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Showing posts from June 4, 2023

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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Walmart. -- The race to the bottom

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I filled out a Walmart survey today. I have no real idea why. I guess I was a sucker for the $1000 dollar chance prize. Besides letting them know about the non-caring employees (I didn't start in on clientele) I provided the follow suggestion: Even with no line, the cashier bagging and scanning is helpful and faster. Bagging at the self checkout is cumbersome at best. The protocol used for self-scan doesn't seem to allow for fast scanning. I often "tilt" the system and have to wait for a attendant. You should develop a tunnel scan system where we put items on a belt and the items get a 360 degree scan, if it fails scan it will be redirected either to an attendant or a second pass through the tunnel. Bagging could also be automated based on the SKU, sorted and gently dropped into bags.
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Humvee and What Not

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I did my biannual flight review that other day. I am good for 2 more years. I have lots of flight credit. I need to fly more. The big crate thing is what a new Lycoming airplane engine looks like in the box. I forget which plane gets the new engine this time. My friend John and I are setting up the bandmill over at his son's farmette. They have some logs to chew up after we get the thing reassembled (again). Better than having it just sit around. Its all running but it needs attention on several areas. The HMMWV (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle) is registered, titled and on the road. I am chasing gremlins on it, but it gets around ok. Angie thinks its fun. We agreed it was a smarter purchase than a motorcycle. It definately is a truck, no need to slow down for speed bumps thats for sure. It is definately a head turner.
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