The Big Blue Marble

Those of you who have been regularly following this blog (yuk yuk) will note my longish absence and wonder where I have been.  Well, I could say that I've been busy, but I am tired of using that as an excuse.  As Nassim Taleb wrote elsewhere (and I paraphrase), saying that "I am busy" is a sign of either disinterest in you or a sign of incompetence.  I prefer saying that I have been disinterested in posting to this blog. 

Last time I wrote I was really jazzed about Facebook and all things Internet.  This was after reading "The Social Animal."  Now, a year later, I can say that I am safely over that, and that I have disable my Facebook account (yes, friends, I know and I am sorry) and that I have minimized my use of computers, cell phones, and the like.

Well, you ask, what does this somewhat bizarre person in Tucson do with his time?  It varies, but this week I have been working in the "Man Cave" on my radio.  Recently I have got onto APRS from my home station in the Cave, and have demonstrated the transfer of messages via APRS from my home station to my APRS ready handheld radio. 

I have also been working with Winlink 200 which is a very delightful protocol for the transmission of email to and from HR radio stations.  Very neat indeed.  There is some integration with GPS, or you can just type in your current position and send a position report to the rest of world.  

It is the position reports to Winlink 2000 that prompted me to generate this first post in over a year.  Just look at all of the yachts that are sailing in the midst of the oceans.  Many are in the Pacific and Indian oceans, few are in the Atlantic.  Many just appear to be exploring exotic coast lines -- Palau, Greenland, Fanning Island to name just a few.  I am in awe of these audacious sailors, and wish that my own circumstances would let me join them.

But looking at these reports shows me just how small the world is.  The entire Google map fits on this smallish laptop screen, and each of those blue pinpoints in the oceans represents a small vessel in transit, and those are just the ones that we know about.  There are certainly more out there.  Even though you are hundreds of miles from the nearest land, you can still be in touch with others.  That is a remarkable fact that is due to a combination of technologies:  sailing, navigation, and electronics, and the fact that our world will support communication over the flimsiest of methods.