LavaCon 2026 and the future.

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LavaCon is a conference now going on 25 years. Its always fun at conferences where folks collaborate on what the future holds. This year I drove to Charlotte NC from Duluth GA to attend. I used the Tesla in Full Self Drive. I went park-to-park without touching the wheel for over 200 miles. It's crazy. I don't think most people understand how well it works. Lots of nay-sayers still, but it really does work. Be on guard, but enjoy. I spent some of my time "driving" while conversing with Grok as part of my daydreaming. I was discussing with Grok an idea I have of building a West system (cold molded) old style barrel-back runabout maybe 20 feet long- all varnished Mahogony. Of course this boat would have an exotic 12-cylinder engine under a transparent engine hatch between the twin cockpits. We discussed the designs, available actual study plans and pre-lofted design documents for the hull. We also discussed the best engine (perhaps a BMW N73) coupled with a Velvet Dri...
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The weather has been unusual. The extended forecast was calling for thunderstorms everyday for about 10 days. The forecast has been pretty much right.

Things are great. The realities of life are something to enjoy right now for the most part. I really slept in this morning. I got up at 7:30. I should have been rested and I know I am now after I finally get the mental wake-up cloud cleared.

Friday night I went to a great auction in Cinncinatus, NY. It was an estate for a guy who collected everything, but mostly unusual tools. So if you can imagine a collectible tool auction and the crowd that would gather discussing what the tool actually was could be quite a hoot. "Some kind of puller" was the defacto answer. It was a good brain tease for some really weird "yankee" tools. I bought a big box of files and rasps, a Geiger counter, misc. hardware will all sorts of things ($1 a box) and I got the light fixtures for the outside of the barn (I was not about to be outbid on those and ended up paying $47.50 for 4.) They were exactly what I was looking for. They are white porcelain with a 660 W (600 volt) capacity porcelain bulb socket. They are going to look great with the pipe coming out of the barn bent up and down into these fixtures. I will use a 200W to 300W (non-frosted) incandescent bulb. Of course, I have all the control wiring running underground to the barn so I will be controlling these lights from inside the house. It will be very nice.

Dwayne and I went and took the antennas off his house Saturday (he has moved out). I cut and split some firewood, plugs and wires on the Subaru, took some more metal to the scrap yard, and used my new power washer. I don't know what I did before I had one of those. I was very hesitant to get "yet another engine" but it will actually save work.

Bonnie and I are planning a trip down to Washington DC at the end of August for the Toastmasters International Convention Speech Contest (The World Championship of Public Speaking) and to meet up with some folks.

I have to get ready for this winter!

Here is a link that is an entrance to to some interesting folks and their job (Communications tech.) Don't miss Bob Zook, Bruce Blackburn and some of the others you will find linked in here.

Chuck Kimball

All of the kids were here at the same time last weekend.

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LavaCon 2026 and the future.

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LavaCon is a conference now going on 25 years. Its always fun at conferences where folks collaborate on what the future holds. This year I drove to Charlotte NC from Duluth GA to attend. I used the Tesla in Full Self Drive. I went park-to-park without touching the wheel for over 200 miles. It's crazy. I don't think most people understand how well it works. Lots of nay-sayers still, but it really does work. Be on guard, but enjoy. I spent some of my time "driving" while conversing with Grok as part of my daydreaming. I was discussing with Grok an idea I have of building a West system (cold molded) old style barrel-back runabout maybe 20 feet long- all varnished Mahogony. Of course this boat would have an exotic 12-cylinder engine under a transparent engine hatch between the twin cockpits. We discussed the designs, available actual study plans and pre-lofted design documents for the hull. We also discussed the best engine (perhaps a BMW N73) coupled with a Velvet Dri...
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