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 solar system is coming together. I have all the major components. I still need to get some PEX pipe, insulation, pressure relief valve, expansion tank and some valves & fittings. I ended up getting an evacuated tube collector instead of my using my homebrew system. I hooked up with two Chinese PhDs and we are collaborating. You never really know how things turn sometimes, bizarre sometimes.

When I was taking the collector off the truck I took the cardboard off because it got wet in rain. It was out sitting exposed to the cloudy-rainy sky for about an hour before I could get it off the truck. Surprisingly, when I grabbed the water outlet it was hot. I don't mean warm. I mean hot. And it was raining out. This thing really works. Cool. Well, Hot. The complete system costs are not tallied yet. I will be doing that for sure, but it is easy to justify the system with it costing $800 to fill the oil tank. This has been one of the more satisfying projects this summer, err Fall.

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LavaCon 2026 and the future.

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Image
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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