SF - more pictures

Techno Lust

I have seen a new UMPC (ultra mobile PC) in operation ... not only that I have held it in my hands. On the way to breakfast I noticed a young man writing, tablet style, on a device slightly larger than a novel. Yes, I know I shouldn't bother strangers, but he was kind enough to let me interrupt him - and then to show me his Fujitsu Lifebook UMPC. It's about a third of the size of my Fijitsu LifeBook Tablet PC (Moses for short) and has all its features - except for an onboard DVD/CD. It makes up for that by having about a gazillion connectors including 3 USB ports. I may have to wait for a while before I even seriously consider buying one - although if I wait long enough they might find a way to include mini Blu-Ray or bring the price of standalone DVD/CD's low enough to be feasible - plus they also have to work out how to make them the size of DVD case for ease of portability. Hmmm ... technology.

Dog's breakfast

It doesn't have to just be breakfast either, because there's a list of general items for your pet available 24/7 via In Room Service at the W San Francisco. And as I was having my breakfast coffee and pastry this morning in the Cafe, I was pleased to see a cute young dog with its human. Very civilized. Not quite sure where they might go walkies though - I might check to see if there are parks in the vicinity while I'm doing my sightseeing today.

More SF

I had a great day sightseeing and taking photographs in San Francisco today. The high point was Lombard (The Crooked) Street - which I chanced upon because I was trying to get to Nob Hill. But it was good - with tourists lining up to take photographs of other tourists going down Lombard Street.
I'll just post the pics now, and come back on comment later!

Another place - another post

Finally. It's been a while coming but it's been a big week - so it's nice to be able to spend the weekend in San Francisco before heading out to San Ramon for meetings there next week. This was the view from my bedroom window this morning - still haven't quite got the times right because I wasn't actually planning to see dawn in the City by the Bay, but I'm glad I did.
I arrived yesterday afternoon and took myself off on the Muni (public transport) to see what I could see. The Muni is good - you can ride for 2 hours for $1.50 and the buses and trolley cars go all over. I'm still to locate a map of which routes go where - it was fairly hit and miss yesterday but I wanted to see everything so it didn't really matter - but today I want to go to specific places. Hopefully I'll be able to track down a better map than I currently have.
So one of the things I did yesterday, apart from riding public transport, was to take a cruise on the Bay, out under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz (Island). It was a smallish boat but a wonderful way to get cold (the heat wave that had settled on California causing around 100 deaths has now moved to the East Coast) and wet. Unfortunately during a bag swap in a slightly over-tired and befuddled stated, I left my spare battery back at the hotel - and for the first time ever found myself with a flat camera battery and some great shots going missing. Torture ... made worse by the lack of capability of the camera in the mobile phone. D'oh. I may need to re-do the cruise tonight. Hope I can get the $10 ticket again.
Of course, San Francisco is not just about "the Bridge". There's also hills. It's hard to capture just how steep they are - that's one of the things I'll be attempting today. As we were sitting half-way up a hill at a bus stop yesterday, I found myself thanking the inventor of effective braking systems - and hoping that the Muni never skips on brake maintenance. It would be horrific to think about a fully loaded trolley car hurtling backwards down one of the hills. Hmmm. Of course, from that, it would come as no surprise to know that I woke at one point during the night thinking "now what do you do in case of an earthquake?" Especially when you're on the 19th floor. The hills of San Francisco are due to much seismic disturbance - the last big one being back in 1989.

More Louisville pics

I admit to being a bit enamoured with the lights of Louisville and have taken a few of lit bulbs, darkened bulbs, bulbs in wideshot, bulbs in close-up. But I'm only committing two of these to the blog - first and last in this post. These are down near Waterfront Park - near where the Belle of Louisville is moored.


And this is what Louisville looks like from the water. This isn't all of it ... yet. And there's word that there's a 60-storey skyscraper in the offering - which will be more or less directly in the current flight path. Locals aren't sure what's going to go in there but one of the taxi drivers I've used here suggests it's going to be a mixture of museum/gallery, restaurant, offices and residential.


I wish I knew more about history. There's probably every chance that King Louis XVI, after whom Louisville is named, did not repress the church - so perhaps this is just a benevolent hand being offered.


They say you can't fight City Hall, but you can take a photo of it. I loved the Sheriff's car outside - and further up - on the corner on the far side of the road, is the Justice Department - with the Correctional Facilities building further up the street.


On the way from Main Street up to the Ohio River, and not that far from the Muhammad Ali Centre - is this walkway up to a statue of .... (I think it was Clark). Interestingly enough, most of the museums/galleries in town, including the Slugger Museum, don't open until noon on a Sundary. That explained why there weren't that many people around ... that and the heat!


And here's the other lights shot I threatened. This is looking back up from the river.

Other bits and pieces

Thomas Merton (Trappist monk, poet, social critic, and spiritual writer) spent some time in Kentucky - and there is a Thomas Merton Center here in Louisville. But little did I know that they have also placed a "statue" and plaque at the site of his revelation that led him to redefine his monastic activies to focus more on social justice issues.


It looks as though this poor penguin is getting ready to jump (how many movies have we seen with this image?) but he and a whole bunch of others are standing vigil on the new art gallery/museum 21C.


There are various statues throughout Louisville, including this one of a former mayor (Farnsley?). I liked this one - at first I didn't realise it was a statue - just someone having a quiet, comtemplative moment. Of course, later, when I did see someone doing this, I thought he was another statue!


That's one big bat - and it's outside the Louisville Slugger Factory/Museum - where you can go and watch the bats being made - and take home a miniature bat. I did hear a comment about the next Batman movie while I was on the Belle this afternoon. Some people were talking about someone in a recent movie having a secret - which seems to be about their identity not being revealed - but the hype was that perhaps it was that they were gay. No, someone's partner said, and then continued: But I hear that in the next Batman movie, Batgirl is going to be a lesbian. "All right" enthused his wife.

Bridges

There are a few major bridges in Louisville - one going all the way over the mightly Ohio River to Indiana. They also have one that goes nowhere (now, but they are planning to turn it into a tourist precinct).

Muhammad Ali

One of Louisville's most famous is Muhammad Ali - and the Muhammad Ali Centre opened late last year here. But even if it hadn't it would be fairly easy to tell how forthright Louisville is of claiming him as their own - not the least of which is Muhammad Ali Street. The first shot is of the Muhammad Ali Centre - and the further you are away from it - the better is the effect. In the second pic, one of the other famous forebears of the town is also honored - Harland David Sanders - otherwise know as the Colonel of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame.

Steam boat

The Belle of Louisville is about 100 years old - the only one of its kind left in the world - and for $14/adult you can take a trip up the river - to 6 Mile Island - and back.

Louisville KY

What an amazing place - or perhaps it's amazing through the eyes of someone who has not quite had enough sleep in the past 2 days. I'm not saying they're tired, but at one point today my eyes were so gritty I couldn't focus the camera. I decided to change glasses to see if that helped. It did, a little. But I think a proper sleep tonight will help even more. Yes, it was a photography day today and I took nearly 300 photos - many of the same thing but from slightly different angles or with slightly different framing. If you want to see ALL of them, ask me sometime and I'll loan you the back-up disk. Otherwise, I'll post a selection (and possibly some comments) here in the coming days.

Amazing

I have finally had a decent cup of coffee on a plane. But it wasn't good enough that I felt impelled to have the second one. I thought about it and decided not to push my luck. This is of course partly due to the law of diminishing utility. The first one is the best - and each one thereafter loses something. I'm not sure if this also works the other way. Take two instances - one where you love ice cream and are about to have your first one in a very long time. The first will taste much better than the second one. But what if it were something not nice that you were going to have - does the second one become more palatable rather than less? Do you become used to it - although it would probably take more than one go to get used to grubs or something?

Indecent Proposal

A British study released this week suggests that it is acceptable behavior to propose marriage via text message or email. It doesn't say if it's etiquettically correct to do it as a group send! Heh heh - or to send it as a BCC to others! (If you hit reply on an email with BCCs, does it send it to the BCCs as well?

On my way (almost)

Well, here I am at Sydney Airport, in the UA lounge, waiting for the boarding call for my flight to San Francisco, then Chicago, then Louisville. I should reach there ... oh in about 26 hours from now - and then, I tell you, it will be straight to bed for me (once I get to the hotel of course). Thank you to everyone who sent their well wishes for my travel - especially those who know what a nervous flyer I am (or is that flier?). The good news is that my flight goes to Chicago - but I'm not sure what happens once we reach San Francisco. Do I clear customs then? Hmm. I guess that's why the SB* gave us air and ground crew! Thanks again for the loan of the suitcase Lizzie. You'll be pleased to know I took a photograph of it so I know what to look for on the carousel at the other end! And yes, there's still room for trinkets!
*Supreme Being

Controlling interist

Nope, it's not a spelling mistake -of course I'm not sure it's actually a word but I couldn't resist! There is news this morning of a woman's unsuccessful bid to have the conditions of her mother's will revoked. She would be denied the inheritance unless/until she divorced her husband. If she doesn't, the deceased's request is that the money be given to the Catholic Church instead. Mrs Galway's application was denied - and the money ($140,000) will be held in trust until she dies or she becomes a widow or divorcee. So why did Mary Knight impose such a condition? Was it really a case of the mother-in law reaching from beyond the grave* to punish her husband's daughter (as suggested in The Daily Telegraph) or a mother's attempt to help her daughter leave a relationship of which she may not have approved?
* When they say "beyond the grave" what exactly does it mean?

Rat race

I need access to a cartoonist. I want them to draw me this: two rats are taking a subway home -hanging off tiny straps - both are well dressed, and are carrying little (well, they are rats) briefcases. Around them are the feet of their much larger human travellers. One rat says to the other - "You know Maurice, I can't see why they [points upwards] complain about the rat race - the boss gave me three choices today - working with the scientists on stem cell, cancer or smoking/alcohol research. [Coughs] This job is going to be the death of me yet."
But thanks to the contributions of those countless rats in laboratories throughout the world, scientist have now announced that smoking a cigarette while drinking could reduce the 'effect' of alcohol. Of course they probably didn't mean that literally. If you drank and smoked at the same time - you'd get the cigarette wet, and ash in your drink. But back to the research findings. No doubt using very tiny cigarettes and very tiny glasses of alcohol, and having first trained the rats to sit on bar stools, the scientists observed lower alcohol levels in rats that consumed nicotine - meaning more alcohol was absorbed into their blood. (Hopefully the rats were offered lifts home - or at least had their car keys confiscated post-testing.)
The theory hasn't yet been tested on humans - well, not under controlled circumstances - and not knowingly - but if it holds true, it means the more you smoke, the more you need to drink to get the same buzz. Or, obversely, that if you don't want to be as deeply affected by the same amount of alcohol, take up smoking - or smoke more! Could be a marketing campaign in there somewhere if you were of a mind to boost consumption. *cough*

A good egg-sample?

How long before this trend comes to Australia? The CBS Network in the U.S. has started advertising their programs on eggs. It's not a bad idea - given how many people handle eggs. Mind you, I'm not one of them, and usually they're encased in cartons, but it probably has some merit. Do people buy eggs loose in the U.S.? (I'll let you know in a bit.)

Cents-ible

It's going to get harder to spend a penny in the United States if a bill currently before Capitol is passed. Who would have thought that making money would cost the U.S. Mint money. The increasing cost of some metals now means each penny/cent costs 1.4 cents to produce. So the humble penny will probably be phased out (similar to the fate of Australia's 1¢ and 2¢ some years ago) - with all prices rounded to the nearest nickel. Let's hope the price of nickel stays within reasonable (profitable) levels otherwise before long prices will be rounded to the nearest dime, then quarter and then dollar.

Discussing the disappearance of coins with a colleague at work today, she lamented the change from $1 and $2 paper money to coins. Could it have anything to do with the gambling lobby? How easy to give a customer in a gaming establishment dollar coins in their change? And how much easier for that customer to plug those dollars into a machine and try their luck? (Now there's a small research project for a rainy day - why did we change from notes to coins for our $1 and $2 here in Australia?)

Just ducky

Life is strange. Why would you go to the trouble of releasing an x-ray of a duck with what appears to be the head of an alien in it and then NOT confirm what it was when you performed a necropsy on the duck when it died? This is a question only a Californian bird research centre can answer. (You know who you are!) The suggestion that the "alien image was most likely a lump of grain" is really not a satisfying result! Well, not for this little black duck anyways!

Happiness is …

not necessarily related to the number of tech toys a person has. According to the Happy Planet Index, by the London-based New Economics Foundation, the happiest people on the planet are from Vanuatu. Surprisingly, their GDP (Gross Domestic Product) rating puts them #207 (out of 233) - which suggests that happiness is not linked to consumption. And the ratings from the other end of the happiness scale seem to support this - as this is where the tech heavy countries were: Germany #81; Japan #95 and the US #150. Australia was not mentioned. (Of course, this is not to say that the judicious purchasing of individual tech toys doesn’t make people happy!)

G(r)ait way to solve a crime

As if fingerprints, palm prints, ear prints, dental patterns, DNA testing and handwriting weren't enough ways to identify someone - usually of the criminal persuasion - scientists have been working on the theory that everyone has a signature walk. In Britain £500,000 is being spent on "automatic gait recognition" research - so images captured on CCTV can be compared against the walk of a suspect. This has obvious advantages - given that most criminals take great pains to disguise their facial features when carrying out criminal acts. Will they now be forced to try to limp - to shoot themselves in the foot, or hit themselves with a sledgehammer so their walk is wonky? What if they put inserts in their shoes? Work is being done in various countries around the world - using radar guns which send out a pulse of energy and receives signals bounced off the subject. The system can recognise and capture the different patterns during natural walking movements - and these are replayed in the form of matchstick men. The research is still in its fledgling state and has a way to go before a national database of gaits is created - and proved to be an effective and safe evidence method.

Dancing on (thin) ice

Channel 9's offering of Torvill and Dean's Dancing on Ice - which I have yet to see - is now being billed thus: "It's live and it's dangerous". It certainly is - with several of the contestants sidelined with injuries of varying severity. The show itself isn't faring much better with lower-than-hoped for ratings in its first two outings. Ah well, maybe their advertising will help lift the numbers - if viewers aren't interested in the grace of ice skating, maybe the possibility of carnage will draw them in.

Talent quest

Hot on the heels of the latest round of reality shows comes the broadcast request for try-outs for "Australia's Got Talent". If you were inclined to apply, keen to secure your 15 minutes (or less) of fame - what would your talent be? Burping Pi to a thousand digits; reciting the alphabet backwards; or something which takes real talent like juggling chainsaws? And what is talent? Will the show look to humiliate or honour the contestants? Which would produce greater ratings? Hmmm.

Hit and ... miss

A news item in the press yesterday focused on hit and run accidents which seem to be on the increase in New South Wales. Bad enough that people don't stop to help someone they have just hit with their motor vehicle, but it's harder that the perpetrators of these crimes may never be found. As a spokesperson for the Crash Investigation Unit said: "Incidents become difficult to solve if the offender did not come forward within 48 hours." The item gave no indication of other attempts made to identify the offenders. Granted the fragments of glass left at the scene in US crime shows which lead to the successful incarceration of the offender are the stuff of fiction - but it seems that the indication of the existence of some investigation protocol (besides waiting for someone to turn themselves in) could be a useful deterrent.

Ship-shape

Much has been made in the news of a cruise ship which suffered a major "tilt, "list" or "tip" near Port Canaveral the other day. Reports are unclear as to the degree of non-vertical the ship went - and it's also unclear as to the cause - human error, non-human error - autopilot problems have all been suggested but remain unconfirmed. The incident resulted in injuries to nearly 100 people - two critically and 20 seriously - of the 4,300 passengers and crew on board - although for some it was a matter of holding onto the ship's railing fear of being pitched overboard! The swimming pool was emptied - of people and water - during the event. Reports as to the amount of tiltage vary - 45 degrees, 68 degrees - but passengers did report looking out of their windows to the water below; or the sky above. Scary and serious stuff for the recently launched Crown Princess vessel (pictured right). Almost all the reports I read about the incident also made reference to the film to be shown that night on board - "The Titanic". Guess that may not have felt so comfortable in using this if the filmic offering had been "Poseidon".
Surprisingly, this is not the first time a large cruise ship has encountered tiltage. Earlier this year, The Grand Princess started "tipping and tipping" when it did an emergency turnaround. Not surprisingly, a spokesperson for the company was reported as saying:

The decision to abruptly turn a cruise ship around while traveling at a high
rate of speed was "clearly a mistake" .

Holidays

Do spammers take holidays? It's not something I would normally think about because if there's anything constant about my email it's spam - although different accounts do attract different items (but that's a topic for another occasion). But over the last week, I stopped receiving spam in my hotmail account - it's okay, it's back now - but it was interesting in that it made me wonder about spammers - did they work alone, how automated are their activities, do they take holidays? Do they feel rejected that most people just delete their offerings? of course, what I didn't think until now was - well, perhaps hotmail's found a better way to filter them out! If this is the case, bad news, it's not working any more! But thanks for the break!