Your Own Personal Zeppelin

60 Minutes' story on "Flying Cars Ready To Take Off" had a nice PopSci feel to it. But upon reflection, I've had some concerns. Specifically - there was no Danny Deckchair flight of whimsy. Don't get me wrong - the featured inventors are dauntless Field of Dreams types. But the whole transit-made-easy perspective of it fails to inspire me. The flying cars all looked like the noisy helicopters we've lived with for decades now. I've mentioned my complete lack of scientific ability in the previous post, but if I were to fly my own vehicle - I'd like it to hover more effortlessly - say, like a blimp. I'll let the engineers deal with the details like lift, wind shear, & thunderstorms. But before I go flying my own chopper to Tulsa, I'd like the SkYacht folks to create that - a fun personal blimp. That way we could take it out to the park on a pretty spring day & fly like a kite for spell. That should be the way we start - nice & easy. I'm not talking a "Sunshine on my Shoulders" glider either. That's entirely too daring for the rest of us. As they quote on the home page of the Personal Blimp folks, "In an airship, one does not fly, one does not drive, instead one travels in a most beautiful kind of way that gives meaning to the word journey." -- Hugo Eckener

Skype Call from Scotland, Space Physics & Political Economy - The World is Flat

Happy Birthday, Bryan! Glad to see your team in the finals against Man U for the FA Cup.

My Scottish pal Darren called me using Skype today. The audio fidelity is fantastic - way better than a typical phone call and no transatlantic echo either. And it's FREE. I felt a tad bit like a baseball announcer using the Plantronics PC microphone that I had picked up at Fry's. But it worked splendidly. He also used his WebCam to send live video from his flat in Edinburgh. (I need to buy a WebCam next!)

Went to Houston with the wifey-poo for a friend's mother's funeral. It was a really nice service. The Klein Funeral Homes & Memorial Parks did a fine job. We learned about the origins of "Amazing Grace". The cemetery where she was put to rest is beautiful - a very woodsy area with lots of wind chimes on tree branches. The breeze was just right to get a very nice blend of chimes during the service - very peaceful. The spiritual nature of the occasion was blunted somewhat by the speeding ticket I was dealt on I-45 by Officer Simmons of the Fairfield, TX Police Dept. (85mph in a 70mph speed limit zone). Consider that my contribution to the economic development of rural Texas. (I needed to brush up on my Defensive Driving anyway.)

Last night we went to my friend Tom's biannual BBQ for his international students (ESL). I always enjoy the opportunity to meet these bright young minds from countries like China, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea & Peru. Tom had his Ping-Pong table set up & I got to play the Peruvian Space Physicist (wicked backhand) & the Chinese champ - Wei Lin (the Korean Political Economist kept score!). I lost on both occasions - but with great flair. Tom insisted that the winners sing their countries' national anthems. But we never got around to that. After all, there were some dominoes to be played!

We enjoyed talking to the Chinese students about the recent & ongoing Chinese demonstrations against the Japanese. Unfortunately there were no Japanese students present to spice things up a bit. But BBQ & international incidents don't mix well. The Thai guy brought some Leechy fruits to settle things down a bit.

The wife & I enjoyed speaking with the Peruvian Space Physicist about the stratosphere, the mesosphere, the troposphere, the thermosphere & the exosphere. My complete lack of understanding about the basics of physics didn't stop me from asking about the Hubble Space Telescope. He explained how they would take measurements of the space in the area of the telescope to detect the amount of electrons, the solar waves & magnetic activity. I can't believe he dignified my inquiry with such a detailed response. (Fr. Deeves gave me a D in Physics back in High School.)

It was a very interesting evening. And the Korean Political Economist gave the Peruvian Ping-Pong champ a ride to Club Babalu in Uptown.

This afternoon I got to take advantage of Borders' Bookstore's annual Educator's Discount weekend. I bought the Sneakers DVD & my first audio book - Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat. My brother was going to borrow the book, but this way we can just burn him copies of the cd's & give a set to Dad too.

Spring Cleaning 2005 - Found this artist at an eclectic little shop in Salado, TX a month ago. The wifey-poo & I bought this big Indonesian Flying Frog. The artist's work can be found at www.ponderingpool.com. I like the sentiment here as the weather warms & people give their dwellings a thorough clean. Here's to "clearing room to dream".  

Free Mac Mini

I am still trying to put together enough confirmed offers for a Mac Mini. To help me get my Mini Mac & to get you started on getting your own, click this link to join, or copy and paste it into a browser:

http://www.FreeMiniMacs.com/?r=14082114

If you can't, no biggie. I've got 3 completed offers already & I just
need 7 more.

All you have to do is join, complete an online offer (Blockbuster
Online, USA Today, Wall St. Journal, or some of the others listed),
and, if you wish to get your own Mac, refer friends to do the same.

Here's how the Gratis Network explains it: "Once you have enough
referrals who have joined and completed an offer via your referral
link, and you have completed an offer as well, you will be able to
order your FREE Mini Mac. Make sure to tell everyone you know, but
make sure they join via YOUR REFERRAL LINK. No credit will be given
unless they click through that link and fully sign up. That's the way
we track users, and make sure you get proper credit for your
referrals. You can click "Refer Friends" and send them an email from
our site, or post your referral link online."

For more info, see Kevin Rose's blog: http://www.kevinrose.com/index.php/P15/

Stumbled upon the Led Zeppelin page & was pleased to see the neat flash shows with zeppelins. The "News" page reported on Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton & Brian May meeting Queen Elizabeth for a royal tribute to the music industry. Having noticed that she didn't recognize any of the reknowned guitarists, "Guitar god Eric Clapton took no chances and, firmly shaking her hand, introduced himself by name. "Have you been playing a long time?" the queen asked. "It must be 45 years now," replied Clapton, 59."

"A wombat gets a tummy rub." My pal Tom told me there was an interruption of tennis play this year at the Australian Open when a wombat wandered onto the court. If someone can find a photo of this interruption - please let me know. 

Saw this amazing movie with Jen last week. "Riding Giants" - highly recommended.

Help me get a Mac Mini with this promotion. Use this link to complete an offer & that will also get you started on your way to getting your own free Mac Mini: http://www.FreeMiniMacs.com/?r=14082114 

Don Quijote Praying - Thanks, Bryan!

The 400th anniversary of Don Quixote

Neiman Marcus Online For a mere $10,000,000 you can own your very own German Zeppelin.  

You can get the A-Z list here. Ideally I'd make a 'compleat' collection of these - but I'd love to hear from someone that's already gone to the trouble.  

Beatles A-Z

beatles-discography.comA big memory for me from the early 80's is listening to the Zoo and their Beatles A-Z broadcasts. I taped them in marathon sessions where I'd have all the cassettes lined-up & ready for flipping when a side was done. Those tapes - I listened to them so much. So much so - that for each Beatles' song I can still hear the beginning of what would be the next one on the list. "Mother Nature's Son" was always followed by John's voice yelping "Mr Moonlight", and so on. I was singing "Mr Moonlight" in the shower yesterday morning - such a funny song. I think I'll have to request this song at the next Hard Night's Day gig I go to.

Agency Tests Security Blimp in Washington

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Agency Tests Security Blimp in WashingtonAnother step in the rebirth of the Blimp-Age!

DC Security Blimp tested - Won't be surprised to see one floating over most US skylines soon. Nifty lookin' things, n'est pas? 

Haven't seen the film yet, but had to post the fabulous looking Zeppelin scene here. If anyone's seen it, by all means, let me know how it was. 

Looks like we'll hear about the SJ Earthquakes' status by next Friday if not sooner. 

San Antone on the MLS Soccer Map?

MySA.com: SoccerThe San Antonio Express-News reports on the possibility of the San Jose Earthquakes relocating to Texas.

Count your blessings local MLS Soccer fans - it could've been worse than a drive up to Frisco for us.  

I like the new iMac, but I think in the search for a smaller computer, they sacrificed the design whimsy that the iMac G4 (that looks like a desklamp) has.  

Joswiak: 'True to What an iMac Has Always Been About'

Yahoo! News - Joswiak: 'True to What an iMac Has Always Been About'After the initial hype about what the new iMac G5 looks like, MacCentral has a good interview with an Apple VP about the design details. He reveals a lot about their decision process. I like that they don't immediately go for the heavy duty leading edge tech solutions. I think it's a mistake that PC manufacturers make when they want to get the latest & greatest out on the street - they look to see what the IT pros are doing at work. Well - that doesn't always apply to what the home user will need.