m610

Mike Meier (m610)

Residence

Davis resident from 1979-91 and 1993-present.

What I Used to Do

Mostly-retired from UCD where I taught materials science courses, developed the laboratory teaching program, and developed the materials characterization facility (light and electron microscopes, x-ray analysis and imaging, etc.) in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.

What I Do Now

I'm currently working on a software project for use with (race) track videos and similar activities, some book projects, and art projects exploring the relationships between art and science.

Hobbies and Interests

• Hiking and camping, especially in the Mono Lake and Tioga Pass areas.
• Digital photography. I used to do film, and my old Minolta camera even still has film in it, and has, since about 1998.
• Digital Videos, I have gotten reasonably good at this and have some interesting projects in mind.
• Bicycling, I used to do a lot of this (NC to CO many years ago, lots of Davis Double-Centuries and lots more centuries) and am just now getting back into it. DDC in 2008?
• Programming, mostly in Delphi. Completed projects that other people actually use include a Jominy End-quench data analysis program, grain size and volume fraction measuring programs, and an instrument usage logging program.
• Computers, I learned hardware and software by building my own computers back when CP/M was still a viable operating system. One result of this was a small collection of old computers, including an Epson QX-10, Kaypro 10, and two S-100 systems, and a case of 8" floppy disks, all in working condition.
• Motorsports, with an emphasis on driving rather than watching, although I do attend some of the races held in California. As for driving, I've auto-crossed a little and I have driven at track days a lot, some 40 events, and I instruct new drivers at these events. I drive a 1998 Honda Prelude and the car is modified somewhat to improve handling and safety, but so far not power (it still gets over 29 mpg highway), and it is wired for video. A selection of my track videos have been uploaded to StreetFire.

Pictures

Me on the Dana Plateau in October 2006 Christmas 2004 at Mono Lake, just after sunrise Mono Lake, just after sunrise, summer 2007 Mono Lake, brine flies, summer 2007 Ford at Bodie, CA, summer 2007 My global warming picture, summer 2007

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2007-11-19 15:10:55   The Downtown II idea is really interesting, but I've seen it kill a downtown in the past. West Palm Beach in Florida did something similar for very similar reasons... a very very well done project executed in slowly rolled out phases over a couple decades, but it wound up killing both downtowns (in part due to a horrific rebuild of subroad infrastructure that tore up the roads over a year longer than intended). Of course, now the real estate is there, the parking, mass transit and sidewalks are there, and what is now empty could revitalize over decades into a wonderful huge downtown area, but in the near term it really did a doozy on the local music, farmer's market and other aspects of downtown life prior to the project. It almost worked (and there are some great things like a center for the performing arts that came out of it), but the loss was tragic. —JabberWokky

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2008-02-24 17:26:24   I think there is general interest in video... the actual place to discuss this would be the Sycamore Wiki, where development of the software goes on. My wiki software does support video, and I've discovered that the conversion process is horribly CPU intensive for a web server, even for limited size clips. Hosting elsewhere is a possibility, but then that wiki community wouldn't have all their content in their backups. Given the dual nature (technical/practical) of the issue, bringing it up at the Wiki Spot wiki for general discussion might be a good idea as well. —JabberWokky

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2008-06-22 21:30:37   Hey, Mike how's it going? I agree. Maybe I need to try harder to be a little more creative. I hope life outside UCD is treating you well. I really appreciated you taking me in for that one summer. Maybe I could have been more helpful, but I certainly learned a lot of practical know how and cannibalizing that old electron microscope was a whole lot of fun. —MikeMele

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2011-07-27 18:13:41   Nicely stated on the blue max page!

I grew up in North Davis and I have fond memories of hearing the karts from my house on Saturday mornings —StevenDaubert