How the lunar module evolved

Just a note to brag that the November 2007 issue of the British Interplanetary Society’s magazine Spaceflight: The Magazine of Astronautics and Outer Space features an article called “Grumman’s ambitious spider” about how Grumman tried to modify the Lunar Module to give it more flexibility and utility. The authors of this interesting article (which features cool illustrations) are Dwayne A. Day and some other guy named Glen Swanson. That second name sounds familiar…darn…can’t think of who he is.

BarCamp San Diego 2 this weekend

OK, this time I’m the one who’s out of the loop. :) This weekend (Nov 10-11), San Diego revisits its very own BarCamp, and it’s shaping up to be even better than the last. (Better except in one regard: I can’t attend this time around.)

Topics so far include Rails, Twitter, college, marketing 2.0, online storytelling, and blackjack. There’s even a Wii Bowling Tournament planned, so be sure to stop by. You won’t be disappointed.

nanowrimo update

As you can probably tell from the dearth of new material here, I’ve been a bit busy lately. I’d love to say I’m working on some exciting new project, but the truth is I’ve been sick, traveling, working, or combinations of the above. It has succeeded in making Jack a dull boy, so I’m going to take it a bit easier this November than I originally planned.

That’s right, no NaNoWriMo for me this year. Karen is still participating, and hopefully she’ll take some time to post occasional updates here (nudge nudge). I won’t be completely out of it, though. I’d like to edit a first (and possibly second) draft of my entry from last year and present it here for you to read by November 30th, a kind of NaNoEdMo if you will. We’ll see how that goes.

wildfires again

Karen, Ben and I are all safe. My work has been “prevacuated” and it’s kinda stinky in my neighborhood, but otherwise we’re unaffected. Lots of friends have been evacuated, though, and the sheriff says it’s going to get worse before it gets better. It’s odd to have victims listed at the medical center down the street, or an evacuation center set up at the stadium a few miles away.
In related news, the Red Cross has a good idea, the online Safe and Well list. Anyone in a disaster area (!) can list their name on the site, plus where they are (evac’d, with friends…) and how to contact them.

If you’re interested in ongoing (non-TV) coverage, there are updates at the cat dirt sez blog and at the San Diego Union-Tribune’s fire blog.

Nate Ritter has been twittering with live updates and posting photos to Flickr. KPBS is updating a Google Map with fire information, too.