Make it a great Monday and watch out for Gators

What is infinite computing?

Sally needed some ideas for a blog post this week regarding how technology is changing for students in the design field. Here are some notes that I sent to her that I wanted to share with all you collectors of dad's nuggets.

When I started my business career in the early 80's, I remember the first time I saw a personal computer. It was made by IBM. It took four or five minutes to 'boot' up, making all kinds of clicking and clacking noises. The operating system was called MS DOS - Microsoft Disk Operating System. At the end of the boot up process, you had a beautiful green screen with one flashing character: '>'. From this flashing prompt you could type in commands (known as DOS commands) and your computer would do things for you. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs believed that we would eventually all have a 'personal computer' on our desks. Many people thought they were crazy. This was the beginning of a revolution. The beginning of a new way to work. A shift that only comes along about once every 30 years or so.

Introducing the next gigantic shift in the way we work. Introducing cloud, mobile and infinite computing. It has been a little more than 30 years since the personal computer revolution. Autodesk is leading the way in helping creators (designers, architects, engineers, artists) take advantage of the next great change in the way we work. I love this article from Autodesk CEO Carl Bass: We've reached infinity, so start creating.

Quoting from the article:

"We are on the verge of a revolution. It's a technological, social and cultural revolution called infinite computing. Infinite computing is the confluence of three trends: an exponential increase in available computing power; access to that power; and the precipitous fall in the cost of that power. Today, computing is the least expensive resource we can throw at a problem. And when one combines these trends with the scalability that we can now access via the cloud, we can deploy hundreds, even thousands, of computers to help solve the growing number of challenges we face as designers, engineers and artists today."

What an exciting time to be in the design field! A time when infinite computing power and access to powerful design software is available to everyone.

A sweet collection of affirmations from my girls on my big day

Happy 54th Birthday to G Page!!

Things we love about dad:

C:
1. "I love the way he has given so much of himself to be a great father and husband and always encourages us to be the best we can be."
2. "I appreciate that he always says the prayers or speeches in the family because he knows I don't like to."

S:
1. "I love how he is constantly encouraging all of us to reach our full potential and has provided such a great example of how to live a balanced life: spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally."
2. "I love how he keeps us informed through his blog about things that will help us succeed and how he relates the information to what we are interested in."

E:
1. "I love the way Dad puts so much time and passion into my golf game. The way he cares and allows me to learn and push myself the way that I want to is a quality not all golf Dad's have."
2. "I love that Dad is always level headed and has always been so easy to talk to.  It has taught me to be the same way and that has and will always help me in life."

L:
1. I love that dad is always pushing me to do my best in school, dance, and just being a good person.
2. I love that every night he still says my prayers with me and every morning before I get out of the car he says 'WASBAF' and 'FABSAW' to start and end my day in a great way.

WE LOVE YOU!

Project Pinnochio

Emily,

I thought about your Intro to Fashion class when someone shared this video with me. It is from Autodesk Labs, where we test new products and ideas.

Dad

Driverless cars

As I may have told you, I have been working with a group of product designers at Google who are working on the driverless car. This highly talented group works in what Google calls Google[x], their secret laboratory where they work on many other futuristic technologies. I was telling Lucy this morning that Google recently invested $258 million in a company called Uber. Uber is a car-hailing app that could potentially reinvent the way we get around, especially inside of large cities. Read this story to fully understand. Here is the last part of the article, which is what I find the most fascinating:

The real potential is for something quite different: ubiquitous taxis—summoned via smartphone or weird glasses—that are so cheap they make car ownership obsolete. That’s the kind of social and technological revolution that could justify the lofty valuation granted to Uber. It explains why the same company that’s invested in the technology to drive the cars is now investing in the technology to hail them. It’s a world in which algorithms for matching cabs with passengers and user interfaces for summoning taxis will become crucial elements of everyday transportation, the way gas stations and parking lots are today. 

Conversely—and this is why it’s important—we’re not going to need all these gas stations and parking lots.

In a world of ubiquitous cheap taxis, you don’t need nearly as many cars. Since not everyone commutes at the exact same time, any given car can shuttle several different people to work. And the average commuting vehicle can be small enough for a single passenger to sit in comfortably. This smaller number of smaller cars could get by with radically fewer parking spaces. A large share of vehicles would be in motion at any given time. And if there’s need to store excess cars somewhere during off-peak hours (to save energy, perhaps), they could congregate at a handful of peripheral lots. Ordinary homes, offices, and shopping centers wouldn’t need the vast fields of parking that are required by current law. By the same token, the main present-day impediments to electric cars—expense and range—would vanish.

Most trips, after all, are short. But the big problem with electric vehicles is that building a battery big enough for long trips is extremely expensive. In a world of vehicles for hire, this is easily solved—take light, cheap, short-range electric vehicles for the short-range trips that constitute the vast majority of driving. Save the internal combustion engines for the rare cases when they’re genuinely needed.

Cities based on cheap autonomous cabs would be much greener than today’s cities. Without the parking, they’d also be denser and more productive, but people wouldn’t have to sacrifice their large homes. It would be a true economic game-changer. But to get there we don’t just need the technology—we need the rules to allow it. Cars for hire, just like regular cars, need to be safe but shouldn’t face arbitrary numerical caps or other rules designed to repress competition. We need local transportation regulation to emphasize the needs of consumers, not producers, and to encourage innovation, not fear it.

From STEM to STEAM

This is really cool. I have recently been reading about something called "from STEM to STEAM". Here is the skinny. STEM is an acronym that refers to 21st century skills of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math - the STEM subjects. There is a movement transforming STEM to STEAM and guess what the 'A' stands for? Answer: Art & Design!

Check out this Website to get a better understanding. Also this from Autodesk in today's news. I am more convinced than ever that Sally and Emily's decision to pursue creative degrees will serve them well when they enter the job market. Sally, if you end up interviewing with Teach for America, you can find some great material from the STEAM movement to support why you would be a great hire.

25 years ago today!

What a journey!

Sept. 17, 1988 - Honeymoon in the Virgin Islands - Aspen, CO - June 1999 - Williamsburg, VA - Peyton Road- Apr. 1, 1992 - Sally Burke - Van Patton Family Reunion - Tennis by the river - June 1993 - To Nashville, TN - July 1993 - First Nags Head beach trip - Central Avenue House - Malcom Family Reunion - May 13, 1994 - Emily Page - Mar 13, 2000 - Lucelia May - Aug 2000 - Radley Run - General Lafayette - July 2002 - Austin, TX - Ravine Ridge House - ACC - Bridge Point Elem - Cedar Creek Elem - Hill Country Middle School - Chaparral Football- Westlake High School - Hyline - Dance - Golf - CRHP - Easy Street Renovation - UGA - SCAD - July 2013 - 20th Nags Head trip

 

Fall Schedules

(All times Central)

Sally @ UGA

Monday/Wednesday/Friday 
Advanced AutoCAD: 9:10-11:05
Black Diaspora Lit: 11:20-12:10

Tuesday/Thursday 
Senior Studio: 8:30-11:15
HACE: 11:30-12:45

Wednesday
Interior Finishes: 3:40-6:40

Emily @ SCAD

Monday/Wednesday 
Golf Practice: 10:00-12:00
Sewing Tech: 1:00-3:30
Intro to Fashion: 4:00-6:30

Tuesday/Thursday 
Golf Practice: 6:30-9:00
Life Drawing: 10:00-12:30

Friday
Coach Carter: 6:30

Lucy @ Hill Country and Dance Schedule

Monday - Friday (School): 9:00 - 4:00

Monday (Company): 6:00-8:45
Tuesday (Contemporary): 7:00-8:30
Wednesday (Ballet, Lyrical, Dancers Strength, Tap): 4:30-9:00
Thursday (Acro, Jumps/Turns, Jazz, Company): 5:00-8:30
Saturday (Ballet): 10:00-2:15

Great week in LA and San Fran

Sailing off of Marina Del Rey with my boss Patrick

Patrick grew up in Newport, Rhode Island - son of a Naval Admiral

While I work the bow of our ship, we ran into the world's largest privately owned Yacht

Luna, owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich

Would be spectacular if sun was out

Inside the Ferry

Commuting into city by Ferry

Tiburon to Market Street in 15 minutes. By car, allow 90 minutes. Autodesk offices less than five minute walk from the Ferry Building. Hosting SCAD execs at The Gallery today. http://usa.autodesk.com/gallery/

Sent from my iPhone

Uncle Ricky and Rick - watching eBug play in Spartanburg

Spontaneous sailing with Patrick in LA

Fun way to wind down a full day of travel and business!

Make it a great Monday girls

Dad off to LA and then San Francisco again. e-Bug sporting new golf attire in Spartanburg, SC. Goose dancing hard and king of the pit. Sal Pal trying to recover from big Bulldog victory. Mom holding down the fort in Austin. Love you all.

Spectacular day for Google on The Pier

2013-14 Father Daughter - First Place!

Emily's new room and house