surfing the wikipedia: from cavitation to the MOAB

Hi everyone,

I tend to do these things - start reading on a particular techie subject and next thing I know, hours passed I still have about 10 tabs to read of wikipedia articles.
I remember having done this with gas turbine technology (various types of jet engines, rotating engines, some theory, etc.), aircraft types and models, cpu types and architectures... etc.

Today I started looking up cavitation due to a recent conversation with a friend and went on to supercavitation, russian supercavitation torpedoes. Then I reviewed the ground effect, ekranoplanes, beriev Be-2500, Howard Huges' spruce goose and the Boeing Pelican. The Boeing Pelican is a potentially military device capable of carrying the daisy cutter and/or the MOAB (a.k.a. Mother of All Bombs).

This kind of dwelling through such a vast information source is something impossible before websites like wikipedia or how stuff works.

P.S.: I apologise for writing this post in 14 December 2006 and only posting it in 9 January 2007. I forgot to click "publish" and forgot all about the bog post.

Cheers, PJ.

Switzerland was looking good last week

Hi everyone,

Last week, I have spent a few days with my girlfriend in Geneva, Switzerland and we easily agree that it is beautiful! The weather was very good - clear sky, not too cold (for portuguese standards and for December).



We didn't have much time to do sightseeing, but managed to walk for an afternoon around the city centre and some of its tourist attractions.
Starting from Rue de Carouge, we walked down to Place de Neuve, then to Place de Bel Air, passing the river Rhone. Then we turned to see the Rue de Rhone and the Rue Basse, walked to the edge of the lake Léman to see the Jet d'eau (which wasn't working that day) and stopped for a small rest. Then we followed back to the Place de Madelène and up into the Vieille Ville to see the Cathedral of St. Pierre. We stopped again for some hot chocolate at Bur Du Four and then went down the Ramp de la Treille back to the Place de Neuve and back home to Rue de Carouge.





Then we did (half) a tour around the lake Léman on the Swiss side from Geneva to Montreaux passing by Morges and Lausanne. That showed a wonderful succession of less urban landscapes.







Monday, our last day in Geneva, greeted us with rain showers of cold wet water (brrrrr!). Nevertheless we were able to shoot some pictures in the morning.





Now that we've got the taste of it, we can't wait to go back there on a summer for some serious sightseeing :) Perhaps 2008.

[none of these pictures were retouched apart for cropping and/or rotating and/or resizing. all photos were shot by me]

Cheers, PJ.