T e n / b y / T e n

Asia 2009: the composite-hulled aircraft of tomorrow with the extruded eggs of the past

Recently, I traveled to Asia.  Here's what happened.

Modern aircraft make extended flights easier. On the horizon is Boeing's Dreamliner, with a composite hull that permits more moisture in the air (airlines intentionally dehumidify the air to prevent rust; safety > comfort).  But for today, this recent model 777 is certainly well appointed. The seats are wide, with plenty of legroom. Passengers have their own entertainment center with a wide selection of movies ready to be streamed on demand. There are even bassinets mounted on walls for infants.

A word about EVA Air, a Chinese airline.  Although the fares are (very) reasonably priced, it doesn't strike me as a discount airline.  The flight attendants are friendly, and on EVA's Boeing 777s, at least, the legroom is generous.  All things I confirmed ahead of time by reading online reviews. 

Curiously, the reviews complained about the food, but let's face it:  who flies for the food?  Complaining about airline food is like complaining that your Ferrari doesn't have enough trunk space.  When you sign up, you pretty much know what you're getting. 

Regardless, EVA's food wasn't bad.  The only thing that gave me pause were the scrambled eggs, which had the distinct look of engineered food.  The eggs were of such curiously uniform density that I imagined they were cooked in a vat, extruded into loafs and sliced.  Tucking into them made me think of Cold War bomb shelter rations.  Egg loafs processed by 1950s technology, engineered to stand the test of time.

Asia 2009: Fly by night

Recently, I traveled to Asia.  Here's what happened.

Finally, my date of departure.  This afternoon I'm driving to L.A. to fly out of LAX at midnight for a 10 day trip in Asia.  Normally, I wouldn't look forward to 14 hours in the air, but months of schedule-clearing almost came to naught as events both work and personal seemed to luridly spiral the closer I got to my trip.  Grinding away to get to this point has been a little like the Bataan Death March, so now that this day is here, 14 hour flight time or not, I suppose I should be grateful.

Not our Boeing 777

Is LAX the friendliest airport? Usually, the airport is panned for its teeming crowds and difficult layout.  But tonight, Linda at the check-in counter volunteers to get us seats together, giggling gate-screeners play passport-birthday bingo trying to guess each passenger's birth month, a janitor who sees me sitting on the side of an escalator pulls up a spare wheelchair for me to sit in, TSA security folks jest at the metal detector. What's going on here?

My guess: the lighter crowds for our midnight flight let SoCal friendliness effervesce to the surface, a trait normally masked by the crush of daytime crowds which ratchet up everyone's crankiness. Either that, or they've been slipping Prozac into the passengers' drinking fountains.

You rebel scum!

Behold the awesome power of this fully operational Star Wars marketing machine:  an action figure of the obscure admiral whom Darth Vader chokes in the first film. Intentionally ironic?  You be the judge.

 

Dude even had it autographed.  Hard core.

How can you not like Admiral Motti?  No, I didn't know he was either before the advent of Google, but this guy ranks right up there with that anonymous Imperial soldier who seizes the moment to talk smack:  "You rebel scum."  This got me thinking, and because the Internet is chock full of goodness, I located this actor too:  Barrie Holland.  As often happens, after the movie, things quickly got out of hand, and Mr. Holland soon found himself at conventions.  No action figure yet, but apparently, Lucas Film eventually trademarked the phrase, "You rebel scum."

The Men Who Stare At Goats

Dubai, meet Schadenfreude. Schadenfreude, Dubai.

12 months ago, Dubai was hailed as the playground for the ultra-rich.  Manmade islands rose out of the water, tourists marveled at the indoor ski slopes.  Now, it's a wasteland with discarded homes, dying lawns and abandoned cars.  It's actually kind of fascinating, a modern day Babylon.

The story of one expatriate couple who worked in Dubai is illustrative:  "At the time this photo was taken, Kayla had recently been laid off and Hendrick hadn't been paid in months. After exhausting their savings to pay the mortgage on an apartment that had lost 40% of its value, they were left with no choice but to go home. "No one ever said, 'Do you know that if you lose your job, or can't pay your mortgage, you'll have to go to jail?' " Kayla says. "We had to flee the country with our tails between our legs, as if we'd done something terribly wrong.""

For Fast Company's slideshow, click here.

Trio

As someone points out, one of technology's best attributes is helping us to better perceive our world. In that light, here is a trio of fascinating videos highlighted by one of my favorite sites, Gizmodo.

The first video illustrates a 3D version of what scientists have called the most amazing photo of the universe.  Impressive, but for me, the narration helped me appreciate a more subtle fact.  When a star emits photons of light, many photons are lost in the sense that they embed themselves in lifeless masses, never having been observed by anyone.  But some photons, a precious few, traveled for 13 billion years through the vacuum of space only to embed themselves on the sensor of the Hubble telescope, allowing themselves to be discovered as perhaps the last remnant of a distant star that today may no longer exist.

The next video shows a more local miracle: a sea turtle grazing in a warm current, all captured with a state of the (commercially available) art dSLR camera which captures near HD video.  An interesting intersection between technology and nature.  Hard to not smile at this.

The final video shows our world on a more minute, more whimsical level: a dizzying array of flight patterns. Insects under a streetlamp, captured with a long exposure.

flight patterns from Charlie McCarthy on Vimeo.

Parkour on two wheels

Okay, now this is impressive.  Plus, it features one of my favorite songs.
The good stuff starts around :55

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Courtesy of SI.com.