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Showing posts from October, 2015

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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Some pictures from Malaysia.
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Some pictures from the Shanghai China area.
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Back. I did a round-the-world trip in 13 days. I spent 48 hours in the air. 22 thousand miles. Landings in US, China, Malaysia, India, England. Not a big deal for someone in the airline business, but I am not in the airline business. Interesting to note that we flew more North on these flights than the great-circle paths on the depicted map to take advantage of favorable winds and presumably cooler-denser air. As a pilot, cool-dense air on climb-out makes me go "Ohhkkkk..." I gained a day since I crossed the intl. date line going west. I gained a day that I don't have to give back. I will take it, because I need it. Now, I have to decide how that particular day will be spent.
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Things have been busy. Travel is ramping up. We bought a spa/hot-tub and now I am building a deck for the new part of the outdoor house. It has been fun for sure. Between working on and using the boat, working on the house things have been busy.