Category Archives: Technology

5th Visit to The Kennedy Space Center

I first visited the Kennedy Space Center in 2007 and found it so inspiring that I’ve taken every opportunity to return since.

These last sixteen years have seen many twists and turns in human spaceflight.

When I visited KSC in 2011, the space shuttle programme had just finished – with the final mission landing the week before.

The tour bus guides were noticeably upset about the demise of the shuttle and the whole place had a bit of a downbeat feel to it.

It was therefore a joy to return again in 2013 and visit the recently opened Atlantis exhibition – a fantastic celebration of an extraordinary machine that made 33 journeys into space and back over a 26 year period.

Given I am currently on a 7 day road trip around Florida I could not pass up the opportunity to visit KSC again 10 years on.

Wow – what a decade it has been for the evolution of human spaceflight, with the commercial sector rising to NASA’s challenges to provide more cost-effective ways to get beyond Earth’s atmosphere – and back too when required.

It seemed a poignant time to revisit the Saturn V rocket exhibit that is the centrepiece of a building devoted to the Apollo moon missions.

Artemis I completed its second orbit of the moon on the day I headed over to the US and I watched the splashdown live on TV 6 days later on December 11th.

I was also keen to see Atlantis again and it was every bit as good as the first time.

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48 Hours in AMU, then put on 'E'Bay for 4 days – Why I 'still' love the NHS

ct_pulmonary2If you watch programmes like 24 Hours in A&E then no doubt you’ve found yourself thinking what you would do if placed into similar scenarios, particularly if it was a close family member in a life threatening situation.

So it came as somewhat of a shock to find my own life threatened just over a month into 2015 and a couple of years before I’ve managed to reach at least my fiftieth birthday.

Obviously it’s only with the benefit of  hindsight that you come to understand the level of threat involved and I am sitting here now a week on from the original incident feeling very grateful I live at this time and place and for a succession of lovely people who did their respective jobs efficiently and effectively.

Anyway, in retrospect there were some warning signs during the previous few days before the fateful morning – an abnormal shortness of breath, particularly when going up stairs but put down to a cold bug that’s been going around the family.

On this morning it was a lot worse prompting me to call the local surgery in hope of a quick appointment. As luck would have it there was a virtually immediate slot available but I needed to get there within 15 minutes. It was during those frantic few minutes of getting ready to go out that I was a few short breaths away from asking my wife to call for a paramedic and it was also very clear that what I was experiencing was far from normal and that I was very much in unknown territory.

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Green Nation – Free Solar Panel offers in South West UK – Greater freedom for the rest of us

This is a big shout out for a fantastic renewable energy company in the South West UK who are doing wonderful things with solar energy.

Established in 2011, Green Nation is developing solar farms of increasing size and helping public, commercial and private residences to maximise the benefits of solar power.

This is the type of organisation that is quietly making a big difference to some of the challenges we are facing today and on a blog related to imagining the world my children will inherit I have no hesitation in advocating and promoting their offerings.

Aside from being founded and run by people who are passionate about the transformative capabilities of technology, they already have many happy commercial and residential customers who are seeing the tangible and realistic benefits of installing the latest generation of solar panels.

Regular followers of this blog will know my admiration for the call to action campaign One Hundred Months and its excellent monthly updates which are a healthy mix of eye-opening climate science, political skepticism and technological optimisim.

As the counter clicked down to 29 at the beginning of this month, now well under the half way point in this credible and insightful action timeline, the concise and useful 5 point communication contained an excellent article documenting progress that is being made to combat our dangerous addiction to fossil fuels. Titled  10 reasons to be hopeful that we will overcome climate change point number 3 contains this encouraging comment … Continue reading →

Rome – a Smart City starting to get into a Twizzy

It’s been a while since I produced an automotive related post but a recent trip to Rome has reminded me just how ripe things are for a revolution.

smart_romeThe people of Rome don’t do cycling. In fact, seeing someone riding the streets on a bicycle of any pedalled variety is a rarity. What they do love however is small cars and scooters.

The country that gave us iconic cars like the Fiat 500 and the Vespa and Lambretta scooter brands has clearly embraced other small four, three and two wheeled vehicles, most notably Smart cars.

Rome must be the Smart car capital of the world and it is easy to see why the narrow cobbled streets and lack of large open parking areas or multi-story car parks have led to such an uptake of compact two seated vehicles that up half the space of the average family car. Continue reading →

LED this way and that on the road to recovery – Spring Fair NEC 2014

This last weekend I went on what is an annual pilgrimage for many business owners – that glorious ‘assault on the senses’ known as the Spring Fair at the NEC.

ipad_businessIf you haven’t been there, or to the smaller Autumn equivalent, then it is basically where the nation’s shopkeepers – both online and bricks and mortar – gather to see what latest and greatest ideas they can stock their warehouses and shelves with to entice the punters to part with their cash.

It was interesting to see what’s changed and what hasn’t since my last visit in 2011

The first thing that was noticeably different is that the ‘buzz is back’. You could see that even on the opening Sunday, when the general public like to take a peek, there was business being done. The last time I witnessed anywhere near a ‘buzz’ at a Spring or Autumn Fair was way back at the start of 2008 before the impact of the financial meltdown hit home in the UK.

The other big general change from a couple of years ago is that tablet PCs have become not just a flashy accessory but an essential exhibition tool – from snapping visitor badges, to demonstrating product variations to collecting order information, the exhibition stands were awash with tablet toting staff tapping and swiping away.

Here are a few more observations and highlights from this year’s visit … Continue reading →