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Showing posts from April 5, 2009

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 turkey population looks good this year. I pulled over a couple of times just to watch and listen to the birds. I will have to make some time to do a bit of Spring turkey hunting. I was a bit over confident the other night flying. It was a bit squirelly with the wind and I bounced a couple landings. No two landings are exactly the same no matter how hard you try. Today I am doing masonry work in the milkhouse and fixing the wheel studs on the jeep.
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This is one of my favorite pics I took when I was in Antarctica. This is us comms folks coming down from the summit of Mt. Terror to the Helo. The weather was nice on this particular day, but it was quite cold. The helicopter didn't start the first try. It made us all think. We relied on the helo so much. Spending time on this mountain was quite a thrill. The thin air always made us euphoric. We saved the oxygen for the pilot.
I have been performing field trials with my new jeep. It is a lot cheaper than using the tractors, a lot more comfortable too.
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It is nice to live around here. Despite the 2 inches of snow this weekend it is very nice. I am accelerating my flight training. I expect to have my private pilot licence this year. I am studying for the written exam and I am also studying for the Certified Information Security Manager(CISM) test in June. Neither of these tests is cheap.