I just placed another digital thermometer on the south side of my house. It just registered 113 degrees! This while my weather station reads 112. Its obviously in the shade.
It really is that hot outside! No wonder my long-suffering lawn is dying (and my home AC is struggling).
…but not here. Yet.
You’ve probably heard the news of Wednesday’s inaugural flight of Virgin America, the geek-friendliest airline to date. With an in-flight entertainment system built around Linux, onboard wireless Internet, and power plugs at every seat, Virgin America appeals to geek customers like me.
Right now they fly between San Francisco and New York’s JFK airport, but will soon be adding more cities to their schedule. Wouldn’t be great if Virgin America came to Raleigh and offered our first Raleigh-San Francisco nonstop flight?
I signed up for Virgin America’s frequent flier program, eleVAte, with the hopes that if Virgin America sees many members in North Carolina, they might be willing to consider serving us. You can help, too! Go to the sign-up page and get yourself an eleVAte membership. Let’s bring the “Geek Airline” to the Triangle!
I am constantly amazed at the uses people dream up for Google Earth, like using it to track the space shuttle and the ISS. I’m not getting any altitude information in mine, but cool nontheless.
NASA makes the shuttle’s orbital elements available on their website, too, which is what this script uses. Pretty cool stuff.
Bonus: Here’s a page which tracks it with Google Maps and AJAX.
Yesterday I put another thermometer beside my home weather station’s. In midafternoon it recorded a temperature of 104 degrees F, hours after my weather station clocked 110.7 F. As I said, I think my station’s temperatures run a bit hot, but they aren’t too far off the mark. I think the other thermometer proves my theory that this location is simply hotter than RDU airport.
Glad to find out today by way of Planet Trilug that my friend and fellow ham Eric Christensen is on the air with his own blog.
I’ve worked a few Tour De Cure volunteer events with Eric and have great respect for him. It takes a lot of concentration and professionalism to keep an event like the TDC on track and Eric has lots of both.
His blog should be interesting. Welcome to the blogosphere, Eric!
(73, Mark N4JMT)
I just posted this to the Internetworkers list. I thought I’d post it here for your comments.
Let me throw this out for y’all and see what y’all have to say.
In the past, I worked as a computer consultant. One of the things I did was install Asterisk servers for some local companies. One of those companies has since gone out of business and owes AT&T money. AT&T is now coming after me for the bill the former company owes, thinking that somehow I am responsible for this money. Continue reading
My home weather station set a new high temperature record today, showing 110.7 degrees F at 1PM today. The previous high was 104, so this is quite hotter. Granted, my temperatures are a little skewed since the thermometer is close to our brick foundation on the southern side of the house (though it is shaded), but they aren’t much skewed. I just think the area we’re in is hotter in general than the airport (though surely not by 11 degrees).
Meanwhile out in the San Juan Islands, the folks out there are sweating through their flannel as the temperatures top out at 57 degrees F. I feel for ’em, you know? It’s hard out there for an islander.
In my attempt to document events during our day at the Orcas Island Airport, I neglected to talk about one special event. As I was watching Hallie and Travis ride the kiddie cars inside Magic Air‘s hangar, I heard a roar behind me. Whirling around, I caught a glimpse of a beautifully restored World War II-era fighter plane as it screamed just 20 feet above the runway on a fly-by. I was lucky enough to catch the plane on video as it made two more low-altitude passes.
Continue reading
Note to self: make sure to remove Yaesu FT-50R ham radio from rental car before returning car to agency. D’oh! I brought it along with the hopes of firing it up on top of Mt. Constitution, but its battery wasn’t charged like I expected it to be and thus it became an expensive paperweight during our trip. Fortunately, Avis has it and is mailing it back to me.
While I’m on the subject of praise where praise is due, kudos to Southwest for correcting my mistake and getting our family home the same day. I didn’t expect it to happen but the gate agent who made the arrangements went above and beyond the call of duty. Thanks a bunch!
Sure is hot, innit? I’m missing those 60-degree highs right about now.
