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Do you know where the widest street in the world is? The flag above is a hint.
This past week, I was reminded that I've actually seen it, and had to cross it twice as a pedestrian. Select the .kmz file below to have Google Earth take you there.
It's the holidays, when we should all be thinking of family and friends, and treating each other decently. What better time for me to share my next in a series of travel tips for those of you who have to fly to get home for the holidays.
I have observed that there is something about the baggage carousel that brings out the obsessive compulsive in many of my fellow travelers. Why is it that when that thing starts spinning, all rules of common decency, not to mention the Marquis of Queensbury rules, go right out the window?
I have been pushed out of the way by little old ladies desperate to get what they think is their bag. I'm not kidding! Then, this otherwise docile woman asks me to help her lift the thing off of the carousel. I do so—I'm old school—but I desperately want to remind her that I cannot help her because she has just broken both my knees when she pushed me out of her way. Oftentimes after I hand crazy people their bags, they realize it's not theirs, and ask me to put it back on the carousel. I do so—I'm still old school. Actually, I want to beat granny over the head with a tire, but it's the holidays, so I refrain.
This phenomenon is not limited to the old. I've had the same experience with small Asian men, young kids, pretty girls...you name it.
I highly recommend, for your own personal safety, to stick with me. I'll be in the back with the sane people waiting for the feeding frenzy to subside. It's either that, or I'll be braking out a stun gun or cattle prod to shoo the crazies away from my knees.
Happy Holidays!
Guillermo Melantoni and I on Easter Island
I have received a lot of questions about the Autodesk Easter Island Project.
A word to my archaeological and academic friends...please bear with me regarding my interpretation of the history of the island. I'm still learning!
I still get asked a lot how to copy a surface with Civil 3D. This is a really important step to become familiar with prior to pasting surfaces together. So here's how:
My friend Cathy Wagenaar in the K-TEK booth, and my favorite new gadget at right—the Leica HDS 3000 Laser Scanner in the Leica booth.
Were you one of the almost 10,000 people there? This year I taught a few classes, took a few classes, reconnected with many old friends, and made many new ones.
I am embarrassed to tell you that I did not make even a single post or take even one photo at AU this year. Why? My dance card was much too full. It's a lame excuse, but it's the only one I've got.
This was my 12th AU—I think. I can't remember what year was my first...I'm getting old, don't you know.
It is still difficult for me to decide what aspect I like best about AU. The classes are second to none of course—but the networking is priceless. The social events in the evenings are always great as well. At the risk of sounding like a politician, I like them all.
Here are some good links to AU blogs, photos, webcasts, etc. by some friends and coworkers who found the time to snap a few photos and document the experience.
See you at AU 2008!
My friend Robin Capper in New Zealand sent me this in response to my last post. It is from Biologist Lynn Margulis.
"The Gaia hypothesis is a biological idea, but it's not human-centered. Those who want Gaia to be an Earth goddess for a cuddly, furry human environment find no solace in it. They tend to be critical or to misunderstand. They can buy into the theory only by misinterpreting it. Some critics are worried that the Gaia hypothesis says the environment will respond to any insults done to it and the natural systems will take care of the problems. This, they maintain, gives industries a license to pollute. Yes, Gaia will take care of itself; yes, environmental excesses will be ameliorated, but it's likely that such restoration of the environment will occur in a world devoid of people."
As you know, Autodesk is very serious about promoting sustainable design. Regardless of how you feel about global warming or the environment, it is clear that employing sustainable (a.k.a. green) design practices simply makes good sense. At present, there are 6.6 billion of us on the planet. Conservative projections put the world population at 9 billion by 2042.
I know, I know, it seems somewhat hypocritical for a guy who has spent his career "paving the whales" (sorry, an old, and not very good civil engineering joke) to start promoting this issue. Actually, I have considered myself fairly "green" since day one of the very first geology class I took in college back in 1981.
The professor started off with a few ground rules. The first had to do with evolution/creationism (I won't touch that one). Second (and this was the part that hooked me), he said, "For those of you pro-environment types, let me correct you on one key fallacy in your argument. We are NOT killing the planet. Throughout its 4.5 billion year history, the planet has been through cataclysms you can't even imagine. Several mass extinctions where 98% of all life was exterminated, meteor impacts, volcanic eruptions, climate change, magnetic pole reversals, etc. and recovered from all of it." "So", he concluded, "we are NOT killing the planet—the planet will be just fine. We're killing ourselves."
Good stuff, eh?
Fortunately, sustainable design has gone from trend to necessity and I'm happy to report, it is actually proving to be a really good investment from a business standpoint. Here are three stories about Autodesk customers who are doing the smart thing, the right thing . . . and prospering.
