David Herrold

Maker Faire 2008, Austin, TX

Posted by Dave | Filed under Design, Science, Technology

It’s that time of year again: Maker Faire Oct 18 & 19 in Austin, TX!

Steve, John, Justine and I went to Maker Faire 2007 in Austin and had so much fun, we decided to go again this year.

Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. It’s for creative, resourceful people of all ages and backgrounds who like to tinker and love to make things. So much to see, you will need 2 days to see it all!

Here are the details if you’re interested in going.:

• Online tickets – discount pricing available through 10/3/2008. Online ticket purchases from 10/4/2008 – 10/16/2008 will be full price and tickets will be picked up onsite at will call
• Local tickets – discount pricing available through close of business day on 10/17/2008 at:
  • Austin Children’s Museum – 201 Colorado Street, Austin 512.472.2499
    Open: Tuesday – Saturday: 10am-5pm
    Community Night Wednesdays: 5-8pm
    Sunday: Noon-5pm
  • Whole Foods – 525 N. Lamar, Austin, 512.476.1206
    Open: 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. seven days a week
• Onsite Ticket Pricing
  • Adult – $25.00
  • Student (13-21, or with student photo ID) – $15.00
  • Youth (4-12) – $10.00
  • Children 3 and under are free

Let me know if you’re going.  Maybe we can meet for lunch or at the very least, fire rockets at each other.

Tags: austin, craft, diy, make, make magazine, maker faire, texas

Hurricane Ike – lost electricity

Posted by Dave | Filed under Personal, Science

UPDATE – Saturday, Sept 12th - We’re all fine here, just without power and water.  It’s like camping, except not nearly as much fun.

I’m updating the blog with my phone because we’ve lost power here in the 77007 area of Houston.

The wind and rain seems to be coming pretty steadily, howling outside. The tall palm trees across the street are bending like flowers. Surprised they are still standing.

Hope everyone in Houston fairs well.

-Dave

PS- wish I could show you photos, but it’s too dark for my phone’s camera.

Tags: houston, hurricane ike

Hurricane Ike wind speeds

Posted by Dave | Filed under Personal, Science

According to the City of Houston’s wind speed charts, our neighborhood will be experiencing 79MPH winds later today.  I suspect Galveston will be experiencing the full force of the hurricane speed winds.  The farther south you go, the faster the winds get.

Stay safe, everyone.  This will be a gully-washer for sure.

- Dave

(Thanks to Marc Nathan on Twitter for the link to Houston’s wind speed chart.)

Tags: houston, hurricane ike, Saffir-Simpson

Hurricane Ike

Posted by Dave | Filed under Personal, Science

According to the National Hurricane Center we may get a little wet this weekend.

Unless Ike magically becomes a category 5 hurricane tracking for Houston, we are staying put.

Is anyone else in Houston leaving for a long weekend?

Hurricane Gustav

Posted by Dave | Filed under Journalism, Personal, Science

UPDATE (8:30AM Monday, Sept 1st): Gustav made landfall on the central coast of Louisiana and has dropped to a Category 2 hurricane.  Nearly 100K people without power in the New Orleans area

UPDATE (2PM Saturday, August 30th) : Gustav has been upgraded to a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 145mph.

The latest tracking model of Hurricane Gustav has it making landfall in Louisiana’s central coast with a “cone of uncertainty” stretching from Houston to the Mississippi/Alabama coastal boundary.  Right now, the margin of error is 250 miles east of west of that point (a pretty wide margin of error).  The closer Gustav gets to the Gulf Coast, the more narrow this cone will become as the landfall prediction becomes more accurate.

A couple of Justine’s friends are evacuating from New Orleans and headed to Houston to stay with us for a few days as the storm blows through.  Better safe than sorry.  We’re glad they decided to join us for a few days.

We have plenty of food and water (and alcohol) to weather the storm if it drifts our way.

I almost hope the storm hits the Texas coast instead of Louisiana, because I think we could take the hit much easier than they could.  All the official quotes I’ve heard about New Orleans say the levees are built back up to “pre-Katrina” standards.  Which means they still suck.

New Orleans government may call for mandatory evacuations sometime today or tomorrow (if they haven’t already).  This will mean access to contraflow lanes to move everyone away from the Louisiana coast much faster, in theory.  I hope all my friends and family in the New Orleans area have gotten out before that happens.

On a personal note, I’ve been pretty disgusted with local news coverage of hurricanes ever since Hurricane Rita.  Because of this, I usually rely on national sites like NOAA or the NHC for my hurricane data.  I prefer to get my news from sites that simply display the weather data without interpretation that you get from reporters trying to speculate the details of the hurricane.

Hurricane reporting that uses words like “might”, “could” and “possibly” is simply speculation.  I’d rather get the statistics from the original source and make my own judgment of the direction and severity of the storm.

That being said, I think we do a better job at the newspaper than most other local news outlets, but we still have room for improvement.

I find it fascinating (but not very enlightening) to make note of which local TV station uses the “best” spinning hurricane graphics and the most ominous hurricane “theme” music.  Someone should do a Youtube montage of these some day to show the ridiculousness of it all.

Regardless of the news coverage, I hope everyone on the Louisiana coast is safe from harm this weekend.

Take care, folks.

Tags: gustav, hurricane, media, news coverage

Edouard schmedward

Posted by Dave | Filed under Personal, Science

It looks like Tropical Storm Edouard will hit Houston tomorrow around lunchtime.

All things considered, I think Edouard hitting Houston is much better than Edouard hitting New Orleans.  I think we can take the blow to the chin much easier than they can right now.

Tomorrow should be an interesting day.  If past performance is any indicator, the television media will do its best to whip the public into a frenzy of worry and panic.  Do we really need 3D spinning storm graphics pounding our TV screens in high definition?

We’ve stocked up on olives, vermouth and vodka – just like we did for Rita a couple years ago.

What are you doing to prepare for the storm?

Tags: edouard, hurricane, storm, weather

BMW concept car with cloth skin

Posted by Dave | Filed under Design, Science, Technology

Video link

GINA Light Visionary Model BMW concept car makes me appreciate design even more. Imagine how light and fuel efficient a car could be made without the additional weight of a steel skin wrapped around it.

The headlights make it look almost alive.

Seen on Neat-o-rama.

Tags: bmw, car, concept, Design, gina

Mars Phoenix has landed!

Posted by Dave | Filed under Science, Technology

I’ve been following the progress of the Mars Phoenix lander for a few days as is got closer and closer to Mars. I’m happy to report that is has landed safely on the north pole of Mars. It will eventually send photos, and data from ice core samples in an attempt to learn more about our mysterious red planet.

Congratulations to the ground crew and everyone involved. Nice work.

Learn more here:

UPDATE: Images from the lander here.
UPDATE 2: According to a NYTimes article Twitter’s @MarsPhoenixe is actually Veronica McGregor, news services managers at NASA’s JPL facility in CA.

Of course, the messages are not coming from Mars. Instead, Veronica McGregor, the news services manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., has been playing the part of Phoenix each night after she gets home from work, forwarding questions to the science team and then posting answers.

NASA mission site
Follow mission updates on Twitter
Wikipedia entry on the Mars Phoenix

Tags: jpl, mars phoenix, marsphoenix, nasa

Temperature sensitive paint

Posted by Dave | Filed under Design, Science, Uncategorized

French scientists are testing temperature sensitive paint for use on the highways as a visual warning for drivers in icy conditions

A new temperature-sensitive varnish developed by researchers at French company Eurovia can be applied to road surfaces to warn drivers about dangerous conditions. The technique – still at the testing stage – might help prevent ice-related traffic accidents in future, the researchers say.
Full article.

I love ideas like this. So simple, yet brilliant. This will likely save lives if used in climates conducive to black-ice.

(Via Reaction)

Arthur C. Clarke: RIP 1917 – 2008

Posted by Dave | Filed under Communication, Science, Writing

Award-winning science fiction author, Arthur C. Clarke, passed away in his home in Sri Lanka today.

From Bloomberg

The author, scientist, space expert and underwater diver was one of the most prolific and renowned science-fiction writers, publishing more than 30 novels, at least 13 short-story collections and 28 works of non-fiction. He was honored with a British knighthood in 2000, and his work inspired the names of some spacecraft, an asteroid and even a species of dinosaur. “2001: A Space Odyssey” was adapted in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film of the same name.

Clarke’s visions of the future took form in geostationary satellites, which some credit as a blueprint for modern-day communication methods. In 1945, he set out his ideas in an article, “Extra-Terrestrial Relays,” published in the Wireless World magazine.

The next time you hear Also sprach Zarathustra, by Richard Strauss, think of Sir Arthur looking down on us and saying “My God, it’s full of stars.”

Sir Arthur’s last public comments on his 90th birthday (Youtube video).

- Dave