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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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Some pretty neat pics coming from "IO" a Jupiter satellite. www.planetaryexploration.net/jupiter/io/index.html
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These photos were sent to me by my friend George from the Palmer Research Polar Ship. He says he will arrive in Punta Arenas Argentina on March 26th.
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New very high detail interactive maps of Antarctica just came on line. http://lima.usgs.gov/
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I am fixing this and that around the house this weekend. I wish I could talk about my regular job there is always so much stuff going on. We finally got a break in the cold weather and today it is above 40 and raining a little. The llamas appreciate the warmer weather but they don't mind too much getting locked in the barn when it gets cold. I am going to a conference in Rochester on March 23rd. Then I am headed to Canada for work on the 4th. After that I am headed to Idaho at the end of April for work. Bonnie is going to meet me out there for a couple of days of vacation. The first picture shows safety in action in Antarctica manifested as a sticker on the shop truck. The second image links to a movie of a typical pickup at a field camp. In this case it was us getting picked up at New Harbor camp on a really nice day. Nick in the left seat and Mike at the pilot position on the right of the Bell 212. I never have figured out why the seats are backwards compared to a fixed ...
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Here is an interview with Anne Aghion the documentary filmmaker I met in Antarctica. I very much expect to be in her Antarctica documentary. She says she has just started to edit. My beard was frosted real nice one day and they got a nice shot of it close up. I very much suspect it will not end up on the cutting room floor. We shall see. There are other shots as well. http://www.ecorazzi.com/?p=1757 I already know I cannot watch another Antarctica documentary the same. The United States Antarctica Program (USAP) is quite small so knowing folks in the film or credits is pretty much inevitable. Being away in Antarctica actually helped me miss most of the winter as strange as it sounds. It is tough to get up in the dark, go shovel, plow, dig and otherwise move the snow out of the way. And after that you get the treat of moving your vehicle through it all to get to work or wherever you are going. Upstate NY is a tough place to live. The summers make up for it around here. The lack of h...
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Here is a Top-10 list in ways to destroy earth. Interestly enough, none of these methods seem to mention global warming or Antarctica. (The navigation to the actual list may be difficult to find, but it is there and the intro is fun.) http://www.livescience.com/technology/destroy_earth_mp.html
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An article came out just after my blog in regards to the Antarctica card being played in the Global warming campaign. http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/02/25/antarctica.icecreatures.reut/index.html The paragraph "Since 1974 5213 square miles of ice shelf have disintegrated...", sets the tone. It makes you go wow that's a lot of area. Antarctica is a big place. It is 98% ice. The peninsula is probably undergoing some serious change just like other parts of the world such as the northern Mediterranean coast. Climates change. I am not ready to say that my wood fire is causing the "disintegration" of Antarctica's ice shelves.
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