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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I am almost all recuperated from my latest trip to South America (actually just Brazil). I got to spend some weekend time in the capital Brasilia and a city called Maringá in the state of Parana. I think that I have now been in 5 different Brazilian states (out of the current 27). Work went so well and blended so well with adventure it was what I would consider a peak experience. I was definitely living life large and having an experience I will never forget.

Brazil reminds me of the US about 30 or 40 years ago. The growing middle class population is about optimism and friendliness.

Practical joke

On one of my domestic flights in Brazil I was stopped at security after the x-ray machine for your carry-ons (the way security used to be in the US). No one at the security point spoke English. They indicated that there was something in my computer bag that was not allowed. They were making gestures like they were eating. Weird. The line started backing up and I emptied out my entire computer bag. There is a lot of junk in there between power supplies, flash drives and stuff I might need. OK. I admit it. My computer bag contents are just like the purse of an old neurotic woman. We ran the computer through the x-ray for a third or forth time. After that, I just handed the empty bag to the security guard. Everyone was a bit amused that this had somehow become such a huge production with all of my stuff in trays and bins with things that belong to the gringo that can't understand Portuguese. Well, he tore through my bag and he finally found a regular old fork. How it got in there was certainly a practical joke from one of my colleagues. (Paybacks can be tough). A security guard came up and pointed at the fork and asked "chama?". I said "fork". "Ahh fork!" came back from the security team almost in a chorus. The initial security guard that barks at folks on what to do and what to put on the conveyor started to bark "Naõ forks!" Everyone started laughing. It was great.

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