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 did a nice hike up Blood Mountain in North Georgia Saturday night with some new friends. We timed it for a near simultaneous Sunset/Moonrise with a harvest moon. It was a lot of laughs. The hike (which I had done before) is quite difficult. Officially, it is rated a 4 of on a scale from 1=Easy 5=Very Difficult. Night hikes are fun with friends, no doubt. The video was taken by one of my hiking companions.

Sunday I had some fun adventure Inside The Perimeter (ITP) in the Inman Park area of Atlanta. It was a lot of fun. The dog picture needs a caption.

















Comments

Anonymous said…
Great photos!
9:44 PM
David said…
I wonder what camera was used there.

Night hikes are great. Experienced my first one just 2 weeks after you did, except it wasn't a classical 'hike': it was part of a 128km alpine ultra-marathon in Northern Greece. It took me almost 29 hours to finish, so it included the whole night on the mountain. Awesome experience, I have to say, to be all night in the forest, not seeing much, being focused on your run and the noises in the forest. Will do it again this year :)
8:01 AM
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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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