Day 2 & 3 sea passage and day 4: King’s Wharf Bermuda

Posted By on August 19, 2010

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Day 2 of our family vacation was spent on a southeast leisurely passage at about 8 knots cruising toward Bermuda from New York City aboard the NCL Dawn. We enjoyed a sunny day at sea relaxing on one of the aft decks … a surprisingly private spot. Although the sun was tropical, the breeze Flyingfishover the rail kept things bearable. Katelyn started her newly downloaded “Bones” book “Deja Dead” on her Nook, I’m “studying” my way “The Looming Tower: Al-Queta and the road to 9/11” and Brenda is enjoying her Vince Flynn book “Term Limits.” Taylor, well … he is happily book-less and happy to be making friends aboard.

The sea was calm for most of the trip and speckled with clumps of seaweed, the occasional flying fish and once a pod of small dolphins or porpoises. Unfortunately the ocean also displayed regular litter from humans, particularly my pet-peeve … the disposable plastic water bottle.

IMG_3994 After a couple days of relaxation, dining and evening shows, our ship arrived at “dawn” and saw the thin line of land on the horizon. The island of Bermuda brightened as I watched the sun rise and the dark ocean and star lit sky give way to day. It was nice to have the luxury of a balcony that faced east. I stood at the rail watching (as I have each morning) and counted the lit and unlit channel markers as our ship slid into the Heritage dock on the west tip of the 24 mile island of Bermuda.

IMG_4019 After clearing customs, we headed by tourist tram on the tight left-hand drive roads  to the south beaches. Being our first visit to the UK island, we wanted to see the “pink” sand and spend some time swimming in the 82 degree water. Thankfully we didn’t go to the famous and very busy Horseshoe Bay IMG_4075beach, but went just east of there to Stonehole Bay and Jobson’s Cove. There we found it less busy and a had several reefs, cliffs and nooks to explore. Taylor enjoyed climbing one such cliff area and to the horror of a couple parents, but cheering kids, jumped into the water just clearing the rocks below. Besides a scrap or two on his arm from climbing, he was rewarded with an adrenaline rush.

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We returned back to the ship for a late snack and spent the balance of the hot day walking through the shops in the historic dockside area. *Interesting fact: Benedict Arnold’s son was the architect for the Royal Naval Dockyard. (check fact)

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Day 1: Cruising to Bermuda and departing NYC

Posted By on August 18, 2010

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On Sunday we arrived at NYC and boarded the NCL Dawn for Bermuda. KTwaiting_3926Sprint 3G bandwidth is nearly non-existent with MyTether on the Palm Pre at the docks.
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On the other hand, not much to say about our Delta flight from Cincinnati to NYC and traffic heavy but quick transfer through the city. Our driver was friendly for a New Yorker and delivered us from baggage claim to the door … I barely had to lift a suitcase – thankfully … considering what was packed. One would have thought we were taking a 3 month sabbatical!

We settled into our rooms, had the mandatory “boat drill” (no life vests required — odd) and cast lines from the pier at 4PM sharp. The weather was overcast but the drizzle held off as we headed in view of the Empire State Building, Manhattan and the financial district, Ground-zero and the Statue of Liberty. Within an hour we were unloading our NY Harbor pilot and steaming toward Bermuda. Time to eat!

Adding slideshow from Picasa when we return – limited Internet.

I have a bone to pick with Avast antivirus software

Posted By on August 15, 2010

avastlogo I’ve used the same antivirus software on my PC for over a decade and have been pleased with how the company has supported updates and discreet reminder in both the free version and low priced home protection. Unfortunately things have changed for me, after struggling with an upgrade to the 5.0 update, I shifted back to version 4.8 due to how it secures email. Avast 5.0 would not allow MozillaThunderbird email client to use one of the accounts … and the only way I could use it was to disable the Avast email protection – not a problem with version 4.8.

So far so good, but eventually all good things come to an end and it looks as if 4.8 support is winding down. Daily, if not more I’m getting the warning that my version will expire soon … and I’m not happy with the nag. What to do, what to do?

avastexpire

Training Chinese prostitutes how to drink responsibly

Posted By on August 13, 2010

“This week in 1861, the first federal income tax was instituted to pay for the Civil War. These days, we don’t worry about that kind of stuff. Our wars are paid for by our grandchildren.” — Jay Leno

I’m not sure if we should laugh or cry when it comes to how government spends millions of our tax dollars … or should I say, spend future tax dollars they are borrowing from our kids and grandkids.

When trying to figure out how millions of dollars are wasted on individual odd ball studies and pet projects, I realized that it is the size of our bureaucracy that makes this a challenge … a pretty good argument for reducing the size of the federal government. Even attention to detail by the most fastidious top level bureaucrat and staffer would probably find it difficult to know where the dollars will  get spent.

Here’s an example from the video above: the grant for $2.6 million from the NIAAA’s share of our tax dollar are used to “help train Chinese prostitutes how to drink responsibly” (as some sources present it). One would be hard pressed to spot the grant project when preparing to vote on H.R.3288.

Nevertheless, the funding was appropriated by our representatives in bill H.R. 3288, and passed by the senate, and agreed to by the President, as part of the $462,346,000 budget for the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) under National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the Department of Health and Human Services. The grant of the $2.6 million to be used by Dr. Xiaoming Li, who is the director of the Prevention Research Center at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit. It was doled out by the Director of the NIAAA, Kenneth Warren — although ultimately those in elect in Washington DC are responsible for those they hire and appoint.

Posted via email from RichC’s posterous

How do airlines stack up when it comes to fuel efficiency?

Posted By on August 12, 2010

747landing_jefflowe_sign For personal transportation miles-per-gallon watchers, like many VW TDI drivers I know, an article in Thursday’s WSJ that translated US based airlines fuel efficiency into automotive MPG standards, might be of interest. In the past, frugal flyers may have looked at the numbers in order to save a buck, but now more and more travelers are conscientious based on environmental reasons. Let’s see who is focused on being green and who is not. (Photo credit Jeff Lowe)

The method that was used by WSJ’s travel writer Scott McCartney, calculated the MPG per seat and concluded that newer midsized airplanes traveling at moderate speeds are more fuel efficient if they are not just taking short flights or are heavily fueled to travel long distances. The more fuel for longer flights increases weight making them less efficient; the up-down takeoff climb/descend for aircraft  traveling shorter distances also used more fuel for every mile they traveled. Unfortunately for the major airlines, they do both.

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The conclusion is that airlines with newer aircraft who’s routes avoid overseas long distance travel and short hub-hops generally have a good chance of higher MPGs per seat … although the more important key for airlines is to be sure those seats have  paying customers. Suffices to say, the airlines with the youngest fleets like Alaska Airlines, jetBlue Airways and Continental Airlines, all are more efficient in this calculation when compared to the airlines with older and larger fleets of aircraft. I found it interesting that the aircraft crowned “the champ” is the stalwart Boeing’s 737-900; it carries 180 passengers and can offer 99 mpg on flights of 1000 miles.

 

Both Gordon Deal (Podcast MP3) and Kelly Evans (embedded video at bottom) interviewed Scott McCartney (MiddleSeat) about the article – names are Twitter URL links.
 

The Dell Streak tablet/smartphone ‘tweener’ device

Posted By on August 12, 2010

Walt Mossberg from the Wall Street Journal (mp4) calls the Dell Streak a “tweener” device … with a lot of glitches.

Download now or watch on posterous

081110ptech_1500k.mp4 (57428 KB)

 Operating System

Android 1.6
  Processors

QSD 8250
  Bands :

UMTS 2100 / 1900 / 850 MHz
GSM / EDGE 1900 / 1800 / 900 / 850 MHz
HSDPA / HSUPA:HSDPA 7.2 Mbps / HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
  Display

5″ (12.7 cm) WVGA (800 x 480) in-cell TFT LCD supporting multi-touch
  Camera

5.0M Rear-Facing Auto-Focus Camera + VGA Front-Facing Camer
  Video

H.263 / H.264, .3GP, MPEG4, WMV
  Sound

MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR, Midi, WAV
  Messaging

SMS, MMS, Email, IM
  Browser

WebKit (Android)
  Memory

512 MB ROM + 512 MB SDRAM + 2 GB non-user accessible MicroSD for system & applications files only
  Storage

1 user accessible MicroSDTM cardslot ( 16GB pre-installed)
  Connectivity

WLAN 802.11b/g, Bluetooth®  2.0 with EDR, USB 2.0
  Dimensions

6 x 3.1 x 0.4 in
  Weight

7.7 oz
  Battery

1530 mAh
  Others

Ambient Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Accelerometer, e-compass, GPS, Capacitive sensor keys

Posted via email from RichC’s posterous

How low will a political candidate go to attack Sarah Palin?

Posted By on August 11, 2010

According to a friend who lives in New Hampshire, at least one political candidate seems willing to go pretty low – link.

In a Facebook post (below) which referenced the airplane crash in Alaska which took the life of long time Senator Ted Stevens, New Hampshire Democratic candidate Keith David Halloran posted, "Just wish Sarah and Levy were on board…" I’m glad I’m not the only one reading this and wondering where some peoples decency has gone?

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This November is shaping up to be pretty ugly.

SMS celebrates 25 years of text messaging this month

Posted By on August 11, 2010

According to Sherri Wells, a leading expert on SMS messaging, the “SMS (Short Message Service) was developed in 1985 by a collaborated effort between Germany and France and was created by Friedhelm Hillebrand, Bernard Ghillebaert, and Oculy Silaban .” Ms. Wells also states that the first practical message was “Happy Christmas” and was sent in on December 3, 1992 over the Vodafone GSM network in the United Kingdom. Neil Papworth of Sema Group used a personal computer to message Richard Jarvis of Vodafone.

In those early years, carriers were slow to implement the short 160 character messages as they looked for ways to monetized the service. The per message charges deterred those already paying significant charges for motorolapagermobile devices as carriers’ systems slowly matured. Today SMS text messaging has grown exponentially and the volume is now above 1.5 trillion messages annually, in the just the United States! “Over the full-year 2009, worldwide text messaging generated in excess of $150 billion and that figure is forecast to reach $233 billion by the end of 2014.”

My earliest encounter with SMS was with “text messaging pagers” (photo was my last text pager). A good friend of mine wrote a software program in the early 1990s called ePage which was used by dispatching services as a way to delivery more than a ‘beep’ to a device (aka: Beeper or Pager). Prior to receiving “text,” a subscriber or company employee would call-in to retrieve the message, many without the convenience of a cellphone.  My “unpaid” role was to test the service through Pagenet in Ohio from my friend in Florida. Thinking back, one forgets that other methods of written communication were slow by comparison; we either connected by slow dial-up modems directly and chatted through costly long distance or pay a per-minute fee to a service like Compuserve in order to send email messages – sending a text message to a Motorola text pager to a persons belt anywhere in the coverage area was impressive … and all for the cost of a text message.

Happy Anniversary SMS!

NetTalk offers new videophone software for PC

Posted By on August 10, 2010

netalkvideophoneThe VOIP service called NetTalk now has a videophone software application for both it’s new DUO and TK6000 device. To used the videophone, the device must be plugged into the USB port rather than functioning as a stand alone box that plugs directly into the router (one of it’s most compelling features). I have not opted to set up the videophone device as of yet, so no review.

(press release below)

Miami, FL – August 9, 2010netTALK.COM, INC. (OTCBB: NTLK), a publicly traded Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) has revealed its newest service application, a videophone that allows DUO and TK6000 users to stream live video to other netTALK users for free.

All calling features are included on the videophone: voicemail, 411, E911 and free calling to any phone number in the US and Canada. Additionally, netTALK has announced that their patent pending netTALK DUO device that allows callers to make free calls throughout the U.S. and Canada from anywhere in the world is now officially shipping.

“We listen to our customers. Their feedback is valuable to us and keeps us continually striving to meet, and hopefully surpass, their needs,” said Anastasios (Takis) Kyriakides, CEO of netTALK. “Our new application allows our users to have a peer-to-peer video call with any other netTALK customer for free, adding to netTALK’s impressive array of offerings and giving it a much more global appeal.”

Through this revolutionary application, domestic and international netTALK users who want to make free local and long distance calls can now take advantage of being able to see their loved ones, no matter how far away, through this convenient video phone platform.

All customers will be able to download the beta application for free at www.netTALK.com. All the same calling benefits like 411 and E911 are still available in addition to the following features on the videophone application:

  • Contact list that allows users to quickly call another video number or regular telephone number
  • Complete call history log
  • Video + record option that allows customers to record communication sessions.
  • Auto answer
  • Do not disturb
  • Conferencing (3 way calling)
  • Make free calls from PC-to- landline phone, landline phone-to-PC and PC-to-PC (for video calling)

“We continue to stay abreast of the most innovative technologies that are sure to please our customers’ cravings for superior products. We are currently developing other products and will be debuting these in the near future,” says Kyriakides.

The DUO can connect directly to a router/modem. There is no need to rely on a computer for phone service. But what really sets the DUO apart from the competition is its ability to also connect through a PC when travelling or when a router connection is not available. Should you choose to connect using your computer, the addition of a videophone that can stream live peer-to-peer video calls enhances the entire PC calling experience.

With the new videophone, there is officially no reason to hold onto your traditional phone service because now you can carry over all your traditional landline features plus the ability to make computer based video calls at no additional charge.  Its sleek design is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, making it the most portable device of its kind.

The DUO comes with everything you need for a quick set-up, including a 3-foot Ethernet cable, USB cable and USB adaptor for easy plug-and-play functionality. All the user needs to get started is high-speed Internet and a traditional telephone. netTALK even has nationwide phone number availability for customers in the continental US who want to keep their local area code.

The netTALK DUO is available for $69.95.  This includes the entire first year of service and only $29.95 each year thereafter (no monthly fees or long term contracts) at www.netTALK.com.

To request more information on netTALK DUO and the new videophone application, please contact PR representative Jenny Coleman at (305) 576-1171    (305) 576-1171  x24 or jennycoleman@maxborgesagency.com.

About NETTALK.COM, INC.

NETTALK.COM, INC. is a publicly traded company (OTCBB: NTLK) and is fully engaged in the design, distribution and sale of products and ultra-low cost services for the use of Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”). netTALK’s Patent Pending TK6000 and DUO plus future products are designed to allow customers full mobile flexibility, offering consumers free nationwide calling to any landline or mobile phone within the U.S. and Canada from anywhere in the world.

Statements about the company’s future expectations, including future revenue and earnings and all other statements in this press release, other than historical facts, are “forward looking” statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Such forward looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time.  The company’s actual results could differ materially from expected results.  In reflecting subsequent events or circumstances, the company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements.

Media Contacts:

Jenny Coleman

Account Executive

Max Borges Agency

(305) 576-1171   (305) 576-1171  x24

jennycoleman@maxborgesagency.com

Old but good “one-liner” on criticism

Posted By on August 9, 2010

“Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way you are a mile away, and you have their shoes.”

Posted via email from richc’s posterous

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog