iPhone guidance

If you don’t want to shell out the $10 per month fee for the AT&T iPhone Navigator application, I can’t blame you. That’s a lot to pay for directions, especially when you can pick up a Garmin for under $100. There is an alternative, though: A new version of CoPilot Live enhances and fixes a [...]

Brit’s have their priorities sorted

“Drinking problem solved,” reads the headline in The Philadelphia Inquirer. “Soon Britons will be able to get smashed at the pub while their pint glasses won’t.” Apparently, in the face of a horrendous number (87,000) of alcohol related injuries, many of which stem from shattered pint beer glasses, the government has found a solution.
No officials [...]

Ocean kayaking and whisky!

Ok, this has got to be the perfect tour: Ocean kayaking around the coast of Scotland on a tour that includes stops at some of the finest scotch whisky distilleries on the islands. I really can’t think of a better vacation.

Iceland

As a U.S. citizen, I’ve always felt terribly dismayed at how insular the United States is. Very few of us travel internationally, and only marginally more seem to have any knowledge of the world at large. Most of our students can’t draw a map of the world or even a reasonably accurate map of Europe. In fact, I recently saw a video clip in which confused interviewees claimed they would support Bush’s plans to start a war with Australia, which had been incorrectly labeled as “Serbia” on a world map. On the whole, as a people the United States is not a part of the world. There is nothing beyond our borders worth talking about, unless perhaps it has some financial impact on our future.

International travel easier… kind of

For those who travel internationally, it looks like the U.S. is finally taking a few steps to improve the presently onerous experience of customs. According to the Customs and Border Patrol web, a new service is being launched that will ease U.S. entry for frequent travelers. The Global Entry Program allows registered users to pass [...]

So long to jetlag?

Researchers have been studying sleep patterns for decades. In fact, much of what we know today has been studied since the 1920’s and even earlier, but until quite recently there hasn’t been a solid understanding of why we behave the way we do.
According to Dr. Clifford Saper, MD, MS, PhD, who is Chairman of the [...]

iPod index

Coevolving Innovations posted iPod Index, versus Big Mac Index a few months ago. While it’s fascinating to look at the calculated economics, there’s a slight flaw here. The iPod Index lists Brazil as the most expensive place to buy an iPod nano, but they’ve overlooked Iceland. Thanks to incredibly shocking import costs on all portable [...]

iPhones in Iceland?

How do I get an iPhone that works (natively, not using roaming) in Iceland? I’ve visited the Iceland Apple Store but the site is woefully out of date and offers no information about iPhones. And yet, there are a scattering of references across the ‘net that make passing reference to using iPhones in and [...]

Coffee index

I’ve long believed that a cup of coffee provides a good cost of living index. It’s a ubiquitous product, almost a staple, highly available, and a commodity. (The McDonald’s theory is flawed, because they maintain their U.S.-derived pricing in many third world countries—for example, in La Paz Bolivia a burger is unreasonably expensive).
Anyhow, the interesting [...]

Tea garden

While browsing through my iPhoto database I found these beautiful shots from the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate park. Thought I’d upload a few to my Flickr feed (visit Flickr to see the whole set).

Mumbai

We recently visited Mumbai and stayed in one of the hopelessly Americanized resorts there (you know the type, tailored for corporate visitors for the most part). It was beautiful, we were waited on hand-and-foot, and I felt completely out of touch with India.

It was a wonderful visit. I’ll post a bit [...]

Not enough travel

Well, I’ve reorganized this blog a bit in an effort to start… well, using it. Chiefly, there are more categories, nooks and crannies for me to start filling up with assorted oddments of my life.
In so doing I’ve come to realize that I spend way too much time working, much too little time traveling, and [...]