Category: product endorsements

book review – Driving Over Lemons

On By Rick McIn books, product endorsements4 Comments

Last week I was hiking the white mountain villages called Las Alpujarras. I was reminded of this excellent book series.

repost from 2009 ___

Christopher ‘Chris’ Stewart (born in 1950), was the original drummer and a founding member of Genesis.

stewart_lemonsUnexpectedly, he has become a very successful author.

… Chris transports us to Las Alpujarras, an oddball region south of Granada, and into a series of misadventures with an engaging mix of peasant farmers and shepherds, New Age travellers and ex-pats. The hero of the piece, however, is the farm that he and Ana bought, El Valero – a patch of mountain studded with olive, almond and lemon groves, sited on the wrong side of a river, with no access road, water supply or electricity. Could life offer much better than that?

It is laugh out loud hilarious. I highly recommend it to everyone.

Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia

Chris was not really serious about becoming a musician and left the band in the summer of 1968. … After travelling and working throughout Europe, Stewart settled and bought a farm “El Valero” in the Alpujarras region of Andalusia, Spain where he lives and works with his wife Ana Exton and daughter Chloe. He came in last place for the position of local councillor in the 27 May 2007 local elections in Órgiva representing the Green Party, where he received 201 votes (roughly 8%).

He is now better known for his autobiographical books, Driving Over Lemons (1999) .. and the sequels, A Parrot In The Pepper Tree … and The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society (2006)

… The first two are also available as audiobooks … narrated by Stewart.

Game of Thrones Season 5

On By Rick McIn books, movies, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Excellent.

Overall I feel the TV series is better than the books.

This is the first season that contains original content not found in George R. R. Martin’s novels.

Click PLAY or watch a trailer on YouTube.

For the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards, the series received 24 nominations, the most of any series.

I’m looking forward to season 6.

Tyrion better than ever
Tyrion better than ever

1,700 boys – Haka for Dawson Tamatea

On By Rick McIn product endorsementsLeave a comment

If I ever have a funeral, my last request is that you perform the Haka. Like this.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

At least 1,700 boys at Palmerston North Boys’ High School on New Zealand’s North Island participated in the epic performance for their physical education and maths teacher, Dawson Tamatea.

Tamatea, 55, died in his sleep on July 20, according to TVNZ. He had been a teacher at the school for almost 30 years. …

Emotional farewell as students perform haka dance at teacher’s funeral

Canada – the greatest nation I know

On By Rick McIn McCharles family, product endorsementsLeave a comment

🙂

Though Canada Day celebrations are more restrained than 4th of July, it was still festive in small town Parksville, BC.

Parksville parade

35741parksvillewebCanadadayevents1-file-july1

Fireworks over the water were excellent. And very well attended.

Though I’ve traveled 70+ nations, it was Canada where I chose to be born. For one thing, it’s the least racist nation IMHO.

Hours of fun ready for Parksville this Canada Day

the fuss about graphene

On By Rick McIn product endorsements, things getting betterLeave a comment

… it is 100 times stronger than steel, yet it can stretch by as much as a quarter of its length. Graphene is the thinnest solid ever known, indeed the thinnest possible: it is a sheet of linked carbon atoms just one atom thick. It is a great conductor of electricity and nearly transparent to visible light, but is impermeable to gases and liquids. It has so many surprising properties that it has been dubbed a “wonder material” and has earned its discoverers a Nobel prize. …

Economist explains

graphene

my new Granite Gear Cross-Trek Travel Duffel

On By Rick McIn product endorsements, travelLeave a comment

I travel non-stop. My luggage of choice for many years has been an MEC rolling duffel with (emergency) backpack harness.

It’s both holesy and Holy to me at this point.

On the recommendation of Kraig Becker I just bought a 32″ wheeled duffel by one of my favourite companies, Granite Gear as a replacement.

Click PLAY or see how it works on YouTube.

It lists at US$210. I got it on sale for $169.

So far I’m loving it. 🙂

The zippers might not be as strong as the MEC. But the rest of the Granite Gear looks superior.

my bike was stolen

On By Rick McIn cycling, government, health & fitness, product endorsementsLeave a comment

I bought a new Hybrid at MEC. Within a week it was stolen.

Ghost Panamao X 3 Bicycle (Unisex) – CAD$725 (US$582)

Using the wifi at McDonald’s at 3611 17th-AVE SW Calgary, I’d locked it to a tree close to the busy road. Seemed a good idea at the time. Who’d cut that lock? It’s such a busy spot.

Police told me that homeless guys tend to hang out at McDonald’s. There were a number the night I was there.

Though seemingly hopeless, I filed an online Police report next day. I wanted the cops to know what bike was targeted where.

Immediately I got a phone call. They’d recovered my bike. Wow!

Actually, they called before seeing my report. A new Ghost (unusual brand) was spotted outside a Mac’s convenience store with no lock. The police took it when no owner could be located. (No doubt the thief fled the scene when he saw them.)

Knowing that only MEC sold Ghost, they stopped by the store to ask the manager about that particular serial number. He gave them my phone number.

I love the Calgary police now. 🙂

When I met the police to collect my bike those partners told me that they pick up about one stolen bike a week.

Thieves try to “change the appearance” of stolen bikes. In my case they took off the hybrid wheels and put on a pretty good set of (stolen) mountain bike wheels. They added two small lights. And took off my bell.

But a Ghost bike is pretty conspicuous. There aren’t many of them around yet.

I decided to buy a replacement set of Hybrid wheels. And put the mountain bike wheels on one of my mountain bikes. All in all, I’m pretty happy how things worked out.

And I’ll be much more careful with my good bike in future.

bait bike

Bait bikes won’t be coming to Calgary any time soon, according to city police, who now say there has been no progress on such a program since last summer when they were dealing with a spike in bicycle thefts.

It was nine months ago that Sgt. Katrina O’Reilly told Metro several departments within the police service were working on an in-house version of a program similar to those in other jurisdictions, which see GPS tracking devices hidden inside bicycles placed in public areas as “bait” for would-be thieves. …

Sgt. Katrina O’Reilly told Metro last summer there had been a “tremendous increase” in the number of bikes being stolen in break-and-enters, rather than from an outdoor rack or off the street. …

Bait bike idea shelved by Calgary police, cyclists frustrated with mass thefts

donated to wikipedia

On By Rick McIn education, ethics, internet, product endorsements, things getting betterLeave a comment

I love the site. Use it every day.

wiki


FINALLY got around to making a donation.

Readers_Survey_2011_Reasons_for_donating_to_Wikipedia

No, it wasn’t one of Jimmy’s personal appeals. 🙂

can-i-have-wiki-meme

You can donate here.

Elon Musk’s proposed Hyperloop

On By Rick McIn economics, product endorsements, things getting betterLeave a comment

The Hyperloop is a conceptual high-speed transportation system put forward by entrepreneur Elon Musk incorporating reduced-pressure tubes in which pressurized capsules ride on an air cushion that is driven by a combination of linear induction motors and air compressors.

The conceptual route runs from the Los Angeles region to the San Francisco Bay Area, paralleling the Interstate 5 corridor for most of its length, with an expected journey time of 35 minutes, meaning that passengers would traverse the 354-mile (570 km) route at an average speed of around 598 mph (962 km/h), with a top speed of 760 mph (1,220 km/h). …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The first crowdsourced 7 km long track will be built in 2016 in Quay Valley (California), a town that calls itself the “100% solar powered, self-sustaining residential model town for the 21st century“. Around 200 people (from scientists to students) are working on this project right now in exchange for equity in the transportation company that will eventually emerge. …

Hyperloop

digjitale