Rebane's Ruminations

Estonia 2017 (updated)

George Rebane

Yesterday we returned home from a two-week visit to Estonia with our grown daughters.  The trip was a long-anticipated odyssey to introduce them to the other half of their heritage, to let them see and walk in the places about which they have heard from their grandparents and me.  For Jo Ann and me it was our second trip since Estonia regained its freedom in 1991.  The journey had special meaning because it was the first time our ‘core family’ had spent time alone after our girls grew up and went to college more than thirty years ago.  Now in their early 50s they are both mothers of grown children, and one is even a 4-time grandmother.

Stack & Pack Air Travel

George Rebane

This morning’s WSJ report (here) on how airlines are making economy class air travel even less inviting jogged some memories of a new concept that I’ve discussed with my technology development buddies over the years.  Maybe now that the uncomfortable version of stack/pack seating has become de rigueur, it’s time to again consider a better way for the modern day.  But first some background.

When I was doing black studies work for the DoD in the 1970s as the Vietnam War was winding down, an Army research arm published some preliminary results in one of its R&D newsletters about a technique, first described more than ten years earlier (here), for anesthetizing the wounded in battlefield hospitals.  The method involved applying a low amperage, low frequency current through electrodes placed on the patient’s temples.  The report stated the obvious benefits of such a simple and presumably controllable ‘anesthetic’ that would quickly render the individual unconscious and keep him that way until the current was turned off.  

I got all excited about ancillary uses for such a technology both in military and civilian environments.  Without going into details here, it involved using the technology as a ‘time machine’ that would allow an individual to be perceptively, restfully, and safely ‘transported’ into the future.  I shared these ideas with my research colleagues, and we came up with a bunch of applications and product concepts.  And then the research program just up and disappeared from the follow-on literature.  In those days I had a company to run and no time to dig up what happened to this intriguing technology.  Over the years the topic has occasionally come up only at dinner parties preceded by some related item.

And then I saw the airline passenger packing article which immediately qued up (yes, yes, it should be spelled ‘queued’) the above story.  So here’s a concept outline for a new class of airline travel which I will name ‘Cocoon Class’ or CC.  Airplanes will be designed to have part of their passenger space configured to hold densely stacked cocoons each containing a passenger.  The passengers will be ‘anesthetized’ either chemically or electrically or both.  The anesthesia need not be the deep kind that patients undergoing serious surgery endure, but a milder form which, say, people having undergone colonoscopies or dental procedures understand.  Under such ministrations you feel that you are still awake but time seems to have passed very fast until you are fully awake again.

The passengers in CC class would be prepared in the boarding lounge by lying down in their open cocoons where one or more appropriate monitoring leads would be attached, after which they would be administered the anesthetic of a dosage sufficient for the duration of their trip.  Once under they would be wheeled aboard the aircraft and stowed.  The process would be reversed at their destination where they are fully awake as they exit their cocoons to go retrieve their luggage in the usual manner.

In flight the CC passengers would be monitored automatically with a medical technician available as a member of the cabin crew should the need arise to deepen the anesthesia or provide other needed attention for the passenger.  Rough calculations show that such a CC configuration would permit increasing the passenger count from 60% to 100%, potentially doubling the passenger capacities of today’s aircraft.

Admittedly this description has been nothing beyond a concept outline with many feasibility and design details to be worked out.  But given the direction of today’s air travel into what easily may soon violate the Geneva convention against cruel and unusual punishment, I submit that this concept is worthy of more serious investigation.  Should this idea work, I most certainly would opt for traveling in CC class to arrive at my destination rapidly and rested, ready for the next activity on my schedule.

Administrivia - 25mar12

George Rebane

Dear Readers, I have returned from a two week sojourn to warmer climes.  Great times, many insights, and good conversations with new people, but lousy connectivity in the RV parks where we parked our little trailer - reliable wi-fi seems to be climbing the same slow ladder of availability that phones experienced a century ago.  Apologies for the sparse postings and sparser comments.  Thank you for continuing the discussions as the election season heats up in the midst of major events starting with SCOTUS on Obamacare, and an eerie silence from Israel (almost as if there were some preparations going on).

Adiministrivia – 13oct2011

George Rebane

Less than an hour ago we got our trailer parked (more or less) in its assigned spot.  We have returned from a trip on which I was consigned to the Black Hole of Connectivity.  I notice that the RR comment streams  have continued to grow with a dull roar from which my little squeaks have been absent.  My apologies for any inconvenience or apparent affront caused by my silence; none of this was expected (all RV parks claimed to provide connectivity, but not to my laptop), and no affront was intended. So much has happened in the interval that it will be difficult to select a new point of entry – nevertheless … .   My duty as I see it ;-)

Epiphany at Trinity

George Rebane

It was our first solo trip with our ‘new’ trailer.  Jo Ann and I got back from Trinity Lake yesterday afternoon after spending a few days under the trees at Pinewood Cove RV Park.  We are lifelong dirt campers, so talking us into upgrading to a starter trailer wasn’t all that difficult.  It only took Russ and Ellen Steele about five years to help us switch from a ripstop tent to an aluminum box on wheels.  Memories of weeds poking into our undercarriage were a definite goad to less surprising twilight head calls.

So there we were, practically lakeside and under a thick canopy of tall pineys with our little toyless toy hauler all properly hooked up and canopy deployed.   The RV park grounds sit on, what else, scoured red dirt.  You know, the kind we have right here in Nevada County.  Our little  camping chairs and tables were all set up in the stuff.  Our puppy took no never mind to it, and, rejecting her nice clean bed, stretched herself out on the dustiest parts, being careful to change sides regularly so as to apply an even coating.

Meals were fun because Jo Ann could use the kitchen to prepare some really special vittles for eating around the campfire.  We brought along our own firewood - cured digger pine which makes and maintains a beautifully tight flame mass for hours (contrary to popular local myths, I have yet to burn a bad piece of madrone or digger pine).

The pictured idyllic little scene was made possible following a six hour drive that involved some very curvy roads after we headed west from Redding on State 299.  While there, the major entertainment consisted of driving down to Weaverville to celebrate our 49th, and watching RVs occupy neighboring sites.  From this educational spectator sport one learns a little bit each time as vacationers of various skill levels maneuver their rigs into place and go through the set-up chores – the Germans also call this shadenfreude.  It’s especially relaxing after you are already comfortably ensconced with martooni in hand, and covered with red dirt beyond caring.

Pleasant surprise on the long drive home

George Rebane

We got back this afternoon from a Christmas visit to our ‘Northern Tribe’ in the Seattle area.  The ‘Southern Tribe’ (from SoCal) was able to join in to make a big family get together with our kids and grandkids.  Jo Ann and I said our good-byes on Sunday morning and drove away into the perennial rain of the Pacific Northwest.  With our puppy on board, we have abandoned the marathon non-stop runs between Nevada City and Seattle.  We used to make it in eleven hours and forty-five minutes door to door.  No more; going both ways we now stop in Oregon for an overnight, usually in Eugene.

Yesterday as we headed south, a little arithmetic indicated that we would arrive in Eugene too early to call it a day.  And things south of Portland indicated a clearing of the weather was in the offing.  So we decided to push on through the mountains to Medford for the night.  Jo Ann made the appropriate arrangements after finding a nice motel in Medford that took dogs.  The plans were etched in stone as we passed Eugene and started winding our way into mountains that now seemed to huddle under massive black clouds – where did all the clearing go?

The rain started with our first long climb through the still wet forests.  And the more we climbed the more it rained.  The highway seemed unusually busy for a Sunday with a lot of folks heading toward California at speeds above 70 in a driving rain on a constantly curving highway.  The wipers barely allowed enough visibility to keep everyone in their lane.  In that black sheeting night we appreciated the bright display that Carli (our name for the GPS) painted of what was in front of us.  Especially valuable was knowing ahead of time the sweeping curves of I-5 that became tighter as we climbed higher toward the three mountain passes that stood between us and a warm bed.  These would present the biggest challenges on their downhill sides.  And the rain just kept pouring down, with the drops changing to sludge balls when the temperature played footsie with freezing.

Fred and Margie’s Odyssey

George Rebane

Fred and Margie Buhler are established pillars of our community.  They volunteer and serve on boards, commissions, and organizations to the benefit of all who live here.  Recently they took a leave (here) from the Nevada County Friends of the Military, an organization they helped found, packed up their magnificent fifth-wheel, and headed overland to Alaska.

 

Their great northern odyssey began with some fits, starts, and detours, but soon their noses were pointed north and off they went to the land of the midnight sun.  Both Fred and Margie are excellent photogs and have the equipment to match their talents.  They immediately started a trip blog and began posting their adventures accompanied by lavish picture galleries of the places, scenery, and wildlife (see photo above) they encountered.

Jo Ann and I are fortunate to count them as friends, and have been in regular email contact with the intrepid travelers.  As their route took them deeper into Canada, their travel blog’s posts became a veritable National Geographic account of the country they were passing through.  The photography was especially something to look forward to as they took time every few days to publish another chapter of their odyssey.  To me it seemed that Fred and Margie’s audience was too narrow – in a sense they and their adventures belong to all of us.

I asked Fred if he and Margie would mind sharing the Buhler illustrated trip diary with RR readers and the rest of the community.   They graciously consented, and so here is the link to an excellent dose of vicarious adventure.  Put it in your favorites and enjoy!

Rome in two sturdy shoes (and days)

George Rebane

Our friends Tony and Paula arrived from Hong Kong in the middle of the night and were all set to go on the following morning.  We requested the hotel to set up a registered guide for us, and after a delightful and exhausting day, we all agreed that this is the way to do Rome.  Signora Francesca Tolomei ([email protected]) arrived at 10am to pick us up.  She is the short lady in the middle in front of the Colosseum.  Francesca is an art history graduate who guides private tours professionally.  She speaks excellent English and has a depth of knowledge about the city and the history of the Roman Empire that astounds.  Sparkling personality, sense of humor, good looks, and the endurance of the Energizer Bunny.   We lucked out.