Me in Boracay … 🙂
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
via Kottke – Water-powered jet pack lets you swim like a dolphin
Month: December 2011
Boracay sunset
I forgot to take my camera on my daily sunset run. … So I grabbed this pic linked from Twitter.
Twitter is a good way to get the most up-to-date information and pics.
love the Apple store
I spent time at the Hong Kong store, perfectly located near the Star Ferry terminal.
I was getting specifics on how to use an iPhone 4S while traveling internationally.
Apple retail stores have been a huge hit. Microsoft tried to duplicate those. Now Google has opened an Android store in Melbourne.
In Hong Kong I was hanging out with coaches from mainland China. Most had Apple products. Anyone who’s got money in China has no interest in iFhoney or iPaddy.
• Bloomberg – China Becomes Apple’s Second-Largest Market
… that said, I’m liking this $500 Windows knock-off called the “AirBook“.
Impressive copycattery.
You probably heard that world’s largest Apple store just opened in the historic Grand Central Station, New York.
My $1000 original 11-Inch MacBook Air was just voted best laptop in the MacWorld Editors’ Choice Awards. I love it.
If shopping for anything Apple, look first at the refurbished area in the online Apple store. Here’s an iPad 2 with $80 off, for example.
Rick Perry is finished
He should resign from the campaign right after he fires the guy who recommended he post the most hated video in the history of YouTube.
Check the numbers … 9,576 likes, 403,251 dislikes (as I post).
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Pandering to his Christian, Family Values base, he underestimated the power of a viral meme gone wrong.
Amber Mac has a good write-up on the issue – Should Rick Perry’s YouTube ad be banned as hate speech?
… perhaps not “hate speech”. But he’s certainly got some of his ‘facts’ wrong.
I’m not happy with the job Obama’s done as President. But when the alternative is a nob like this cowboy, or — worse — the Newt — ‘merica is in trouble.
my hikes in Asia
All trip reports and photos are now posted. I hiked in Japan, Hong Kong and Macao.
On the Dragon’s Back, Hong Kong island
Hong Kong is the best major city in the world for hiking. Here are my 3 trip reports.
Japan did not go well for me, hiking wise. But here’s my definitive recommendation for anyone going there for a hiking holiday who wants to do it right – best hikes Japan.
And here are my hiking posts / trip reports tagged Japan.
If you have any questions or suggestions, leave a comment.
worst review yet for Kindle Fire
… Amazon.com’s new Kindle Fire offers a disappointingly poor user experience. Using the web with the Silk browser is clunky and error-prone. Reading downloaded magazines is not much better. …
The most striking observation from testing the Fire is that everything is much too small on the screen, leading to frequent tap errors and accidental activation. You haven’t seen the fat-finger problem in its full glory until you’ve watched users struggle to touch things on the Fire. One poor guy spent several minutes trying to log in to Facebook, but was repeatedly foiled by accidentally touching the wrong field or button — this on a page with only 2 text fields and 1 button. …
Jakob Nielsen – Kindle Fire Usability Findings
It will get better. In the meantime, get the OLD Kindle if you want an eReader.
via Daring Fireball
carbon emissions rose 5.9% in 2010
Bad news for Mother Earth:
… Global emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning jumped by the largest amount on record last year, upending the notion that the brief decline during the recession might persist through the recovery. …
Surprisingly, China is suddenly ready to commit to binding cuts.
… Speaking to reporters Monday, the country’s chief negotiator in Durban, Xie Zhenhua, said major economies including China should be legally obligated to curb greenhouse gas emissions after 2020.
“We accept a legally binding arrangement,” he said.
Mr. Xie, however, said China would agree to binding cuts only if the U.S. and other powerful nations take aggressive steps in the next decade to address climate change …
I heard the same thing in Hong Kong from a consultant to the Chinese government — they are serious.
Personally, I think, even with China on side, international treaties are not going to work. We’d be better to put the money into researching new technologies to remove Greenhouse Gases from the atmosphere (“sinks”).
In general, voluntary efforts to reduce Carbon Footprint are a good thing. Let’s encourage those efforts, too.
(via Freakonomics – Worldwide Carbon Emissions No Longer Dropping — Is Anyone Surprised?)
not Kiteboarding …
After our week long gymnastics coaching clinic in Manila, I flew down to Boracay for some R&R.
Bulabog Beach is the main windsurfing and kiteboarding area, one of the best in the world.
Kiteboarding (or kitesurfing) has been described as combining wakeboarding, windsurfing, surfing, paragliding, and gymnastics into one extreme sport. …
There were 50 kites out for every Windsurfer today.
Click PLAY or see how it looks from above on YouTube.
A one day introductory course costs about a hundred dollars in Boracay. Know that you can easily drown, tangle, collide or be blown into palm trees in one of those flimsy rigs.
I’ll jog the beach instead. 🙂
oranges cause obesity
The great thing about a free all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet in a 5 star tropical hotel is that you can choose exactly what fruits & vegetables you want, in exactly the quantities you want.
Avoiding fattening oranges can keep your most important meal under 300 calories.
… by the way, does anyone recognize this exotic food?
Doesn’t look edible.
Rick McCharles 
