The Internet is Ubiquitous – or was that a glitch?

Microsoft is corrupted.

For the third time on our nine month journey, our computer is dead. On a blue screen it screams, “your computer has been corrupted – please restart in ‘Safe Mode’”. Travel with a computer has become, for us, common place.

We left New Orleans in early December with a less than one kilo netbook. It has performed flawlessly and been heavily abused. It’s one drawback, though, is that it keeps allowing Microsoft to corrupt it. When corruption occurs, I think of it as the computer’s gone for vacation. The computer is still there. Its office space is occupied. But when you try to contact it you get this passive blue screen – a sort of ‘I will be out of the office until September 2nd – please try and contact me when I return,’ type message.

So, our computer is corrupted. Thinking about our current computer problem leads us to feeling that we are letting down our blog. We love our blog. It is a part of our promise of service and exchange between home and abroad. We have a dedicated group of readers to whom we are very grateful. Our readers give us a sense of mission, engagement beyond our common surrounds, contact with home, and exchange. We do not mean to let you down.

When at first the computer goes on vacation, we enter into a revolving conversation. I always defend the internet. When we were in developing countries I would throw up my hands, “Let’s just give away the computer here and be done with it.” My latest response in Bretagne, France was different, “We are close enough to home; let’s just carry it around broken until we get back.” I look at computers as apparati of planned obsolescence. Computers are disposable. They are meant to be treated this way. I don’t like it. I don’t appreciate it. But, it is a fact.

My wife, coblogger, and traveling companion has a much younger and healthier opinion and usefulness for a broken down compute;. “It is not the computer that is malfunctioning; it is Microsoft,” she will tell me. All we need is a reasonable techie in an internet café and we can reinstall Windows. A simple fix. Of course, she is right.

We have had our computer put back together from Mumbai to rural Turkey. Our computer has recovered from two previous complete meltdown, several close calls, Chinese worms, spyware invaders, reckless luggage handlers, overnight bus rides under foot and much worse… So, it seems obvious enough that now that we are back in the West; now that we are back in the birthplace of western civilization; now that we are in the country of all things cosmopolitan and worthwhile for consumption (France); it would be easy for us to find techies and internet. In Mumbai, when the precious blogs on our ‘desktop’ had not been properly backed up to the hard drive, our lovely techie buddies did the equivalent of open heart triple bypass surgery to our computer. Not really being surgeons; but having our full faith; they got their 10 minute surgery education from YouTube. The surgeons downloaded a video of cutting apart and putting back together our exact victim and then for the course of two hours played Dr Jeckyl and gave rebirth to our traveling Mr Hyde.

This of course brings me to our point: We need the internet to publish. We need the internet to travel (our itineraries, maps, contacts etc reside in email or other forms). So it is important that the internet remains ubiquitous. It does not.

When the internet quits working our Marco Polo lifestyle collapses. For those of us who begin travel from a computer savvy country, we may have to accept changes in our technological world view. At the beginning of our trip I imagined the world was broken into two classes of internet use.

My internet worldview was developed between my experiences in the United States and Latin America. I believed that there was either a culture of computers (with wifi flowing freely from every house and business), or, there were internet cafes in every neighborhood where single available twentysomethings teenage facebook fans, tiny video game addicts, and midlife male losers met like a small community to laugh about or hide behind computer terminals under whirling fans. I believed that the internet was ubiquitous. As it turns out, internet and computer culture changes as dramatically from country to country as language. In what I thought would be the most computer savvy countries t visit (China and Japan where computers are pioneered and built) there was not the public I.T. culture I had assumed.

Early readers may remember us bemoaning the ‘Great Firewall of China’ which kept us blocked from such important web communities as Facebook, Google, and YouTube. In Ethiopia, internet had really only arrived in the capital (Addis Ababa); the rest of the country waited for periodic signals and power to be turned back on. In Ghana and West Africa, there was internet as I had known it in South America, existing in small internet cafes. However, they were so completely local we needed guides to find them.

Each country, it turns out, has a unique relationship to computers. In Turkey, wifi was everywhere. However, the country was struck by some great paranoia (so that while wifi comes streaming from every possible nook and cranny, none of it was accessible). A grand conspiracy to sneak in and destroy your computer, your home life, and probably your fridge and TV caused streaming paranoia. In three weeks in Turkey, we never came across an open wifi signal. In Europe, there appears to be internet. I think people are using computers. But it is not a public thing.

In Paris, Madrid, or Venice, the great café culture has not been upended into becoming the great internet café culture; people leave their laptops at home and still enjoy old fashioned conversation.

As for our blog, we are going to work hard to find internet. If we can find a sprightly twenty-something techie we will beg them to help us reinstall our windows and return our tiny netbook from its extended vacation. Until then, we will seek out internet hotspots and wifi cafes, borrow beg and steal our friends and others computers, and publish, where ever possible, our blogs.

Our computer is corrupted. This means, you can expect fewer blog postings for a while.

The Internet is Ubiquitous – or was that a glitch?

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White is More Aerodynamic

While driving through Bretagne, I loved looking out over the hills and seeing the marching rows of wind turbines, so linear and powerful against the green hills. I love the presence of them, strong and seemingly indestructible and so forceful. So modern and futuristic.

Guess what people, the future is here.

Indifferent Cows; Dirk Ingo Franke

I am enamored with wind turbines. I think they are the cats meow. Perhaps I would feel differently if the turbine were in my backyard?! But the truth is that I don't have a personal backyard at this point in my life; the world is my backyard. And I am thrilled to see wind turbines scattered throughout so many parts of our globe.  It's incredible to see such a massive object, with such little environmental impact. Wait, let me correct that statement. Such little negative impact. Such a small (I'm guessing somewhere around a 10 foot diameter) footprint on the earth, with such dramatic positive impacts. They are graceful and serene and mesmerizing. They do not use fuel and do not create air pollution. They generate energy using a renewable resource (wind) and while cows may not share my strong enthusiasm, they are nothing less than indifferent.

I found myself filled with questions about wind turbines. If you are curious, read on!

What is the cost for purchase and installation of a personal wind turbine?
They are expensive: $6,000 to $22,000. Information I found states that the wind turbine could make back the investment in six to ten years.

Okay, well, that's expensive, but maybe there are tax credits or other forms of financial assistance?
Some fantastic incentives exist, but they are different from state to state. For example, Louisiana will
cover 50% (maximum $12,500) of the cost of each system. Awesome! As a larger state with greater expanses of land and larger wind farm opportunities, Oregon has very different and much more extensive policies that include residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural tax incentives. Visit the DSIRE website for incentives for your state!

Can you get a little turbine? How about one for a suburban backyard?
Although mini-turbines exist, they don't appear to be very effective. An area of land no less than an acre is more appropriate. I expect that this will change over the years. Whoa....I just got a mental picture of IKEA having a store section of minimalist and classy wind turbines. A continuation on that small segway: the oyster transportation card of London is sponsored by IKEA and the small envelope that holds it has directions to all London  store locations. Nice marketing IKEA, you are awesome.

Will this really save me money? 
Apparently, the turbines can lower electricity bills by 50-90%. Sweet. But there is more to keep in mind...

"...the most cost-effective way to power your home is not to buy a larger, and therefore, more expensive wind turbine, but to examine how your electric bill got to be so high in the first place. It is always cheaper to use electricity efficiently, conserving where appropriate, than it is to generate large amounts of electricity that are squandered by energy-wasting appliances. Replacing your existing appliances with their most energy-efficient counterparts is always more cost-effective than installing a larger wind turbine."

- Mick Sagrillo, American Wind Energy Association

What is the life span of a wind turbine?
Wind turbines don't require any maintenance, operate automatically, and are designed to last up to 20 years. Apparently they can be refurbished to add on an additional 15 years of life. This seems like a pretty short life to me. I couldn't find information on how much "refurbishment" would cost, but I expect that it has a substantial price tag.

Wait a second, but we just learned that the turbine might not re-coop the investment for fifteen years. So electricity is only free for five years and then I have to buy a new one?
No answer here, but it sounds like yes. However, wind turbine technology has grown tremendously in the last fifteen years, so presumably, it will in the next fifteen as well. Still lingering on that IKEA image...

Is there any motor involved, at all?
Wind turbines don't have motors. They are constructed with very few moving parts and are powered solely by wind. 

How do wind turbines hold up in the event of an earthquake, hurricane, tornado, etc.?
It seems to depend on who installed it and what the quality of the unit is. And how strong the anchor is.

Do you have to get permission from your city or state to install the turbine?
Wind turbines require a Certificate of Approval (Noise) under section 9 of the Environmental Protection Act (EPA). But as usual, exceptions can always be made.

How do you hook it up to your own house and how does the electricity rebate work?
Apparently, wind turbines are pretty easy to hook up to your house. Now, I'm not saying that I or you could do it, but it's a pretty simple process for a professional. No wiring will need to be changed or modified to accommodate the turbine. After installation, you will have two utility meters: the standard one and your wind meter. Here is some more good news: federal regulations require utility companies to connect with and purchase power from small (less than 80MW) wind turbine systems.  When your wind turbine generates more electricity than needed for your personal use, the utility company is required to buy it back.


N says that wind turbines can be really noisy. How noisy is noisy?
Wind turbines make about as much noise as a washing machine. There is some controversy about whether the noise can negatively effect people over the long-term. 

Why are they always white? Why not fuchsia or pin-striped or covered with advertisements or patterns that create a trippy kaleidoscope effect?
N says that white is "more aerodynamic." I'm not buying into that one. But a little research found an article that suggested that black is the more aerodynamic of colors, at least for racing cars.  I couldn't find a suitable answer to this question, so perhaps there is a niche market for yours truly in the field of "wind turbine decorative arts?"

Some additional thoughts:
I want one for my very own.

Additional research yet to be completed:
Are there communities who have banded together to invest in wind turbines to be used by all members? I would love to read some stories on this...but no time to research. 

*****
For more articles and information, check out these links on Wind Turbines!

General FAQ's from the American Wind Energy Association

Check state-by-state FAQs from the The United States Department of Energy: Wind Powering America.

DSIRE: a great database of state incentives for renewables and efficiency. This site has rules, regulations, tax credit information, financing info, etc.

Cool!! Plans are in the works for a GIANT offshore wind turbine that mimics a spinning sycamore leaf (proposed by British company Wind Power Limited.

Wikipedia information on wind power and wind turbines.

A story about the effects of wind turbines in inner Mongolia. 

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Blackberries and Bicycles

We have traveling by way of so many different modes during this journey around the world: plane, train, tram, bus, funicular, ferry, big rig, rickshaw, tuk-tuk, bicycle, and of course, our own weary feet. But after a rather extravagant week spent in Bretagne, France, we can add rental car to the list. 

Oh, I had forgotten the delights of independence you can find when behind the wheel of your very own car. The power to choose winding scenic roads instead of highways, the joy of a quick u-turn to more closely examine that old, ivy-covered stone chateau, the happiness felt in propping bare feet up on the dash in the bright sunlight streaming through the window, and the luxury of pulling over to stretch/explore/pick roadside blackberries whenever the need arises.

We looked for hitchhikers to pick up.

none.

We navigated a drive from Moncontour to Paris without a road map.

not entirely true. we had a tourist map of bretagne. when we left moncontour after we arrived in normandy we stopped at a supermarket and took photos of the sections of road map we might need. I squinted at these to determine our path.

We talked about places we've been and things we've seen and people we remember.

in bretagne we saw family for the first time in seven months; this sparked lots of conversation the multitude of dear family and friends that we wonder about and look forward to seeing.

I skimmed through radio stations.

the soothing babble of french talk radio was a favorite, followed by "nostalgia" with both french and american classics.

We didn't pay a single toll.

although the drive was eight hours longer, the distance and gas usage was the same. we never took the toll roads and enjoyed the slow country lanes instead, found much cheaper gas further from the interstate, and saw a huge chunk of France.

After visiting the Chartres Cathedral we car camped.

turning down a bumpy, dirt road in the pitch dark left us slightly unsure of exactly where we were. but the stars were bright and the night quiet. we awoke to find ourselves alongside a cornfield, mist rising from the earth in the pre-sunrise glow of dawn.

I was a pretty good navigator and N drove.

that being said, my tiny keychain compass proved to be faulty, I started feeling carsick from trying to read the map from a miniscule digital camera screen, and we both were hyperventilating as we navigated Paris with a photo-copied, blurry map and minutes ticking down for our British Airways flight. we returned the car at terminal 2F and our flight was at 2A. they are not very close together.  I was fibbing my way through an elaborate story about my invisible husband as the flight was being closed...N showed up just as the eyebrows of the ticket agent were about to pop off of her head.

In recent months I have become a huge proponent of public transportation, but I'd sorta forgotten why personal cars are so great. The independence. The power to "choose your own adventure." It is so easy to slip back into the mindset of regarding personal cars as the main (and most viable) mode of transportation. And of course, sometimes they are. My mother couldn't exactly find public transportation to Eugene (40 miles) four days a week. The New Orleans public transportation system includes lovely street cars that oftentimes take longer than walking, and public buses that don't seem to run on an actual schedule, they just rumble by when the mood strikes.

When in a land of functional, efficient, effective public transportation options, it is much easier (and oftentimes much more affordable) to use public systems. We love the bike sharing systems of Paris, London, China, and many other international cities. In fact, it seems that most urban cities of the Western world have bike-share/rent programs. Africa, Thailand, India, and Turkey were without a formalized system, but most likely have informal, community-driven programs that are not discernible to the foreign eye. 

So while we are here, still in the land of viable transportation options, we are off to use them! Though the hazy dream of that cushy Citroen rental car still lingers at the back of my mind, it's time for some sensible shoes and some London tube action!

*****

p.s. we are still sans-computer. no help has arrived. but we are SO grateful to David for the use of his computer while we are in london. be assured that our blog will be patchy until we return to our other laptop in the states (new york in twelve days).

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