JDPFu.com 2025

I’ve written more than a few Nokia N800 Articles and figured that a central location listing them might be appreciated.

The last few years, companies have added customer loyalty programs to their marketing. Most of these fail for a number of reasons.

Which companies have the highest customer loyalty and why? Which have failed, at least for me?

Successes

Coke – People like to drink Coke everywhere in the world. When Coke changed their flavoring based on taste testing, the world cried out to put back the old flavor almost like an addict would. Flavored sugar water doesn’t mean much to me.

Apple – Apple fans go crazy about their products and will tell EVERYONE how great each is. Apple product cost between 20% and 100% more than similar products that aren’t as easy to use. People are willing to pay more for that. I’m not a fan of Apple – mostly because they charge more and their fans are obnoxious.
I did get a phone call from Apple last year because someone was trying to use a credit card with my name on it to buy an iPhone and iTunes stuff. This call was from Apple, not my credit card company. I became hostile towards to nice man on the phone immediately, before I gave him a chance to explain the issue. He never wavered and was always polite and professional – without any accent in his speech. While this hasn’t changed my negative opinion of Apple product pricing, it hasn’t added any more negative thoughts either.
Apple, when will your customers be able to multi-task on an iphone? When will they be allowed to change the battery? When will they be allowed to select from any application that can run on the device?

Google – Google does most things they do VERY WELL and don’t ask me directly for anything in return. They make their money by correlating all my web data together, building a profile about me and selling ads around that data. Most of us don’t really know what this means and we don’t care. I avoid google without filtering personal connection, use, computer data. Further, I avoid sending email to gmail addresses.

Airlines – Delta and United FF programs. They aren’t really that useful to me anymore. I’ve used Continental and AA FF programs in the past but never used an award ticket from them. Which FF program works best for you depends on where you live and where you travel. I have turned in some Delta points for a $1400 international ticket, which made it completely worth while. My United miles expired before I could use them, so I transferred them to a charity.

McDonald’s – Kids, advertising, convenience. I don’t get it at all. I haven’t eaten at McD’s in perhaps 2.5 years. It was an emergency the last time I did because I needed something to eat, quick, on the way to a once in a lifetime event. The closest restaurant to my home is a McDonald’s. I could walk there. I have never been to that store.

Twitter – You love it or your don’t care. I don’t care. Why didn’t AIM or gTalk or MSN setup interfaces with SMS texts? Maybe they did, but I just didn’t know about it?

What’s missing?

Customer loyalty needs to feel like a friend telling another friend about something great that they know is likely to be relevant to them them, not just something good. My friends know the types of things I’m interested in based on prior communications. They contact me when they see something really interesting to me. When was the last time you got any great insight from a customer loyalty communication. Seriously? Most of these communications are a list of 50 things on sale and none are of interest. None. The same old marketing like newspaper inserts. It needs to be targeted and on point for my needs.

Acura – I’ve owned two Acura vehicles and I’m mostly pleased. My interactions with most Acura dealers has been pleasant enough too. When I purchased my last Acura, my last name was misspelled on all the documents and on the title. Boo. A single attempt to correct that through Acura failed, so I gave up. When my annual registration comes due, I initially tried to correct it, but that failed too. My name gets misspelled a lot, so this isn’t a big deal. At least the Acura misspelling result isn’t offensive. Every quarter, an Acura magazine arrives with stories, lifestyle articles, travel hints and offers – Free Augusta National Golf tickets and the like. I don’t golf, but the offer is appreciated. Some of the other deals are interesting and generally leave a favorable impression of Acura.

My next vehicle will probably be another Acura in a few years. The last purchase occurred without visiting the dealership. The papers were signed on my kitchen table on the day the vehicle was delivered to my home. That impression is hard to beat even with the misspelled name.

TiVo – These guys are similar to Apple, except I like them. Their product works better than any alternative, but it costs more than any alternative. I dislike that a monthly plan is even offered and I wish the lifetime plans weren’t so expensive. I’ve been a tivo owner since 2003. That same device is working. I swapped the disk drive a few years ago to get more storage. It is about time to swap the drive again to further increase the lifetime. I don’t use any of the paid add-on options, but I do have it download free internet content like Tekzilla and hak5 weekly shows. Convenience rules.

Failures

Hilton Hotels – I signed up for a Hilton awards program a few years ago due to conference attendance. I tied my room reservation to it, then attended. After my visit, I checked that it was recorded to my HH program, it wasn’t so I sent the information about my stay to the feedback link on the program site. A few days later, I started receiving emails from the hotel manager asking how my stay was. I provided good feedback and explained that the program hadn’t connected my stay with the frequent stay program ID. I attempted to connect it once more. No joy. It has been a year and still isn’t connected. I get monthly emails from Hilton which reminds me they don’t follow through. Attempts to leave their email marketing list have failed too, which frustrate me even more, every month. I’m at the point where I avoid staying at Hilton Hotels or any of their 10 other names. FAIL.

Microsoft – The two most common communications I get from Microsoft is patch your PC and your antivirus is out of date. Is that really the message they want to send weekly? Microsoft has lost my trust. Every time they create something new, I immediately wonder how it will prevent me from using anyone elses’ stuff or how much it will cost me. exFAT file system is their latest push for memory cards to support large media files. I don’t understand why all the memory manufacturers don’t just use the FOSS ext2 file systems instead? Oh – because Microsoft doesn’t (and won’t) support ext2. OTOH, WinXP and earlier OSes don’t support exFAT either.

Linux / Ubuntu – This isn’t really fair. Linux isn’t a company and has no advertising budget. Ubuntu doesn’t seem to have much advertising budget either, at least for the masses. What can Linux do better? Well, they can show 30 second clips of people using the software to solve a real problem with FOSS. It would be best of the problem highlighted something that Windows or Macs don’t do well at all. #1 – every time should show price followed by system maintenance and upgrade processes (click the red triangle in the corner). Currently, failing. Yes, I know that Linux is just the kernel and that no users actually use it directly. We all use some higher level tool created by GNU or Ubuntu or Red Hat or SuSE or Mandrake or some developer in his basement.

Amazon – I shop on Amazon for price and convenience. I maintain a wish list of things to make gifts easier and as reminders for things to purchase later. I don’t think I’ve ever purchased anything recommended for me from Amazon. They know the types of things I buy with over 200 purchases. If I bought a router, I probably don’t need another. 3 months later, I don’t need to see CAT5e cables or a switch either. I’ve had a few issues with Amazon product shipments over the years, but Amazon has always made me whole again, always. Their customer service does a good job. Their product suggestions, not so much.

Travelocity – They know where I’ve traveled, how long I’ve stayed and when I tend to go. They also know my searches for destinations. Yet, they don’t send deals for those destinations or worse, keep sending them when I’m already back home. I want international travel deals. I doubt I’ll ever take a vacation to Los Vegas or fly to Ashville, NC. STOP OFFERING THOSE DEALS, Travelocity. Offering a flight from Atlanta to Savannah is a waste of your time too. I’d end up spending more time dealing with airport garbage than a simple drive there. I’m not going to fly commercially to Savannah, ever. I’ve routinely searched for flights to Bali, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, London, Europe, Chili, and Peru. Get the hint and target those deals, please?

My Senators – About once a year, I get an email from my senators claiming to have stopped some bill that is bad for the country. I wrote to them a few years ago about some of my concerns which they responded to by a carefully copy/pasted paragraph about each of my concerns. Most recently, it was about the health care bill, which I’ve never written to them about. Nice. Fail.

Grocery Stores – They give small discounts for the cost of you letting them see what you purchase. I’ve never had a grocery store loyalty card. My privacy is worth more than $100/yr. When my local Kroger started pushing them, I spoke with the store manager about my displeasure. He wasn’t helpful, I stopped shopping at Kroger. Publix is a local competitor where I started stopping. They also had a discount card, but if I didn’t have one, the cashier always scanned hers so I got the discount. Kroger – FAIL, Publix – Success. I suppose manufacturers would be snail-mailing coupons to me if I had a card? That local Kroger went out of business. I doubt I had anything to do with that, but the store manager definitely did. Good Bye.

Customer Loyalty Programs

Which programs work for you and which have failed? Why?

Breakfasts around the world vary greatly in my limited experience. There are differences based on eating at home, eating out, eating with friends and on holidays, in my experience. Obviously, everyone eats just a little differently at breakfast based on family, culture, and available foods in season.

American

I’m American and have lived all over the USA. I’ve found there are regional differences based on family location. Southern families might have grits with their breakfast and norther families might have oatmeal. I’ve had both, but tend towards my norther family/culture a dozen times a year or so. Most of the time breakfast at home is much simpler.

I’d guess over 30% of Americans just have something to drink for breakfast whether it is coffee of milk or juice.

Children

Cereal plus whatever else Mother can get them to eat and drink. Milk and juice and fruit, but only if cut up and put on cereal. The cereal usually has tons of sugar – Captain Crunch was my favorite as a child, but Cocoa Krispies and Life were fine. The bowl was always more than 1 cup, usually 2-3 cups. Raisin Bran became a staple after age 16 thru to my mid-30s.

Healthier Adult

Coffee, juice, some kind of fruit and a fairly small bowl of grainy cereal.
An alternative is tea/coffee, fruit, and some protein like an egg / bacon / sausage. I’m a protein, fruit, tea guy.

Special Occasions

When out with family or friends, going to a restaurant for breakfast usually means a waffle/pancake, eggs, and sausage/bacon ordeal. I usually get an omelet with almost every type of veggie and ham.

For holidays, my family has old German recipes that mix eggs, bacon, bread, and cheese all together and bake it. The sodium level will give anyone a heart attack, but it is sooooo good. About once a year, I’ll make gooey cinnamon rolls. There are also the odd times when donuts are purchased.

Japanese

I’ve heard the normal Japanese breakfast is a raw egg over a small, cold bowl of rice with green tea. I’ve tried this and found it unsatisfying. I suspect the Egg McMuffin is popular in Tokyo.

Chinese

On multiple occasions while in China, I’ve eaten breakfast out with the locals. Cantonese breakfast tends to be a hearty bowl of soup with veggies and meat. Of course, a western-style breakfast is available too, but 80% of the diners that I saw were having that big bowl of soup. Even the American chain, KFC, sells the potato + sausage soup in China. Further, it is really tasty.

Of course, if you go to a place known for dim sum, you’ll see that instead. It is definitely popular with a huge list of options on the ordering pad you will be provided with. Just check the boxes and enter the number you’d like for each available type. Ask for the English menu if it isn’t automatically provided.

Central American

Varied just like in America – French toast some days, but there’s always, always fresh fruit – papaya, cantaloupe, banana, and varied juices with coffee. Hash brown potatoes or other locally fried starches (banana) were also provided a few times. I’ve never eaten so much and so many varied fruits in a single meal, yet it probably had only 200 calories.

Metro-South American

Coffee and a small scone. I don’t know if this is typical, but while in BsAs for a few weeks, every corner had a coffee cafe that provides this. Seeing a Starbucks here is odd since the locals have known excellent coffee for their entire lives and laugh at people going to Starbucks. Starbucks is losing money, big time.

The oddest thing I found here was that carbonated water was often provided with coffee. Agua con gas or agua sin gas_. Interesting. Argentina has some specialized menus that make ordering breakfast a challenge.menus I guess the good news is that you were probably out until 3-4am drinking after eating dinner around 11pm, so breakfast isn’t really that important.

French

Coffee and croissant. My experience was on my first trip to Tokyo while spending a few weeks in a French hotel. The first week there, the company CEO and I met for breakfast in the main lobby and he loved it. On subsequent trips I stayed in the same hotel, but discovered a different breakfast was available downstairs for the same cost – about US$23. Good thing the client was paying for everything.

British

I’ve never been to Britain, but I have seen their influence in China and Japan. Thank GOD for the Brits, or I would have starved in Japan. A proper British breakfast was provided in every hotel I’ve stayed at in either place. It was usually buffet style with bangers, bacon, eggs (3 styles), fruit, and pastries.

Eating Bangers and Mash for breakfast in Hong Kong Central while watching an American Football Superbowl at 7am is a trip highlight that I’ll never forget. Since football was on TV and the expat pub, Bulldogs, was full of Americans (overflowing), Budweiser and Coors beer was available too, but paying import prices for bad beer doesn’t make sense when Carlsberg is available cheap.

Away from Home

When I’m away from home, I tend to relish in the differences and take a little of the best things back home. These turn into habits. Breakfast was some of the best experiences that I’ve had every where in the world.

Whether in an MTR station Le Madelene’s in Kowloon eating sausage soup with veggies or on Macau Island having 20 different dim sum portions or a simple home made French toast in a mountain-side home in the Monteverde Rain Forest or a Café Doblo con leche in a Buenos Aires corner Cafe, any of these experiences beats standing in my kitchen chowing on a hard boiled egg and banana as I wait for coffee or tea to steep.

When away from home, breakfast is usually a meal you can find something tasty, yet local, that will get you going for the rest of the busy day. Breakfast doesn’t usually come with the unusual-to-me or you want me to eat what concerns either.

What have been your experiences with breakfast around the world?

If you are a smart phone user AND a Linux nerd, you WANT a Nokia N900.
Here’s a very detailed review, perhaps too detailed.

The highights are:

• CDMA (tri mode) and GSM (quad mode) cellular phone with 3G data speeds
• WiFi supported
• Linux – full multitasking; listen to music, surf the web, download files, and 5 other apps at the same time, no need to close apps to do something else* take that Apple lovers
• GPS and GeoCache-ready apps
• QWERTY Keyboard take that Apple lovers
• BlueTooth
• SDHC expansion memory, easily swapped, 32GB internal plus external slot
• 800×480 screen take that Apple lovers
• 3D graphic acceleration
• 5Mpix Camera with near HD-quality video
• User swappable battery take that Apple lovers
• Plays almost any video or audio media take that Apple lovers
• 1,000s of free Linux apps – lots of software is an understatement; xterm, PDF, RDP, VNC, games, Office/Productivity, IM, RSS
• Excellent VoIP and Skype support (Ovi, Google Talk, Jabber, and SIP) take that Apple lovers
• TV-Out
• Connects to your MS-Exchange server including Calendaring
• Mozilla-based browser with Flash 9.4 support and multiple window support (# only limited by memory). The reviewer didn’t fine any web pages that didn’t work regardless of javascript, flash, or AJAX.
• Oh, and all the things you expect from a PDA – contacts, calendars, email,

The review compared the keyboard to that of another Nokia phone, but I’d like a comparison with a Blackberry QWERTY keyboard, which I consider FANTASTIC for thumb typing. I’m curious about built-in security features too, though a lock code is standard.

The only downsides to this device are:

• Data plan needed (monthly cost)
• Unclear that any subsidy will be provided by any cellular provider.
• Unlocked price – $584 on Amazon. Ouch.
• Screen size reduced from 4.1" to 3.5" so it is about the size of an iPhone.
• No voice dialing?
• Java was not shipped with the device, but it is definitely available.

The Nokia N800/N810/N900 has limited CPU. It is a portable device with fairly long battery life, so this is understandable. However, playback of DVDs or other videos can use the battery beyond what is needed for the screen size. According to Nokia, the optimal playback for video is 400 pixels.

Below is a small script to convert a list of input videos into the “best” quality for our Nokia Internet Tablets. The output does not playback with the built-in Media Player, but plays nicely with mplayer – or gmplayer if you want a GUI.

This script was updated 7/2010 to reduced FPS so when multitasking, the N800 does not become over committed for CPU. I chose 14.985 fps because it seemed to have acceptable playback and acceptable visuals. The fact that it is exactly half the original source frames makes the transcode happen quickly too. If you find the 15 FPS is too much, 20 or 25 FPS will work pretty well too.

#!/bin/sh
# This is for really simple XVID conversion to 400 x whatever, retaining aspect
# Input filenames with spaces are not supported due to the ability to have multiple input files. 
#     Remove the loop to support a single input file with spaces.
# This is a 1-pass solution, so quality could be improved using a 2-pass method
SCALE=",scale=400:-3"
XVIDENCOPTS="fixed_quant=4:max_key_interval=250:trellis:max_bframes=1:vhq=3"
FRAMES="-ofps 15000/1001"

for filename in $@ ; do
   IN=$filename
   nice /usr/bin/mencoder "$IN" $FRAMES -oac mp3lame -lameopts preset=128 -ovc xvid \
                -vf lavcdeint${SCALE} -noodml -forceidx -ffourcc XVID \
                -xvidencopts ${XVIDENCOPTS} -of avi -o "${IN}-n800.avi"
done

For me, this script works quickly and with about 90% of the input files. Basically, anything that mplayer can play (which is just about any non-DRM video files), then you can transcode. I bet other portable media devices like the iPhone, iTouch, and Android-based devices will like this format too.

I’ve used this with FLV, MPEG2 1280i HD, and everything in between to bring it to my N800 so I don’t get bored during workouts or airplane flights. Enjoy.

How to GPS Tag photos with your Nokia N800 and GPSbabel … The instructions here are not really specific to a Nokia N800, so other GPS units should use very similar steps. Only the GPSBabel part will probably change options based on your GPS device.

I’ve been taking my N800 and bluetooth GPS receiver on my hikes. Really just as a way to track approximate mileage. After doing that a few months, it seemed there had to be a way to put the GPS lat/lon into my photos. There is. A few other uses for GPS data, beyond the obvious:

1. Retain your track data
2. Estimate distance covered
3. GPS tag your photos
4. Share your track as a route for other hikers
5. Post a track on Google Maps for others – nice visualization with all the zoom and pan that you expect from google.
6. Mark the actual location of a landmark – waterfall, lookout point, or geocache

So far I’ve retained many of my tracks, but not been able to view them except on the N800. That’s useful, to a point. I’d really like to record them and create a database of visual tracks that is viewable on google maps for my friends to view. The real idea is to create a database of local hikes with trailheads, distances and difficulty ratings to help select future hikes.

Enter gpsbabel

Gpsbabel is a tool converts GPS data between many, many different devices and formats that runs on any platform – win32, unix, linux, N800. It supports conversion between … I guess about 50 different formats. My need is to convert N800/Maemo-Mapper GPX data into something GoogleMaps can use, KML. Originally, I thought gmaps supported GPX too, but that never worked well enough and had limited waypoint support. Yes, KML is the best answer for this.

Conversion steps for maemo-mapper gpx files into kml files that google-maps can display.

1. Get the GPX file off your N800 … somehow (scp, ftp, pull the memory card and copy the data, whatever)
2. Use gpsbabel to convert the file to KML.

   gpsbabel -t -i gpx -f “$1” -o kml,points=0 -F “$1.kml”

   points=0 option drops some data, so the resulting track isn’t exact.
3. Move the .KML file to a web server that googlemaps can access, anywhere really, on your desktop probably isn’t gonna work.
4. Have google maps display the data – a sample Laughing Falls, NC by fashioning a URL like the link here. Basically, you use http://maps.google.com/maps?q={full-URL-to-file.kml} The file can be waypoints, traces or routes as far as I can tell.

The result isn’t a nice track until you uncheck the Points on the resulting page. Also, I’ve tried to get gpsbabel to reduce the track to a radius around the importance locations, but that isn’t working. Loading gpsbabel was trivial on my Ubuntu laptop and desktop –

sudo apt-get install gpsbabel

, if memory serves.

No Google API key needed for this method either, which is nice.

Another helpful tool for geocaching and the N800 is gpsview. It connects to the GPS receiver and performs bearing math for you. It also helps calm the GPS data and average it out so you know where you are with a higher degree of accuracy after a few minutes, GPS data floats about 50 feet, IME. This tool is very helpful with some geocache hints. So, you have a location and need a bearing for the next cache location or you have a bearing and need a new lat/lon. gpsview does those calculations. I’d post a link, but I can’t find it now. Perhaps it was in the OS2008 depot and just loaded when I selected it.

Get out there and find some fun caches or just hike and know how close you are to roads and streams and where you’ve already been. There’s something fun about searching for a hidden location/waterfall, finding it, then taking an almost direct path back to your car.

Enter gpsPhoto.pl to tag your photos with GPS data

Tagging your photos with GPS coordinates:

gpsPhoto.pl —gpsfile HT-File.gpx \


	
Camera & GPS times match

            —timeoffset 0 \
	
Find closest GPS point (2 minutes)

            —maxtimediff 180 —dir ./ 

I came across a CSV list of waterfalls, converted it into KML and here’s the resulting googlemaps link. I know it is missing many water falls. I’ve been to some that are fairly large and they aren’t in the list. I have no idea how accurate any of these GPS points are either. YMMV.

Now that we have placed our GPS data into the photos, many of the photo hosting sites will display that either on a map or as part of the extra data. I’ve hacked together some GPS code for MyPhotoGallery that will link to google map locations for any photos that contain GPS data. Here’s an example of the EXIF data and Google Maps link that is added to every image displayed in the gallery.

Embedded EXIF data
Camera: SONY DSC-W55
Exposure: 1/160 sec.
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal length: 6.3 mm
ISO: 100
Flash: No
Date taken: Feb 21, 2009 at 3:17:21 PM
GPS: 34.135167,-84.704180

I’ve also hacked search into the perl and provided the search updates back to the original developer. He elected to remove search from his code many years ago. If you are interested in my changes photo gallery, they are hacks, let me know. If there is enough interest, I’ll post them for all.

Many of you know that I’ve found the coffee mug that keeps me happy and my tea/coffee hot for hours a few years ago.

It is the Contigo Extreme Insulated Mug. Get the vacuum insulated version, not the foam type.

I got lucky and found a pair together at a local store, perhaps 4 years ago, for $20. I’ve told a few friends about my cups but didn’t know the name or model. Random searching today found them – at least some mugs that look like my favorite hot liquid mugs. Further reading was required.

Seems they make 2 versions.

1. Foam insulated
2. Vacuum insulated <— recommended

They don’t appear to sell the 2-pak any more. Too bad.

I like:

• Handle clips onto a bag so you won’t lose it when empty
• Rubberized base – nonskid.
• 1/4 turn lid to close
• Spill-proof lid
• Lid doesn’t melt in the Georgia summer heat (lost a few mugs with cheap rubber seals this way)
• Keeps liquid HOT for hours with lid, warm for hours without
• Easy clean, but not dishwasher safe
• Two for $20 – impossible price to get now

I didn’t find the same model, but the description on this seems really good for $35.

This planet, the Earth, is a death trap for all life on it. At some point in the future, everything on this planet will be killed off. That is a fact, not some possible future vision, but FACT.

An asteroid hit is the least of our problems. Don’t get me wrong, we need to watch for them and have a plan of action to shift the inbound rock enough that it doesn’t hit us. We’ll need a backup plan should the first shift effort not work well enough. We also need to search for asteroids in the hard to find regions of our sky to prevent another 20 day notice asteroid event like last year. That amount of warning isn’t quick enough to do anything but a hail mary attempt.

We have to get off this rock if we, as a species, want to survive. The further away from here, the better. Sadly, many of the things that will kill the Earth will also kill Mars and most of the solar system.

There is already a star pointed at us that will send high energy gamma rays AND will destroy all life here when it goes supernova. It is a matter of time and will probably happen before the Sun becomes a red giant and boils away all water on Earth, before expanding beyond Earth’s current orbit.

We need to take the first steps to get off this rock and find alternative travel methods beyond normal propulsion (throwing stuff out the back to move forward) to get to other star systems. There is no viable method of propulsion to get us (or anything else) to another star system currently. Ion, solar wind, etc are pure fantasy and CANNOT GET ANYTHING TO ANOTHER STAR SYSTEM in 1,000 years.

Steps to Get to the Stars

1. Look for suitable extra-Solar planets to colonize with water, a strong enough magnetic field and appropriate temperatures. Telescopes.
2. Research theoretical propulsion methods that don’t involve mass thrown out the back of the rocket. We can’t physically carry enough mass to another star. Solar wind is too weak for interstellar travel. Only travel faster than 0.5C or instantaneous travel are useful here. Generational ships traveling for 200+ year trips can’t carry enough mass to throw out the back.
3. Perform colonization efforts inside our solar system as local laboratories to learn how to live off the land everywhere we go. Expect 75% death rates.
4. Perform basic renewable farming research in completely closed environments until 50+ years of complete, perfect success. Determine the most efficient amount of space and stacked farming for long interstellar trips.
5. Perform artificial gravity at 1G trials that are sustainable for 50+ years. Humans cannot survive long-term in lower G environments without exposure to 1G for hours every day to maintain bodily functions and prevent HUGE bone and muscle loss. The best answer is for most of the ship to have 0.8-1.2G to support normal life, plants, animals, and for long term storage to be placed in the lower-G internal areas of the ship. Centripetal force created gravity seems like the only real answer here.
6. Perform heavy research on low-G conception, birth, and growth into adulthood for as many species as possible. I suspect bad things will happen to most newborns created in this way.
7. Test more efficient methods to get mass into orbit – probably aircraft-based launch systems, not rockets. Ground cannons and earth based energy pushing devices are also interesting. Space elevators are extremely dangerous. What happens when a 200 mile long 3 foot thick cable falls back to earth? It will be bad – earthquake or tsunami wave = BAD.
8. Perform heavy research on protective living materials against solar radiation, in space, on planets and moons. Planets must have radiation protection similar to our magnetosphere unless we want to live underground forever. Learn to remotely locate planets with this trait. To learn more, search on exoplanet magnetic fields

We need to get off this rock. It will take generations to accomplish. Every long journey begins with the first step, followed by another and another.

I read an article today that said willpower and money are the reasons humanity hasn’t launched men towards the stars.

The barrier between us and the stars is not some insurmountable technology one, its a matter of money and willpower.

This is just 1 of the misconceptions that the average person has related to scientific items. Some things can’t be solved with enough effort and money in a given timeframe.

Fastest Man-Made Object

The fastest man-made item reached 150,000 mph (41.67 mi/sec). Voyager 1, launched in 1977, is going only 38,500 mph as it leaves our solar system.

Distance

The closest star to our solar system is about 4 light years away (5,800,000,000,000,000 miles away).

How Long is That Trip?

That works out to about 3,941 years to travel there at 150,000 mi/hr.

Remaining Problems To Be Solved

We definitely do not have the technology to accomplish or even begin that goal. We’d need a multi-generational ship, capable of growing food without sunlight. It would need to survive longer than any culture or nation has by far. There are thousands of other issues that would need to be solved too. Gravity, bone loss, fuel exhaustion, genetic diversity, long term power, …

So perhaps everyone can better understand why we aren’t planning to visit other stars at all?

Did I make any simple math mistakes?

Another big misconception is the fact that there are more stars in our universe than there are grains of sand on the entire planet Earth. Average humans don’t understand this. Large numbers and distances cannot truly be understood by our human brains.

Some data about the swine flu outbreak that I find interesting. The rate of spread is important. As of Thursday, the rate of spread appears to be slowing, except in Mexico where I expect it will eventually hit 2000 confirmed cases once their laboratory backlog is cleared.

Supercomputer models are reported to predict an explosion in cases next week and are warning that we aren’t doing enough to isolate our selves.

So far in 2009, about 13,000 people have died from normal flu complications in the USA. In a normal year, 36,000 people in the USA die.

Number of Cases Over Time

Location	5/11	5/10	5/9	5/8	5/7	5/6
USA	2532	2254	1639	896	642	403
Mexico*	1626	1626	1364	1112	1112	822
Canada	284	280	242	214	201	165

Location	5/5	5/4	5/3	5/2	5/1	4/30	4/29	4/28	4/27	4/26	4/25	4/24
USA	403	286	226	160	141	109	91	64	40	20	?	?
Mexico*	822	590	506	397 c	156 c	97 c	26 c	26 c	27 c	?
Canada	165	101	85	51	34	19	13	6	6

Mexico doesn’t/didn’t have laboratory capacity to test every sample, so those numbers are confirmed only. Not all of these numbers are perfect. I’ve started using WHO as the source for counts. Mexican confirmed counts appear to be off so much that these numbers are nearly meaning less. There were over 1800 suspected cases in Mexico on 4/28.
Laboratory confirmed cases are used in the USA. Obviously, labs take a day or two from the time the sample is taken to be processed.

• Google Map of known cases. This isn’t my map and it doesn’t appear to be completely accurate.
• The World Health Organization site.
• The CDC Swineflu site.

From prior reading, exponential increases in the number of cases is to be expected, so far only doubling has occurred. This is very good news. I expected to see clear trends in the data by 5/1, but that doesn’t appear to be happening. Perhaps a trend will become clear next week?

The last few days, headlines have been made after Chinese authorities quarantined guests in the Metropark Hotel in Hong Kong due to a single guest having tested positive for swine flu. This broad use of Metropark is unfortunate since there are over 5 Metropark Hotels in Hong Kong and across the bay in Kowloon. I’ve stayed at a Metropark Causway Bay in 2008 and it appears to be close to if not THE impacted hotel.

Mexico is criticizing China’s response, but what they don’t understand is that Chinese cities are extremely dense with populations. There is a cultural habit of trying to get around rules, so once this flu gets out, millions of people will be impacted. China is still fighting SARS and doesn’t want another virus to fight.