The Swine Flu pandemic, believed to have started in Mexico, is showing up around the world as the WHO and U.S. CDC is doing their best to inform citizens in the best course of action. They are hoping to keep the public calm while preventing the spread of this deadly flu strain while seeking the best approach in treating those who are affected. For those using the Internet and technology to learn more and keep abreast, there is an excellent using of Google Maps ‘pining’ the suspected and confirmed cases around the world.
The weather being as nice as it has been this weekend had me toting around my camera. One of the items showing change as been the gazebo which is now sporting a new roof. The progress has been slow (in my opinion), but I’m glad to see it coming along.
Occasionally I enjoy looking at archived posts from the previous year, or even several years ago by clicking on links in the right hand side bar’s “Years ago on this day“list. It is surprising how fast 4 years have gone by? It was in April 2005 that I moved my paper journal to a blog format and perhaps went public with my first desultory post. Thankfully I’m not a professional journalist or concerned about my reputation as a writer — I would have wisely quit a long time ago. If you have read my blog often, you’ve no doubt noticed that I’m not much for proofreading; I’ve purposely opted for quantity over quality. To those who are offended … my apology.
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Nevertheless, blogging something each day has been therapeutic for me. It offers a few minutes to reflect on something that is on my mind in that particular moment. One of the benefits of being non-topical is that there is always something to post. In fact on this weekend as I prepare to tend to the yard I’m thinking about the garden … thoughts of making it a raised garden with a rabbit fence and rain barrel perhaps? (an idea photo below) Hmm … with that, I’m heading out into the yard to enjoy this fine weekend.
I’ve posted a couple times (1 & 2) before on Terrafugia’s Transition experimental airplane/car and wanted to include a little video from the Tampa Fox affiliate taken at the Sun ‘n Fun airshow in Landland Florida. A group of students from M.I.T. developed a two-seat aircraft that can take off and land at small airports and drive within seconds drive on the roadways. The airplane/car vehicle runs on regular gasoline and can fly at 115 mph or drive on highways at up to 65 mph.
The company says that they expect to have models ready for delivery next year for about $200,000. According to the company’s CEO, Carl Deitrich, they are taking refundable deposits — $10,000 deposit for a production slot. (video below)
A couple guys on their way to the popular spring aviation event called Sun ‘n Fun in Lakeland Florida had a interesting landing after an engine failure. Pilot, and flight instructor Kyle Davis along with his friend and passenger, a professional videographer, left Winter Haven on there way to Lakeland Florida. It was just a short flight from Gilbert Field at about 10:30 in the morning. They experienced an engine failure without too much altitude shortly after take-off and were faced with an emergency landing situation. Davis remained calm and began searching for the best place to put his plane down while he attempted a couple restarts … some he has no doubt practice over and over with his students. Eventually he spotted a section of a boulevard street in Winterhaven and it was fortunately without many cars (sheer luck); he was able to make a safe engine out landing and even pulled into a parking lot. Their video has been shared on network news programs and around the web. It is posted below.
While I’m not a fan of the iPhone or the iPod Touch, I am impressed with the shear number of devices and software “app” downloads in less than 2 years. Apple has a counter running on their site as the Online App Store nears 1 Billion downloads. Very impressive.
Although as readers may have surmised from previous posts, I’m looking forward to the Palm Pre, in hopes that it will be my Treo replacement … but the new WebOS device has a long way to go before software offerings are anywhere close to what the iPhone has available. That said, I remember when that was stated as the Apple Macintosh‘s disadvantage too — yet it hasn’t stopped sales.
I’m all for lightening my environmental footprint on our planet, but the mission statement for PlantAmnesty.org is a bit over the top. I enjoyed the chuckle — thanks for the forward Jeff; I hope you enjoy “eating a pinecone” for Earth Day.
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I don’t normally think about Earth Day in advance, but since Ed Begley Jr. sent me an email mentioning he and his daughter were going to be on Nickelodeon, I set my Tivo. Since I’ve ‘archived’ Season 1 and Season 2 of Living with Ed I figured this would be a good post to mention it.
Unfortunately I spend the evening typing a fairly long post reflecting on our waste of energy and ended up loosing my entire post. Basically my thinking was that we don’t need to live “off the grid” to make a difference, but we can all do a few small things to live a little ‘greener.’ Combining trips, right sizing our homes and vehicles, insulating, being conscious of our thermostats and how many light we leave on are just a few simple things we can do. I’ve got a sense that our kids will be able to make this change easier than us?
Some days I can’t help but question my intelligence or lapse of judgment. I’m about to embarrass myself, for at minimum, lack of forethought — if not just being a dummy.
There was a container of antibacterial wipes sitting in the washroom and I noticed that the dispensing cap wasn’t “loaded” correctly. I opened the container and proceded to re-load the next moist towellette into the cap … using of all things my finger. Without thinking I pushed both the disposable cloth and my finger into the sharp star designed lid, the one which holds the Wet Ones® style cloths so they can be torn. To my shock, I couldn’t get my finger back out and a bit of pain began to register. The harder I pulled the deeper the stiff, sharp plastic points went into my finger.
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So … a bit of advice for those with similar “lapse of judgment” … don’t use your finger.
A couple guys on their way to the popular spring aviation event called 
Although as readers may have surmised from 
I don’t normally think about 
