Fun with Maps

We’ve been having a lot of fun recently with a game called GeoGuessr. It drops you into Google Maps Streetview at a random location, and you have to guess where you are. Our best score so far is 12,383.

The other fun mapping toy this week is that Google wrapped up a bunch of Landsat data from 1984 to the present so that you can play it like a movie. It’s fun to pick some place which you know has changed over the last couple of decades (e.g. the beaches around Chatham) and watch it happen in real time.

Computer Clubhouse 20th Anniversary

This week the Computer Clubhouse Network held its annual conference here in Boston. It’s here in Boston because 2013 is the 20th Anniversary of the start of the first Computer Clubhouse at the Computer Museum here in Boston in 1993. From that beginning, the network has grown to more than 100 Clubhouses in 20 countries. I realized that it’s also an anniversary for me. Later in May I will have been working with the Clubhouse Network for 10 years. Pretty amazing for what was supposed to be a 12 month contract.

It’s been a fun week. From the opening icebreaker…

To a panel of former Clubhouse members, three of whom are now working as Clubhouse coordinators in their communities…

To a MaKey Makey workshop at the Media Lab today, and many other activities, presentations and panels in between.

It’s been great to reconnect with such a creative group of people from all over the world. Some that I’ve known now for 10 years, and others that I just met for the first time this year.

Hugh Masekela

As you may have heard, last week was kind of a rough one here in Boston. Everyone we know personally was relatively unaffected by all of the horrible goings-ons, but by the end of the week everyone was pretty stressed out and ready for something a little relaxing. Sunday night, Chris & I found just the thing. We went in to Berklee to see Hugh Masekela perform.

It was a great show. Hugh may have just had his 74th birthday, but he doesn’t seem to have slowed down a bit. He reminded me of the famous Keith Richards quote about what going on stage feels like. Within a minute of hitting the stage, he was completely wired and had the audience wrapped around his little finger. His band was pretty spectacular too, especially his young guitar player Cameron John Ward.

After the concert, we walked over to Boylston street to see the memorial which has been growing around the site of the bombing. It was pretty heartbreaking, but it was also a good time to visit after the authorities had done such a great job of bringing some closure to the mess those two idiots created last week. On a beautiful spring night, after a wonderful concert, it was awfully easy to remember why I’ve always thought that Boston was the center of the universe.

Ensign

I’ve been cleaning up some old photos from my days hanging around Formula 1. The slides are in terrible shape. They’re dirty, and scratched, and faded. It hardly seems like it’s worth the amount of work I’m putting into restoring them. But some of them are starting to turn out pretty nice. I really like this one.

This is the Ensign N181. The driver is Roberto Guerrero. The guy on the right is Mo Nunn, the team founder. I did a lot of work for Ensign while I was in school. Things like building wind tunnel models. My thesis was based on data from this car.

I don’t have many pictures from that time, so I guess that it is worth the effort to restore these. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of the most amazing thing I ever saw someone do with a car. That was Gilles Villeneuve’s drive at the 1981 Canadian GP. We were all standing in the rain by the hairpin with our mouths gaping open. It was absolutely mind-blowing.

Indoor Tomatoes

Last year I set up a Window Farm. My plan was to grow mostly herbs, but with just one or two cherry tomato plants. But the herbs didn’t take off, and the tomatoes definitely have.

I wasn’t sure they were getting enough sun to develop flowers. But once I adjusted the fertilizers, quite a few flowers appeared.

Then today I spotted the beginning of the first tomato. I wonder if it’ll be ready this month – maybe.

Strawberry Lemon Curd Trifle

Wilsons had a good deal on strawberries and Meyer lemons this weekend. I decided that they would make a good combination in a Trifle. Isn’t that a pretty dish for Easter?

Here’s what you  need:
1 quart strawberries (approximately)
4 Meyer lemons (I ended up with 1/3-1/2 cup of juice and about 2-3 Tbsp of fine zest)
1 pound cake (or sponge cake, lady fingers, angel cake, basically something to soak up the juices)
4oz butter
1.5 cups sugar approximately (superfine if possible)
3 large eggs
16 oz whipping cream

Strawberry Sauce

Take about half of the strawberries and about 1/4 cup of sugar and puree the strawberries in a food processor. Mix in about a tablespoon of lemon juice.

Lemon Curd

I based it on a Lemon Curd recipe from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything, but I left out the ginger in his as I didn’t think it would go with the strawberries. Obviously this could also be made with regular lemons, you just need to end up with 1/3-1/2 cup of juice and 2-3 tablespoons of zest.

Zest the lemons, and then squeeze them for juice. In the top of a double boiler combine lemon zest, lemon juice, butter and 1 cup of sugar. If you’d like your lemon curd more tart, you could definitely use less sugar. With the water just at a simmer heat the ingredients until all the butter is melted and the sugar dissolved. Beat the eggs and add them to the lemon mixture. Stir constantly over low heat until the mixture thickens, about ten minutes. Set the lemon curd aside to cool.

Assemble the Trifle

Reserve a few of the best looking strawberries for decoration, and cut the rest up into chunks or slices. Find a trifle dish. Traditionally a trifle dish is glass with vertical or very close to vertical sides so that you can see the layers. Whip the cream, sweetening it with a tablespoon or two of sugar if you’d like.

Line the bottom of your trifle dish with slices of pound cake. If you’re going to repeat the layers, use about half the cake, otherwise go ahead and use it all. Top the pound cake with strawberry sauce. Sprinkle the strawberries over the sauce. Then add a layer of lemon curd, followed by a layer of whipped cream. Repeat the layers: cake, strawberry sauce, strawberries, lemon curd and whipped cream. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight to let all the flavors soak together.

Just before serving slice up the reserved strawberries and decorate the top.

It would also be traditional to pour a couple of spoonfuls of brandy or liqueur over the cake before adding the strawberry sauce. For this one I considered using a little Limoncello, but that seemed to be a bit over the top.

Put A Ring On It

Peter’s robotics team finished their season at the state championships yesterday. It was kind of a rough day for them with lots of broken connectors and the smell of burned out motors.

But they did have a great time and they even won the Think award.

It was a really fun season and we have lots of great pictures. I’ll try to get more of them cleaned up and posted here.