[6th December 2010]
This is a great short film by Heydon Prowse and Archie Thomas about London's sewers. The star is Rob Smith, senior wastewater engineer for Thames Water, who was my charming and informative escort into London's sewers four years ago. I think there may have ...
[6th December 2010]
Richard Branson's Carbon War Room has set up a free internet database that will rate the efficiency of ships, somewhat like fridges, ie. from A (good) to F (bad). This is good, of course, because bunker fuel is foul but still the default fuel ...
[2nd December 2010]
I believe I'm actually going to post something that is about neither shit nor ships. It is instead about satellites and snow. This image was taken by one of "various polar-orbiting and geostationary sensors" operated by NEODAAS. NEODAAS stands for the NERC Earth Observation Data ...
[2nd December 2010]
The final part of my Slate series, on several days sailing through pirate waters. Thank you to "PJ" for his/her comment: "I can't bother with any of Slate's long term correspondents anymore. The premises are interesting but the writing talent always leaves me feeling ...
[2nd December 2010]
This is the kind of heat that sucks the breath from bodies. We are in the Bab al Mandeb Strait, a narrow opening that marks the beginning of the Gulf of Aden. It is July, now, and almost monsoon season. Monsoon weather is bad for ...
[1st December 2010]
I have been looking for a while now for a TOTO Travel Washlet. I can't remember when I read about them, but they sounded perfect for anyone, like me, who now finds toilet paper horribly inadequate, but always forgets to carry wet-wipes around. The Washlet ...
[1st December 2010]
I just received the Taiwanese copies of The Big Necessity. I got the mainland Chinese version a while ago, but that didn't have this collage-like brown design scheme, nor a poo road sign. The mainland Chinese version translated the title as "Health and Safety in ...