My thoughts on The Crash Detectives: Investigating the World’s Most Mysterious Air Disasters – This is definitely not a book to read on a flight. I had just gotten to the runway on a one hour trip when picking up this book to continue post-chapter 1. That was a bad idea. I doubt a page was read before I locked it away tight in my carry-on bag. I nevertheless endured and finally finished the book., on I really enjoyed actually.
Lately I’ve been utterly fascinated with books that detail alternative ways of thinking and mindsets that find success. I’ve become (at heart) a student of social sciences, so something like Levitt and Dubner’s Think Like a Freak is right in my sweet spot. My first introduction to this world came by way of the Freakonomics podcast, and its great start if you’re curious about how these guys think. It’s just a great listen in general. Once I dug into this book however, I was very pleased. Let me explain.
Yuval Harari’s Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind was known to me for a while as a book of interest, but I hadn’t given it a serious look. I generally avoid the droning, long and tedious history books in favor for more recent and topical themes. After finishing The Disaster Artist, I was looking for my next read, and Sapiens was staring me face to face at an airport bookstore. Now that I’ve finished, I’ll offer some of my thoughts.
So, what is it? It’s a book about a friendship that spans 15 years between two unlikely people (one of them the author). I too had a friendship that very closely parallels this story. Amazing how us humans have these constant repeating patterns. The subject of the story is Tommy Wiseau, who would go on to create perhaps the worst movie ever to be recorded in The Room. I haven’t seen the movie and I know it sucks.
Flying to the archipelago of the Azores landed me square in the sights of Azores Airlines (a new brand flying under SATA). Their logo includes a whale fin and planes are adorned with a full-sized whale sticker. For good reason as Azores is the largest whale sanctuary in the world. Booking this flight deal on Expedia, I had never really heard of SATA before this trip. I’ll break down my experiences, flight costs, and let you know what I thought of this particular airline.
You might remember my mention of a way to help book authors combat piracy. It was an idea borne of a small simple conversation with a friend; and neither of us had read the book. In fact, at the time of writing that book, I had not read a physical paper book in years. This seemed like a great way to exchange ideas and help the author in our own small way (though, frankly as a bestseller, this book doesn’t need the help). Now that I’ve read it, I wanted to let you know what I think.
Apple’s AirPods have been noted for being original (in a field of products that sees only incremental changes), and uncharacteristically troubled. The product was announced in September for a pre-Christmas release, but delayed past Christmas for reasons untold. Just about anyone who sees these headphones will say “How much?”, and scowl at your response. Well, I finally have a pair and will put them to the test in today’s review of the AirPods.
This 2016 Macbook Pro refresh has been a long time coming. Since May of 2015, in fact. My last computer was a Retina Macbook Pro (2015) with reasonably similar specifications, which stood as the previous model, but due to this massive re-design, a far different computer. Over Christmas 2016, I took the plunge and decided to go with this high quality (but recently beleaguered) line of laptop in my on way (as an I.T. Professional).
I travelled with WOW air from Toronto (YYZ) Canada to Keflavik (KEF) Iceland from November 23rd, 2016 to November 30th, 2016. The trip included a number of purchased amenities and a flight change. What follows are my experiences with this new-ish low-cost airline.
As someone who works in I.T., but is also into photography, I rely on bags for everything. Most cheap bags (hasn’t everyone had an APC bag in I.T.?) are great for storing laptops but aren’t so great at photography gear. Camera bags too are often not meant for computer gear. Well, thanks to some good fortune, I came across PeakDesign and their EveryDay Messenger bag. Frankly, it was a challenge to tell if this was going to be great at what I needed until I bought the thing, so hopefully, if this is on your mind, I can help. Here are my thoughts on this bag.