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I got an email Saturday 9am on Dorkbot saying that SRL is going to have a few machines at some River Town Revival thing in Petaluma. I grabbed my things and went right up there.

Coolness abounded.
* I missed the art-boat race but saw some nice vehicles: a sea monster thing, a hand-made row boat, a giant floating wicker basket.
* Saw an artist’s terrific rusted mini submarine
* “Experience the Black Hole” had this spiraling water flowing into a hole. I threw in a donation for it
Here is the view from the top of the Experience the Black Hole. :-)

Yes, that’s the Big Arm and Running Machine by SRL attacking a big glass sign with face shots of elderly people doing errr…. umm… things; suffice to say that the photos appear benign. Later the machines attacked a giant chicken; when the running machine choked the chicken mercilessly, everyone laughed and didn’t tell their children why.

I met up with Noah, a great student of mine from Crucible Youth Kinetics. And Jessie, Erik, and Trebor (who got me the happiest beer of the day!) We all went off to a great dinner in Petaluma.

A great day :-)

I just left voicemail on the BART comment and complaint line  510 464-7134:

Just north of the west Oakland Bart station there is some sidewalk construction going on. Pedestrians are blocked by a fence from crossing Center street. To avoid the fence pedestrians must walk east or west a very long block. Understandably, pedestrians instead choose to break down the fence and walk across the construction zone. It would be easy for Bart to make a safe crossing zone in a nearby area instead of allowing this unsafe crossing.

Please create a safe way to cross this construction zone.

We’ll see if the problem is fixed anytime soon.

This looks like it’ll be pretty nice. I’ve been watching them practice. Singers and dancers and flame throwers and contortionists and smithing oh my!

It’s going to be this Friday and Saturday at the Crucible in Oakland.

Bring a date!
http://www.thecrucible.org/events/heat-a-fire-cabaret

Short form: If you have an iphone 3g, do NOT get the new ios4 upgrade for your iphone. It’s MUCH slower and doesn’t add any features.

I’m building a list of iPhone ios4 stupidity. I wrote this all in a deadpan tone though I could have used a lot more exclamation marks and words like “stoopidly!” Here’s a start:

Most every app is much slower. For example, it now take 8 seconds to start the calendar, it used to take 4. Starting editing a note takes much longer. Etc…

It sometimes doesn’t detect my button pushes and sometimes mistakenly believes I have pushed a button.  (yes, it’s insane)

I initially did an “upgrade” install. After it the Notes app would sometimes (twice out of 5 or so attempts) lose the changes I made to a note. I then did a “new” install and haven’t has that problem again.

Scrolling email is now much more jerky.

It appears that now voicemails aren’t downloaded to the phone until I try to listen to them. Which causes delays in listening to voicemails

In the first 5 seconds or so of running Notes, Calendar and many other apps, a snapshot of what was on the screen last time it was run is displayed. Of course, it looks editable, but it’s not. You can click all you want but you’re just looking at a picture of the Calendar app, Notes, etc. Key presses are not recorded or registered because… well, you’re looking at a picture of an app, not an app!

Update: 7-15-10: At the suggestion of the Apple rep, I installed iTunes on a new computer. I then Restored my phone to it, making sure to rename the phone when asked. This has fixed the problem. My phone is now as fast as it ever was. :-)

Update 7-25-10: My phone has gotten slow again after the full restore. I just installed 4.0.1. Starting Calendar still takes 8 seconds, up from 3. Eff you Steve Jobs :-)

Centered just a mile or so west of Ocean Beach at 7:47am.

I was in bed and barely awake. The building shook a bit more than a building should generally shake when maybe a strong wind blows on it. I was groggy but it felt like just about 3 seconds of shaking.

Wee! I haven’t felt an earthquake in a few years. It’s good to know the earth is still alive… I hope it doesn’t rain down an 8.5 tomorrow.

Wow.

local version:

This happened at Lakehurst Naval Station, in the hangar that was the home of the Hindenberg et all.

An acquaintance of mine, Tito Jankowski has been working on an Open Source PCR machine with a friend. This is totally awesome stuff. It’s open source biotech! DIY Biology! When they’re done, you’ll be able to get an essential machine for examining and replicating DNA for $400 instead of the going price of such a machine, $4-10k.

Check out the video and description on their Kickstarter page.

At Maker Faire I caught the last bits of the OK Go show. The show wasn’t about the musical experience, it was about the awesome.

If you’re all about the awesome, watch the whole video.

If you have no patience, start watching at about 17:30

local version:

the byline:
h2oboy1 – May 23, 2010 – Behind the scenes at a live “underwater” OK GO concert from Maker Faire 2010, as seen through the eyes of the WaterBoy Performance Director, Marque Cornblatt. This is the first time the band has played music underwater, and they did it live at Maker Faire featuring “I Want You So Bad I Can’t Breathe” and “This Too Shall Pass.” Enjoy this frantic behind-the-scenes look at the making of a one-of-a-kind concert experience.

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And catch the Cracked.com Craption about Waterboy!

July 15-17 The Crucible is having a “Fire Cabaret”. I’ve been watching some of the dancing practice on my way to and from class. It looks like it’ll be pretty hot. And the other dance and such that’s lined up looks cool.

Check it out.
http://www.thecrucible.org/events/heat-a-fire-cabaret