spectral stone

The Coquet Valley in Northumberland is fascinating me. [Link] Around Lordenshaws, across from the market town of Rothbury, are many carved rock surfaces, typically associated with farming communities from the fourth to and millennia BCE, maybe earlier and maybe later. Birky Hill I met Stan Beckensall, school teacher in Rothbury, rock art enthusiast, some thirty…

Coquetdale

In the North East of England for the Binchester excavations – Vinovium.org. Coquetdale – a remarkable valley to the north of Hadrian’s Wall. A fascinating archaeological landscape. Lordenshaws – prehistoric rock carvings and hill fort. Shillmoor – from when the borders settled down in the eighteenth century. Harbottle – feudal border stronghold, motte and bailey;…

radical innovation – the DARPA experience

I reported the talk about his robotic cars given a couple of weeks ago by Stanford’s Sebastian Thrun – [Link]. “Stanley” and “Junior” had competed and won two DARPA Challenges to build autonomous vehicles – cars capable of driving themselves in complex real-world environments. (See Stanford Racing and Sebastian’s web pages – also DARPA’s own…

antiquarians at the Getty

I am at the Getty Center today at a symposium organized by Alain Schnapp. Some very distinguished experts brought together to discuss antiquarians. Antiquarians? Those fascinated, often passionate, about the collection, description, classification of the remains of the past. Artifacts and monuments, landscapes even, as evidence connecting us with the past. Antiquarianism sounds arcane. It…

Automotive futures

This weekend Stanford “Leading Matters” ran one of its alumni events in Santa Clara. Members of CARS (Center for Automotive Research at Stanford), now including myself, talked about the past, present, and future of auto-mobility. Great presentations came from Sebastian Thrun (robotic cars and Google), Chris Gerdes (driving at the limits – he brought his…