Between the Lines

Friday Fun - Travel MacGyver Creates a Delta Margarita

I travel by air a fair amount of time over the years and have fancied myself a bit of a travel related MacGyver. The first real stroke of MacGyver’ness was using crushed Altoid mints rubbed in my mouth on my teeth with my clean fingers to brush my teeth and end up with a powerfully minty breath. This was to be used when you did not have your toothbrush or toothpaste handy and didn’t want to offend others with the long flight breath.

Now here is another one of my grand travel creations. This nugget came to me on a long flight. I didn’t have time to grab any of the horrible fast foods at the airport, and most flights today don’t serve meals in this day in age. I had to be resourceful to fashion something that was somewhat filling and healthy, or I could resort to cannibalism of the passengers unlucky enough to be seated near me. After being given packs of peanuts and pretzels, it hit me. Maybe it was the low blood sugar causing the crazed thoughts but I asked for a virgin Bloody Mary mix which is free when not ordered with alcohol. Now I had the spicy tomato base and then poured the peanuts and pretzels into the glass and stirred, not shaken. And voilà I had invented my own cold airline stew or what I call my Delta Airlines Margarita. It is even good with a good shot of Vodka if you feel the need.

Don’t knock it until you are starving on a flight as it is really quite good, as long as you eat the pretzels before they get soggy. The flight attendants have now started laughing as the word spreads of a mad man on some Delta flights eating Bloody Marys as a meal.

What crazy things have you come up with while traveling?

Happy Travels!
Shaan

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Security Tip on USB Thumb Drives

I know many of my friends are in Vegas this week for CES and thought I would point out one of the biggest threats to your computer and network, thumb drives. You see them at most trade shows or even just laying around in public like the one I found at the gym yesterday.

Many of the largest network compromises including governments, top secure military facilities, and even nuclear reactors have occurred because the bad guys have figured out people will grab these thumb drives (“sweet, free hardware”) and stick them into their machines without even a thought about it. The problem is some of the amazing free found USB thumb drives contain trojan software code that gets installed on your machine once inserted. After inserting a malicious USB thumb drive your machine and the security rights it has are provided to the malicious trojan thus the criminals or data stealing or damaging code can spread to your corporate and other networks.

You can even have a network breach/compromise without a target computer even connected to the web or network in a secure DMZ area by one person inserting that malicious thumb drive into a machine in that secure environment. I have seen at military bases where the USB ports on computers were actually epoxy glue filled so that nobody could insert any USB device.

Your USB port and Wi-Fi are two most insecure highways onto your computer besides executing unknown free software from the web.

Save yourself the potential problems and spend $15 for a thumb drive at the store, and always format before use. So just think when you see a free USB thumb drive sitting on a chair or on a table in public, it could be a big trap.

Be secure out there,

Shaan

Update: @Kitestyle_twit on Twitter pointed out one more good tip for mitigating the USB threat and that is disabling the autoplay setting on your computer. But the malicious USB could be placed in almost any computer, and not all will have autoplay disabled. Microsoft should disable it by default in a service pack.

 

USB Flash Drive Security from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_flash_drive_security

Self Sufficient Architecture and Construction

Myself and fellow Autodesk CTO office colleague Gonzalo Martinez were recently on an Octo Copter research project

(Capturing Ancient Remains in Kenya with a Remote Octo-Copter) on the remote Northern border of Kenya just 5 miles from Ethiopia which is about as far as you can get from civilization, and hot. I joked how to get there was to fly to the middle of nowhere on a small Cessna plane 5 hours, get in a Landrover and turn East drive four hours and that’s where we were.

One thing I observed which was amazing and resourceful, is that they are constructing some research and study buildings, schools, as well as medical facilities by the Turkana Basin Institute. Materials are an issue as it can take over 4-5 days by truck to get materials to the job site and they are expensive so people have learned to make most of their own from what they have available locally.

There are no home building supply stores to go buy cinderblocks like in many developed cities.

Instead they make their own including compacting, shaping, and the drying of the bricks.

They did not have any construction documents just some simple sketches created by Dr. Richard Leakey and frequent construction oversight by Dr. Louise Leakey.

The only things brought in were some raw materials and glass and rebar but the rest was created from local resources as was all the power from solar, wind and limited generators. Water was from stored rainwater or pumped deep down from a well and then reverse osmosis to remove the high levels of salt and fluorides.

It was amazing how well these buildings were constructed and the different construction methods in the blazing heat.

Under these difficult conditions and constraints, they manage to construct nice buildings using entirely local people.

They are the ultimate Makers creating amazing things from scrap materials they can find. I met Martin who had created a nice camera tripod using only scrap pieces of materials he was able to find. Martin is not even an engineer just a very smart local. The tripod worked as well as most commercial ones and was also customized so they could photograph ancient fossils and some from hominids our millions year old human ancestors.

So when you go to the building supply store or the construction site, just think of how some are self sufficient in materials and power and do not have access to most materials or equipment.

It was truly inspiring.
Shaan

Busy Week and Another Shoulder Surgery

The week started out in San Francisco with  some meetings then accompanying Dr. Louise Leakey of the Turkana Basin Institute and AfricanFossils.org speaking at Singularity University at the NASA Ames facility. I met many of the brightest young minds looking to change the lives of a billion people, as well as Ray Kurzweil and many other Silicon Valley icons including Autodesk’s own Jonathan Knowles.

Early today I head for the airport to Salt Lake City and another shoulder surgery in the morning, this time my left shoulder after having the right shoulder worked on in June.

 Then I am taking some well needed personal time off.

Cheers,
Shaan

Kenya Changed Me and I Will Never Be The Same

I recently was in in extremely Northern Kenya near the Ethiopian border on Lake Turkana for a few weeks with Dr. Louise Leakey, Deming Yang of Kenya National Museum, and my colleague Gonzalo Martinez for an Autodesk research project. It changed my perspective on the world, and life.

Some blog articles on the research project.

Capturing Ancient Remains in Kenya with a Remote Octo-Copter
Autodesk Octo-Copter Video of Kenya
Back from Kenya
I Kissed a Giraffe, and I Think I Liked It...
Never Sleep Near a Hyrax
3D Fossil Exploration in a Virtual Laboratory

Hover over images for descriptions of the photos.

    
The people of Northern Kenya need a helping hand to lift themselves out of the poverty and limited options of just goat herding. There could be the next brilliant engineer, architect or scientist, but they may never get the opportunity to fully live to their potential and make a difference in the world ort their local communicates. They need more than just being manual labor in their life. The proud and humble local people also need help in education so their only skill is not their hard backbreaking labor in a hot poverty and drought stricken area.

One quote from a Ethiopian tribal elder is forever stuck in my mind, he said through a translator through three languages looking at us in our clothes, with cameras, GPS, and a remote controlled copter “you have too much stuff in your life.” He was adorned in minimal traditional tribal clothing, a stick, and a round wood carving to lay his head on to sleep and can move his families shelter in minutes to a new location in search for food and water which they dig in the sand for by hand. They live as they did for thousands of years. Just imagine if he had seen where we  live and our homes and all the stuff in them.

These people are extremely resourceful given little materials and I called them the “Ultimate Makers.” In remote regions there are no stores or Home Depots or 3D printers. They find scrap materials, and build what they need. Simply amazing ingenuity and they are really smart.

If I had no obligations in my life, I would dedicate my life to building schools and helping provide a better life for the amazing people and children. Typically only one child per family can go to a cinder block school where they might get some food, but are starving for education and have nothing but old ragged clothes and ancient books. Their siblings sit across the road some without any clothes hoping their brother or sister would pass on the knowledge they learned that day. Some walk 6 hours each way to attend school for an hour of education. We visited two schools while there to tell them they can do and be anything..They need more opportunities and schools and volunteers. It would be amazing to get Khan academy involved in helping educate these children as well as more schools and supplies, even clothes.

You don't have any idea how well we have it compared to some people around the world. Comparing the education in the US and those in Kenya is a great divide as the Kenyans want to learn and don't complain about school conditions, teachers, locker size, homework etc. The Kenyan students attend regardless of all the obstacles and challenges in their life, and they appreciate it and see it as a real opportunity to change their lives and people. The young Kenyan students lucky enough to go to school will walk miles barefoot in hot sand and thorns and perjhaps a scorpion or venomous snake along the way to get to their small cinder block school with no fans or AC just so they can get an education, but I am not sure how many in US or Western world have the same passion for school even though they have so many more opportunities.

If I do one thing that makes me feel like a difference in my life to make a better world besides building my beautiful family and career, I will do everything I can to help the people I met in Northern Kenya and people less fortunate elsewhere around the world. An internal fire has been lit in me.

I am forever thankful for Dr. Louise Leakey for opening my heart and eyes to the world far away and Autodesk for allowing me to participate in the Octo Copter research project in remote Northern Kenya where most people never go. Autodesk is a company known for design, visualization software, technology, and services.

Sincere gratitude to my management and people like Carl Bass, Jeff Kowalski, Amar Hanspal, Brian Mathews, Jon Pittman, and of course the Turkana Basin Institute’s Dr. Louise Leakey who made it all possible for taking our Octo-Copter for testing in remote Northern Kenya. You have forever changed me and given me the goal and fire to do something.

Autodesk is not just about selling software or making profits, but have a very active philanthropic program to Build a Better World. Autodesk is a company with a big heart. We at Autodesk are not just a corporation, but people that really truly care about our world, environment, and its people.

I challenge everyone to try and make a difference to someone else they meet less fortunate to gain an education.

Sincerely,
Shaan

Autodesk Octo-Copter Video of Kenya

Last month myself and Gonzales Martinez spent a few weeks in Kenya with Dr, Louise Leakey of the Turkana Basin Institute and Yang Deming of the National Museum of Kenya. We were researching several aspects of aerial photography and from a remote controlled copter to not only capture video and photos by map and locate areas of interest for fossil artifacts. We were in the Northern most part of Kenya in the Lake Turkana basin where the earliest evidence of man has been discovered over the years including several skulls dating back millions of years. Gonzalo has taken some of our video from both my camera and the onboard Octo-Copter video as well as photos and posted the video for everyone to enjoy.

Autodesk Octo-copter aerial video of flying in Northern Turkana region of Kenya. http://youtu.be/KvhJu6b0gug?hd=1

Cheers,
Shaan

Never Sleep Near a Hyrax

Recently while in Kenya I found out what a Hyrax is, and why they are evil and not to be slept near. A Hyrax is a small rodent looking thing that is actually related to the elephant with little small tusks.

Now here is why I call these cute unique animals evil, they have a tendency to scream at about 160 decibels from 10pm to 5am sounding like someone is being murdered. I did not get any sleep the two nights I had one near where I was sleeping. These critters were more alarming than lions roaring, hyenas evil laughing or jackals barking in Kenya at night.

So I present for your listening displeasure my iPhone recording of the Hyrax at 2am. I wanted to make him into a nice spicy little stew.
Hyrax in Kenya at 2am.mp3

(photo credit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyrax)

I Kissed a Giraffe, and I Think I Liked It...

I recently spent a couple weeks in Kenya mostly working from sunup to sundown with Dr. Louise Leakey of the Turkana Basin Institute, Deming Yang of the National Museums of Kenya and my colleague Gonzalo Martinez.of Autodesk. I thought I might share a fun photo with you from the Giraffe Centre located just outside Nairobi Kenya before our research work in Northern Kenya began.

So here is me taking a big wet kiss from a rare female Rothschild Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi.)

http://flic.kr/p/cd41a7

Trivia: Giraffes can have a 50cm (about 19-1/2”) long sandpaper textures tongue with a slimy grass flavored slime coating.

I am still awaiting the call from this Giraffe, but sadly she has not called me yet.

-Shaan

Back from Kenya

I arrived back home late Friday. To sum the trip up in one word “Amazing” would be appropriate. I will be posting more on what we did in Kenya and the experience including a couple crazy travel stories over the next couple of weeks. As I review and edit my 6000+ photos, I will be uploading some of them to my Flickr photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/btl/.

I did get to see wild lions, cobra, scorpions, rhino, crocodile, zebra, warthogs, mongoose, a giraffe (and kissed it) and so much more but we were not on safari or at club med. We worked every day sun up to sun down carrying heavy gear in some really hot weather and rough terrain and traveled some of the worst roads imaginable to do research on aerial imagery capture with the remote operated  Autodesk Octo-Copter.

Still battling some infections on my legs due to some thorn tree wounds and had two days of IV antibiotics to be safe that they did not get worse as well as dealing with the infamous jet-lag monster. So very glad to be home but I have so many stories to tell about amazing places and people.

Do I dare look in my email inbox…that’s more frightening than having a scorpion in your tent or a nile crocodile in the water you are swimming in.

Cheers,
Shaan

Capturing Ancient Remains in Kenya with a Remote Octo-Copter

Jambo!
Gonzalo Martinez and myself (Shaan Hurley) are currently in the extremely remote Turkana Basin of Kenya where many of the hominin fossils (our human ancestors) were found along with a great deal of other fossils and tools. We are researching aerial video and photo capture with Louise Leakey using a state of the art eight bladed remote copter mounted with lots of high tech equipment and cameras that we have named the Autodesk Octo-Copter for many exciting potential uses.

We hiked with all our copter and camera equipment to the Logatham Circle and Pillar site located to the West of Lake Turkana in Northern Kenya.

From the ground these ancient cycles constructed of stone look nice but from the air they take on a new dimension.

Preparing for flight.

And from the air!

Some of the other research flights we are trying to research how well we can see the rich fossils on the ground.

 

Here is a photo of the copter in a region today with several eroding faces with fossils. Here is a close up of a ancient crocodile jaw fragment.The fossils can be from the very small rodent, hominids, to giant hippo and elephant over 1 million years old.

Here are some more photos from this Kenya research trip.
  

   

Autodesk has been working with Louise Leakey, Turkana Basin Institute, and the National Museums of Kenya to document an amazing collection of fossils in 3D using Autodesk 123D Catch for display online at http://www.africanfossils.org. 
We are now exploring several more ways in which to capture data with the latest technology to help preserve ancient sites and fossils. In remote locations around the world sites, structures, and fossils records are being lost and finding ways to capture them digitally would change everything. Imagine all the downstream possibilities after you capture these one of a kind objects, you could share the digital geometry with a remote researcher to study across the world or even create a cardboard pattern or 3D print so school children could have a copy in their classroom rather than a picture in a book.

Introduction Video narrated by Louise Leakey:
Welcome to AfricanFossils.org

We have been living and working off the grid for quite sometime with only solar & wind power, rain water or wells and mostly local food and an Internet or cell phone connection occasional as a treat although some AC would be a really nice treat in the intense heat of the day. Finding a cold Tusker Lager is equally amazing when chilled to freezing and taking a deep breath and looking at the scenery and reflecting on the busy day. One of my favorite and necessary pieces of equipment in my backpack has been my GoalZero solar panels and batteries which give me plenty of juice for the laptops, receivers, cell phones, cameras, as well as last night using the GoalZero invertor we were able to use a soldering gun to repair connections on the copter. I charge the panels during the day with the abundant sun.

 

The people and region is absolutely stunning and add to that the capturing of ancient ruins and fossils from a location of the earliest human evolution where hominid fossils are being found. I am really trying to stay awake and doing something every single minute so I do not waste a minute in this amazing and remote part of Kenya.

As I am writing this blog post taking advantage of an Internet connection being available (rare), it is so hot today my machine has shutdown several times so now I have my laptop comfortably resting on an ice pack.

I leave you with a photo of my hat which had been snatched off my head by a thorny tree.Apparently the tree wanted me or the hat to stick around a little longer.

 

Amazing!

Cheers,
Shaan

Flying the Autodesk Octo-Copter in a very very very remote region of East Africa.

 

If you go to the middle of nowhere in East Africa, go North, and turn right, then drive another couple hours in the blazing heat, you will be where I am. Gonzalo Martinez and myself of Autodesk are capturing some of the most remote geography in Africa using a remote controlled eight bladed Octo-Copter. The photos and video are amazing as are the reaction from local nomadic tribe members when they see the copter fly by and they run to the river to see it and wonder what it is. It was an interesting language barrier experience to try to explain what it was, and what it does and that we can actually see like a bird from the copter. I am pretty sure they are convinced I am some sort of space alien. The Autodesk Octo-Copter is doing very well but heat and rough transport did cause a great deal of extra effort in repairs and adjustments and no way to get to a location to get repair parts as we had to solve the problems right here in the first field site.

 

Dealing with overheating equipment, tons of bugs of all shapes and sizes including malaria carrying mosquitos, absolutely amazing bird life, venomous scorpions and snakes like the small cobra found yesterday, sand, lack of much if any Internet access or a cell phone signal and only ~106 F. degrees and some humidity. Not getting much sleep with all the travel, work and heat. Living off the grid with solar energy and rain water. And Yes, I am loving it!

Now we have another sunset flight to prepare for as being located on the equator the sunset goes so very fast and the flood of bugs soon. The bugs can be so this it is raining bugs and your computer screen becomes unusable as it is quickly covered in bugs. 

Cheers,
Shaan

PS:
Was just told by my boss that Autodesk has a company policy to cover a single hump camel as transportation, not a double hump camel as I would have to cover the extra hump charge model..

Saved From Being Eaten By Wild Animals

Jambo!
(That’s “Hello” in Swahili)

I have posted to this blog regularly for over 8 years and even found remote connections to post to the blog even while in the deepest of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. Over the next couple of weeks I will be in a extremely remote region without any real connections other than voice satellite phone. To save me from having to stand in the middle of an open area to try to post a message at a very slow speed oer a satellite phone and looking like a fat juicy meal to a large carnivore, a few bloggers have graciously provided guest posts.The guest posts will go live over the time I am traveling.

A huge thank you to:

Brian Benton http://CAD-a-Blog.com
Robin Capper http://rcd.typepad.com/rcd/
RK McSwain http://cadpanacea.com/
Paul Munford http://cadsetterout.com/

I am traveling with a friend and decided that I don't really need to be fast enough to outrun a hyena, lion, or leopard, just be able outrun my friend.

There will be a great deal of stories and photos once I return.

Hakuna Matata!

(Hungry Lioness photo credit Flickr user digitalwallpapers)

Airline Humor – A Good Thing?

I thought I would share a travel related experience from this week.

In addition to being late for a flight, hungry, and creating the first Airline Stew, I had opportunities to hear multiple airline announcement styles.

First I know you are just dying to hear what this “Airline Stew” was. Well being hungry I pondered what would be the most filling free beverage to mix with the complimentary peanuts and pretzels. I decided to use virgin bloody mary mix which is essentially tomato juice with hot spices and mix that with the peanuts and pretzels into a pseudo stew. It was surprisingly filling and tasty.
As a traveler you have to be resourceful and MacGyver-like.

If you have flown on an airline you have no doubt heard (or ignored) the pre-flight safety announcements and demonstrations from the crew. The language is extremely important but usually the same content over and over. This week I had flown on multiple airlines. One airline followed the standard text while the other was relaxed and almost goofy perhaps to use humor to get your attention, make you relax, or just ad some fun. Lets call them Airline A and Airline B.

Airline A takes the standard just the facts safety demonstration and announcements. Sometimes these announcements are played on video like on Delta. Delta's In-flight Safety Video

The FAA required language is listed on Wikipedia Pre-flight safety demonstration

Now here is Airline B and their live safety demonstration and announcements.

“If you have an iPhone, iPod, and iPad we are impressed, but you must still turn them off now. That is spelled O F F - look it up in the dictionary, but don't Google it now.

If you do not turn off you phone and continue to text and talk we may have to return to the gate where the FAA will personally fine you $25,000 dollars. If you have that kind if money to spend you would have flown Delta.

In the event this flight becomes a cruise, please grab the flotation vest located under your butts.

If the cabin were to un-expectantly depressurize oxygen masks would drop from above. I said unexpected otherwise we would have called in sick today.

If the cabin fills with smoke, make your way to the nearest designated exit following the lighting on the floor. If a crew member approaches you naked please just ignore them.

The cabin lights are being dimmed, should you require light simply press the button with the light to turn it on. Pressing the button next to it with the picture of a flight attendant will not turn the flight attendant on.

Welcome to Salt Lake for those that Salt Lake is your final destination we welcome you, for those transferring to another airline - we don't care.

The aircraft has come to a stop at the gate - Now get out of here.”

Myself and many of the passengers were laughing but it had me thinking, was that the right tone for something so serious as safety, was it professional, did I pay more attention to the safety information. Perhaps some not used to humor or those that English is not their first language might be alarmed, insulted, or confused.

The adding of humor to these pre-flight safety instructions is not limited to US carriers.
Cebu Pacific FAs dancing
WestJet Funny Attendant & this one from WestJet

What do you think, should the business of safety instructions be a serious just the facts presentation or can it be made more relaxed and funny?

-Shaan

Pecos Conference 2011

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Pecos Conference 2011 in the forest at a campground near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. There was over 350 archeologist at the event and several papers presented. I had a table to show Autodesk Labs Project Photofly which can take photos from a standard digital camera and produce a 3D model in textured mesh as well as .LAS point clouds.

Once I started showing Photofly live the word spread literally among others at the conference. Soon many of the archeologist responsible for the largest parks, research, academia and archeological perseveration non profit groups and companies were coming up and asking for more details.
 

On Saturday and Sunday I did some hiking to capture some unique geological formations including the famous Wave on Coyote Butte North that you see in art as well as desktop wallpaper for both Windows and Apple OSX operating systems.

A 360 degree photo of the Wave taken with my iPhone.

http://360.io/dtJcKz

  

On the way home I entertained myself taking photos of the decoy traffic police which were mannequins in parked police vehicles on the sides of the roads in Kane County Utah. One decoy car in Kanab had a “I Love Plastic Donuts” bumper sticker. Since you never know the car they will be in, or where and if there will be a real officer in them or not they seemed to slow traffic to the speed limit in the small towns.

    

Thank you for all those that attended the Pecos Conference and stopped to see Project Photofly!

Cheers,
Shaan

An AutoCAD 2012 Nudge to Get Going after Vacation

Just returning from a week long vacation although you may have noticed in social media, the blog, and on email I failed in remaining disconnected during the week long wind down.

Here is the list of things I did over the course of the week off:

Spent quality time with the family including the July Fourth holiday and defended my house from all the newly legalized aerial fireworks coming in from other neighbors.

Mowed the lawn a few times, edged the yard, weeded the garden, spruced up the fish pond.

Climbed up Bells Canyon with my oldest son.

Hiked the San Rafael desert in South Eastern Utah photographing thousands of years old petroglyphs and pictographs.

Got my Google+ account, explored it and gave away several Google+ accounts, and still have a couple invites left to give out. Google+ is the new social networking hub for Google that combines Facebook and Twitter into one. Very interesting product but what I find best is the Hangout video chatting with up to 10 people. In fact I had a Hangout chat with Curt Moreno aka Kung Fu Drafter for an article he is wrinting. We need to hold a Hangout chat among 10 bloggers or geeks every two weeks and discuss what's going on out there and new technology.

Will Google+ succeed, only time will tell but in reality I did not need another social network to keep active in. It is definitely a work in progress and working on plumbing, API, and other network integrations completed. Perhaps the bigger question is will Google pull a Buzz or Wave (RIP) by not establishing this social network option clearly defined and unique and a standard worth peoples time instead of just another friend feed aggregator. How do I get my Facebook and Twitter photos and updates linked instead of posting by copy paste to each also how do I use my Flickr within Google+ Picasa instead of having to use another hosted photo solution just to use Google+.

Took many photos to process them to 3D models using the free Autodesk Project Photofly including interesting geology and ant hills as tests to create 3D models and point clouds.

Now I need a good caffeinated nudge to get me going and thought I would play on that with explaining the new AutoCAD 2012 Nudge feature as well as drinking a strong iced coffee.

In AutoCAD 2012 there was a new Nudge feature added. Some used to raster editing applications may recognize this Nudge ability, but AutoCAD users have always asked the AutoCAD Team why they could not move an object simply using their arrow keys. Well now you can do just that in AutoCAD 2012. Use the Ctrl key and the arrow key to nudge a selected object a few pixels at a time. Since it uses the arrow keys it is limited to orthogonal moves. Give Nudge a try!

Cheers,
Shaan

Spaced Out this Week

This week I will be in Florida on vacation attending the NASATweetup final launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery STS-133 on Thursday February 24th, 2011 at 4:40pm EST. I will be tweeting and posting photos from the launch pad 39A during the Rotating Service Structure retraction Wednesday night and the live launch from the turning basin location at Kennedy Space Center. Look for me near the famous countdown clock in any broadcasts of the launch including NASA TV Watch NASA TV.

I will be Tweeting, posting video and photos as much as possible from my @mrcadman account http://www.twitter.com/mrcadman.

MY Flickr NASA Photo Stream location: http://www.flickr.com/photos/btl/collections/72157626029382418/

STS-133 Mission page: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts133/index.html

Launch countdown milestones http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/news/133_countdown_milestones.html

Cheers,
Shaan

AutoCAD for Mac London Trip

The last couple weeks has been fast paced and exciting being able to finally discuss and show the new native AutoCAD for Mac. This week I have been in London for a few events with Apple and with Autodesk customers.  I love the reaction when people get their first taste of the new AutoCAD for Mac, they usually say something out of shock, then focus in and say how native the Mac Mac experience, but it is AutoCAD with the real native DWG.

Yesterday I met for lunch with Andrew and Hamesh of Styles & Wood in their part of London. Andrew has been using AutoCAD for Mac in a special beta program termed Alpha Gold where they agree to put the pre-release software in real production work with 24/7 assistance if needed by an AutoCAD team host. They were very excited and positive about their experience being able to use a native Mac version of AutoCAD.

Last night I met up with about 8 people at the worlds largest Apple Store Covent Garden for an AutoCAD for Mac Tweetup for Twitter users ( I am @mrcadman). I am sure many more would have attended had it not been such short notice and also a large ordeal to commute in London at 6PM. Many people said they wished they could attend but had other engagements or logistics prevented their attendance but asked for this type of opportuntity in the future to meetup and just talk and play.

Twitter Tweetup:

• Andrew Handley of Styles & Wood @reconfigured
• Marcello Martino @28_degrees
• Hamish Newling RIBA of Styles & Wood  www.stylesandwood.co.uk
• Paul Bray of Styles & Wood www.stylesandwood.co.uk
• Paul Munford @CadSetterOut
• Tom White www.tomwhite.me
• @Carrot_cad

@autodeskemea

We explored the store from the beautiful architecture to the many great Apple products. We climbed the spiral glass staircase to the top floor, then rode down in the all glass elevator. It was like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory tour and I was Charlie. Although I did not get to run the factory at the end of the tour and there were no Oompa-Loompas spotted, I had a great time. Oh well there is always another golden ticket in life to be had.

 

  

We finished up the evening in a Starbucks lounge playing with AutoCAD for Mac and AutoCAD WS on an iPhone and iPad. One funny unplanned event was there were two architecture students sitting in a table next too us that noticed we were using AutoCAD on a Mac. They were shocked and could not believe it. They were even more shocked when I told them as students they will get this free once it is released from http://students.autodesk.com. They were speechless and excited.

 

No evening in London is complete without bangers and mash (sausage and mashed potatoes, but everything seems to come with peas whether mushy or whole.

London is a great city architecturally, as well as the people in it. Even the taxis are unique, spotless, and the drivers polite and know exactly how to get to any part of town without driving around pretending to not be lost. Although the ride can be like a carnival like ride as I found out the other morning. We raced through town weaving though traffic as Abba music was blaring from the front of the taxi.

Today is planned for media events and then a blogger event at the Autodesk office for those that have submitted an RSVP.

Date: Wednesday 15 September
Time: 6pm-8pm

Venue:
Autodesk Ltd
Ingeni Building
5-17 Broadwick Street
London W1F 0DE

Tomorrow I leave London headed for Paris to catch my 11 hour flight back home.

Cheers,
Shaan

A Week Off

Autodesk is closed this week so I am trying to relax, unwind, and enjoy the time. For the past few days I have been hiking around Southern Utah from Capital Reef, to Escalante, and then over to Bryce Canyon. Southern Utah has my vote for the most amazing hiking and photogenic landscape region in the world. I am back home for a few days then off to the West desert of Utah for a family event and also hopefully find some cranky reptiles to photograph. Am I doing any work during the week off, yes but I am definitely trying to limit it.

Cheers,
Shaan

Weekend of Fun in the Sun

I will be out of the office from Thursday afternoon (April 8th, 2010) until next Tuesday. I am headed down to Tucson Arizona and points South for some hiking in the beautiful Sonoran desert. This is the time of the year when many wildflowers and cactus are blooming and the temperatures are not too hot. It is sadly also the last month that many Arizona parks will be open as many of the nicest parks in Arizona will be closing due to state budget shortfalls. 

   

My favorite/essential trekking tools are going with me.

• GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr Mini DPL900  I use this to geotag my photos location. This is the newest unit but I have used their hardware for years and love it. It takes the GPS tracks of the unit and matches up your photos time stamp to then reverse the location coordinates and even link into Google Map. There is nothing like being able to stamp the locations of all photos exactly where they were taken as my memory is not that good.
• Garmin eTrex Vista GPS unit. I use this unit for all of my navigation based on maps and specific GPS coordinates. I would never ever rely on a phone GPS to navigate anything especially where getting lost could be a deadly mistake.
• TopoFusion to create my maps and manage my GPS tracks or routes.
• Spot Satellite Messenger unit to provide a live update on where I am or send messages by satellite as well as activate an emergency rescue if needed.
• A snake hook. I love to photograph snakes and need my trusty snake hook for both the snakes and my safety and keep them at arms length.
• Last but not least or lightest I will have my camera gear to capture the visual memories.

I will be posting photos when I can in my Flickr photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/btl/ as well as posting from my Twitter account @mrcadman when there is a cell signal.

My main goal is to photograph as much of the blooms, snakes, scorpions, and landscapes I can as well as clear the mind and get some good outdoor exercise.

Cheers,
Shaan

Headed to San Francisco for an Autodesk Event

Today I travel from snow covered Utah to the warmer weather of San Francisco California.to attend a special Autodesk event on Thursday March 25th, 2010.

If you would like to attend the webcast of this special event you can sign up at: http://www.autodesk.com/webcast.

Best Regards,
Shaan
Twitter @mrcadman

I am in San Francisco Next Week

I will be in San Francisco California from Tuesday January 19th, 2010 until the following Saturday late morning. I have limited time but wanted to see if anyone Autodesk employees or customers are interested in a coffee and chat sometime during next week in the San Francisco Bay Area. Email Me.

C'mon lets pick each others brains over a coffee!
 

Cheers,
Shaan

Columbus, Montreal, and Edmonton this Week, "Stay Thirsty My Friends"

It has been a busy week of events for the See the Difference with AutoCAD 2010 Tour. We started the week in Columbus Ohio, Montreal Quebec, and then snowy cold Edmonton Alberta.  Next week I will be in Boston and Washington DC and hope to see you there.

Sign Up for the See the Difference with AutoCAD 2010 Tour.

Tuesday October 20 Boston, MA 

Thursday October 22 Washington DC

While spending so much time in an airport or staring at the back of a airplane seat is not exciting, it is all worth it to meet customers and hearing what they like and don't like about our products. I  was wearing a pink shirt in support of Breast Cancer Awareness month at the events as was colleague Lynn Allen.

 

AutoCAD Tip:
Want to Move, Copy, and Scale multiple objects in AutoCAD? Try the AutoCAD Express Tool command MOCORO.

Odds & Ends

Some of the taste bud highlights from last weeks tour was the famous Graeters Ice Cream in Columbus and Molson’s Rickards Red Draft in Canada. I also replenished my stash of Canadian candies such as the Nestle Smarties and Aero bars.

Delta Airlines now has speedy WiFi on most flights! I love Delta.

Has anyone else noticed since the baggage fees started on airlines the dramatic rise in the size of bags being attempted to be carried onboard with passengers causing delays in flight departures?

If I were in airline marketing, I would see that any person identified as a frequent flier from another airline would get special attention on my airline's flights. I would make it my business to know who the passengers were on each flight and give a heads up to the flight crew. Opportunity walks and talks.

I have now been asked twice if I was the guy from the Dos Equis beer commercial. Must be my grey beard. I don't really look like this guy other than the gray hair and I am certainly not “the most interesting guy in the world”.  It is odd as this is the third time I have been confused with a beer character.

The first was from a bottle of Rogue ale that was brought to AU 2006 by a customer to show me the likeness of me and the image on the bottle.  At that AU I found the real doppelganger for that beer image, it was AutoCAD Plant 3D team’s own Peter Quinn. Then there was that time I was confused with former Budweiser beer commercial star Spuds MacKenzie but that's another long story I will save until a later date.

Cheers,
Shaan

How About an Aztec Calendar in AutoCAD?

Occasionally I will do a crazy file to beat an AutoCAD feature into submission or exercise boundary test cases and get rid of some energy. I had a little too much energy and fun last night. In this case it was Polylines and hatches. I finished this AutoCAD drawing at 4AM and not a single crash or performance hit.. Hatches are definitely improved in AutoCAD 2010 based products.

I obtained the rough geometry from a postscript file that was generated from an actual Aztec sunstone photo. I might as well have re-drawn from scratch as I had to edit all the geometry and then had to do all the hatching. I don't think I could have done this with any other product either illustration or CAD and so efficiently. I could also take this and make a 3D drawing and use the AutoCAD 2010 Feature to Print 3D to a physical object. Looks pretty cool to me. The original is a carving into a stone but, my version I did it as an inlaid wood style sculpture. When I really got into the geometry I was amazed at the complex geometry and creativity of this Aztec piece all while having a function of determining and tracking dates in Mexico and Central America.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/btl/3979126861/

“Xiuhpohualliis the Aztec year (xiuhitl) count (pohualli). One solar year consists of 360 named days and 5 nameless (nemontemi). The year was broken into 18 periods of twenty days each, sometimes compared to the Julian month”. 

~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_calendar.

Apparently the Aztecs have been to the Autodesk University and over indulged in the AUGI Beer Bust.

Just doing final packing and preparation for the start of the See the Difference with AutoCAD 2010 Tour. I will be traveling to warm Orlando Florida tomorrow and presenting there on Tuesday.

Cheers,
Shaan

AU Shutterbug Tour 2009 Update and Signup Form

This fun event will be held again this year. We will be exploring and photographing the scenic  and colorful Southern Nevada desert such as:

•  Red Rock Canyon,

• Valley of Fire

• The new Colorado River bridge. Hoover Dam Bypass on US Highway 93

• Lake Mead

• Hoover Dam

• and other possible locations such as Death Valley and Zion National Park.

I have setup up an online form to gather interested people. This will be a free event but there will be a request to pitch in to those driving fellow shutterbugs for fuel and any tolls.

 

Sign Up Form

Hope to see you at Autodesk University in 99 days!
Shaan

Calling India & Turkey

On June 15th I will be taking a 6 week sabbatical. With so many United Airlines frequent flier miles to use before the end of the year since I no longer fly them I am looking for ideas.

INDIA:
I know I have a large readership from India so please post your suggestions in the comments on locations and why that location. Are their local Autodesk customer groups and students there that I can also meet with as I love talking with students and also customers from all parts of the world. Yes shocking I get time off and still take work with me.

I want to do short backpacking trips around on the cheap but the main purpose of getting off the beaten path seeing the true country, people, and the nature and wildlife like snakes and scorpions and birds most never see. I want to capture some great memorable photos as well as meeting the people and sharing in their cultures and food and making more friends and making India look simply amazing in photographs each with a story..

I was thinking perhaps Delhi,Mumbai, Bangalore, Goa, Chennai, Hyderabad or . What are your thoughts?

Shukriya,
Shaan

TURKEY: 
I am also considering a trip in Istanbul Turkey to see my friends from the Daily AutoCAD Blog Erhan, Orhan, and Can.

çok teşekkür ederim
Shaan