Feeling Blankity Blank

Steamer Lane from on high, a cam snap from video I shot with my 3DR Solo drone. Here's a direct link to the video this is from.

I'm going to start doing more flying and videowork and expect to be posting more videos to YouTube.

Here's a link to my channel, if you're down, give a sub and help me get to that fabled 100 subscribers number that'll empower me to choose my own special, custom URL.

Beyond this, life goes on. We celebrated Sully's 11th birthday this last weekend with a long and occasionally epic Nerf war. In the run up to his birthday we acquired many, many new (to us usually, most are used) Nerf blasters. To the degree that we now have a rather large arsenal that requires upkeep to prevent it from completely taking over the living room.

And I'm still getting out and SUP surfing as much (almost) as I can. I'm mostly sticking to Indicators, Middle Peak and Steamer Lane these days as Cowells' generally meager waves are either too crowded or there's just not enough of them. Links to SUP Surfing videos as well, mostly mine but occasionally mixing in another SUP video as need be.

Next up is summer break and lots of time off from work and time to spend with kids. Summer plans include trying to get out and camp again, we didn't go at all last summer and I missed it. Maybe even some bike camping if we can make that work.

A Whole New Way to Commute

The Parajet Skycar: Britain's zero-carbon flying dune buggy makes use of some existing technology in a new way to arrive at a whole different way to travel.

A paragliding car would make getting to work absolutely easy and fun. Think how awesome it would be to cruise up to speed, pop up off the ground and then float (at up to 70 miles per) over the grid-locked traffic full of deeply, deeply jealous people.

What a sweet way to get to around. Oh yeah, it also runs on bio-diesel, is optimized for lightness, uses a continuously variable transmission and the production model will sport an aluminum frame for greater weight savings. The engine is a modified Yamaha R1 motorcycle engine for good efficiency and speed.

Future enhancements should include: whisper mode to sneak up on people, downward facing speakers to annoy the hell out of people stuck in traffic, laser light shows built into the undercarriage to give the cage ragers something to look at as you pass them by (doubles as a UFO hoax propagation device), sidewinder missiles, water balloon launcher and deployable pontoons for water landings.

I want one of these. Badly.

Rule #240: How To Escape Flight Cancellation Hell

Just read this interesting article at MSNBC called Stranded at the airport? Don’t forget Rule 240 which basically boils down to this.

If you get stranded at the airport due to a flight cancellation then you can ask (ask, do not DEMAND!) that the airline use Rule 240 to get you on the next available flight to get you to your destination. Note, not the next available flight by that carrier, the next available flight, period.

Rule 240 mandated that an airline facing a delayed or canceled flight had to transfer you to another carrier if 1) the second carrier could get you to your destination more quickly than the original line and 2) it had available seats.

Which is a pretty nice and empowering little bit of rule making for passengers, imagine that! Of course it has to be a legacy from the old days since the airlines wouldn't want to empower passengers in anyway. Heck, they'd have us fly buck naked and unconscious if they could.

Has anyone out there used Rule 240 to escape a sleepover at the airport? I'd love to hear about it in action.

Double Prop Flying Lawnmower!

PAM's Individual Lifting Vehicle: the dual-rotor flying carpet

Flying carpet? No, not really. This thing is a flying lawnmower without a frame above the blades. The cool thing here is that they positioned the dual rotors directly under the pilot's position so that natural balancing keeps the thing flying. To go right, you lean to the right, and so on.

Its the world's most dangerous Segway! Plus you always get a nicely trimmed lawn when you land in your yard!