Posted by Jerry on April 14th, 2006 — Posted in Journal
With my phone battery sputtering to a halt, and no sign of a charger being available anywhere in continental USA, how do you stay in touch back home?
Here is where my travel technology holds its own… I am writing this blog entry in a Washington DC hotel room using the hotel’s wifi system on the ipaq 2750 handheld, and a bluetooth keyboard. Who needs a laptop? I have the means to type anywhere – on a plane in a coffee shop or in the hotel.
Okay so I can’t connect wifi on the plane, but in the hotel, for US$9.95 a day I can have unlimited access to the internet and email. Need to download a map or send an email? just go online. So how difficult is it?
First open the bluetooth connection to the keyboard (or not if you are happy using a stylus for input), then open the wifi application and click on ‘site survey’ in the ‘manage’ button – that will tell you what networks are available at that location. Then when it says “connected” 0pen the browser – in my case Internet Explorer and fill ou the form on the hotel homepage and that’s it, you’re online.
So here I am using the browser to write this blog entry over my morning coffee 🙂
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on April 12th, 2006 — Posted in Journal
Miami is wet, and I am writing this in a hotel room with a relieved expression on my face. It all began when I checked in to the airport in Canberra – everything went fine and the quilt was carefully consigned to the hold for me to collect in San Francisco. A very comfortable 15 hours later and I collected the quilt at San Francisco airport and with a clear two and a half hours checked the quilt into the American Airlines baggage system.
Another 6 hours or so – making it around 30 hours since leaving Canberra I found myself waiting with several other transferees from Qantas to American Airlines in Miami looking dejectedly at the carousel when all other bags had been collected.
I joined the queue – and to cut a long story short, it seems that a whole baggage cart had wound up in St Louis.
This morning it was tracked to Miami International Airport, and thence to the Biltmore Hotel.
I had some great conversations with the airline and hotel staff when I told them the package contained three art quilts destined to be auctioned in support of Hurricane Katrina survivors – and they became especially keen to track down this item with more than usual vigour! Everyone I spoke to thought the quilts were a wonderful idea and wished the quilters every success
happily – it turned up and has been sent on its way to the coordinator in Florida 🙂
Cheers Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on March 22nd, 2006 — Posted in Journal, Technology, Travel
One of the more interesting items on this evening’s Beyond Tomorrow TV program was the air car – two versions: one made in France, the other in Australia.
In Nice in France the air car is about to enter production – capable of up to 110kph, and runs for two hours on AU$2.50 worth of compressed air. So it’s completely non-polluting (at least no more polluting than the electricity grid), exhausting only air back into the atmosphere. You can fill the tanks in about 20 minutes, or four hours using the onboard compressor by plugging it into your domestic power supply.
The Australian air car uses a specially designed rotary engine, rather than the conventional piston engine of the French one, and was designed by Italian-born Australian Angelo DiPietro – a former Mercedes rotary engine designer. His engine is designed for use in buggies, forklifts, and even scooters!
I wonder if by using a variable valve cutoff this could be converted to steam – that way the engine could use the expansive properties of steam to get even more power for the size 🙂
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on March 21st, 2006 — Posted in Journal
Yesterday being a cool day, it seemed the right sort of day to head into the garden and counter some of the entropy of the past couple of weeks – it’s now looking almost like an English cottage garden…
But one thing a garden path needs is a bench to sit on to admire the view. This weekend I assembled a bench kit I found on sale at Magnet Mart – there is an ideal spot for it in the front yard on the path – what do you think?
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on March 20th, 2006 — Posted in Journal
On Moleskinerie the other day I came across the rules for Renaissance-man-dom – this is a really positive way of looking at the world, and of one’s own development. The blog is kept by Colin Marshall, who revises these rules about every six months. Some key ones for me were:
1. Every day, either learn a new skill or hone one you already have.
A progress-free life is extremely depressing, a downward-sloping one suicidally so. Keep the old inner demons at bay by making sure that, in one way or another, you develop, if only a little bit, with each rotation of the Earth.
2. Don’t instinctively say “no” when presented with possible new interests.
The mind of the polymath demands a constant stream of new influences; letting them grow as diverse as possible doesn’t hurt.
11. Never miss the chance to approach what initially seem like troubles as opportunities.
“Every cloud has a silver lining.” “A door isn’t closed without a window being opened.” My favorite is “Honor thy mistake as a hidden intention.” Pick your platitude, but it’s within your abilities to harness for your own benefit what originally appeared to be a reversal.
And one of my personal favourites:
13. Keep a notebook handy.
You never know when you’ll run across a valuable piece of knowledge.
I guess I would probably rephrase No 2 as: Tell me under what conditions I can do something, rather than why I cannot. – the latter is just lazy thinking.
Cheers
Jerry
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