Susan MacTavish Best threw a swell surprise birthday party last night in San Francisco for her honey, Jim, and as is always the case with Susan’s soirees, party-goers were full of interesting stories. Julian Green is back in town taking a much needed rest after swimming the English Channel. It took about 10 1/2 hours. Julian said that after hour four it gets really tough. Matt Richtel, who’s still out about town promoting his delectable debut novel, Hooked, wanted to know what Swim Maestro Green was thinking about all that time in the water. Green said he was thinking, of course, about women. And, well, getting to shore and reaching his goal, which makes sense considering that fewer than 1,000 people have accomplished this feat since the late nineteenth century. One of the more uncomfortable aspects of the swim, according to Julian, is the fact that the skin in your mouth and throat sloughs off, and the saltwater also rubs your underarms raw. Ouch. Julian’s swim benefited the UCSF Children’s Hospital and The Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby Association. Visit Julian’s blog to read about his experiences and see photos.

During dinner I sat next to Scott Summit, who just got back from a year as visiting professor at Carnegie Mellon. You can see Scott’s swell Pittsburgh digs in the next issue of Dwell, which should hit the stands in about three weeks. If you’re flying in or out of the City by the Bay any time soon, you can check out an exhibition of Scott’s work in the United terminal at San Francisco International Airport. Scott’s currently spending the year in Tahoe working on a project involving 3-D printing of prosthetic legs. Apparently, there are machines now that can laser print any object in 3D, and in fact there are warehouses of these machines all over the world that, among other things, print copies of the machines themselves. This is all very intriguing and sci-fi, and I imagine that 3-D printing is destined to revolutionize manufacturing. It does make one worry, however, that the machines are gonna get us in the end.

I also had a chance to talk to Kenneth Goldberg, a UC Berkeley professor who is using robotics technology in order to capture the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker on camera. He’s been spending time in Arkansas among the swamps and birders–read about it here. The ivory-billed woodpecker, which hasn’t been seen since the 1940s, has developed a cultish following. According to this article on the UC Berkeley website, “If the researchers obtain conclusive photographic evidence of the woodpecker, it will settle a debate that has become heated in recent years and fascinated millions of people around the world, from bird-watchers and environmentalists to Arkansas farmers and duck hunters.” Who knew?