Marc's Public Blog

2018/01/21 2 Days learning Surfing south of Sydney

π 2018-01-21 01:01 in Australia, Public

Since I had seen a lot of Sydney already, for my 4th visit there, I figured I would try and learn surfing. I signed up for a so called surf school with wavessurfschool.com.au which supposedly supposedly had 2x 2H of surf instruction, but really it was 15mn of very basic instruction with maybe another 30mn of help in the water, and then that's it. We got maybe 2.5H in the water with very little instruction, and few waves (often a 5mn wait between 2 rideable waves, sucks when you're trying to practise).
We had to get out of the water by 15:00 and basically I learned virtually nothing and wasted my day :(

too many people going to the beach that day and clogging up everything while interrupting our class

While I mostly lost a day not learning to surf, I went back, the next weekend with a different company, Australian Surf Tours, and this time booked a private set of lessons on a farther away beach by Thirroul (1h30 train ride away):

we started by looking at surf boards to get a feel for what exists

this was hard

too many times, I ended up like this :)

Long story short, I definitely learned a lot more. My instructor Tom Berridge did a good job, and while at the time I felt like after some rest I could have done another session, I was definitely getting tired after the 2nd set of sessions after lunch, and struggling to get up and pick the right waves. Tom saved me tons of time by choosing the right waves for me, and pushing me on the right ones so that I got a lot more training than I would have anyway.
Just to show how much I suck, or that it's not super easy, a compilation of failures:

and probably my only time successfully getting up later in the day when I was getting more tired:

It was definitely a good learning experience, but I sure would need a lot more practise before I feel like I'd be self sufficient

A few notes for myself if I try this again later:

Toes on the back of the board

Lift up and lock the arms straight up without grabbing the edges of the board

Stand up with back foot first

Try to have front foot as close to perpendicular to the board as possible

Quickly-ish put front foot forward without putting a knee down and taking off one hand but not the other

Keep enough weight in the back not to nose dive (it will happen anyway if the wave is breaking)

Don't put too much weight back that the board, it brakes and stops

Look for rip currents where waves break last, and use that to paddle out to the next wave

You can catch waves after they break or before. While they break will flip the board over.

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2017/05/28 3rd set Back to the Roots kits

π 2017-05-28 01:01 in Public

I had tried back to the roots before, and it was fun. I was curious to try different mushrooms this time though.

Try #1

Try #2

Tried some Lion Mare, very interesting and easy to grow mushroom that is actually quite tasty:

it was already primed when I got it, ready to grow

before long...

nice

it came to a sad end for the mushroom, but it was yummy for us :)

The other set was yellow oyster mushroom. This was a bit more picky. It had to be tented in to keep the moisture, otherwise it would dry out. However, doing so would also asphyxiate it and it would die because it couldn't breathe, but if you make too many breathing holes, then it's at risk of drying out again:

it started well

and then it died

tried again

and then it died, again

one more try

and finally it worked out

good crop

tried a 2nd crop

not as big, but still enough to eat

the end :)

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2017/05/20 Maker Faire

π 2017-05-20 01:01 in Public

blade runner umbrella was all I needed :)

3D printed shoes, pretty cool actually

this would be very cool at burning man :)

tiny arcade worked and looked super cool

Z80 clone, very cool

nice way to show how FPV works

Miniature worlds were great:

Big things:

remember seeing those guys at burning man, they look better at night ;)

this robot was cool, but unreliable

and it died before being able to hit the car (on its 3rd failed attempt)

the Tesla coil from my neighbours at Burning Man

The dark room was fun as always:

The Google booth had some friends:

learning about the upcoming total eclipse

A few talks:

Ahah, other people have been making neomatrices:

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2017/05/07 MTV A La Carte Art Festival

π 2017-05-07 01:01 in Public

a roomba for grass, good iea, but expensive ($1500+)

Always nice pictures:

Also, nice display of RC aircraft and cars:

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2017/04/30 Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival

π 2017-04-30 01:01 in Public

Another year, another Cherry Blossom Festival in Cupertino, nice demos, displays and art:

Multiple sport demos and performances:

For animals, a koi pond, and japanese dogs:

Lots of Ikebana:

Dolls:

Kanji Art:

Dance and music performances:

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2016/12/29 Mini Europe in Bruxelles

π 2016-12-29 01:01 in Belgium, Public

For our first day in Bruxelles, we went to check out Mini Europe because it looked fun. and it was. The only mistake is that we should have gone to see the Atomium first, before the line got stupidly long. I did get a few pictures Mini Europe from the Atomium, and those were nice:

sacre coeur

And here are some pictures taken from inside:

nice model of centre george pompidou

sacre coeur

pisa

venice

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2016/12/11 Visit of Black Chasm Cavern, in Volcano, CA, on SR88 on the way to Kirkwood

π 2016-12-11 01:01 in Public

After having gone to Kirkwood where the conditions were terrible, we left early since skiing ice was no fun at all. Arturo made the great suggestion of going to visit Black Chasm Cavern on the road back, just off SR88.

So let's be honest, it's far from being the best cavern I've visited in the US, however, it has a vast arrays of rare helictite crystals, which I had never seen anywhere else. Water pressure causes water droplets to be pushed out of the rock, evaporate, and leaves behind very unusual organic looking growths:

Good call Arturo, thank you (and thanks to Johannes for getting us there)

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2016/11/25 Chinese Illuminations at Gilroy Gardens

π 2016-11-25 01:01 in Public

Since Jennifer's parents were visiting for thanksgiving, Jennifer had the good idea to take us to Gilroy Gardens which had some really nice Chinesee illuminations and included a decent performance too:

It was very well done, quite worth the trek there, and the money.

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2016/09/13 Hummingbird in our Yard

π 2016-09-13 01:01 in Public

The Lantanas that have replaced our grass are in full bloom, and the local hummingbirds have noticed. Love those little guys :)

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2016/09/04 Burning Man's Red Lightening's 360 Dome, Showing Samskara

π 2016-09-04 00:00 in Bm, Public

Red Lightening at Burning Man 2016, had an awesome 360 video show by Android Jones. There were long lines every night to go see it, it wsa hard to get in. I got lucky and was able to, and I'm sharing a few shots and a quick summary video for those who weren't able to see it:

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