California days 1&2
Woke up at 6 and went to the airport. Got stopped by security because of all the metal snaps on my shorts- ohh well- flight left on time at 9(Central). Arrived in San Fransisco at 1:30(local 3:30 Central. Checked in with forum people at Airport, then got on bus for San Jose, and my hotel. Checked in, and changed into "relaxed professional". Went to dinner-chicken nothing special. Then i went to see the first of our guest speakers: Dr. Robert J. Full( Professor at UC Berkley). Wow is this guy cool. He studies the ways animals move and then applies those concepts to robotics, and other technology. He has a robot with legs that actual is mobile, and has developed a dry adhesive based on the fibers, on gecko toes. The gecko toe fibers are so small that they grip to a surface on the atomic level. Got back and went to the first of our tech talks- small group discussions on various tech stuff. Then got back to my room and went to bed- i had about 3.5 hours of sleep and it was now 11:30(LOCAL).
Woke up, got dressed, had a very disappointing breakfast, then went to guest speaker number 2: G. Scott Hubbard- the director of NASA's Ames Research Institute. He talked about the search for extra-terrestrial life, the US Mars exploration project and the 2 rovers we now have on Mars. He also talked about their plan to get a sample back from Mars- estimated cost 2 billion dollars, approximate yield 1 Kg WTF. Then went to visit UC Berkley. Talked to the dean of their engineering college, then went on to take a little tour. The tour was useless cause it was really just us wandering around campus for 45 minuets, Its a crazy little campus you walk across the street from the student union and BOOM your in the middle of peddler central- people trying to sell you everything. but it was cool. Came back, ate dinner, had a tech talk on some technology ethics stuff, was fun- played devil's advocate, but so did everyone else which was cool. Week looks like it will be fun to much stuff to list, but I will mention the name of an upcoming speaker: Kevin Mitnick- the president of Defensive Thinking, and a hacking legend.
Well i'm out for tonight I'll try to update every day or two. Looking forward to chit-chatting with all you when i get back.
Woke up, got dressed, had a very disappointing breakfast, then went to guest speaker number 2: G. Scott Hubbard- the director of NASA's Ames Research Institute. He talked about the search for extra-terrestrial life, the US Mars exploration project and the 2 rovers we now have on Mars. He also talked about their plan to get a sample back from Mars- estimated cost 2 billion dollars, approximate yield 1 Kg WTF. Then went to visit UC Berkley. Talked to the dean of their engineering college, then went on to take a little tour. The tour was useless cause it was really just us wandering around campus for 45 minuets, Its a crazy little campus you walk across the street from the student union and BOOM your in the middle of peddler central- people trying to sell you everything. but it was cool. Came back, ate dinner, had a tech talk on some technology ethics stuff, was fun- played devil's advocate, but so did everyone else which was cool. Week looks like it will be fun to much stuff to list, but I will mention the name of an upcoming speaker: Kevin Mitnick- the president of Defensive Thinking, and a hacking legend.
Well i'm out for tonight I'll try to update every day or two. Looking forward to chit-chatting with all you when i get back.