Friday, July 12, 2002
We all have his love. Let's send some back.
Marek was drugged and said he hopes it's not cancer. His dad died last September of stomache cancer. Marek didn't like his dad. The doctor asked Marek what his father died of. Marek said cancer. The doctor asked where. I said Poland. You can count on me to be funny. Especially when I'm scared.
Jeneane Sessum has more. So does Tom.
For those of you who don't know, Marek is the most lovable blogger on the whole fucking 'sphere. A sweet, irreverent and very funny man. Also as full of life and love as they come — and Marek has come through a lot.
You get a hint of it from this post last February about his friend Chris Gueffroy, the last person killed trying to get over the Berlin wall. Marek made it, Chris didn't. You have to look pretty hard (as I just did) to find Marek's story about himself, but it's worth the effort. Here it is.
Some characters are born, others are made. Marek Jastrzebski is both.
Cruisechalking
Here's Bernie Dunham's latest report on Tsunami BLOG 2002: a blog cruise on the Carribbean.
Airchalking
Following up on yesterday's post about wi-fi on airplanes, readers are telling me two things: 1) laptop-lugging business customers are such a core market for the airlines that a ban on laptops is pretty much inconceivable, regardless of security concerns (and there are real ones that informed paranoids will be glad to tell you); and 2) the technology to provide Internet access is already there, thanks to Boeing's Connexion.
It's easy to connect the dots in this pile of press releases. One of them tells us British Airways will start trials early next year.
So hurry up, already.
[Later...] On the other hand, there is interesting reading to be had under "Passenger Electronic Devices" at this URL here.
Also, Bubba makes some good points about why cell phone companies don't want you talking from planes. A broadcast engineer once put it to me this way: "When you're eight miles above fifty cells, you yank too many chains at the same time."
And I just got an email from another reader who suggests metalizing airplane windows (presumably this would leave the windows clear). In effect this would turn cabins into Faraday cages, and protect exterior antennas from unwelcome passenger-generated interference.