equiliberate

In writing my last-minute comments on the pseudo "Draft Environmental Impact Statement" (DEIS), funded by the Hawaii State Department of Transportation, on "Statewide Large Capacity Interisland Ferries" (i.e. the Hawaii Superferry), I was reading about how this ferry travels at 35 knots in open ocean when historical data provided in their pseudo DEIS shows whale strikes have historically been lethal at 20 knots. This company stinks:

We packed ourselves in a matatu, driving to the southern edge of Mombasa where we would board the Likoni ferry. I was drenched in sweat and grateful that the windows in the back were openable (the American passenger vans I know have NO ventilation in the back). But, as we slowed to a halt waiting to drive onto the ferry, I was warned that I should close the window in case someone tries to snatch something from my hand...or sell me something. Indeed, several people moved between the cars on foot selling Coca-Cola beverages and other snacks.

Had I known, when I scribbled my college major on some form, that being an engineer meant spending your whole life indoors, in a mechanically ventilated box, in front a computer screen I may have never agreed to become one.

I arrived in Nairobi late at night. On the flight from London, I sat with an Ethiopian man bringing aid to Kenyan children on the left and Omar, a British Indian returning to Kenya for the first time in years to visit his grandparents on the right. The Indian was just a year younger than me and had a high-strung, New Yorker personality. Between his complaints about various things, I tried to extract some information from him about Kenya since he had been there before.

"OD" chronicles how he was able to get a $65.31 OEM refund for Vista from Gateway on his blog:

http://odysseus.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/it-happened/

Glad to see this success!

With just two days in London en route to Kenya, and one day coming back, I had to prioritize how I'd spend my time there. It was my first time to London so I decided to visit as many of the traditional tourist destinations as possible. I usually don't get too excited about tourist attractions, but who goes to London and doesn't see Big Ben or Buckingham Palace?

Matador/Traveller's Notebook dug up 31 intriguing grant opportunities to take your studies abroad while Wisebread.com published 11 ways to volunteer abroad for nearly nothing. But, both lists missed the opportunity I found that took me on safari over half-way around the world for a fraction of what it should have cost.

Honolulu may soon consider passing a bill that provides incremental real property tax breaks to LEED-NC certified projects based on the level of LEED certification achieved. Because the bill has so many flaws, it is the perfect starting point for discussing what should be considered before LEED, or any other green building rating system, is written into law. Here are 10 critical points to consider before introducing any such legislation:

1) Mandate vs. incentive

Thanks for reading!
Thank you to the over 24,000 people from Asia to Europe and everywhere in between that read my story about getting a Vista refund. It was in the top five overall on Digg at one point thanks to you - pretty exciting for someone who has never really had a website before! I thought there'd be someone out there interested in this story, but never imagined to get a response like this -

A third-party advertiser contacted me the first day that story ran and asked if I was willing to put up a link to HP's site for $50 (I declined).

My laptop was stolen, so I went down to Best Buy and picked up an HP dv6815nr since it was on sale for $599.99+tax. After powering it up, I was confronted by the Microsoft Windows Vista EULA and the HP EULA: