Monday, August 15, 2005

Fust Day Vay Cay

First day of vacation, and its not that bad.

We got up late, and at mid day went to do something that I had little interest in, but seemed like it'd be fun for the daughter and a friend -- went to a local hands-on science museum. And it was moderately interesting -- a little lame at times, but not all that bad. Then we saw the IMAX presentation, and it was awesome.

Titanic.

What else is there to say?

Well, how about this: my daughter was moved almost to tears when she heard about the number of people who died. We were all astounded by some of the items that they've recovered -- hell, just the items they found, let alone took away. We even were gratified when they recovered Elwood.

My wife commented that the theater crowd was the quietest that she had ever heard, exiting. Somber, almost -- as if they were all thoughtful about what they'd just seen. I know I was. Makes me want to read up on it.

You know, you just know, someone is going to find a way to put a dome over that jewel, and make it a Destination for wealthy people. I hope, not soon.

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Our sedan is going to die in the next two years, we think, so we off and on think about a replacement. A relative has an Audi with Quattro drive, aka All Wheel Drive, and it seems quite luxurious. But we also want to do the hybrid thing, now, with current gas prices, more than ever. However, we don't want to be an early adopter -- we'd like to have the technology mature a bit, first. So we're going to look into leasing the Audi, or something like it, for about 3 years, and then checking the state of the market. We know, the overall cost to us will be greater. But it seems like a good idea.

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Found a couple of interesting blogs -- Young Female Scientist and Living the Scientific Life . What can I say, I'm a sucker for smart women who write well.

And I read a bit more in A Spectacle of Corruption, a novel I stumbled across and am quite enjoying.

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Thus endith the FDOV.

3 comments:

STAG said...

I think one of the coolest thing I ever did was actually touch pieces of the Titanic. They were recovered from the water, and are presently in the Halifax Nova Scotia Public Archives, in the basement.

STAG said...

The second coolest thing I did as a military person was to be part of an aircrew which chased away a French bucket salvage crew which was dredging pieces from the Titanic. Seems the Froggies think it is international waters, and we Canucks claim it is in our territorial waters, so we chase salvage operators out. They bitch about it...but hey, they are French, bitching is a national pass time. Note that Ballard got a permit to dive!

Cerulean Bill said...

I'm not a major fan of historical restoration, but what I've experienced in the last week gives me pause. I am not sure if it would be all that bad to let Titanic become the destination of wealthy thrill seekers, particularly if the monies earned therefrom could be put to use elsewhere. In fact, if that were so, I'd see nothing wrong with vastly and dramatically overcharging them, while they were at it. Perhaps, one hundred dollars per minute of air? One thousand?