Josh Levinger

I’ve always enjoyed Halloween, but this year I went the extra mile. Actually 3000 miles, as blew my carbon budget flying to Oakland for a party with Ruth. I assembled the costume haphazardly, but it all came together for the desired effect. Two mutton chops, six aluminum claws, one tub of hair gel, one bear belt buckle, one surplus jacket, and innumerable exposed chest hairs, and I became the man himself. Some of the party goers failed their nerd test, thinking I was wolfman, but a quick flash of my claws was quite convincing.

I was in good company with my girl Rogue, 1973 David Bowie, Little Red Riding Hood with a Jagermeister basket, Superman cum Clark Kent, Quailman, and the entire cast of SuperTroopers (Staties and Spurbury, with real facial hair). Next year Hannah Montana / Miley Cyrus? Due vita, una secreto!

One claw

Two claws

Bear belt buckle

Dartmouth ski team Carhartt

Snikt

Wolverine and Rogue

Want to make your own? I used the Media Lab’s waterjet and these files:
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With it hot as a genital reference in the city today, my lady friend and I decided to head to the ocean. What better way to cool down than show a southern belle a former confederate prison in the middle of Boston harbor? I am a genius.

She forgave my cultural faux pas, and pretended to be impressed by my Indiana Jones-style cavern finding. However, this faded when I asked a man on a golf cart how to get to where I wanted to go. This was after she paced out the distance from one wall to the relevant air shaft. Apparently asking for directions isn’t always the right thing to do if one wants to impress a lady.

In the chamber of secrets

I am a wild animal

Spooky

Big wall

Spent the week at a robotics conference in San Diego, which was less the beach romp than I thought and more slow suffocation by Powerpoint. I saw right inside the belly of the military-industrial complex, and while I was pleased that the starred generals there had “saving lives” as their ultimate goal, it was clear that they are only counting American lives. One large company (name redacted) played a video of its vision for the future, which included having robots autonomously determine the threat posed by a man in a turban driving a truck toward a checkpoint, and asking Marines to let it fire on him. Of course they accepted, and disaster was averted. Another life saved by the intelligence of military robots! Of course, the robot I work on is designed to save casualties and will not be armed, but we’ve already had discussions of having it run “point man” operations, where it is the first guy through the door. Scary stuff, and I’m not sure I’ll happy to be working on it if we go that way. Might have to run back to the warm welcoming arms of academia. Going to bed now to catch up on sleep, maybe everything will be right with the world in the morning…

I guess I’m officially an adult now; working for the man every night and day. But I’ve still been able to get out and enjoy the summer. We celebrated Klara’s last week in town with a trip to the Harbor Islands. This was the first visit in my memory, although Janet informs me that I was taken there as a little tyke. I probably had as much fun this time exploring the fort and watching the re-enactors fire their cannon as I did when I was four. Standing in a pitch black room, lit only by a single shaft of light from above, we practiced our maniacal laughter. Had a picnic lunch overlooking the harbor, and then took the interisland ferry to a smaller island where Hana and I napped on the beach while the others explored the abandoned WWII battlements.

Our fair city

Bathed in light

Reenacting a nap

Relaxing on the Beach

Little Brewster Island

Four years, 218 credits, and nearly $200,000 later, I’ve got a diploma. Sweet.

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Spent the last few days at the NASA Next Generation Exploration Conference. Yeah, I’m a dork. But unlike say, a Star Trek convention, the people at this epic gathering of dweebdom actually know something about seeking out new life, and boldly going where no one has gone before. The opportunity to chat with the chief mars scientist at JPL over a couple of beers is the impetus I need to continue pursuing an engineering education. Grades be damned, full speed ahead.

Ames Zepplin Hangar

Finishing my final piece of work for Clay, and filling out an evaluation form, gives me an opportunity to reflect on the internship experience. Certainly better than last summer, due to the pay, climate, and social circle. But I still don’t feel like I accomplished much. Sure, I wrote several short briefs which aided Clay’s research, and may be published on the web. But there were days where I didn’t really do much of anything. Janet reminds me that this is part of entering the work world, finding ones place in the capitalist machine. But if I have to be a cog, I’d rather be doing something I really enjoy doing, so I’m motivated by more than pay or the threat of being found out to be a slacker. I’d rather be actually doing cool stuff than just writing about it. Reconsidering the think tank/academia route, and re-enamored of building the future. As always, plans are subject to change. But at least I have this to fall back on.