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The Coolest Traveller I Have Ever Met
This story comes up again and again when I tell travel stories, and it was briefly mentioned on Taylor and I’s 2007 Southeast Asia travel blog. The guy’s name was Manfred. He was 70-ish. We met him while taking the Mekong river boat from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang in Laos. His deal was, he’d…
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Cultural Imports
I’ve been around the world more than the average person in the last few years, both traveling through places and living places. When I encounter a new bit of culture that I like, I try to incorporate it in to my life. Over time, I should end up with the best culture ever. Here’s the…
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Four Bikes
Once I moved to my semi-permanent apartment flat on Sleaford Street, the bike each day to Microsoft Research Cambridge was about 20 minutes. There was lots about the unique -ness of Cambridge I wanted to capture, so I got a hold of a helmet-mounted camera, and started recording it. The video shows four rides over…
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Among the English; Travel Lifestyle
Back among the English: [Our bus comes up to our plane from Düsseldorf to Stansted; turns out to be fairly small, props instead of jets] Guy #1: Huh, its a small one. Guy #2: Yes, I was wondering why there was only 2 to a row when I was picking my seat. Me: Wait, my…
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Travel, Significance, Happiness
I’ve arrived in Nice, France and I’m just getting my shit together before I head out for the night. So, I’ve discovering couchsurfing, and it’s awesome. If you’ve traveled and you’ve never used couch surfing before, you’re an idiot. I’ve seen more of the places I’ve been, I’ve stayed in proper houses instead of in…
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Augmenting Minimalism (Improv)
Improv (when I’m loving it) is the most minimalist art form. Improv tends to be better when we bring only a little bit of ourselves to it; when we plan as little in advance as possible. The best, most honest, improv moments are when you stare across the empty void space of the stage into…
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Glasgow to Skye 2011
From Glasgow-Skye and Back 2011 This past Thursday (March 17th, 2011) I was invited by Julie Rico to speak at the Glasgow Interactive Systems group (GIST). My topic was “How Users Learn Wrongly From Ambiguity in Gestural Interfaces”. I basically talked about some interesting behaviour I’ve observed of the past couple years with gestural interfaces…
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The Trailer of Life and Death
At the end of a night of drinking in Cambridge, the drunk head to the centre, Market Square, for late night food before their stumble home. The two available choices for food are trucks that only appear at night and disappear to parts unknown during the day. Both of them are a perfect mix of…
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Live from the Mekong
In the summer of 2007, I traveled through Southeast Asia while keeping a travel blog here with my awesome high school friend Taylor. We told all our friends and parents and had about twenty readers a day. We blogged through pictures, text and video and I found it to be pretty fun.
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Aviation Technology Program
Back in Grade 10, I was enrolled in the “Aviation Technology Focus Program”. Over 8 months, myself and about 20 other students built a full-size four-person kitplane, supplied by Murphy Aircraft.