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john cohn


Last Updated: 10/15/2009

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Gender: Male
Status: Married
Age: 50
City: RICHMOND
State: VERMONT
Country: US

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Saturday, November 07, 2009 6:50 AM
Just made my plane.. I just have time to post these pictures. I'll catch up with the text tomorrow.. I know.. I'm a rotten blogger.. Great trip, though
Nite for now folks. Nite Sam
-me

ps. My friend George has the neurotic habit of tellign everyone to say "fly safe pilot and all you pilots" before every plane flight.. so I just did/


OK... so it's now 8ish in the AM and I'm at JFK...   Let me see if I can annotate these pictures from the trip to LA. All in all it was a good trip, though the city has a strange effect on me.. so busy, so big...


The feeling came oer me even as we came in site of the city.





First stop on Wednesday (man.. am I remiss in posting pictures !)   was University of Southern California. I'd never visited USC, the campus is huge and bustling .



I'd managed to arrive 2 hours early for my event so I worked a bit.. ,then found a nice sunny bench and meditated. I was trying to take the edge off that traveling sometimes gives me .. This worked.. an hour later I was peaceful again.



Around 3 I made my way to the USC school of cinema, our hosts for the event.



It's a beautiful new building built with generous donations from Steven Spielberg.. who just happened to be there... whihc was pretty exciting.. you could feel the students buzz as he walked past..



We got a tour of the film school from the Dean.. it was an amazing facility.. here's the  Foley room.. where sound effects are made.. it's full of interesting junk.: old shoes to clomp, various types of grvel to crunch through, old film for dry leaves, looked like lots of fun !





We had some interviews, met with the dean, talked with the other panelists.. then.. around 6:30 we filed into the hall for the panel..  The topic was .. 'Life in 2050'  there were about 200 folks there... I was nervous as I always am. I had no idea what I was going to say in my opening position piece.




Despite my jitters, I thought the panel went really well..   we were all IBM or ex-IBM folks, we had Prof Richard Weinberg from USC school of Cinematic Arts.. acomputer animation guy.  Don Eigler, Almaden IBM Fellow, ex-hippy, sailor, dog lover  and mover of atoms (Gabe saw him in a movie at school last week ) , Winfried Wilcke - Almaden IBM battery guy, pilot, sailor and one of the founders of HAL computer.  Tom Zimmerman- IBM Human interface guy and education outreach zealot., Melissa Cefkin, IBM Anthropolgist.. yes Anthropologist !.. Very cool .. Me, then Irving Wladsky-Berger - Former IBM Exec, now a Prof at MIT and Imperial College in London.. and a wonderful human being.   All really nice folks..

THe panel went well, we each gave our vision for what life in 2050 would be like.. we talked about nanotechnology, virtual interaction, thinking computers..  cyborg assistants , the Singularity, energy, transport..     I'm sad to say that my notes aren't any better than that.. I think the whole thing was filmed.. I'm interested to see what we all said..

One thing of note.. the Yankees game was goign on during the Panel.  I'm not a baseball fan.. but I got kind of cuaght up in the drama of the series.. . Irving and I kept checking the score..   We stopped the  panel breifly to tell folks that the Ynakees had won.





THere were receptions before and after the panel. We got to talk to the students and faculty.. bot were fun and energizing. I love thinking abotu how technology and the arts can mix... there's no better way than putting them in a room together with food and drink !





Around 11 I drove Dona nd Winfried to their hotel and got hopelessly lost in doing so.. There's something not so terrible about getting lost when you have such interesting peopl ein the car.. We had a beer

.. then I headed up to Laurel Canyon to Geroge's house.. I got there around 1:30.. What a place !!  It's at the top of a steep hill. The house has a beutiful porch which hangs out over a cliff with an amazing view of LA..
George lives there with his sister, Lauren and her two kids Fred and Noah..    George was working the night shift at the hospital (he's an ER Doc).. Lauren was in Orlando... and the kids were with their Dad.. Nick,  .. who is coincidentally also my freind from the Colony production staff..  Anyway.. I had the place to myself.. so at 2AM  I jumped into the hot tub and looked out over LA.. An owl was sitting in the tree over my head keeping me company.. Magical


Around 2 I went back inside to sleep..There were great pictures of both of George's grandfathers. He'd talked  about them often during the show. His Greek grandpa had died several years ago.. His other Grandpa... the one in this picture.. I knew was very ill... I loved this picture.. it was taken in Afganistan in the late 1930;s..



George showed up around 8AM... and the first thing he told me is that his grandfather had passde away peacefully the night before....  It was strange and nice that I'd been staring at his picture then...

 The family is all headed to Pittsburgh for the Memorial today..



George was sad.. but OK..they were expecting his grandfatherspassing.. and he'd lived a good long life.. I heard stories abotu him for the rest of the day.. He sounded like a great man .

I'd already been working about 3 hours that mmorning.. early calls because of the time differnce... When george came back I took a break and we headerd out for Breakfast.. Vlad surprised us by meeting us at the restaurant. It was great hangin out with those guys !   George brought his fgood 'ole dog June with us,..   he hung out under our table as we talked..

It was great catching up with Vlad.. hes doing well, too . we all talked about our post-postapocolyptic lives.. It's amazing both how much the show changed our lives   and did not change our lives.. 









I had to jump back in a work call for awhile.. so George and Vlad sat and caught up.. then around 12 we headed back to georges .. I was telling George about the 'flagpole' manuver that my brother and dad and I would always do fror pictures.. so.. Vlad took this shot of Geroge and I for my dad and bro...     (try it.. it's not as easy as it looks !)



We got back to Georges .. then I had to drop back into work for a bit..     Here's george on his balcony.. witht he hollywood sign in the distance.



Later in the day I had a meeting with friend Paul Z (aka Beekman form Beekman's world).. If you follow this blog you knwo that he's workign on a stage show abotu the Brain for kids.  We got together for a few hours to brainstorm... He's such an amazing thinker...   I picked him up at his house. hich is like a tiny museum of the bizzare.. Check out some of these peices...    The centerpiece is an anotomical drawing of an earthworm's insides.. ewwwwwwww









Here's Paul and his daughter with Pres CLinton when he was beign recognized for Beekman's world contribution to Science Ed.


























































































After the art tour we headed to a vegan restaurant just down the street that had this cheery welcome outside... huh  ?





The place was really great !.. It remindided me of Red Bamboo.. one of Max's favorite restaurants in Brooklyn.. all Vegan.. We go there often when I'm in the city ..





When I mentioned Red Bamboo to Paul, this girl at the next table literally squealed.. I guess Red Bamboo is her favorite restaurant too !   She was in town for a conference...  Very nice kid.. Reading meditation for dummies.. that cracked me up.. but she said it was actually pretty good !











Paul and I worked on some of the ideas for the brain show..  I'm particularly excited abotu one we came up with. I'm goign ot try and  build something that maps brain activity to sound... not particular sounds, mind you.. just something that changes with stimulus  Most of what's hard about building an EEG is removing the signal from the noise and cleaning it up.. In this application I think I only need to do the former.. Anyone out there reading have any ideas on EEG stuff ?

I interrupted the conversation to do an impromptu experiment with the residual red cabbage from our meal.


The super nice waitress brought me vinegar and baking soda to help me out..   First step is to crush the red cabbage in water..







You then mix in baking soda.. when the mix gets alkaline enough it turn bright blue !




Then you add in vingar until it goes acidic and it turns back to red.. very pretty.. and a big mess...

We said goodbye to meditation girl and the nice folks at the restaurant.. then I dropped Paul it his place and went back to USC. My friend Irving was giving the second of two Panels for the day on how social media is transforming traditional media.. Very interesting discussion.. it's Th panel included several USC profs and  several IBM folks. including Irving, and Michelle from last night and Steve Canepa, the GM of IBM's Media industry business. I really enjoyed speaking with the three of them afterwords.








Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for the dinner.. they got this cool guy Josh to drive me back to my car in his electric cart.. we were doing slolom weaves through the picnic table.. the hiligt of my night !



The reason I had to run is that we were having a dinner in honor of Mike aka Big Dumb Monkey's birthday. Vlad had found an excellent chinese place.. We ended up wiht Mike, his freind Mark, Vlad, Morgan George and me..

I include this picture because it has an amazing 'ghost ball' in it.. They appear in pictures every so often.. there wasn't anything to cause this.. there wasn't any extraneous light. no schmutz on the lens.. I don' understand how they occur sometimes these balls make me think of Sam.. like he's messing with my pictures..





















Mark snuck in a birthday cake for mike... It was scary seeing Mike with a weapon again !



After dinner I had to drive George to his car.. we decided to take a run by the warehouse for old times sake.. They were filming soemthing in there again !/ We didn't go in.. but took some pics for old time sake..












We then went back to George's... the night was clearer and the view was spectacular






Again I stayed up too late... and again I had very early meetings.. I got about 4 hours sleep.. then woke up around 5:30 and went out for a run.. I had about 5 hours of back to back phone meetings.. but the yuck factor of that was tempered by tking them while looking out at the view from Georges house...

Early afternoon I went to see my fireds at Original just to say hi. I went by a new show that Thom B is making.. I own't give it away, but they were filming a scene from he weirdest story I've ever heard.. ==========. and let me tell you.. that's something coming from me at this point..   I followed Thom and Jarrod back to Original and prowled th halls for awhile saying hi to old firends.. it felt good to be back there..



Here are John G and Jarrod yuckign it up in fornt of one of the leftover Colony relics..


From there I went back up to Geroges for a bit to meet his nephews.. then we all went out to meet up with Alison and her boyfreind Scot for a quick dinner before my plane

I think that's it for the week. A good trip all around.. I got lots of work in, saw some good friends and got in some outreach brainstorming..  Not bad !

OK.. I'm going to hit save before I loose all this.. More later.. See ya folks.. Later Sam
-me

Friday, November 06, 2009 9:05 AM
Friends,
   My deep apologies... again.. it's now 1 AM and I have had only 7 hours or so of sleep inthe last 2 days. I have so many pictures and stories from the last two days that if I start to write them now.. I'll be awake for another hour.. and I just can't stay awake for that... I promise (!!!) that I'll get all the photos in tomorrow and catch up with the day.
   For now.. let me go back to yesterday and the panel we did at USC. It's customary at these things to hand out coomment cards so the audience can make anonnymous or signed comments and questions abotu the event. I understand that We got some  good feedback on the content of the paenl.. I haven't seen that yet.. Bt they did just send me this .. It's a pen drawing that one of the audience members did of us o his comment card..    .. Pretty amazing..

   I wonder what interesting alternative feedback we would get if we had the reverse of here, ie. a panel of movie and media types in fornt of an audience of engineers ..  ?

top left to bottom right this is   Melissa the anthropologist, me, Richard the USC graphics prof, Don the atom mover, Winfried the physicist-sailor-pilot-battery maker, and Tom the shwarzenegger anointed inventor-teacher





OK.. sleep beckons,  Again, I promise to catch up with a long blog tomorrow ...
Nite all.. Nite Sam !
-me

Thursday, November 05, 2009 9:53 AM
Folks,
   My [panel on 2050 went great.. It's 2 AM PST (5 AM EST).. and I need to get some sleep.. so I'll tell you about the panel and the day tomorrow. For now, I'd llike ot thank all the folks who wrote me on Facebook with their predictions. I used some of them !
Here they are for your viewing pleasure::;  For now., nite-nite !  Nite Sam !
-me



What would the wolrd in 2050 be like : ?

Beth Miller Esmond
I'm thinking we'll see an even bigger rise in telecommuting (or whatever that will be called) and there will have to be some kind of societal replacement for the more social aspects of the workplace. I don't see people as being satisfied with just Facebook and other virtual meeting places. Maybe we'll even enjoy a return to socializing in our ... Read Moreneighborhoods. Or maybe there will be something really creative that we haven't thought of yet to bring us together. I also think that people will need some kind of incentive (hopefully not mandate) to make healthier choices. We can't keep going this way . . . Good luck with your talk!
Yesterday at 3:33am · Delete
Garrett Koval
Garrett Koval
Zombies will take over by then, there will be groups of survivors all over the planet fighting them off.
Yesterday at 3:43am · Delete
Bethany Muller
Bethany Muller
The war will be over, and we finally will have gotten the environment under control, but skin cancer will be up 12%. And we will not longer have a national debt.
Yesterday at 3:47am · Delete
Isak Aronov
Isak Aronov
don't ask us... you know exactly what will happen..... ;)
Yesterday at 3:49am · Delete
Randy Darden
Randy Darden
What about the aging of the population? With medical advances and DNA research, will people be living longer? Will the median age of the population continue to increase? What will the retirement age be? What are the social implications? How many more golf courses will be required :-)
Yesterday at 3:57am · Delete
Randy Darden
Randy Darden
Sorry, that was a lot of questions with no predictions.....
Yesterday at 3:57am · Delete
Mark Colan
Mark Colan
Imagining what is new is harder than imagining what we won't have. Probably won't be importing produce from Asia; I imagine we will be buying more hyper-local produce. Home BBQ probably illegal (carbon footprint). Airline industry? Pricey if it exists at all.
Yesterday at 4:09am · Delete
Ben Ratner
Ben Ratner
In the year 2050, I think there will be a world market for maybe 5 computers.
Yesterday at 4:18am · Delete
Leah Pileggi
Leah Pileggi
Maybe by then, the non-news side of "Fox News" will finally called itself "Fox Talk" or something else more realistic...
Yesterday at 5:05am · Delete
Rick Hudson
Rick Hudson
Thermo-illuminant panels will exist that are capable of displaying images (very much like an LCD panel today), and will have thermal conductivity (like Peltier-effect modules, only more efficient) and probably limited audio transducer capabilities.

Businesses will cover walls with them and will use applied advertising psychology to determine which hues/temperature ranges will encourage more consumption.
Yesterday at 5:09am · Delete
Scott Turnbull
Scott Turnbull
Technology will continue to be integrated with our bodies. Biometrics and RFID tags will replace badges and keys. Subcutanenous wireless will replace cellphone/texting/twitter... Health monitors will communicate directly with service centers. Think of it as Personal OnStar.
Yesterday at 5:39am · Delete
Kelly King
Kelly King
That personal link? How about a way to connect with
all the folks in your "community" (think facebook friends) by just speaking into space (think "Computer.." in Star Trek)

Some kind of vocal link always up. Have a question, comment, idea you want to discuss.
... Read More
"Anybody know ...."

Other folks who are lonely, unoccupied, bored and on your list hear the question come out of the air (quietly, unless you say "what?" and then it pipes up) and can respond... (would the computer automatically filter who it's sent to by content?)

I'm thinking of walking along in the woods and finding a mushroom.
"Anybody have time to look at this mushroom and tell me what it is? Any chance it's edible?" [accompanied by a picture I've just taken of the mushroom projected onto the wall beside them]

"Hi, Kel," pipes up my friend Pete who is walking down the street in Burlington, "It's a polypore of some kind, few of them are edible, but look in the same area, there are often chanterelles nearby when you see those."

"Thanks Pete, if I find a big stash I'll bring you some"

Boy we think cellphones are intrusive... how would we ever deal with this... the social and distractable among us would go crazy...

As it is, jumping up to google stuff is distracting enough... what if I could just speak my idea, question etc into space...
ADD heaven or hell?
Yesterday at 5:42am · Delete
Chrisa Alberts
Chrisa Alberts
wait a minute, arent we going to die in 2012?? i am confused lolol
Yesterday at 5:55am · Delete
Ren Pearson
Ren Pearson
I shall be a happy employee of Spacely Sprockets.
Yesterday at 6:09am · Delete
Jennifer Trelewicz
Jennifer Trelewicz
2050 I do not know, but if the book "Metro 2033" is true, I think that we do not need to worry. :-)
Yesterday at 6:21am · Delete
Shawn Umansky
Shawn Umansky
I agree with Scott.

I think our bodies are destined to become the new frontier in technology development. Probably more easily replaceable (mechanical?) parts (though we're doing pretty well on that today). Probably more capacity to "customize" ourselves (i.e., eyecolor, height, etc.) though, that's begun as well, but is more at the genetic stage currrently.

I envision technology that "enables" us to interact with our environment without actually having to make physical contact with those objects. Like a remote control, without the remote itself. We'll have to re-define the phrase "universal remote control." [Personal note: I don't like the idea that we'll continue to perpetuate a co-existence whereby individuals continue to increase the physical distance between each other, but, alas, I don't make the trends, I just see them.]... Read More

Capturing information, experiences, and such will be first nature, and completely integrated into daily life. No more taking your cell phone out of your pocket to point, click, send, post, etc. All those steps will be combined and made virtually invisible.

That's off the top of my head.
Yesterday at 6:35am · Delete
Mike Olsen
Mike Olsen
I heard a stat that half of all babies born today in western countries will live to be 100.
Yesterday at 7:05am · Delete
Mike Olsen
Mike Olsen
cash will no longer exist. your personal id card will be a multifunctional driver's license, passport, debit card, will contain all of your medial information and will contain a copy of your hard drive (big strides in memory....). You will not need to travel with a laptop because you will carry your hard drive in your wallet. Cooler yet, combine my idea with Scott's.
Yesterday at 7:13am · Delete
Paul Dietz
Paul Dietz
I think "trends" can be deceptive. When we were kids, time sharing and mainframes were all the rage. Then PCs were king. Now, it's all about cloud computing. The world tends to bounce around more than we care to admit. So here are some counter-intuitive predictions. Divergence will be more important than convergence for the same reason screwdrivers... Read More outsell Swiss army knives. Screens, which seem to be everywhere in visions of the future, will not be nearly as ubiquitous or as relevant as predicted. In a world of virtual experiences, people will increasingly crave the real thing. That's good news for parks (local, national and theme), bad news for theaters. Universities, which have thrived in recent years, will be failing in droves as the economy recovers and the demographic bubble bursts. I'm guessing that something similar to what's been happening in healthcare will happen to education - massive consolidation to the most successful brands. In any case, the model where more and more people go to college and tuition increases vastly out-pace inflation is fundamentally unsustainable. Something will eventually break. More and more stuff will be made in China, until the world moves on to the next low cost manufacturer (India, Brazil, and ultimately, African countries?). Finally, most predictions will ultimately be proven wrong, including these, except the ones that were right...
Yesterday at 7:42am · Delete
Gary Beckwith
Gary Beckwith
Poverty will be eliminated. All of our energy will come from renewable sources. There will be a cure for cancer. There will be no wars.
Yesterday at 7:45am · Delete
Dave Holmes
Dave Holmes
String Theory will be proven and unseen dimensions will be detected, changing the illusion of reality closer to the truth.
Yesterday at 8:09am · Delete
Paul S. Makowenskyj
Paul S. Makowenskyj
ever watch the film "Idiocracy" http://www.metacafe.com/wa..tch/2682654/idiocracy_open..ing_sequence/ warning... just noticed it is not censored for offensive language.
Yesterday at 9:15am · Delete
Paul M Kruse
Paul M Kruse
The happiest people will avoid technology whenever possible and strive for simplicity (perhaps live off the land if we haven't poisoned it all.)
Yesterday at 10:19am · Delete
Ryan Cornelius
Ryan Cornelius
Completely automated, if not a smoldering ruin. I'm greatly looking forward to bio-electric computers, cybernetics, cryogenics, carbon nanofibers, and nanotech. Of course, the huge amount of resources required to produce technology like that means that our supply chains must grow and strengthen in order to maintain sustainability. I would also like... Read More to see more community responsibility from our corporations and more arts and humanities taught in schools. Just because science and mathematics are becoming more necessary doesn't mean that humanities are expendable.
Yesterday at 11:34am · Delete
Ryan Kennedy
Ryan Kennedy
itll be like the colony thank god i learned the tools to survive from you haha
Yesterday at 12:07pm · Delete
Randy Darden
Randy Darden
Earlier I was thinking about what the government would look like and I thought of the "Idiocracy" movie (very funny but R-rated for sure). It seems like we are heading towards complete reliance on the government. Will we all end up working for the government producing for and providing services to one another? Will the entitlement culture continue to grow? I hope not but I'm thinking yes...
Yesterday at 12:26pm · Delete
Paul M Kruse
Paul M Kruse
@Ryan C. I like what you wrote. Someplace I read a quote that basically shared the message that one of the wonderful ways we use science is to create beautiful art.
I also love science for its own sake. No argument from me there!
Yesterday at 12:31pm · Delete
Dave Holmes
Dave Holmes
I think the Illuminati will be exposed and defeated creating a world of peace and abundance. Watch the movie Zeitgesit for free on google video.
Yesterday at 12:36pm · Delete
Ryan Cornelius
Ryan Cornelius
@Paul: Thanks. I've been reading up on the Kardashev scale and Olduvai theory. As humanity comes to gather more and more energy resources around the planet, I think that monetary systems will go the way of the dodo, and people will use energy as a form of currency. At this point. if you examine how much embodied energy our products contain, it ... Read Moreseems like so much energy goes into producing more energy that we're spiraling out of control. If we can't maintain our focus and create more with less then we will never reach Type 1 threshold, and most likely we will end up destroying our civilization in wars over energy resources. Also, if we don't ensure a sustainable industrial sector,America isn't going to enjoy much progress when the Chinese and Indian economies move towards global dominance.
Yesterday at 12:49pm · Delete
John Valencia
John Valencia
Flying cars.....
11 hours ago · Delete
Joan Janik Bodendorf
Joan Janik Bodendorf
Read J.D. Robb. Junk but fun.
10 hours ago · Delete
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 2:14 AM
So.. I'm driving in to work this morning after dropping Gabe off at school, ready to get on my first call of the day. I was to have been talking to my friend Sridhar in India.. I dialed into the conf call then  BOINK .. my cell phone crashes. I have a blackberry.. I think the software on it is more complicated than the stuff on my laptop and about 10 times as buggy. I stopped the car and tried to reboot my phone.. I try artificial respiration, I try my most powerful magic.. nothing works. I have no choice but to pull out the battery and restart it that way. The trouble is.. it takes nearly 15 minutes to restart when I do that (why.. I can't even begin to guess)... Meanwhile. poor Sridhar is sitting there waiting for me ... and it's nearly 9 PM there.. I start driving around looking for a pay phone.. Guess what.. they're all either broken, non functional or they've been removed.   In the  end I was not able to find a public phone.. my phone came back to life and I finally connected with my friend. albeit 15 minutes late.. But.. the payphone predicament stuck with me..    Think about the last time YOU used a payphone.. // It's been a while.. no ? They've been made completely obsolete by cell phones.. Pretty interesting that something that's been an icon of communication for more than 80 years would disappear so suddenly... and that no one would even really take note that it was gone..







That got me thinking of the panel I'm to be on tomorrow night.. I and the other panelists are supposed to predict the future in 2050. What will things be like? What common things like pay phoens will have disappeared form the face of the earth ?   What new things will there be ? It's interesting to note that most futurists of the last century failed to see the advent of such innovations as the cell phone, the internet and the personal computer. From what I can see.. most predictions for the future are either too bold (eg. flying cars, time machines, free lunch) or not bold enough linear predictions from where we are..

T Here are about 500 of you out there reading this tonight.. do you think you can help me out here ? What do YOU think the world of 2050 will bring ?! What new inventions will there be ? What will have disappeared ? What changes to society will have occurred  ? Will it be nirvana or hell ? or both.. or neither ? I'd like to hear what you think !  Please help me not suck tomorrow when I have to predict the future...

It's only appropriate that I'm using myspace, facebook and twitter to make this plea... they weren't predicted by anyone either

Night folks.. happy prophesying.. Nite Sam !
-me

Tuesday, November 03, 2009 1:58 AM
I passed an interesting milestone today.. somewhere between 12:30 and 3:15  this afternoon, this blog had it's 300,000th read.  was wondering if that 300K mark would actually occur on Nov 25th.. the anniversary that I started writing here.. which was 3 days after Sam's passing. Tat's what happened at the 1 year mark.. I had exactly 100,000 viewers on the year anniversary of starting here.. last year, things had slowed down.. and I was onl at soemthign like 180,000 readers on the 2nd anniversary.  This year I'm at 300,000 3 weeks early..  It's a funny landmark.. Kind of meaningless, I know.. but as someone who's neurotically obsessed with numbers.. and their occurrence, it was an interesting passing.


Here's hit count at 9:30 AM (not counting RSS or readers  reading 1 of the two copies of the blog .. or reading it on facebook)



here it is at 12:30



And here just affter coriossing 300K at 3:15 PM




   You are probably saying to yourself.. 'who cares'  .. and you're right.. But I see significances in all sorts of numbers.     I think there are no real coincidences.. just number sequences we've failed to follow.  . I have a ritual whenever a car I'm driving hits a magic number (eg, a 100K .,, or al digits the same.. eg 1111111) I feel compelled to get out of the car and run around it three times. I only make phen calls on even number seconds.. I only drink out of water glasses which have been filled three times.  I see special meaning in the number of hotel rooms that I'm given . I see portents, good or bad , in times of emails I receives..  n phone numbers, in addresses..  I subconsciously factor numbers (combination, hotel room  numbers, parts of phone numbers) to see if they might be prime numbers... like my lucky number (911 .. yes.. 911 ) . All in the hope of what ? ... Perhaps in the hope of finding some clue ... some answer ... to this wacky universe.. perhaps of knowing g-d..   ?  

 Does that make me a bad person ?    Hope not.... 
OK.. enough.. time for bed. Night folks, night Sam !
-me

ps. I' on a panel discussion on Wed night about predictions for the year 2050.. Anyone out there got soem cool predictions ?



Monday, November 02, 2009 1:06 AM
Peaceful day today.   We spent the day trying not to eat the candy that Gabe managed to collect last night.   Exactly 233 pieces...   fewer by my count today :-)




In the afternoon, Diane and I went to the Haunted Forest to do a little filming of the Pumpkin King. We had to do it today before we lost the gneerator an compressor. Believe it or not, I'm trying to use it to make a rap video about the joys of  engineering. It'll ether by funny or awful.. you'll get to judge in a week or so...







The other acomplishments for the day were ..   getting a run in with the dogs and diane.. putting up our interior storm windows.. and a project with Jen. 

I spent a couple of hours over at Jen and Tim's working on the Friends of Sam page on Samstones.org. Jen's idea is to collect all of the material that the kids have done with Friends of Sam to help them with their college applications.  These kids have done such great community service in Sam's Honor. I hope it does help them get noticed as they apply..

Here's a list of the stuff off the page...   If you're reading this and your've been involved with Friends of Sam.. please check out this list and let Jen know if we've left anything out.. or if you have some pictures  or documents you'd like us to add in.. 

Here's the material.. so I'll end here... Have a peaceful novermber folks. It's a tough  month for us.. but we'll get thruh it.. Nite all.. Nite Sam
-me


Friends of Sam is a group of kids helping kids. Friends of Sam is made up of several of Sam's good friends. They have been doing fund raisers to raise money to help kids in need.
Here's an article in the Burlington Free Press that announced the group's mission and some of the founding members:
 fos1.jpgfos1a.jpg
 
Here's a list of events that Friends of Sam has held since 2007:
 

2007

Friends of Sam supports local teens who lost their home to a house fire.....

 

Friends of Sam sent two Williston teens $200.00 gift certificates to the University Mall in order that they could replace some of their clothing and belongings that they lost in a house fire.

 

 

 

May 28, 2007 : Friends of Sam supports the Tyler Eklund Fund

 

Fourteen year old Tyler Eklund broke his C3 vertebrae while snowboarding at a national competition.  He was paralyzed from the neck down.  Friends of Sam supported the Tyler Eklund fund with a check for $2526.83 with the intention that it be used to help his family make his home wheel chair accessible. The funds for this donation were raised through the sale of T-shirts and Frisbees at a memorial birthday event in honor of Sam Cohn.  Tyler was a participant in the High Cascade camp program as was Sam.

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August, 2007 : Friends of Sam supports the Camels Hump Middle School

 

Friends of Sam purchased and donated new school supplies to the Camels Hump Middle School in Richmond, VT.  They shopped for and delivered $420.00 worth of much needed supplies including notebooks, pencils, rulers, gluesticks, paper, etc. with the intention that it be made available to kids in need.

 
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November, 2007 : Friends of Sam supports the Burlington Emergency Food Shelf and Local Families in Need:



Friends of Sam presented an art auction event at Jager Dipaolo and Kemp in support of the Burlington Emergency Food Shelf.  At this event, Friends of Sam provided musical entertainment and refreshments, while visitors enjoyed the hand made art donations by the kids, their friends and family members.  This event, combined with the Chili Cookoff with Hettena-Wright and Horton, netted close to 4000.00 in cash and food donations for area families and the food shelf:

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May, 2008: Friends of Sam supports Abraham Nhail and family with $3000.00, that was raised at the Jam for Sam event at Talent Skate Park:

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 Here's Abraham's story:

 

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We've just learned that Abraham is close to being reunited with his family

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December 2007 & 2008: Friends of Sam supports Jingle Rails:

Jingle Rails in an event held at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in support of the mission of Friends of Sam. Skiers and Snowboarders competed for placement and prizes.


 

June 2009:  Jam for Sam at Talent Skate Park

Friends of Sam and Talenet Skate park joined together again to raise funds for the Kraing Baing Village Project, a non-profit organization whose mission is to help the impoverished village of Kraing Baing, Camboidia. Friends of Sam raised and donated $700 to the project which was enough to support their goal of the installation of two clean water wells.

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Sunday, November 01, 2009 2:42 AM
We're just back in from trick-or-treating . It's been a good day.. not the day I expected, bit a good day nonetheless. I had a ton of stuff planned, but this mornign I got a call from Herb at the Haunted Forest, .. the Pumpkin King aka 'Project-x', hadn't been tied down properly and blew over in a high wind gust at last night's performance. Luckily, no one was hurt.. but you couldn't say that for the pumpkin, he's head had beenn early  knocked off, his fingers were all broken, and arm was dislocated and the wires were all ripped up.. Worse.. his whole 20 feet was lying horizontal on the ground. Homer got there around 11 and I got there a little later..they took off his head.. homer worked on the arm while I redid the electronics and repaired the jaw. . Herb repaired the fingers It was a mess !





By about 1 we had the whole guy back together again and completly working.. I couldn't beeive it. Homer is a mechanical genius...



As I was packign up, a couple of parent visitors to the forest recognized me from the show.. so I grabbed a picture.. . I was id'ed 4 times today..  It still happens every time I go out in public  I love talking to folks about the show.



During the afternoon, Sam M came over and interviewed us for a journalism class she's taking. She's doing a paper on 'folks who overdo Halloween'.. and she thought of us.. The funny thing is.. with the party being last week, we weren't too motivated to go out tonight. Gabe was going out with his friends... but they don't need us tagging along. So... it looked like it would be the first time I hadn't gone out trick or treating for the past 20 years.....



I dropped Gabe and his friends off.. then had to drop Kristen's bag at friend Scouts'.. I ended up trick or treating by myself at Scout's house....   and realized I wasn't old enough to skip trick or treating yet.. I zoomed back home









.. and Diane and I whipped together a costume .. We tied ropes between our arms and clothes pinned on a bunch of old clothes.. We came as a clothesline... or 'airing our dirty laundry'.. in recognition of our towns bizarre and amusing politics of late...



Wouldn't you know that as soon as we got out of the car in town we ran into Gabe and co..




We did our normal rounds, first down Bridge street .. with a stop in to see Marvin and Bridge Street.. Half the town was in there...




We ran into Chris K as 'iron man'



Then we headed down pleasant street to see Gretch' , Marshall and Ben and have one of their traditional cider doughnuts.



We then wandered round town, running into old friends and reliving those decades of carrying kids. repairing costumes and eating the candy that the kids didn't like I can remember so, so many of those Halloweens in Richmond.. It's got to be one of my favorite things abotu living in a small town like this.. I love our town.

I love our memories.. Happy Halloween folks.. happy Halloween Sam..  Trick or treat !
-me




















Saturday, October 31, 2009 3:57 AM
Busy day working at home. On the phone all day.. but got lots accomplished. I was glad I was already home at 6 because Gabe and Kristen were getting ready for a Halloween party. Gabe had decided to go as Kristen.. So she tied up his hair.. and dressed him up.. He was a pretty good looking girl.. I guess this is as close to having a daughter as I will ever get..






I dropped him off at the party... but by the time I picked him up he'd turned back into a boy.. what a relief.

Not much else to report today.. One cool thing is that I got a great link from Burning Man  friend Kirk. He found this great panorama shot of this years Burn.. you can pan and zoom around enough to really get a feel what it was like to be out on the playa on Saturday night. If you look around, you can spot our timecycle looking pretty and other worldly.

Check out the link here

Here are some screen shots I took to quide you to us.. 



















You can even see people riding in the chairlifts !.. Amazing !

Getting sleepy now.. gotta stop before I fall asleep.. more tomorrow. Night folks
Nite Sam !
-me

Friday, October 30, 2009 5:11 AM
Diane and I just got back from a great State Radio concert at Higher Ground. I just love seeing these guys.. so much music from three guys. Even better, their songs really have purpose. They sing about peace,justice, and love .. all things I'm in favor of.

The place was packed we ran in to several of our friends there.. there were doubtless many more in the packed crowd near the stage. It was a great vibe there.



















 One thing that really adds to State Radio shows is that they always have a cause attached to them. This time, Chad was promoting the group 'Calling all Crows' The group he and Sybil formed to promote public service and fight injustice and violence against women. Calling all Crows has teamed up with the Anti hunger movement Oxfam to build steel stoves for the displaced women in Sudan. These stoves allow women to cook for their families and remain safe in their camps rather than having to leave their families to forage for fuel which exposes them to violence at the hands of roving soldiers. A donation of $20 buys one of these stoves for a  family.. Check out this vid to learn more


Check it out and consider helping out this cause..

It was a great show.. the band came out and did 2 songs for an encore.. The first was Keepsake, The song that Jane and Avery sang at Sam's memorial. They dedicated it to Sam... someone had told them we were in the house.
THey've dedicated this song to Sam every time they've played here since he died. It's such a wonderful honor.. We remember being in that same room wiht Sam listening to these guysjust a month before he died.. now it's been .. 3 times ? maybe more ? Each time we're a little stronger.. This time I listened to the band play Keepsake and was able to smile.. I'm greatful and amazed...

Well.. It's almost 2.. gotta sleep. Thanks to Chad and freinds for their healing energy..
GNite all.. Gnite Sam.. your spirit is strong we love you

-me


Here's the song Keepsake by Chad Stokes.

One gonna heal my body another gonna heal my pain
One gonna settle me down then bring me back up again

I’m gonna put my family back together again

One gonna hold my woman another gonna hold my job
One gonna help me get up, another gonna help me stop

One gonna help me talk right, one gonna lay me down to sleep

(Humming)

One gonna hold my thoughts and another gonna hold my bones
One gonna keep me warm and another gonna keep me cold

One gonna bring religion, right from a Coleman stove
One gonna help me keep em’ another gonna help me tame

One gonna run me down (Hell a bullets in my way)

You’re gonna keep my soul it was yours to have long ago

(humming)

I’m gonna buckle my belt around the ceiling pipe
I’m gonna buckle my knees and I’m gonna lock em’ up tight

I’m gonna hold a pen while you drag my arm across the page

One gonna hold my memories another gonna close the door
One gonna leave me restless another wanting more

You’re gonna keep my soul it was yours to have long ago

(Humming)

Here's somone elses recording of them singing Keepsake at a differnt show.. just found it on youtube.. hope it's ok to post here




Thursday, October 29, 2009 3:13 AM
11:59PM on Wed night.. just got home from NY after a quick 24 hour trip down and back. it was a good and geeky day.. the meeting we ran today was really interesting and nerdy... in a good way. I can't go in to the topic here.. but I had the idea that I wanted to do a little show and tell at the meeting... I mail ordered some cool  sensor units that IBM builds for another company.. They're very cool chips that can talk to each other wirelessly.. I got them working in the car ride down last night (don't worry... I wasn't driving). then finished them up in my hotel room last night.. The result is a system that can wirelessly monitor temp, humidity and light level in four different locations..







It was fun waling in to the meeting today with a piece of working hardware.. even if we hadn't designed it.. our company had helped make it possible.. I love things you can actually touch and feel..


I wasn't the only nerd in out 8  hour meeting today.. I found at the very end  that 4 out of the 10 folks in the room were from MIT..    That realization happened when I spotted the tell-tale 'brass rat' ...the class ring with the MIT beaver mascot...  on the finger of Lloyd t.   turns out that he, Steve, Dario and I were all alums.. we started to geek out on field of study (6.1, 6.5, 8.1, 6.3     and where they lived, Tang, Bexley. MacGregor   .. if you're from MIT you'll  know what that all means.. )  I was proud and happy tobe around co-alums.







We ended the meetign around 5L3 then Dave, Steve and I headed home.. On the way, we stopped at the 'Blue Colony' diner.. had to eat tehre because of the name !.. And Dave recommended it highly.. it's a great Greek place.. I had spanikopita, dolmas  and greek salad..it was enough for 3 people !







Yies.. only 5 min of battery remaining.. better hit 'post' .. more tomorrow.. Nite folks !
Nite Sam !

-me


Wednesday, October 28, 2009 4:13 AM
Past midnight and I'm sitting in a hotel in Danbury CT. I just drove down with my freinds Dave and Steve...









It's amazing how many of the world's problems you can work out in a five hour car ride... with no interruptions...

I really like my freinds...... 

Too sleepy to write more..lots to do tomorrow.. Nite folks.. Nite Sam
-me

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 1:59 AM
Oy.what a day..everythign I touched today broke, went south, cracked, shorted, kicked the bucket, fizzled, crapped out, had the radish, flipped freaked out, or plain just didn't work. Not sure what was up.. but it didn't matter if it was a meeting, a concept, a piece of hardware, my computer, my car.. etc.. nothing seemed to work.. It got so bad that at the end of the day (5:45) I skipped a meeting and went home to do Diane's yoga class in order not to break anything else.

In htta spirit.. I don't dare try to put anything aroingal here tonight for fear I'd screw it up.. Instead, I'll give you a look at other people's stuff.. In this case, very special other people that I love.. meaning my son Gabe. and my baby sister Mary.. So.. first. ehre are soem wicked cool pictures that gabe an his friend Dylan took last Friday night.. they're photos using multiple and time laps exposures.. with some colored LED's that I gave them tossed in for fun..






















I just think these things are brilliant  and creative ... and so is Gabe !

And.. so is my baby sister Mary.. she sent me the following vid of her neighborhood doign their annual Halloween Thriller thing.. Mary's not in there, but her business neighbor, Louis Erdrich.. who's one of my favorite authors is intthere dancing in a read dress with sparkly things.. (I've read several of her books.. Love Medicine, The Beat Queen, Master Butchers Singing Club, Paque of Doves, Tracks)






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzVdjc8AuTs


.. OK.. I know better than to attempt to do anythign original tonight.. so I'll stop here while I'm ahead..

Nite to all of you. note t you, too Sam
-me
Sunday, October 25, 2009 8:05 PM
I finally got to sleep last night around 3:45 ... I'd gotten in to bed when the fire alarm went off in the barn.. kids were playing with the smoke machine.. and playing music // 'oy !

I managed to sleep until almost 10... which was great because that's when folks were showing up to help clean. Diane had been up for hours and had already been to the store and the bagel shop.. At 10 like clockwork folks started wither showing up.. or wakign up to help. I think we had at least 7 folks sleeping over..

It was a bright beautiful day.. perfect for stripping off fake spider webs and other halloween decorations. We put on some good music and got to work.














Thanks so much to all of our friends who showed up to help both with setup and take down. It really felt like a communal party when friends like Victor, Patty, Ann, Keith , Avery , Joan, Jackie  and Peggy showed up to help scrub floors, tables and windows.. And Max and his friends. Gabe and his friends, and Jessie and her friends helped us replace furniture, and schlep stuff up and down from the attic. Most of the work was done by 2.. thoguh Diane's still working on the floors.












Joan and Lackie wecven took away all the deposit bottles for the MMU bottle drive.. This is just a tiny subset of what they took.. they had a car full !



Things came back together pretty well. As always, we ended the day with a small pile of costume peices (are these yours ? )



And  left over serving untensils (yours ?)




In the end.. the only damage the house sustained wasa piece of gum... the first, I might add.. on our new stone steps.. It will come off.. But that's not bad for 300 + people in your house...





It was a lot of work.. but I'm really glad we had the party. It's important to us and to the community. It was great seeing all three kids friends their together.   Thanks again to everyone out there who helped make the party a sucess.. We love this community

Thanks folks.. Thanks Sam
-me






Saturday, October 24, 2009 5:34 AM
ahhhhhhhhh .. just sitting down after about 5 hours of party + cleanup..   It was a really good party.



We had a ton of help setting up, so it was a pretty low stress prep.. Folks strted showing up just before 7 and things were getting pretty quiet by midnight. I have no way of counting how many people were here.. I used to try and list the folks.. but it's grown beyond that now.. and my memory isn't as good as it once was.. I do knwo that around 9 I walked through and counted more than 250 folks between the ohouse and the barn. I don't know what that means abotu the total number of folks who came and went through the evening..   It's cool sitting here in the quiet .. and nearly clean place after all those folks have gone..

This year was pretty calm too.. no mischief we saw, no lost and crying kids.. no police.. all in all.. you can't ask much more for a gathering.







We decorated our room by putting spooky stuff in our bed (no making out here, please).. Talk about spooky.. that's my Monday calendar from work.. I'm talking SPOOKY !



Just before the party Diane and I took a look around to make sure all the hatcheds were battoned down, etc.. the place looked good !















Max came in dressed in armor. a mustache.. and a gun shooting fake pot leaves.. he was 'The War on Drugs' ...   Gabe came as a banana.. both cute..












Diane had a great costume.. she came as 'John C's other Half'.. she got a freaky bald mad science guy mask and a fake beard and put it on the back of her head.. along with a Colony style apron.. here she is wither her back to the camera .. pretty cool, huh ? I'm just dressed as 'John C'.. a mad scientist.. like pretty much all of the last 20 something years.. sureprise surprise !






Sue and Jim came as their sun Dylan in full slacker boarder togs.. complete with drooping pants.





Paula and on were there..  Paula was the girl from a Nightmare before Xmas'.. and Ron came as... as John C.. compelte with solar power, dirty water. dirty face,  an extra fan for the inverter, a multimeter, a spark shooter and a morse code key.. And he had to dye his hair gray/ He's so funny













Lots of folks I hadn't seen forever.. like Sam's friend John...




We had soem classy outfits including Classic rockers..



They call him ,,,,,, :TIM: !



Smurfs






Glowing ear plugs



sarah pailn fresh from parasailin'.. she called herself 'caribou barbi' !



and creepy smile guy



Seeing Jess was a wonderful surprise !



Cupcake anyone ?



They're always after me lucky charms.. they're tragically malicious !



I pitty the fool !






Uh.....



The singing nuns....



Lumber jacks



spooky nightmare guy..



lots of good spooky food.. but I hardly got to it..






Piles of shoes at every door...







Some folks just hanging out..






Others playing games...












Still others in the barn dancing to DJ Sumner.. he did a GREAT job.. there were over 80 folks in there while he was playing..








Here's aaron inverting..



some hanging out by the fire..





Here's what a quick walkabout of the party looked like at 10 PM...
And here's a timellapse of the whole thing.. a little dark.. but cool


Halloween 09 party

john | MySpace Video




There were still just about 100 folks here at 11 PM.. but folks started leaving quickly.. by midnight we were down to about 30.. perfect ramp down.

We collected a good amount of food for food bank during the party...  








And had plenty of help for the first cleanup.. by 1:30 the place looked pretty good.. Though we need to do a bunch more cleaning.. We're having a cleaning party from 10 till 2 tomorrow. Please come by if you're free.



It was a great evening.. it was wonderful seeing all our friends.. especially so many of Sams friends.. I tell you ... her was there with us tonight.. you could feel him there in the spirit of all of his friends..



It was just your kind of night Sam.. just your kind of night..   We love you man !
-me













Saturday, October 24, 2009 3:36 AM
Come home this afternoon to find that we have a new back step ! Friend Chris came here today and replaced the stack of pallets we were using to get in our house with these beautiful blocks of granite. These particular granite blocks used to be part of the walls of the Burlington post office. Now we'll step across them every day to get in our house// Chris does such excellent work.. I thin stone just does what he says.




We spent the evening continuing to get ready for the Halloween party. I always forget how big a job it is to clean and decorate enough so 300+ people can mill through your house. It's worth it though.. By the way.. if you're available tomorrow during the day to help us set up.. we could use it... we're also looking for helpers for take-down and clean up on Sunday. please come if you're free.

My favorite decorating step is to put the face on the house.. This party is steeped in tradition. Gabe asked me how many years we'd been having the party.. I had to stop and think.. I think the party was going on in the house before I bought it in 1982. We've pretty much had a party most... not all.. but most years since.. before kids.. it was a pretty wild late night thing with live bands... when the kids were small. it was quieter with lots of small people runnign around.. sicne Sam died.. we skipped the party only one year.. it's not the same.. as before.. never will be.. but it's a tradition.  Now Max and gabe are older.. the party age is drifting back up... It'll be fun..   So will be cleanign up afterwards.. I promise !  Come help!


OK.. that's it for the day..more tomorrow after the party.. Ya'll come !
Night folks, night Sam !
-me