Hey...

All of the work that's happening these days has the character of a giant inhalation. Meeting volunteers, planning, choosing major components... it's often frustrating, feeling more like management than doing a real project. But we're establishing the directions and resources that will carry us through the next year or two, so it's time well spent! Soon we get our hands dirty, honest....
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to:

--> Andrea Woo... for office help on 10/24 -- in a couple of hours, we transferred most of the desk surface clutter to the filing system, in the progress having a number of conversations about Microship components and business. Another two or three sessions should get rid of the boxes of manufacturer's literature, and then hopefully we can keep it current on a daily basis.

--> Frank Araullo... for starting the archiving project of these reports. July and August are now in hardcopy, and I handed him all the rest in the form of an ftp'd Eudora folder. What this translates into is a resource that you folks should consider available: both online and hardcopy archives of detailed project information.

This should be browsed by all newcomers, studied where appropriate, and grepped as needed for specific data on available library resources or subsystem background. We'll probably put this in the ftp server, though I'm still wondering just how public I want this level of detail to be... at the moment I'm trying to restrict the close-up view to this invitation-only mailing list and not reveal all my sources and noodlings to the world at large.

--> Dave Yao... for starting the Linear Recumbent project 10/25. He trued the rear wheel and is in the process of assembling the bike for a test ride: we'll decide whether it should be integrated as a unit into one of the outriggers, or returned/sold and replaced by a simple integrated pedal-generator system. The wheel is a cheapie -- alloy spoke nipples, some already in poor shape. If we DO use the bike, the weels will have to be replaced with all-stainless components. I'm worried about corrosion, and this may be what kills the Linear idea... but we'll experiment first!
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KAYAK UPDATE
Speaking of the kayaks, I spoke today with Current Designs in Sidney, British Columbia, requesting just the hulls of two Libra doubles, in kevlar hybrid layup with core mat stiffener. He may charge us for materials, but is willing to help -- the reason for the hull-only approach is that the amas are going to be extensively customized with special deck fixtures, oddly-placed bulkheads, wiring, thruster mounts, high-strength couplings to crossarms, submersible cockpits, raised cowlings for pedaling clearance, and deeper-than-normal flotation compartments. Trying to do all this remotely is impossible... but developing kayak hulls from scratch is absurd when it has already been done well. This approach satisfies both issues. If this flies, he'll ship them with a flange bonded along the normal hull-deck seam, stiffening the otherwise fragile 22' shells and giving us something to bond our custom deck to.
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!!! MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT !!!

OK, I'm going to make a big decision here! I've decided NOT to attend this years Hacker's Conference in Lake Tahoe <tremulous sigh>, just so I can be here with you (I'm laying on the guilt... be there! ;-). We will have our first meeting/party of all Microship project participants on November 6, from noon until 2 PM or whenever, on the patio right outside my lab/office.

This will be informal -- I'll probably talk a bit and try to develop a few initial teams, but mostly it's a chance for us to get to know each other and brainstorm. There's a very wide range of backgrounds and personalities here, and we need to hang out for a while and see how it feels... while also establishing intial connections and talking through some of the design issues. Also, this is a chance for anyone who has not seen the bike, boat mockups, and other stuff to do so.

I need a few people to organize this: the following tasks need to be accomplished:

-- help me clean up and organize the lab -- buy a box of those stupid "Hello, My Name Is" stickers -- pick up a couple of folding tables from Seaweed Canyon (and one from the home of a friend I loaned one to) -- figure out how many people will be here (by sending an RSVP note & some calls) -- acquire appropriate snacks, real food, coffee, drinks, etc. -- take care of collecting a few bucks apiece to cover food expense -- work with me to record attendance, alliances, and ideas -- take video footage of this Historic Event for Microship documentary -- make sure there are no rules or policies that affect such an event -- help clean up afterwards

Please let me know ASAP if you are interested in running this, helping with it, or running errands.
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CDT LIST

Finally, in what is rapidly becoming a standard feature of these reports, here's the list of Clearly-Defined Tasks in need of volunteers:

--> Buy a scale to help with the table of weights that Nelson/Marek needs to proceed with hull design. Cheap, reasonably accurate, and good for up to 30 pounds or so -- I have a postage scale for little stuff up to 2 pounds.

--> Go into the FTP server and update the READ-ME files, install the 3 or 4 recent Nomadness Notes to bring it up to date, and help establish a structure for new Microship material.

--> Extract old waypoint data from Motorola GPS nav receiver into a text file (about 1 hour).

--> CD organization (OK, so this isn't PURELY a Microship project, but hey, you can listen to whatever you want while doing it... and we need to have the lab music library in a useful and accessible form since that's what will keep us sane as we get to work here...)

--> Order or pickup coaxial cable kits from West Marine, to replace the two 50-foot lengths swiped by the construction crew at the old bookstore during the notorious Microship Lab Attack of August 9. University Facilities has agreed to pay for their replacement:
1) 386284 kit (RG8) $37.50 1) 386268 kit (RG58) $28.50

--> Order or pickup strobe light to replace one that suffered the same fate. To be useful, this will take a little more research: legalities, packaging, power, weight. If you want to learn a little about marine safety lighting, let me know and I'll turn this one over to you.
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LITERATURE RECEIVED
Ocean Navigator, Nov/Dec 93, with articles on weather, fog, trigonometry of navigation, meteors, charting errors, new refrigeration methods, and countless interesting tidbits.
CADENCE (AutoCAD magazine), Nov 93.