February 2010
→ Gene
(22nd February 2010)
In 2000, I read a column by Gene Weingarten in the Washington Post which I saved somewhere because it was the funniest thing I'd ever read. Someone just sent me a link to a collection of the best journalism of 2009. One particularly searing piece was by Gene Weingarten, so I searched for this and have just re-read it. It seems trite compared ...
→ Blooming
(22nd February 2010)
The Bloom Box is a fuel cell that can power a Google data centre. They were designed by NASA for a scrapped Mars programme. Oxygen goes in one side, fuel - natural gas from landfill waste, solar or who knows, maybe shit - goes in the other. And power is made. Google does use them. So do Fedex and Walmart. Endgadget tells more, and ...
→ Lay-ups
(22nd February 2010)
The number of ships lying idle is bigger than some of the world's navies, writes the daily boating magazine Mad Mariner. Presumably they're not referring to Lichtenstein or Andorra, though not being more specific with their reference means they could be, making their comparison daft. Nonetheless the piece is interesting if only for its picture of ships lying idle off Singapore. You could do ...
→ Covers
(22nd February 2010)
One world, many graphic designers. I just received copies of the Spanish edition of my book, published by Turner, and it reminded me that I had yet to post the delightfully weird cover image of the Japanese version. So here are both.
(21st February 2010)
I wrote something on sanitation - a reworked version of a chapter from the book - for The Rotarian, the Rotary club's magazine.
(19th February 2010)
The week before last, I went north. Loch Striven is one of several sea-lochs near Glasgow. It "belongs" - I put that in quotes as I still can't see how the sea can belong to anyone, despite the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea - to Clydeport, a private entity that is the harbour authority for the Clyde river, firth and sea lochs. ...
→ Cruising
(19th February 2010)
I recently met a man who told me this story, which I will re-tell in honour of all the young ship's ratings who have to do the dirtiest jobs. Because even the best on-board wastewater treatment systems need maintenance and cleaning. "I started my career by working on a cruise ship. I was the lowest ranked recruit so my job was to clean the sewage ...