No wonder – I stared at this before going to bed!
Posted By RichC on June 18, 2015
Needed a filler post for Thursday 
Buy airline tickets 47 days in advance & on Tuesday afternoon
Posted By RichC on June 17, 2015
Now I’ll be the first to admit, I spend too much time agonizing over purchasing things wondering if I’m buying the right model or brand … and am I
paying too much. The Internet has only complicated matters since there is even more information to process. It’s the same thing when booking travel … although with travel/airfare the saving is not a couple dollar difference between models or brands … but $hundreds$ between flights and airlines.
Thankfully a few travel sites and blogs have helped by analyzing their collected data on price and time. The prevailing wisdom (at least for 2015) is to buy 47 days in advance and to shop on Tuesday afternoon.
Currently, I’m looking to book flights for a trip to see my daughter and son-in-law in Minneapolis later this summer; we’ve pretty much blocked out the travel weekend after coordinating our schedules (not the easiest of tasks in itself). A quick look at the flights for my favorite airline – Southwest – had me ready to book tickets, when my wife let me know that she didn’t want any connections (I’m sure she was thinking about Taylor’s recent fiasco returning from overseas).
So back to the higher priced non-stop Delta flights and deciding whether or not to burn our Skymiles on this trip rather than the overpriced“basic economy” tickets. By the way, those “basic economy” tickets are the no-change, non-refundable, no-seat selection, back of the plane cattle section seats … although for $40 they’ll give you the privilege (#sarcasm) of picking one of the few available, rear of the plane, “ tiny” seats. (how much more uncomfortable can it get? — don’t ask).
Back to the struggle to save a penny or two. I’m thinking that it might be worth spending 50,000 miles … but would really like to save those for a special longer domestic flight or maybe an upgrade when we go overseas again?
Decisions, decisions?
Twitter autoplay: Save bandwidth and data by changing settings
Posted By RichC on June 16, 2015
By default, Twitter now plays video as you scroll through posts. This can both be a bit annoying and will use data, especially on you mobile device with minimal data. To turn off the “autoplay” feature, go to the setting menu on the mobile Twitter app (currently Apple iOS devices only) and “check” either Use Wi-Fi only or Never play videos automatically – the feature is “on by default.”
Introducing a more seamless video experience with autoplay
It used to be that watching a video on Twitter required several taps. So when something was unfolding in real time, be it an NBA finals game, your favorite TV show or breaking news, that extra effort meant you could miss something that you care about. Over the past year we’ve made several changes to improve how you share, discover and watch videos, such as reducing the number of taps it takes to play a video, introducing a native mobile camera and bringing videos and Vines front and center in your timeline.
Today, it’s become even easier to enjoy video on Twitter. Now native videos, Vines and GIFs will begin to play back automatically.
Corrosion and planning updates to anchor and chain
Posted By RichC on June 16, 2015
The photo above is not mine (thankfully) but from a sailing aquaintance anchoring in SE Asia. He has been noticing fairly rapid chain corrosion in only 3 years and in particular on his anchor shackle. It spends a significant amount of time under the saltwater and we suspect that the shackle of inferior grade — either the galvanizing of the shackle or steel grade used to make it … or both.
So before purchasing inexpensive chain, anchors or shackles from sources unknown, realize that sometimes it comes back to bite you.
I mentioned that I have a similar situation with the chain on Encore. Both ends of my 80 feet of chain has a “questionable” link … one that is about 4 feet from the anchor shackle and those two links (and only two links) have rusted substantially more than the others. I had thought it may have been the link which came in contact with the windlass gypsy, but at 4' from the shackle this doesn't make sense. So I'd like to figure this out before starting the upgrade process. Any thoughts?
Can $TWTR turn things around without being acquired?
Posted By RichC on June 15, 2015
With the stock market opening off 150 points or so this Monday morning, the short sellers are having their way with the social 
networking stock of Twitter. TWTR is down 3.8% to $34.50 as of 11AM. What is it going to take to see this commercially and widely used service change direction … or will it just need to be acquired by a company that can better manage and grow the user base?
Archive: Programming the Honda garage door Homelink
Posted By RichC on June 15, 2015
Erase previous codes by pressing and holding two outside buttons for 20 s until red light flashes. Release buttons, proceed to step 1.
- Unplug garage door opener from house current.
- Hold garage door opener remote control 2 – 5 in from HomeLink keeping red light in view.
- Select Homelink button you want to train.
- Press and hold the button on the remote control and the button on the HomeLink at the same time and keep holding both buttons down. Canadian owners may have to press and release the remote unit every 2 seconds to keep the remote transmitting.
- The red light on the HomeLink will begin flashing, slowly at first then rapidly.
- When the red light flashes rapidly, release both buttons.
- Plug in the garage door motor and test the the HomeLink transmitter by holding down the button you programmed. The door should operate. If it does not, then you may have a variable or rolling code garage door opener. Test this by holding the HomeLink transmitter button you just trained. If the red light blinks for two seconds then stays on, you have a rolling code garage door opener. (below)
- Repeat the steps to train the other buttons on the HomeLink.
Rolling code system:
- Complete steps 1-8 above first.
- Find the 'Training Button' on the garage door opener unit. This may be on the back of the motor, or some units may allow training to be initiated from the wired remote unit in the garage itself.
- Press and hold the training button on the garage door opener unit (or equivalent action as per the opener instructions). The light may blink or come on and stay on. You now have 30 s or so to press and hold the HomeLink button for 3-4 s (the very same button you trained above in steps 1-8) This should result in a signal of some sort from the garage door opener unit…the training light could turn off, the light on the opener could blink, etc. You may have to press the HomeLink button 3 or 4 times for the unit to recognize the HomeLink system.
- Press the Homelink button again, the garage door system should operate.
Poor flight management by #Delta Airlines at Reagan National
Posted By RichC on June 14, 2015
Somebody has had a lousy day of traveling … or is it two days?
After 9 days in London, Taylor was up at 6AM UK time on Sunday to get to the airport for his flight back home. Because he had re-booked his ticket from CVG instead of leaving from Williston, ND,
he ended up with a couple of connections … usually no big deal for him (he doesn't mind traveling). Unfortunately on arrival to Reagan National in Washington DC, the afternoon thunderstorms delayed the landing and his connection flight to Cincinnati.
This is where it gets bungled by Delta. One of the flight attendants stumbled and sprained her ankle on the way to the gate so after the hour delay for weather, they delayed another 2 hours waiting for a new flight attendent. Once the new flight attendant arrived the 180 passengers reboard the plane again. Now it is 10PM (east coast time) and this is where it gets really interesting … someone at Delta now realizes the previous crew has now worked 14 hours and can't fly the DCA to CVG leg. FLIGHT CANCELLED.
So 180 tired and angry passengers head to the lightly staffed Delta counter to figure out what to do. Taylor called me at 11PM tonight (was planning to pick him up at the airport) saying that they are going to try and get 180 hotel rooms, but were having difficulty with transportation and finding enough rooms. Medallion members are frustrated too but at least are able to get through to their special phone number while others are told it will be a 2 hour wake. Taylor fortunately was reschedule for a 1:45PM flight tomorrow (thankfully doesn't start his new job on Monday!) but is really more interested in sleeping at the moment.
So far, Delta has not exibihit the professionalism and experience they “should” have as a top tier airline (4-1/2 hours before cancelling flight). It is no wonder passenger need some kind of “bill of rights.” We'll see if they “voluntarily” try to make amends with the ordinary passengers … I suspect they will do whatever they can to keep their million mile Medallion flier happy. Not sure about those of us who only fly every other month — for the record, I've pretty much written off Delta and choose Southwest every chance I get. I just might cancel my Delta Skymiles American Express card tomorrow?
Video: This is what rhinos sound like …
Posted By RichC on June 14, 2015
With a sound like this, who would think the Rhinoceros was so dangerous?
The Rhinoceros has long been concerned one of the most dangerous animals in the world.
LINK
Why is there a tiny hole in airplane windows?
Posted By RichC on June 13, 2015
If you have already traveled by airplane, chances are you’ve noticed a tiny hole on the lower portion of all airplane windows
The hole is designed to balance out the pressure between the last two layers of a typical pressurized-cabin window. For more images and a more detailed explaination see the article at Interesting Engineering.
Jurassic World opens this weekend and will be a blockbuster
Posted By RichC on June 12, 2015
Tell me that Steven Spielberg’s movie Jurassic World (opening June 12, 2015) is not going to be a well attended summer blockbuster? If the 63 million views YouTube movie trailer is any indication (below), it is exactly what the Hollywood and the movie industry plans on when coaxing people to the theaters with these kinds of movies each summer — here’s a Washington Post mixed review.
Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee
- lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
- digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.