. Chittaurgarh is also known for having a huge fort which was for me reason enough to go there. To my surprise I didn’t see any foreigners at all in the city, the fort or in the hotel I was staying. When I asked the staff at the hotel whether they have foreigners here more often, the answer was a no. I was apparently quite an exceptional case there. The fort was huge, and you especially realize that if you decide to go around it entirely on foot. I sure slept good that night.

Besides the fortress Chittaurgarh didn’t really seem like a pleasant city to stay in so the next morning I went straight to Bundi. Contrary to Chittaurgarh Bundi is quite a popular tourist destination, I think mainly due to the stepwells that can be found there. The town was as blue as Jodhpur, the stepwells looked pretty and the fort with palace was quite nice to see despite, or maybe actually due to the fact, that they let it fall to ruins. Apart from  those things the town wasn’t special at all. Well, actually, maybe for one thing, which was the smell. As they have open sewers in Bundi, there was quite a bad stench. Nevertheless I had a good time there, I think mainly due to the people I met there. One interesting thing I learned, apparently New Zealanders call themselvese Kiwis.

Back in  Jodhpur I had already booked a train ticket from Ajmer to Chandigarh. At the guesthouse someone told me about another route which indeed was way better. Unfortunately I was a bit too late for the normal tickets so I tried booking last-minute tickets, in which I was partly successful. It basically came down to that I had to wait for half a day in Delhi, which I hadn’t really planned. This however wasn’t bad as all as I was able to meet up with friends there again which was really nice.

That evening I continued my journey from Delhi to Kalka. Just before the train departed I noticed that, completely to my surprise, my ticket for Kalka to Shimla the next morning was confirmed. So, I took the night train to Kalka, where I arrived early in the morning. The train station was quite small and boring and the wait for the afternoon train to Shimla felt like forever. However, that waiting was worth it because the views from the Kalka to Shimla train were impressive. Unfortunately I was sitting at the wrong side off the train, and unfortunately there is trash along the rail seriously every meter you pass. But that couldn’t spoil the fact that it still was a nice train ride.

So, I am now here in Shimla, and like I said it is beautiful here. It is also quite chilly compared to Rajasthan, especially when they have no heaters inside. So I am glad it is getting warmer now. A thing that is not so nice about Shimla is the monkeys here. One of them jumped in my neck and ran of with my glasses as I was walking up a hill. I was glad I was able to get new glasses the same day. It’s relatively quiet here in Shimla and at the hotel, with few people around. This has its pros and cons. One pro at least is that I can work well on my thesis or project here. Quite funny, just as I am typing this, the first foreign tourist I’ve seen at this hotel is arriving

Yesterday I released the first version of FreeCAD-SEA. The code along with an issue tracker can be found at the GitHub repository over here. Documentation can be found at ReadtheDocs.

An important change I made compared to my initial SeaPy codebase is that the linking system is separated from the physics model. This has several advantages:

• Persons interested in extending the SEA physics or ‘model’ can do so without having to bother with FreeCAD internals.
• The ‘model’ can easily be used by different projects. For instance, FreeCAD-SEA encapsulates these classes and SeaPy, with its own linking system, could do so as well.

So what is is already possible with this FreeCAD module?

• From the interpreter or using scripts it is possible to basically perform an entire analysis, from building a model to solving the modal energies and looking at the results.
• Using the GUI it is possible to add certain types of objects and edit certain properties. It is also possible to solve the modal energies.
• And a nice feature that is already included is a very basic version of an automated model creator which constructs an SEA model from a given geometry.

Next week I hope to be at the first milestone. See the bugtracker for the current issues.

I’ve also decided to discontinue SeaPy development. The reason is that I do not think I could create a better linking system than FreeCAD uses, and I also think that the project would only have a future when it would be based on a larger project like FreeCAD. Nevertheless, it is possible to use the ‘model’ module of FreeCAD-SEA if you would want to work with SEA without FreeCAD. This, however, requires implementing your own linking system since I removed that from the model.

Last week I took the train from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer. Jaisalmer is a small city in the far west of Rajasthan. The city basically consists of a large fortress with many people living inside and outside of it. Arriving very early in the morning after a train ride during the night and not having slept at all, the only thing on my mind was to get a room and sleep. Though promised I could get in the room within half an hour it took instead more than 2 hours, and by that time it was light already. Well, too bad…who needs sleep anyway. Around that time many people came up to the rooftop as they were about to leave on their camel safari’s. As they left I thought ‘Why didn’t I join them on the camel safari right away. If I am sleepy all day, I might as well be sleepy sitting on a camel. So….some minutes later three Canadians arrived and before I knew we were on our way in a jeep to find some camels.

So where are those big worms?!

Together with three guides/assistants we went on our way. The first destination was a very small village, and from there we continued to a sand dune. On the way there was a small pit-stop for the camels; amazing how much water they drink and how fast! Though the sand dune was small it was nice to walk on the sand. The sand was a bit hard and moist because it had rained several days before. While walking on the sand the guides began making some (very sweet) Chai tee as well as dinner. And the camels got something to eat as well. And that is where it really began. While eating they were relatively quiet, but as soon as they were finished, and especially when they started moving, for instance after their breakfast, it seemed as if we were surrounded by trumpeters.

They’re quiet when eating but afterwards…

As soon as it turned dark it cooled down significantly. I was glad I had my woolen clothing with me and the campfire was also good for warming up. Nevertheless I spend most of my first evening far away from the fire watching the sky. It was amazing to see how many stars could be seen. It was fun using Sky Map to identify the stars and constellations, and nice to just lie down and enjoy it. At a certain moment I saw a orange to red star and thought ‘This must be Betelgeuse’. A quick check with Sky Map confirmed it indeed was. Most stars look quite white and maybe a bit yellow, but Betelgeuse clearly is orange to read and quite bright making it easy to identify.

After a long time of watching the sky as well as some time at the camp fire it was bedtime. I was happy I had my horrible quality Indian-made sleeping bag with me, since it really was cold. Hoping it would be sufficient I decided in all my wisdom that I didn’t need any additional blankets. Well, that was stupid to think as it was freezing cold and the sleeping bag was even worse quality than I had thought it to be. So some advice, if you are doing serious traveling in India, take your own sleeping bag with you! I wish I had at least, since I’ve been using this Indian one every day since I got it.

At 7 it got light and after about an hour or two it was already quite warm. Unfortunately one of the Canadians wasn’t feeling well and decided it was better if she would leave. As the road where she could be picked up was on our way she joined us for the first part of the morning ride. After lunch we lied down in the shadow, listening to some music, chatting a bit. Some quality relaxing time

Anyhow, from there on it was some camel riding, chatting, eating, stars watching, sleeping and so on until we got picked up by a jeep the afternoon on the next day. It had been quite an experience, with as usual some nice and less nice things. Overall though I was happy I went for two nights, as the sky view was totally worth sitting on a camel all day

During my previous post I already wrote that I arrived in Jodhpur, how amazing the guesthouse was and that I went to see an Indian doctor. The medication did its work and after some days I was feeling good again, and ready to explore the town!

Jodhpur has a nice bazaar around the clocktower. Here one can also find excellent lassis which are actually quite a bit different from the other lassies I had so far. A lassi is a drink that consists of yogurt mixed with water and spices. Normally one drinks a lassi but this one is quite a bit thicker, requiring the use of a spoon. It also had a strong lemon taste to it.

The main attraction of Jodhpur is the fortress. Located on a hill it is beautiful to see. The fortress also offers amazing views over the new and the old, blue city. In this case I think pictures say more than words

The blue city and a flock of pigeons that can always be found at the fort.

I think by now it is time to dedicate a full post to FreeCAD, MaterialPy and SeaPy. As part of my thesis work I am writing software with which you can perform a Statistical Energy Analysis, or SEA. This code, called SeaPy, is a Python module offering classes and functions with which it is easy to construct an SEA model. For calculation of many parameters the geometry is important, and therefore a SEA code would benefit from having a good geometry kernel. Therefore I am writing a module or extension to FreeCAD, which gives this excellent CAD program SEA capabilities. So, to clarify, SeaPy is a Python-only module for SEA, and FreeCAD-Sea is a FreeCAD extension integrating SeaPy into FreeCAD.

Besides having a good geometry kernel, it is also important to have a clear way of describing materials. In parallel with the development of SeaPy I initiated work on MaterialPy. MaterialPy is a Python module offering some classes and functions for working with materials. The classes are for instance, Solid(), Liquid() and Gas(). Functions for loading and saving to a standardized format will be included. Just as with SeaPy, a FreeCAD extension will be developed as well. FreeCAD-Material will give any FreeCAD object a Material property which will be a link to a specified Material object.

Ideas exist of creating an open material database as well. While I would find it extremely interesting to work on, I shouldn’t be putting any time into this now, as there are more important things for me to focus on.

So what can you do? Well, it would be very nice if you could assist in the development! Development for the Material modules is really taking off now, with discussion taking place at the FreeCAD forums. The code I wrote thus far can be found here and here. The SEA code is also progressing nicely now. The repository for SeaPy can be found here. The code is at the moment still broken, and the api isn’t stable either. Documentation for SeaPy can be build using Sphinx, or read at ReadTheDocs. Somehow ReadTheDocs has trouble importing SeaPy so it doesn’t really build documentation yet, but I am sure I get that fixed soon.

Two and a half weeks ago I arrived in Delhi. Since then I went to Agra, Jaipur, and Jodhpur, where I decided to stay some longer. Let’s try and keep it chronological, and start with Agra.

I was in Agra for I think 5 nights, and the location I was staying, Saj Palace, was quite nice. There were plenty small restaurants and shops around, and the hotel had a nice view on the Taj. People came and went, but like me, there was a Canadian family staying a bit longer. They were actually on a world trip of a whopping 14 months! Anyhow, in Agra I finally was able to do some work on my thesis as well.

After Agra I went by train to Jaipur during which I had a nice conversation with a local. She was having a puppy along, and, as long as the other people in the coach wouldn’t mind, according to the rules the dog should be allowed to stay. Well, I was the only other one, and I didn’t mind at all, but somehow the conductor didn’t agree and sent the dog to a special coach. So stupid…

Anyhow, Jaipur. I don’t have much positive to say about my stay there. While the hotel had friendly personnel and the rooms were quite good, it was so damn noisy I couldn’t get any sleep at all. And when you then get diarrhea as well…pfff. But before I got that I did get to see some of the town, but there wasn’t anything special in my opinion, and therefore I wouldn’t recommend anyone to go there.

Because of the diarrhea and fever I stayed a bit longer in Jaipur. Eventually I decided to go to Jodhpur even though I was still sick. The train ride from Jaipur to Jodhpur was I think the best moment I’ve had during my stay here. I booked a ticket for an AC3 coach, but wasn’t able to find it as all the numbers were messed up when it arrived. I went instead in a normal sleeper class. The smell at first was horrible, but after a few minutes you’re used to it. I put my stuff away,  lay down on a berth, in the sun shine, with the windows open the wind going through the coach. It was great! In the meanwhile, cracking some nuts and talking to some locals. Best moment so far

In Jodhpor I am now staying at a great hotel. The people that are working here are very friendly, the food is the best I had thus far, and it’s quiet! Like me there are quite some others here who are traveling for more than four months through India. Some are going from north to south, while others went south first. It’s interesting to hear where they’ve been, and what they thought of the places, as I also haven’t decided where I will be going.

Two days ago I went to see a doctor and got some medication for the diarrhea and fever. I think I got it because I drank half a glass of tap water. Stupid. Things seem to be improving now, though the antibiotics are making me so tired, that I haven’t been able to explore Jodhpur yet. As I will be staying for a least another 5 days in Jodhpur, that shouldn’t be a problem though. After those five days I will take the train to Jaisalmer where I would like to go on a 2 or 3 day camel safari.

As some of you know I came with the crazy idea of working on my thesis while traveling in India. So, Tuesday early in the morning I arrived in Delhi. I’ve been here now two days, and it has been amazing! First ‘adventure’ was the taxi ride from the airport to the hotel. The traffic there is crazy, with bikes, mopeds, tuc tucs, cars, trucks, cows and elephants on the highway. Only one rule is followed; the one who has the loudest horn has precedence. The area I am residing in is very poor and dirty. Trash is just thrown on the ground which stray dogs then take and open up. Nevertheless the area is very interesting, and there are many nice small shops and such around.

Humayun’s Tomb

The second day I visited some touristic spots, like Rajpath, Humayun’s Tomb and Qutub Minar, and a rickshaw driver also showed me a Sikh temple. Qutub Minar was very impressive to see and hear about. In the evening I visited the family of an Indian friend. They invited me over for dinner and I got to try many different kinds of delicious food. That evening there was also a pre-ceremony to a Hindu wedding taking place in that street. Many people were dancing and making music in the street while the groom was heading for a temple. It was a great evening, thank you Snandan!

Sikh temple

Inside Sikh temple

So what is my impression thus far? You clearly see that everybody tries to make a living, tries to survive in this country. Rickshaw drivers often make deals with stores so if you buy something, they receive a commission. As a tourist you will always be overcharged, people will try to sell you things constantly and you’ll have to survive many many lies. It is therefore very hard to trust the people, while there are definitely honest people around who help you without ripping you off. In general I think the people are very friendly and helpful.

Qutub Minar

Now, today I will be working on my thesis again for a change. My thesis includes writing a Statistical Energy Analysis module to the open-source parametric 3d-modeler FreeCAD. Last week a vibroacoustic engineer showed his interest in contributing, showing the true strength of open-source development. In the evening though I will visit the Red Fort, and then tomorrow morning I will take the train to Agra.

Many that know me are aware of the fact that I am spending this summer in Oslo, Norway. In May I was offered a position for the summer at the Noise & Vibration section at Det Norske Veritas in Høvik. Thus far I am quite content with the work.  I’ve been traveling a lot across Norway for noise and vibration measurements (DNV Comfort Class) and I’ve started working on noise and vibration predictions.

Oslo seems to be a nice city as well. Especially the location where I live; everything is basically around the corner. Commuting time is acceptable and nature can be reached in about half an hour. Unfortunately I haven’t really been able to see much of the nature outside Oslo due to the bad weather and a bad fever last week.

The coming week I am having off from work, and what way to spend it better than to go hiking! Monday I will take the bus/train to Liomseter from where I will hike for five days along the final part of Jotunheimstien. Last week I bought all the gear (ouch, Gore-Tex is expensive!!) I think I will need for this and future trips. What future trips, you might ask. Well, at least end of next month I intend to walk the Kungsleden in Sweden.

Anyhow, summer thus far has been quite nice with visiting The Netherlands again, as well as attending Hultsfredsfestivalen in Sweden. And with the forecast of the hiking trips it only seems to become better

To end this post I have here a nice recording of the Norwegian band Katzenjammer, who were playing at Hultsfredsfestivalen as well, though this is a recording from elsewhere.