Thursday night – cool chips

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I had fun at work today.. .. mixed in with the regular work day. I had a very cool set of meetings down at Columbia University with my friends Paul, Bill and Ted. . I was down there to meet with my good friend Ken who’s been a prof there for the last 14 years.. One reason I was down there was to check in on Ken and his colleagues’ work on cool chip technologies.. but my real reason for gong down was to introduce Ken and his students to my friend Ted.. an ultra genius with superpowers in chip design.. I see one of my missions in life is to introduce people to Ted and visa versa..

Ken and his colleagues have been doing some very cool stuff in integrated magnetics and integrated piezoelectrics.. …We also got to hear about their work in biochips.. and that’s what impressed me the most. Ken’s group is doing stuff like interfacing chips to rat neurons and building tiny labs on a chip. It was amazing seeing the amazing stuff they were doing with our  and our competitors’ technology.. stuff i never knew was possible… like this chip… that moved tiny droplets of chemicals around using just switched  electric fields …

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Or this chip which used unbelievably tiny holes to measure the presence of specific organic molecules such as proteins..

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or this chip that detected the spread of chemical messengers a colony of bacteria uses to communicate…. What does a colony of bacteria have to communicate.. maybe its’ ‘the weather is fine down in this corner of the petri dish 🙂

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we also found time for some macroscopic science.. Ken slet both Ted and me sit in his brand new Chevy Volt.. He drives it to work everyday from Westchester on zero gallons of gas.. how cool is that. ?

 

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Seeing ken and his students was a great break from the routine..  I had pletny of time to think about what I’d seen today as I drove the 7 hours home after my flight was canceled due to weather. These chips that Ken and his group are making are paving the way to new ways to detect and treat diseases.. I love seeign how technology can effect the world like that..

 

OK.. time to sleep.. more tomorrow

 

nite all, nite sam

-me

 

ps. no trip to NYC is complete without a picture of a cockroach..

 

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Wednesday afternoon – Rundspringen

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Busy day here in NYC.. I had a very interesting set of work  meetings this morning at our 590 Madison Ave building. I spent the rest of the day doing my normal stuff from the guest offices here..  Very productive.. but I just can’t hack cubicle life.. I’m too loud…

I’m staying comfortably with my friend David. he has a great place just down the street from IBM. He’s graciously letting me stay here. It’s really fun hanging out with him.. We’re off to a Greek restaurant in a few minutes..   sounds good.. i look forward to navigating the city to get there.

One of the cool things about traveling is the opportunity to ‘dip my toe in the onrushing stream of culture ‘ (as friend Rob would always say). That means things like seeing billoards, riding on trains, eating on the street, people watching, etc..It also means watching TV>. which is something I never get to do in VT.. we don’t have it at home.   .. On the way down I saw a show about the Amish.. on National Geographic channel. .. The first segment was on Amish weddings. The show portrayed their lifestyle as simple and appealing. It was followed by a segment on the Amish practice of Rundspringen.. Amish is a bit like low German.. so I’d make that to be something like ‘jumping around’   The idea is the Amish youth are encouraged to go out in the world and look around and then consciously decide to rejoin the faith forever. From what I gathered.. this generally happens around age 16.. some kids head off to cities.. they try drugs alcohol.. maybe sex (the show sidestepped that).. some decide to stay in the ‘English’ world (as they call it ). Most decide to come back to the simpler lifestyle they’ve always known. The camera followed a bunch of Amish kids on their  Rundspringen.. Or some reason the scenes of chaos, noise, temptation, fun, stress delight  and sensory overload are exactly what it feels like for me to walk around Manhattan..   (well.. except none of it looks too tempting to me)

 

Maybe those of us lucky enough to live in the soft green Oz of Vermont need to send our kids on a Rundspringen of their own.. Go try and lieve elsewhere and decide..  I wonder if they would come back..    Would I want them all  too ?

I guess Max is my test case 🙂

 

nite all, nite sam

-me

 

Tuesday night – blessed be

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happy solstice. everybody
this. is the longest day of the. year ….. and. it sure. feels. like. it
I’m blogging tonight. from a Manhattan. bound. L train
… on my way to meet Max am his Ff Jack.  I’ve got 2 days of meetings here. that I’m. actually. looking forward. to.
    in the old days people would take off their clothes. and. dress in animal disguises. dance. around a fire. then go mate in the woods

just. like any evening. in NYC

I do want to send true solstice wishes. to my  pagan friends

I hope it’s a peaceful and fertile. time for us all.

blessed be everyone ..blessed. be Sam
-me

Sent from Lotus Traveler

Monday night -change of seasons

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What a beautiful bluebird day today.. A perfect day for the end of season lacrosse picnic. Gabe had a very good season.. he played hard and got improved through the season.. I never thought I’d be a sports dad…but here I am !

Out thanks to the coaches for making this so muhc fun for all the boys..!


As thelacross season winds down.. so does Sring.. tonight is the last night of Spring.. Tecnnically the solstice is not until tomorrow..but I hope you all have plans to run around naked in the woods or soemthing to celibrate the longest day and shortest night..

 

Speakign os seasons changing.. I came home hungry.. (no veggie food for lacrosse players I guess 🙂 I saw chips and salsa on the counter just calling my name. I took a big bite and almost lost my lunch… (wait.. I ddin’t eat lunch eatiehr).. The bottle said ‘Pace’.. my brand of slasa for nearly 40 years…. but this… this…… this had pineapple in it .. Pineapple..! I can’t beleive my beloved hotsauce hommies would ever fall to such a passing trend..

 

Some seasons were just not meant to change..

 

Nite all, nite sam

-me