Survivalist, not just for nuts anymore

I found a great site with a well thought out podcast about preparedness for any kind of disruption in your life. The Survival Podcast is a great listen on many subjects from financial to survival. It may not all relate, but it gets you thinking, and in today's world, that's not a bad thing!

Wow an iPad

I received some interesting news today. I've evidently won an iPad in a drawing. It is legit, I checked. Even though there were typos in the email (made me suspicious). I checked with the company and they confirmed it was true. They are shipping it to me within the week. They only asked for my prefered shipping address.
I guess I am going to be dragged into the Apple world whether I like it or not. The debate now is whether to keep it or return it for cash. I am not sure what version it is, but based on the "value" of the prize of $500 I assume it is the 16GB WiFi. I need to decide if I want to keep it and if I do, should I return it somewhere, pay the extra $100 and get the 32GB version. Another option would be to get the 3G version (probably not, I don't want to pay a monthly fee).
I like the iPod touch and I've played with an iPad but wouldn't buy one. Since it is free, I'll see if we like it. My wife will play with it as well. We can always sell it if we don't feel we'll make good use of it. One good thing is that it will stream Netflix, that would be fun.

iPod Touch 3G

I went over to the dark side and purchased a iPod Touch 3G as it appears to do most of what I need. I can read ebooks and play music and Audible books. It does other things as well if you're in range of a wifi connection, but those are not as important.
So far it is nice except that it is a slippery little thing. It is small enough that is can slide out of your hand easily. I'll have to find a case or sleeve of some kind to contain it.

Why the Kindle is going back to Amazon

I used to have a Palm device. Actually several over time. I could do a lot of things on it including reading books. It was small, around the size of a cell phone and easy to use. It died about 4 years ago.
Recently I've been eyeing the Kindle as an easy way to read books and carry some general reference material with me. After several months of reading reviews and looking at the capabilities I took the plunge. It arrived the next day with AmazonPrime shipping.
Out of the box it looked very good. It feels good in the hand/s and has an easy to read screen. I charged it and played with it the first day.
The second day a bit of dissillusion began to set in. First it was having another device besides my Blackberry and Creative Zen Vision M to carry around. The Kindle is small, but not really small. It is about the size of large format paperback. It isn't pocket sized.
Then there was the lack of scrolling. The Palm device did this well. You could scroll the book and vary the speed. With the Kindle you have to press a button to turn the page. It isn't a quiet button either.
Then there was the lack of support for all the documents I did have. All the Palm books had to be converted in a two step process to the mobi format of the Kindle. PDF file display, but they are hard to read.
The ease of downloading books is fun, but really not essential. I found it just as easy to find books and transfer them from my computer to the Kindle.
I purchased a few books (less than $10 worth), but can ready them via the Kindle for PC app. I could read on my Blackberry, but my company locks down the apps so I can't install the Kindle for Blackberry.
What it boils down to is that I can't justify carrying another device around that is inconvenient to carry that only does one thing. It does that one thing fairly well, but it isn't perfect. Things like an auto rotate option, touch screen and lack of color really are not acceptable with current technology. If it had been $150, I might be able to justify it, but at $250, I think I can do better.
So it looks like the Kindle will return to the mothership and I'll keep up my search for a more versatile device. Maybe a Netbook or a Zune. Maybe I'll wait and see what the new tablets deliver. The iPad looks to big and expensive.

Irish Travel Tip of the Day

Take pictures of Signs, Plaques and Maps. Irish signs can be both interesting as photo subjects and helpful in reconstructing your trip. Some of the town names and locations can be difficult to remember and spell. Having a photo will make it easy to remember and be in sequence with your other images. Take pictures of the site signage as well with the details of the site. These are often quite wordy and having a picture makes it easy to read at your leisure. I've also taken a picture of an area map that shows several sites and reviewed on the camera throughout the day. Close up of plaques will give you the detail of the full statue image you just took.

Irish Travel Tip of the Day

If you check the box that says you've been on a farm or in a pasture on your return trip paperwork, you'll have to pull out the shoes you were wearing and have them sanitized. There is usually a separate line at the airport that you have to go through that is marked Agricultural. Either wear the shoes on the plane or have them easily accessible in your luggage. It isn't easy to be in Ireland without being in a pasture at some point. Allow some cushion if you can as this process can take some time.

Thoughts about Liberty

While reading/listening to the Audible book "Slouching Towards Gomorrah" this passage struck me as important.

Our modern, virtually unqualified, enthusiasm for liberty forgets that liberty can only be "the space between the walls," the walls of morality and law based upon morality. It is sensible to argue about how far apart the walls should be set, but it is cultural suicide to demand all space and no walls.

You may or may not agree with the book and have your own interpretation of what liberalism is, but I think most people would agree with the statement above. The challenge is to clearly define those walls in your own mind and then resist compromise when their stability is threatened. Party affiliations like liberal, moderate or conservative shouldn't impact or compromise those definitions.