Posted on

Burning Man Projects 2023

Another burn is upon us! This year I got a chance to do some major infrastructure upgrades for the trailer and the truck, installing a much improved solar / battery system and an awning on the back for having additional space for more panels. I also started work on a fold away murphy bed, but had to pause as I ran out of time. I’ll get that done some time in the next year.

Last year I installed a 12v – 100AH battery, a 60A MPPT charge controller and 160 watts of panels for powering house lights and charging batteries. This system worked great, but I still needed to break out the 2000W honda generator when I needed to run AC or something more power hungry like the espresso machine. This was a real pain in 2022 as temperatures soared to 130F during the day, making getting up and turning on the generator in the mornings a sweaty no-fun experience.

I did some research into kits and found a Chinese supplier that sold a solar charge controller, panels, and a lithium iron phosphate “power wall” style battery. The total cost was about ~3k for the solar. Here is a breakdown of the specifications

Continue reading “Burning Man Projects 2023”
Posted on

4 Goals for a fresh orbit. 2023 is upon us.

an ikea lamp in the desert at sunset

The far future. The year 2023.

It’s been a long road to get here. we had to orbit all the way around the sun.

What am I going to focus on this year? 4 goals for a fresh orbit.

The monuments are still in the floor at the Hangar in Playa Vista where they built the Spruce Goose

Launch Flotilla – Our presence in space is expanding. Flotilla will leverage the fast moving launch market to establish industrial economic activity in space. I’ve formed the company and I’m working on laying the knots to fit the spline of the first ship.

Continue reading “4 Goals for a fresh orbit. 2023 is upon us.”
Posted on

Dawn of the age of business.

It’s Business Time.

I haven’t updated this site in quite a while. The last time I was drawn to write, my good friend Justin Corwin has just passed on, we were still in the midst of the pandemic that will be a defining moment for the rest of our lives. I was working on fun projects for a small robotics focused incubator, but felt unfulfilled. To keep myself busy, I took on machine shop and engineering development work with the CNC mill and lathe I’d restored in my garage. I was making money, but I still didn’t feel like I had purpose.

304 Stainless is a cool material.

Over the last year, working on a small aerospace upstart called Vast, I found that purpose. One day I’ll be able to share that story, but for now my status is: amped to build something new.

Continue reading “Dawn of the age of business.”
Posted on

The Return of the Space Cowboys.

The sun sets on the cape. Cape Canaveral, Florida.

This week after over a decade of development, some of my dearest friends are launching people into space. I only worked with them for a couple years, but they’ve touched my life in so many ways and we’ve stayed friends since. I’ll never forget the excitement of my first launch.

I’m rooting for them, and for humanity.

LETS GET BACK UP THERE! GO FALCON GO DRAGON! ( I love you guys. )

Crew Dragon Dress Rehearsal– Credit: SpaceX

~10 years ago I got a call out of the blue from Tom H, structures recruiter for Space Exploration Technologies, a company I’d never heard of in Los Angeles. I was really into robotics and never had an interested in rockets (they’d been done before, or so I thought). But Tom was interested in me, and what I’d done in college ( built a humanoid robot ), so he talked my ear off for about an hour and asked me all sorts of questions about my background.

Continue reading “The Return of the Space Cowboys.”
Posted on

Making Swarf #3: Productive Pandemic

Too many zoom calls. Hacker Drinkup with a cube theme.

On Lockdown

Hadn’t used the P100 respirator since the fires last year

That was an interesting 3 months. I was planning on publishing weekly blogs but I had a lot in my life change very rapidly, so I took a break from writing. In the midst of bringing the garage shop online, starting a business formally ( swarf.io ), and interviewing for jobs, a pandemic started and I got exposed to a friend who got the ‘rona. I’ve been on lockdown since (starting around Feb 28th). Luckily I never got sick, but now I’m busier than ever.

Continue reading “Making Swarf #3: Productive Pandemic”
Posted on

It’s 2020. Welcome to the capital F Future.

Life got real busy in 2019. I left a struggling startup in the valley, then moved back to LA to work for an aerospace company.

  • Finally out of storage units.
  • And straight into the new garage.
Return to LA accomplished!

Shortly thereafter they ghosted me, and I was here, in rural LA, with no job, a fresh lease. And no time to think about that.

My mom got cancer.

I drove across the country, to Florida, to be with her before chemo started. I’m glad we could hang and she could meet Servo.

Times got dark.

The temple of brad pitt, and my life trajectory burns at burning man 2019.
Continue reading “It’s 2020. Welcome to the capital F Future.”
Posted on

A total noob’s radical first Defcon

It feels like it’s been a year, I’ve been to the burn, packed all my belongings into a storage unit and moved to San Fransisco, but just last month in September, I went to my first Defcon. And it was amazing. So I wrote up the experience. If you’re a noob and considering going, or if you’re a seasoned hacker veteran, take a look. Hopefully it’s as fun to read as it was to go.

Without further ado

– Kyle

Wow.

Defcon 26 was a wild ride through the hardcore hacker halls of the people I’d always vaguely known on the internet but never had a face to go with the name. Now I feel jacked into the dark places of the internet where some amazingly talented and nice and funny people reside. I’m super pumped and excited.

Contents:

  1. Preamble: Why I ended up at Defcon
  2. So I said to me, let’s do it, Defcon
  3. Part I: Journey to Defcon
  4. Part II: Defcon 101 (Thursday)
  5. Part III- Real Defcon 101
  6. Part IV – Crazy Night One
  7. Part V – Ciphers and Penthouse Pool Parties
  8. Part VI – Sandstorm & The Challenge Party
  9. Part VII – Pinball Wizard
  10. Epilogue – The Journey Home

Continue reading “A total noob’s radical first Defcon”