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On the irrationality of some experts (part 4: the interview)

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Return to Part 1:   On the irrationality of some "experts" (Part 1) This is the transcript (translated into English) of an investigative interview conducted in February 2026 by a Spanish newspaper. For reasons of procedural strategy and because the criminal case remains open, its publication is independent and the interviewer's identity is kept confidential. This document summarizes the key points of the complaint regarding crimes and institutional obstruction within the university setting. INTERVIEW: "The Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) Labyrinth: Scientific Rigor or Institutional Fraud?" Journalist: Carlos, you are an aeronautical engineer who has decided to bring the leadership of a public university to a criminal court. Doesn't it seem disproportionate to pursue through criminal channels what appears, to any observer, to be a simple administrative disagreement over a thesis? Carlos Pimentel: We are no longer facing a debate of ideas and abs...

On the irrationality of some experts (part 3)

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Return to Part 1:   On the irrationality of some "experts" (Part 1) Only two days after filing the criminal complaint in person at the corresponding court, I received the response, already back in my home country: it was dismissed, as it was considered that the matter reported did not fall under criminal law, but rather administrative law . The judicial resolution allowed for an appeal, so I requested—via telematics—a court-appointed defense from the Illustrious Bar Association of Barcelona ( ICAB ), since self-representation is not permitted in these matters in Spain. But how was I able to access a court-appointed defense if the applicable legislation explicitly states that I must be physically present in Spain to request it? Well, I suppose the ICAB finally applied common sense after having denied me defense in person up to three (3) times, and after I notified the Consulate of my country in Barcelona, which became my legal address for hearing and receiving notifications. F...

On the irrationality of some "experts" (Part 2)

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Go to the first part:  On the irrationality (not irrotationality) of some "experts" (Part 1) During the re-election campaign last April-May, I made public a series of two articles, titled "On innovation and other hoaxes" *, available in both Spanish and Catalan on my alternative blog,  Blog de Pimentel  (with an accent on the last 'e'). In these articles, I exposed the arbitrary actions committed by both the former rector and the PhD doctoral coordinator, those who tried to cover up responsibilities and protect everyone involved in this situation.  The political dimension of the conflict became evident when the doctoral coordinator was surprisingly involved as a campaign coordinator for the former rector, while the former Doctoral School director, who held the position at the time of the events, was also a member of that electoral team . The first article aimed to detail the situation and the violations of internal university legislation. Following its publi...

On the irrationality of some "experts" (Part 1)

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VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL :  Sobre la irracionalidad de algunos “expertos” (Parte 1) 📝  Why I Once Called Myself a “Dummy” — And Why It Worked Two years ago, I wrote a blog post titled " Fluid dynamics for dummies, like me: on potential flows ". The title had a double intention: on one hand, I was being honest. The "experts" might consider that I am just beginning my journey in the vast universe of aerodynamics and fluid dynamics, starting with the simplest case — incompressible flow. On the other hand, I wanted to poke a bit at a certain type of expert who dismisses Potential Flow Theory (PFT) as outdated or irrelevant. Some people didn’t appreciate the joke. Fig. 1 Potential flow solution for a parabolic parachute canopy (for added masses calculation; Pimentel, 2016). Note the clown face in the upper figure. One well‑known “potentialist” on LinkedIn took the title as a personal attack. Instead of reading and understand the intention of the article, he blocked me and cr...

An 'inviscid' boundary layer! This is still a bug (Part 3)

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Go to the first part:  An 'inviscid' boundary layer! Is this a bug?! (Part 1) Approximately a year ago, I published the initial parts of a series detailing a significant visualization anomaly encountered within the Results module of ANSYS Workbench. I recently tested the newest ANSYS Student version (2025 R2) with the same 2D test case, and unfortunately, the issue persists despite having been reported in the official forum: a modeled boundary layer (BL) appears in the visualization for an inviscid flow simulation (over both an airfoil and a 3D wing; see Fig. 1). It is crucial to emphasize that this visual error does not appear in the ANSYS Fluent solver module. Since the solver correctly recognizes the inviscid condition (μ=0), it does not impose a no-slip condition at the wall, and thus, no BL is formed in the flow solution itself.  As those with a fundamental knowledge of fluid dynamics understand this is not a personal interpretation error, I believe this bug is primarily...

NO whirls-NO force; NO force, NO lift-NO drag

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Around two years ago, I launched this blog with the initial goal of demystifying my doctoral research, translating complex concepts and terminology into simple language accessible to a general audience. While many early articles focused on straightforward explanations (mostly in Spanish), the content naturally evolved to address deeper technical inquiries from engaged readers. This entire process has been a valuable exercise for organizing my thoughts and sharpening my scientific communication skills. Since beginning this project, I have successfully authored and published one paper in a Q1 journal [1] and co-authored a second paper available on ArXiv [2] as a preprint. Furthermore, I utilized this knowledge to successfully prepare and file by myself the corresponding patent application [3], saving hundred of dollars in an attorney. My research is fundamentally open. I offer my findings for review and use by the community, having moved past the need to convince any particular audience....

Can a brick 'fly' (glide)? enhanced with AI

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 This is a second version of the original article:  Can a brick 'fly' (glide)? This time, Google's AI Gemini (Flash v2.5) enhanced (or not...) this article by simply adding "Improve this:" to each original paragraph. This was done as an exercise to provide an alternative explanation and formatting while maintaining the original ideas. No major changes have been made to the AI-generated text, and the additional explanations (marked with asterisks in the original article) have been removed. Redefining Aerodynamics: Beyond the Smooth Surface Yes, it can—but perhaps not in the way most people understand. The common perception of "aerodynamics" often fixates on curvatures, rounded leading edges, smooth surfaces, and sharp trailing edges . These features, while visually appealing and often associated with modern design, are largely just cosmetic embellishments when we consider the fundamental meaning of the term. Etymologically, "aerodynamics" si...