The Saturday Morning Post - The Future of Travel?

A couple of Sundays ago, the CBS Sunday Morning Show (one of the most intelligent programs on American network television) did a feature on the Futures exhibit in the Arts and Industries building of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. It was a cold Sunday, and I needed to get out for a walk, so I drove into the city and spent some time walking a couple of the Smithsonian museums.  For those not familiar, the Smithsonian is not one museum, it is a bunch of them.  Arts in Industries is one of the oldest buildings, and it had been closed for 19 years for structural repairs.  

One of the items on display was a hyperloop car/capsule.  The concept of a hyperloop is basically an enclosed tube, kind of like a pneumatic tube, transport pods would move inside of the tube at very high speeds, just under the speed of sound.  The working model, uses linear induction electric motors, that have no moving parts, and magnetic levitation to minimize ground contact and friction. The enclosed tube minimizes friction, and actually the air can be pumped in the direction of travel creating even less drag. The current test circuits are relatively small.  Large scale they are talking about Washington DC, to New York City in 25 minutes, a trip that currently take 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours by train, or 45 minute by air, but when you land in New York, you are an hour from the city center where most people want to be.  

The current test vehicles seats two people.  In relative comfort, but the trips would be short, the east coast corridor in less than an hour, east coast to Chicago in about an hour (with the time zone change you would arrive in Chicago from the east coast, before you left.) Cross country in about three hours.  

Will it work?  It works.  Is it practical, time will tell.  It is less than 100 years since humans first flew across the Atlantic, and there were those that questioned if air travel would ever be practical.  I marvel to think of the travel adventures of the next 100 years.  

Fabulous Friday - Shoes #1

 Starting this made me think back to when shoes became a thing for me, I was a teenager (really I was, I know it was decades go, but I can still remember when) and there were two things I saw that made me go weak at the knees, a pair of dress boots - not work boot - not cowboy boots - but spectacular dressy - I had to have them.  And Adidas tennis shoes, in light blue swede with three white stripes down the side - they were sexy!  

Over the years the obsession has taken various forms.  Cole Hahn  driving mocs, I had almost every variety of those they made at one point, exotic leathers, I had a wonderful pair of crocodile shoes - that were terribly uncomfortable but looked amazing.  

Anymore it is comfort or not at all, and I have a huge pile of athletic shoes in my closet.  Different colors, different styles, different manufactures.  The one thing they have in common is comfort.  But color and style will motivate me to buy. 

The shoes above (not a good photo) are black leather covered in what I can only describe as bubble wrap.  Unique, but not for me. 

Thursday Ramble - Uglies

 I had a couple of encounters recently with uglies, not just the jug above, but the human incarnation.  

One person forwarded a link to an article describing terribly unsafe living conditions for renters.  The article concluded with a couple of paragraphs of racist commentary on the people who owned  and managed the buildings.  The post drew some very appropriate criticism.  I reached out to the person who posted it saying that there were serious issues.  That the expressed racism was offensive and undermined the credibility of everything in the article.  The person who posted it, strongly disagreed and made excuses for why the reader should overlook the racist comments and just pay attention to the terrible living condition. I can't help but think maybe the entire article was tainted by the authors racism.  I am in a position to cut the poster off from the formun, something I rarely do, but I did.  

The other ugly last week was a conversation with someone involved in "public health and nutrition programing."  The person described an effort to improve the diet of older adults by convincing them that they can no longer eat traditional comfort foods.  I asked why? The response was "so they can live longer and healthier in their old age!" Forcing a change in the diet of a 70 or 80 year old is not going to have that big of a difference.  So what if it adds a few days, weeks, or months to the life of the person, if everyone of those days, weeks or months is spent missing the happy foods of their life?  This is money and time wasted, it is paternalism. 

There is malnutrition among older adults, mostly due to either a loss of appetite, an inability to eat, or a lack of access to a food or a variety of foods.  We need to spend the senior nutrition dollars on enticing appetites, medical and dental care, and assuring access to foods that people want to eat, the comfort foods of their lifetime, and not on trying to convince them to eat more Kale - unless it is simmered for hours with lots of fatty sausage and ham and that is what they associate with the best of mom's cooking.

There is joke that circulates from time to time, that research shows that people who carry an extra 15 or 20 pounds, live much longer than the spouses that point it out to them.  

End of rant, I feel less ugly now.    

The Way We Were Wednesday - Cleveland 1994

 We became a couple in the fall of 1992.  J was teaching at Rollins College in Florida, on a year to year contract, and looking for a permanent job.  This would have been in January of 1994, our first airline trip together, from Orlando to Washington DC, for a conference where he had a laundry list of unproductive interviews.  The flight was suppose to pause in Cleveland and go onto DC, someplace between Orlando and Cleveland, Continental decided the flight was not going from Cleveland to DC, and we had an unexpected layover and a late flight onto DC.  My one and only trip on Continental. 

In Cleveland we stepped outside for a minute, this was long before TSA, and the security was easy.  I hadn't seen snow in about 14 years.  I remember grabbing a handful and being surprised at how cold it was. I think I still have that Calvin Klein turtleneck.  The leather jacket I outgrew.   

Travel Tuesday : Blogging Adventures, Vicarious travels

We scored an invitation a couple of years ago to the French Ambassador's residence for a reception hosted by Duke University. It was a fun evening.  

I love to travel, and often those adventures are the inspiration for my blog. I recently updated my daily reads list, adding Eye Candy by Andy in Canada who loves to take photos and shares one of his favorites each day, and Sophie's French Adventure and dog's eye view of life in a French Village narrated by a wise and worldly Scotsman. 

I travel vicariously through their daily postings. There is something these two have in common, they have a decidedly positive view of the world.  They spend time looking for beauty in the mundane.  I took off a couple of links, one to an inactive blog, and one that often didn't fit the family friendly mood that I am going for.  There are a few blogs not listed here, that I visit often, that I enjoy, or learn from, or find interesting. Some are simply to "adult" for me to feel comfortable linking to, but that does not keep me from the vicarious adventure of their lives.   

We are known by company we keep.  I am surprised by a few bloggers who keep links to people who never have an encouraging word for anyone.  I can generate all of the internal negativity I need, I don't need to go online for that.  We all have rough times, as those you who followed me through 2015-2018 can attest, I hope that even on my darkest days, I find some way for you to vicariously experience a little ray of sunshine, hope and beauty in your world.  

You Tube Monday: Gordon Goose: Promotion day!

Today is the start of my new role at work. A new title. 

Director 

No toasting with champagne, we have an alcohol and drug free workplace (one of my duties will be to certify that for some funding sources.) I have been working for over 50 years, (I filed my first tax return at 12!)  I have made it to the top of the field, in a strange little specialty area. I have high hopes for the next couple, maybe three years.  I am experiencing a modest case of imposter syndrome.   And a modest but rather nice increase in salary.   

The Sunday Five - Reading

1: Do you prefer Print or E-books? 

2: When was the last time you were in a physical book store? 

3: Are you running out of bookshelf space?

4: How many books are you reading right now? 

5: What book have you read the most times? 

My Answers

1: Do you prefer Print or E-books? E-books for most things

2: When was the last time you were in a physical book store? Today, there is a new independent local book store near me. 

3: Are you running out of bookshelf space? Yes, I have a donate pile

4: How many books are you reading right now? 3

5: What book have you read the most times? Walden 

Please share your answers in the comments.