http://www.flyingcircuits.com Welcome to Mike Grusin's Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:54:06 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en My first space "work" was with, what was back then, large-scale DRAM memory chips.  (By "large" I'm talking 4096 bits per chip; this was the very beginning of the personal computer revolution.  You kids get off my lawn!)  Shrinking the circuitry was increasing the capacity of these devices by leaps ... http://www.flyingcircuits.com/2009/10/08/dram-study-turns-assumptions-about-errors-upside-down-ars-technica/ Another X-Prize won!  Armadillo Aerospace is the first team to win the Lunar Lander Challenge (but the demonstration window is still open, and other teams could still share the prize money). One thing I really like about Armadillo is that from the beginning they've done their engineering in small increments, fixing ... http://www.flyingcircuits.com/2009/09/15/armadillo-aerospace-reaches-beta-with-a-large-bonus/ It's taken a while, but Haiku, an open-source project to replace an orphaned operating system called BeOS, has finally reached alpha stage.  To understand why this is exciting, you need to know a little history: BeOS was an extraordinary operating system available in the mid-90s.  Lean, modern, media-savvy, and blazingly fast, ... http://www.flyingcircuits.com/2009/09/14/haiku-reaches-alpha/ Things I will miss when I move away from Boulder Colorado: Driving on Cherryvale road, past the old house with the man on the porch who waves back at you, Peter's Pumpkin Patch, and fields with the Flatirons in the background and deer and hawks and late summer wildflowers. Being lucky enough ... http://www.flyingcircuits.com/2009/09/10/boulder-colorado/ So how did Steven Colbert get this picture of me kiteboarding?  I don't even remember that day (though it looks like I should have.) http://www.flyingcircuits.com/2009/06/08/23/ Administration changes are always times of upheaval at NASA.  A panel, led by former Lockheed-Martin CEO Norm Augustine, is currently (5/09) reviewing the state of NASA for president Obama. Mr. Augustine led a very similar review in 1990, and their report is interesting to read in light of the last 19 ... http://www.flyingcircuits.com/2009/05/26/history-repeating/ A surprisingly accurate assessment, found hidden at the end of an article about new gem-quality artificial diamonds and allegedly from an old Encyclopedia Britannica: "Of all domestic animals the cat is the most equivocal and suspicious. He is kept, not for any amiable qualities but purely with a view to banish ... http://www.flyingcircuits.com/2008/10/26/an-innate-malice/ Went to a memorial dinner for a friend tonight, Bill Nedell. I've only met a handful of people like him, a certified genius who wanted to change the world and had the talent and energy to do it. He loved flying, and loved life, and dove headfirst into ... http://www.flyingcircuits.com/2007/09/12/bill-nedell/ Since we're all storytellers at some level, I liked this list of Kurt Vonnegut's (1922 - 2007) rules for short stories: Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted. Give the reader at least one character he or ... http://www.flyingcircuits.com/2007/04/14/15/ I've had the honor this year of helping out Fairview High School with their entry in the FIRST Robotics Challenge, the Colbertron.  Every year the FIRST organization (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) announces a challenging new contest, and give teams of students just six weeks to build, ... http://www.flyingcircuits.com/2007/04/06/the-knights-of-colbert/