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Showing posts from May 10, 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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I am back from San Francisco. I spoke at a conference. I like the public speaking and sharing. I also like the learning at conferences. It is pretty weird working for an Ag equipment manufacturer and being in the midst of mostly software and more information focused folks. It is particularly fun in some dimensions. In the last month I have been in Atlanta only a few days. On the plane on the way back this time I was working on my next speaking privilege in Florida in Sept. As a special treat, my two dearest friends from Antarctica met me for dinner. 12 seasons on the ice. Stars of documentaries. It was a great feeling to relive some of the experience I forgot. Even after all these years they said my experience was "charmed" because in just one season I had a combination of great experiences ranging from mountain tops, penguin camps, south pole, ships, whales and so on. I was reminded about how we jumped (no tethers, no photos) across ice boulders from the ice breaker to the s...