Posts

Showing posts from March, 2013

LavaCon 2026 and the future.

-
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...
Post a Comment
Read more
-
This weekend I am in an exotic locale. Atlanta! Exploring is a state of mind not a place on the map or expensive arrangements. I went flying flying Sunday, pretty routine. I didn't take a single pic. Weird. When a bird is alive, it eats ants. When the bird is dead, ants eat the bird. I am planning a cool trip up north, Boston area for my birthday with family, then speaking at a conference in Providence RI and rounding things out with NYC and a nice tour of the familiar Upstate, NY State.
Post a Comment
Read more
-
Image
I was out in Phoenix most of this week. We got to visit the Taliesin West-- Frank Lloyd Wright's Arizona school and home. I thought I saw a quote years ago from Wright where he said, "Don't buy a house for the view unless you own the view." I could not find the quote documented anywhere so I will take the attribution.
Post a Comment
Read more
-
Image
I am back from 8 days in Brazil, both in the North and the South. I had many "peak experiences" during this time. I spent three days in Petrolina which is on the border of Northern States of Pernambucu and Bahia. It is a semi-arid area on the San Fransisco River. The river is damned at this location creating a reservoir only second in size to the "3 gorges project in China". The area reminds me in climate to southern California. The irrigation and the sun makes a great place for citrus and the like. We went to a Gal Costa concert, a river boat ride and lots of other fun activities in a short amount of time. Goat meat (bode) is a specialty in the area and source of local attention. The domestic flight into Petrolini had such a hard landing we bounced enough to warrant a go around. That happens in my little planes as we are learning, it is uncommon with a large commercial jet, for sure. We all lived and the fire equipment stayed at the station. I was very proud of my...
2 comments
Read more
-
Image
Spring has sprung in Duluth. The birds are singing, the buds are budding. Time to spend time working on the house. The following pic shows one of the roots of the traffic problem in Atlanta. There was a minor fender bender on I-285 yesterday. They dragged and drove the cars involved to the side of the road in a few minutes after "the authorities" got to the scene, After that though they had all the lanes blocked for god-only-knows-why afterwards. At least before the authorities got to the scene folks could use 3 of the five lanes. Man made disruptions. Traffic backs up for miles and miles and lanes and lanes. lets say a car takes 22 feet (given the space between them). If traffic is backed up for one miles in five lanes that works out to be 1200 cars, and that is if it is only backed up for one mile. A 5 mile backup is common.
Post a Comment
Read more