Cool Augmented Reality with Pacube

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I've been following Pachube for a while now. They put out this video recently showing how Pachube data could be combined with augmented reality.

Imagine folks walking down the street with those augmented reality glyphs printed on their clothing. If you had the right camera setup, you could check out the data feeds represented by their t-shirts. I see a computer art project in the making....

Rubicon Misadventure

On our way out on the last day we got stuck behind this rig (above). I didn't have any pictures of it so I didn't include it in my original Rubicon post. The guy pictured above was stuck on Cadillac Hill. He only had 4wd high with no breaks. This is an example of how not to do the Rubicon. His engine (below) was held in with the yellow strap. The engine eventually shifted and the fan started hitting the radiator. Our guys helped jury rig it so it worked a bit. Notice the jack and the newer orange straps holding it together!

The guy was nice enough but he just wasn't nearly prepared enough for the trip. After a couple of hours we were able to get him to a wide spot in the trail so other folks could get by. On the Rubicon you can never be in a hurry.

Rubicon Trail Adventure

I just got back from five days of 4x4 action on the Rubicon Trail. We had our mobile tribe of Jeeps. The drivers were Jefe, Mark, Brent, Danny, Chris and Tom. I rode along with my cousin Mark in his classic Jeep CJ-8, pictured above. We started at Loon Lake on Thursday and ended with Cadillac Hill on Monday. The first night we camped at Buck Island and the rest of the time we were based at Rubicon Falls.

I met a lot of great folks along the way. Among others, our group included a factory worker with a Star Wars fetish, a university employee with a knack for welding, cryogenics lab (sperm bank) owners, a lawyer, an internet guy, a retired fireman, a Jeep and bicycle mechanic, a structural engineer, and a classical musician.

Offroading seems to have it's own vocabulary. Here are a few terms I learned along the way:

• rig: another term for your vehicle. "Nice rig, is that an '82 CJ?"
  
• flop: when a rig turns on it's side. "Get the wench, Brent had a flop."
• break: some kind of failure or breakdown. "Sherman had a break. Good thing Mark was nearby with his welder."
• stocker: someone driving a unmodified (stock) jeep. "Those stockers don't know what they're in for."
  
• lockers: device to lock your differential so the wheels spin together.
• open diff: an unlocked differential. "He couldn't make it over the rock because of the open diff."
  
• comfort shovel: shovel used when you need to do your business in the woods.
  
• Jethro: a hick or hillbilly type of person. Usually broken down in front of a group of rigs trying to make their way along the trail. "That Jetrhro is using a strap to hold his engine in."
  

The scenery is amazing and the challenges of getting vehicles through the trail keeps it interesting. There is driving skill involved but there's also an element of camaraderie that goes along with it. You need to be prepared, but you can't bring everything with you, so it's important to have a group of folks. When someone has a break or a flop, the group pulls together to help them out.

All in all we had a great time. I'm thinking I might just need to start looking around for my own Jeep.


Video of Mark making his way down Million Dollar Hill.


Brent and his flop near Buck Island. Thankfully no one was hurt.


It seems orange was the official Beguelin color for the day.

Ibis on Flume

First ride of the season.

Update: I took this shot yesterday on my way up. The weather was moody and I was glad I wore my warm biking shirt. I started at the home and made it to the Flume trail in about 70 minutes which is a good reference. Perhaps I can improve on that time over the season.

On the way back, around 4:15 p.m. it started to spit rain. Not enough to pull out the jacket, but it was close. Overall it was a great ride. I love the new Ibis. I found myself aiming for rocks just to try to test out the ride. On the way back down Tunnel Road I caught air a few times. Nice!

GitHub: You Know, For Code

I've been working with git, the source code control system, for about a year now. There are things I love about git and things I hate about it. Using GitHub is one of the things I love about it. Git was designed to work for very large distributed projects and teams. Building a social coding site around it makes a lot of sense.

I'm sure I'll post more on Git later. But for now I would recommend you check out GitHub if you're looking to learn more about the new hotness in source code control. You can see my public projects here: http://github.com/adamb

Does My Brain Look Fat?

In this strange article they are trying to get at the size limit for human brains, assuming brains were cooled like computer chips. Human brains are about 1.5 kg while the study points out that the thermal limits for mammalian brains (cooled like computer chips) are about 5 kg. They then point out that sperm whales have brains in the 9 kg range. Great, another thing to envy about sperm whales.

I guess the real take away is that mammalian brains are not cooled like computer chips. That explains the lack of ungainly heat sinks sticking out of our skulls. Probably a good thing, although it could make for a more interesting hat industry.

1 Rule for Weight Loss

I just saw this annoying advertisement. I don't know what they're selling, but here's the rule that really works: eat less and exercise.

The trick is getting yourself to follow that rule. In a previous blog post I shared what works for me. Skip the colon flush and just find a way to keep your intake less than the number of calories that you burn and you'll loose weight.