MetaFilter posts tagged with travel

Watching the ships roll in, 2.0 style

madamjujujive — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:27:50 -0800

MarineTraffic is a live map recording ship traffic based on AIS data. The site mainly covers European and North American coasts and includes info on vessels and ports, plus a gallery with some cool ship photos. Similar: see ShipAIS for live vessel movements from around the UK.

Brilliant folding power plug

five fresh fish — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:45:09 -0800

A brilliant industrial design (IMO) for a slimline UK power plug. The UK plug is an exceptionally chunky and large lump; a real pain in the computer satchel. This video shows what appears to be a manufacturable design that turns it into an elegant device. SLYT. The UK uses a "ring" wiring system (a habit developed during the post-war copper shortages). This means that for outlets in series, the single line carries all the amperage for the loop: there is no individual return circuit for each plug. Essentially, every damn plug in the house is like your kitchen stove 240V monster gonna-kill-you plug, so the plug is designed to help you not get killed. Built-in fuse. Monster blades. Safety plastic. Maybe a switch? Anyhoo, here's a SLYT where the designer demonstrates CAD and 3D-Printed prototypes. At first glance, I see no reason why this can not be a successful design. Pretty slick solution, at any rate. previously

Local Delicacies Throughout Asia

Burhanistan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:32:37 -0800

EatingAsia - An exploration of local delicacies throughout Asia.

They're Made of People!

You Should See the Other Guy — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:17:08 -0800

Philip Bloom's: Venice's People; Dublin's People; San Francisco's People; Sofia's People. Vimeo vids.

TSA agents took my son

cgs — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:59:45 -0800

Woman tries to go through metal detector at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson aiport with her infant son, only to have his pacifier set off the alarm. TSA did the only rational thing and took the woman's son

The doctrine of the strenuous life

blasdelf — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:34:31 -0800

Depending on how permanent Sharpie markers really are, I may have managed to confuse anthropologists years from now, who will surely wonder how it is that hermit crabs on Jabonwod are numbered. — US Congressman Jeff Flake (R-AZ) spends a week alone on an uninhabited island in the Kwajalein atoll.

What Does DHS Know About You?

chunking express — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:07:15 -0800

What Does DHS Know About You? A lot. The complete (annotated) report. [PDF]

One Way Ticket

william_boot — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:22:52 -0800

In the next few weeks, NASA will present President Obama with options for the near-term future of human spaceflight. A manned flight to Mars is one possibility. But if we do send astronauts to Mars, do we really need to bring them home again?

We go from the ground to the mountain, baby! Without walking!

wintersweet — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:29:37 -0800

The funicular railway is a kind of cable-based railway that gives me great joy because of its peculiar shape and its uselessness for doing anything other than what it does. A funicular carriage is generally stairstepped or terraced, so you can't repurpose these cars for other uses. They generally work in a particular way, too, as pairs: one goes up the mountain, one comes down the mountain! Maybe this kind of glee is why they seem to be especially popular in Japan today, where they can be taken to many popular sightseeing areas--but a fair number of funicular railway riders are probably there for the journey, not the destination. You can go on a pilgrimage to the numinous group of peaks called Kōyasan (here's a video of the trip there) via the Kōyasan Cable, which even accepts payment by smart card. You can take the Mitake Tozan Mountain Railway not too far from Tokyo and do some fine hiking in the Chichibu Tama Kai National Park (video trip). In the famous sightseeing region of Hakone, you can start your journey on the modern-looking Hakone Tozan Cable Car, defying the generally old-fashioned vibe (you complete your trip up to Lake Ashi on a ropeway, and once you get to the lake you can hop on a replica of the HMS Victory or 17th-century French warship Soleil Royal no I am not even kidding). Then there's the Kintetsu Ikoma Cable Line. The dog car, named Bull, and the cat car, named Mike, are on the Hōzanji line to the Buddhist temple Hōzanji. (Another Flickr user notes that some people use these trains as part of their normal commute.) The music-themed Do-Re-Mi car and the cake-themed Sweet car go to the amusement park Skyland Ikoma on the Ikoma line. Compared to these four, the two cars on Hōzanji Line 2 look positively normal. There are probably a couple dozen funiculars in Japan, so...more where those came from! (They even have cool looking tickets--more here.) In the videos above you can see the "passing track" style, where a single track is used for most of the course but there's a kind of "mouth" area where the two cars pass each other on two tracks. Other systems may use parallel tracks. For zillions more strangely hypnotic Japanese funicular railway videos, see this Youtube search results page. (Yes, those katakana spell "cable car", basically. Although they're two somewhat different things in English, they're the same thing in Japanese. There's a note about this on the Japanese Wikipedia entry, and another link is provided for San Francisco cable car seekers.) There's not enough space to address funiculars all over the world, but I'll add a few general notes: The name comes from Latin for "rope." Many of the now-closed ones in the US (where they're often called inclines or incline railroads) and elsewhere were used to get into mines, but they've also been used to move ships. The steepest passenger railway in the world, the Katoomba Scenic Railway in Blue Mountains, Australia, is a funicular railway, as is supposedly-the-shortest and supposedly-soon-to-return-to-operation, Angels Flight in Los Angeles, USA. There's also a funicular that may be the oldest railway in the world, the Reiszug in Austria, which dates to the 1500s and is now run by motor--a lot older than this 1920s one from Japan! They're found in many other places in the world. There are many in South America (most notably Valparaiso, Chile), some in other parts of Asia (though not Korea for some reason, as far as I can tell), and particularly in Switzerland, Italy, and other hilly and mountainous areas of Europe, where Michel has blogged his photos for you. Apparently they were pretty popular in the Soviet Union, too. For details on how they operate, you can read the nitty-gritty of funicular function at the Sweden-based funiculars.net. You may even know a song about funiculars! The 1880 song "Funiculì, Funiculà," is about the opening of the funicular on Mount Vesuvius (no, really!) which had to be shut down in 1944 after repeated eruptions caused problems. And yes, that's where the headline on this post comes from. Here, for no apparent reason, is a children's chorus, Luciano Pavarotti, and Aqua (yes, THAT Aqua) performing "Funiculì, Funiculà."

I've Been Walkin' For Three Days And Two Lonely Nights

mattdidthat — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:49:45 -0800

The Longest Way Home is the site, blog, and photography galleries of a fellow who's spent the last four years walking all over the globe in search of a home.

The Longest Way

shii — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 22:29:09 -0800

Guy takes a picture of himself every day... as he walks across China. (slyt)

Austin Food Trailer Explosion

lunalaguna — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:22:02 -0800

Can I get some sushi with my taco? Until a few years ago, Austin's culinary tradition seemed to be limited to breakfast tacos and BBQ. From these humble beginnings, however, has come an bizarre explosion of food trailers. From kebabs to banh mi, there's something for everyone in the Austin food trailer scene. Take a stroll around South Austin, and you'll find crispy chicken cones from one of Austin's finest restaurants next to shiny cupcake stands. Food writers from coast to coast are talking about the trend. Austin's best trailer purveyors have even battled Bobby Flay. On the weirder side, someone's discovered there's always money in the banana stand. Ane some like the food so much, they've made off with the entire trailer.

Power to the people

Paragon — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 19:01:33 -0800

Kropla's World Electric Guide - outlets / power plugs of the world (map), along with an index of international voltages and frequencies for travellers. Plugs in the future: modular, stylish, smart, eco-friendly, rotating, collapsible, or gone entirely.

The Present Sound of London

nthdegx — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:13:40 -0800

The Present Sound of London -- "I’ve been lured to London by money at the hottest, stickiest time of year. Every time I visit, I’m struck by the noises—not necessarily their volume, but their strangeness and variety in comparison to the quiet humdrum of the provincial town where I live. So this time I’m equipped with an audio recorder." By Giles Turnbull.

Emirates Flight attendants

Heliochrome85 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:05:02 -0800

"Innocuous onboard flirting is condoned: Emirates' rules require attendants to politely accept a business card or phone number if it's proffered by a passenger." Inside the life of an Emirates Airlines Flight Attendant.

North America's Hidden Arctic

Avenger — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:28:04 -0800

"I filled my water bottles , fuel bottle and ate some snacks. I reset my altimeter to 1300ft and started shortly past 2pm. The first sign stated 'Eagle Plains 363, Inuvik 735'. The distances were measured in kilometers with green km posts every 2km along the road. A few kilometers down the road, I crossed an old fire burn area with dead trees still standing. The sun was shining and I was eager to get started on the road. The gravel was occasionally soft as the road slowly climbed along the valley." An enterprising man relates his journey up the Dempster Highway on bicycle. The Dempster Highway, a 417 mile road that stretches from Dawson City, Yukon to Inuvik, Northwest Territories is one of only two roads in North America that crosses the Arctic Circle (the other being Alaska Route 11, in case you're wondering). Driving the Dempster in a 1994 Honda Accord: a photo journal. Some incredible vistas. Driving the Dempster in a 1958 VW Bus. [yt] The Dempster in a 1983 VW Bus/Camper. [yt+tears for fears] Explore North America's Hidden Arctic.

India and South Asian resources

nickyskye — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:22:27 -0800

Dr. Frances W. Pritchett, Professor of Modern Indic Languages at Columbia University, New York, has created a superb online collection of resources, all about India and South Asia, its art, history, literature, architecture and culture. Her Indian Routes section (the Index page) is a particularly rich resource. Her vast, colorful and informative site also has many great images. Check out her "scrapbook pages" on the Princes l the Ghaznavids l British Rule l Women's Spaces l Perspectives on Hinduism. Photos of Professor Pritchett and her encyclopedic page of links about India/South Asia, Morningside Mix.

Steamer Trunks and Gang Planks

netbros — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 16:22:17 -0800

Travel Posters — a Flickr set from the Boston Public Library. "Combining superb illustration and hand-drawn typography, they produced dazzling images in rich vibrant colors rendered through the magic of stone lithography." (via)

Pets are people, too

woodway — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:16:19 -0800

Now preparing for departure: PetAirways, an airline exclusively for animals that begins service to five US cities in mid July. Entrepreneurs Dan Wiesel and Alysa Binder came up with the idea of catering to the in-flight comfort of your four-legged friend, using specially modified cabins with pet attendants. Will it take off? The most recent APPA National Pet Owners Survey estimates that US pet owners spent $45.4 B on their animals in 2009.

The Adventures of Tintin

Artw — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:19:21 -0800

Travels of a Boy Reporter - Track Tintin's travels across the globe. Click on the map to find out more about the locations or books they appear in.

Subway Time Maps

netbros — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:31:22 -0800

Triptrop NYC: Subway Time Maps — Plug in an address in New York City, and Triptrop generates a super slick looking map of how long it takes to get anywhere on the subway. And maybe you're moving? Then plug not one but two addresses into the comparison version and see which one gets you where you want to go. [via mefi projects]

Confessions of an Introverted Traveler

kimdog — Sat, 16 May 2009 09:54:16 -0800

Travel writer Sophia Dembling's essay Confessions of an Introverted Traveler on Worldhum received so much feedback that she's followed up with Six Tips for Introverted Travelers. I am now absolved for reading Jasper Fforde on the Champs-Élysées.

Make It, Fly It

exogenous — Mon, 04 May 2009 20:58:46 -0800

It has lately been popular to make stuff. But few have made an airplane. A great variety of homebuilt/amateur experimental aircraft can be made, some speedy, some aerobatic, some quite popular. Some folks have even made a blimp. Before building, it would be wise to consult a professional. Powerplant options include an air cooled Volkswagen engine, diesel, and conventional small aircraft engines. As an alternative to starting from scratch, there is restoration. Plus, airplanes can be a fun way to fly somewhere (though some routes require advance preparation).

Online archaeology and anthropology film from Penn

Rumple — Sun, 03 May 2009 13:28:19 -0800

The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology has put 675 reels of archival 16 mm film online via the Internet Archive. Most of the film is unedited, and stems either from Museum research, or was donated by interested amateurs. Much of it is silent, reflecting the technology of the day. One highlight are the four surviving reels of the long-running TV show 'What in the World" (look for the episode starring Vincent Price), but the archive is full of other hidden gems, such as the 1950s archaeological expedition to Tikal, a 1940 film "A 1000 Mile Road Trip Across America", and Glimpses of Life Among the Catawba and Cherokee Indians of the Carolinas (1927). The films are downloadable in various formats, including MPEG2, Ogg Video, and 512Kb MPEG4. Happy browsing! via.

The remotest places on Earth

Joe in Australia — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:26:21 -0800

Ever wondered where the remotest place in the world is? Short answer according to New Scientist: the Tibetan Plateau. Lots of cool maps showing transport times and methods. I was wondering about this and I was going to spend a question on it. Now I get to save my question for yet another week. Yay!