Daniel Von Fange

Knocking at Death's Door.

John, my brother, got very, very ill two days ago. In fact he was just a few hours away from dieing. After being on the winning vollyball team the evening we left Gibralter, that night he began vomiting, etc. In the morning he began vomiting blood, his arms turned white, eyebrows puple, could not open his eyes, and was going fast. The ship's doctor gave him a huge IV to rehydrate him, a few shots just for grins, and then after 24 hours of sleeping, John is up and about again. Some kind of virus we think...

Monkeys at Gibralter.

The Apes on the rock were sooo funny. The most amazing thing to me was that there were no cages - no bars keeping you from the monkeys. If a monkey happened to need a stooping, camera-using tourist's back as a stepping stone across a path, the ape would do so. We had laugh after laugh at their tourist scaring, food eating, lice picking antics.

Prices at the shops were outrageously high, running almost double what we have met elsewhere in southern europe. In the gift stores on the rock a t-shirt sells for $26, a book on the Great Siege for $45, and a magizine for $9. Eeep!

Over at Despair.

Despair Inc, has a great new calandar out. One of my favorite pages pretty much sums up playing any sort of game on the other team from my brother. (grin)

Very Lazy Day.

All day we have been sailing slowly within sight of the Spanish coast. The sea was without waves, but with inch high ripples across the entire surface. I've been doing almost nothing today. I read a book from the ship's library about Charles Babbage and his mechanical computers this afternoon, and did nothing so effectively that I did nothing right on through time to go to formal dinner. Now I have to wait until late night Pizza becomes available in three hours....

Yesterday - Alhambra, Spain.

The Alhambra met expectations - and my expectations were not small for the beautifual Moorish palace. (You can see my pictures here)

Afternoon at Sea.

After spending a lazy morning, I made up for my inactivity in the afternoon. A family Monopoly game ( I was the first out ) was followed by a classical piano concert in the main theater, followed by a start at learning a new programing language, Ruby, followed by a formal dinner while the family watched a movie (and since two other tables full of people did not show up, there were two waiters serving my self and one couple at a smaller table - talk about personal service!), followed by a sunset over the Algerian hills, followed by more Ruby programming, followed by a concert by Doug Cameron, followed by a half hour of listening to a harp being played in the lobby. A great day!

Ship Asleep.

It's 8:30am, and almost no one is up yet - I guess the passengers like to sleep on sea days. As for me, sea days are my favorites. I'm up in front of the ship watching the sea go under the bow of the ship while I work on some software requirements.

Malta.

Malta is worth coming back to. Most other cities are a cross between New York and Disney Land. Malta is real. Photos Here.

Ariving at Malta.

For the first time this trip we did not have to be up before dawn - our tour did not leave until noon - it really felt like were on vacation! After getting up when I felt like it, which was nine in morning, I had breafast in the open air on the back of the ship and watched the nearby tankers in the blue Mediteranean. After that I rejoined the rest of the family for some swimming. As we were in the pool, the beautiful harbor of Malta passed by the windows as we watched through the glass walls of the pool area. A nice lunch and off we went. A great morning.

Island of Capri, Italy.

The island of Capri is a huge mountian in the sea, covered with lush flowers and tourist traps. It apears to be some folks idea of paradise, but as for me, I'll take Alaska any day. The ice cream available on the island is great. It's the best I've ever had, and ice cream is sold everywhere.

Pompeii, Italy.

Pompeii was not terribly impressive. It's just like any other Roman ruins, since all the items and wall coverings have been carried off to museams. There is not really anthing to see but Roman streets and stray dogs (and a replica of a brothal, if you are that kind of person, and I'm not.)

[Update]

Here are some photos I took.

Some have wondered how I could be disappointed in Pompeii. Too high expectations from looking at photos of it is the most likely cause. (I went expecting a Roman city with no people, and bread still on the tables.) Either that our tour guide did not show us very much. Even my photos here show the fascinating details of the city that take some looking to discover. If you go to Pompeii, just plan on seeing a bombed out bunch of brick buildings. Then the touches of ancient life that you do find will be impressive.

Whilwind summery of the rest of the day..

The Coloseam was much bigger than I thought, the roman ruins were bigger than I thought. Italian drivers like driving their scooters through inbetween lanes of traffic. The food was good at supper tonight. Finaly, I'm so sleepy I can't write another word!

John's Hike.

As we were about to leave Saint Peter's, John was given directions as to how to go back to the museam to get his pack back. Twenty minutes later, as we were out in the square in front of the Cathedral, he suddenly appeared, and noted that he got lost. After getting directions again, he ran of into the distance, and return another twenty minutes later with his pack, having ran a long, long, way every time.

Double Team Tour Guides.

One thing we have observed, is the practice of sending two guids with each group. It actualy works out very well, since one of them leads the main group, while the other hunts down strays, buys tickets, and takes care of problems.

The Vatican, Itay.

So far, the Vatican security has the keenest x-ray crew in Europe - they found two of our three Leatherman Wave pocket tools (nobody else has even found one). We had no idea that it would be like trying to get aboard an aircraft to enter the Vatican. John had to check in his mighty pack before we could continue with the tour.

We went through just three of the galleries of the Vatican Mueseam. Greek and Roman statutes, followed by tapastries, followed by favorite of all - wall sized map paintings. The galleries were sumptious beyond description, and my eyes could not take in all the details. The tapasty makers of that time period had a taste for bloody knives and gore. It's a rare tapastry without a few of each.

The Sistine Chaple was so far above my expectations. Photographs cannot even come close to showing the shear size of the paintings, and the intense detail in each little part. Like the Grand Canyon, when you see it, there is no need to tell you that is a wonder of the world.

As I entered Saint Peters Catherdral, I was again in awe at the size of the thing, the magnificence, and yet the detail in every part. It's HUGE! I knew that the dome was big, but in truth, the dome is just a little part of the whole thing. The funniest thing I saw is little gold stars in the floor showing the size of all of the catherdals in the world. Naturly, all of them fit inside Saint Peter's. Hehe, I bet that "It is strictly forbben to" build a bigger cathedral.

The whole point of the Vatican Museams and churchs seems to be a shouting out of power, of in internet gaming lingo, "ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US.... You are teh pwned!" Its as if they say that kings bow to us, and bring their treasures here....

Back into port.

We are headed back into port now - a two hour nap was wonderful!

Back to sea.

Almost as soon as the pilot jumped into the ship from the pilot ship, the Constellation began to turn away from the port. A half hour later they announced that "Due to high winds and large waves, the ship is unable to enter the port, local authorities have advised us to wait outside the port for a few hours...." Yay! We get to go back to sleep!

Rome today.

We are pulling into the port of Civitaecchia, near Rome. The sea is active and I walk, I feel light as a feather and then staggeringly heavy - because the side of the ship I am on rolls down and up, down and up. We will disembark the ship as the sun rises, but today is the last day we have to be up soooo early.

Pisa, Italy.

Wow! The leaning tower leans! It's tilted at such a noticable angle that I wondered if it had suddenly shifted in the last week - photos do not do it justice. The catedral, baptastry, and bell tower are in a large open square in one corner of the town. This allows you to really get a feel for the size and beauty of the buildings.

Florence, Italy.

Florence is a dirty, grimy city. Thousands of cigarette buts line each street along with a general sprinkeling of other trash. You think of Italian citys as bright and carefree, but Florence feels more like a semi-bad section of New York. The public buildings were often magnificent, but it's not a place I'd like to call home.

The drivers are bit agressive, In Nice they have no hesitation in driving a few inchs beside a crowd, but in Florence they have no hesitation in driving right through one. Pedistrians do not have the right of way at all!

Lot of pictures.

I took over a 150 photos today, (While trying to take it easy on pictures). Hehe, it's going to take forever to up upload these.

Tierd.

Back from our marthon bus tour, and feel pretty sleeply. I've still not recovered from missing a night of sleep abord the plane. Oh well.

First we drove through the narrow streets of Villefrance, and then after being told that "Pill Geats" had built a house here, we went over the hill into Nice. After driving down the main promanade, the bus pulled over, and our family had an hour to wander around Nice. To get an idea of the insides of Nice, think of an older, crowded shoping mall - with occasional cars driving through the people. We rambled through some back alleys into the grafiti coated residedintial area (with people popping their heads of windows above our heads to watch us go by).

From Nice we rode up to a small medival vilage, Eze, pearched on a mountain. It was beautif, in a rugged mediterain way, but it felt just like Bush Gardens, since everyone you saw were tourests! After a scrumcious lunch, we moved on to Monaco.

Monaco was much more like a US city. The roads were the right size, and so were the cars. After a quick tour around the outside of the Casio, andrew and I went car hunting. We spotted four Ferraris and one Lamborghini in the forty minutes that we spent tracing the route of the Monte Carlo race. We spotted other young people car hunting as well.

Ferraris are incredably popular in Monte Carlo. Half of every little gift store and suvenier shop is devoted to them, and they may have a selection of over thirty shirts just with Ferrari on them!

Long bus ride.

We have eight hours of bus riding ahead of us today, as we will be visiting Nice and Monte Carlo from Villefrance where our ship is docked.

Touring by bus.

We've been all over the old port area of Marseille this afternoon by bus. I fell asleep just before the tour was scheduled to begin, and almost missed it. As it was I forgot my camera in my haste to leave the room. Our female tour guide spoke an odd mixture of broken English, Amercan English and Elemer Fudd English."We are gonna go to vewy vewy import place. But you must be careful to see vewy vewy beautiful statue - statue is alegory of grain."

The paintings hanging on the wall in the Bassilica of Notre Dame were a catalog of disaters. People had commioned partings of car wrecks, plane crashes, ship wrecks, ships in storms, death beds, and earthquakes, in thanks for having survived them. John and I were interested in the tactical problems of attacking the Bassilica, built on top of a fortress, on top of a hill over looking the city.

At the end of the tour, the bus stopped to let passengers have a little shopping time. John, Andrew, and I opped to take a little walk down to one of the forts at the end of the old harbor. It was nice admiring the classical "Points" of the fortification, which was designed so that every wall was covered by the guns of another wall. On the way back to the bus, we jogged to make up for lost time - We got a few stares from the French around us.

"Are you from Austrialia?", the Frenchman asked John, as he pedaled beside us on his bycycle. "No, sir. We're from the USA" we replied. Why the question? Well, John is wearing his hat-that-never-leaves-his-head, and it's kind of Aussie looking. People watch him go by from accross the street, and as John happy explains, "There is no other hat like this in France".

Touring Marseille on foot.

The family went out and took a walk through town taking pictures as we went. We traveled very slowy as Mom would stop to take a photo of a building, then decide she needed to move about 30 feet behind to get a better shot.

Marseille is so different than other citys I've been in. For one thing, the old and the new are cramed in together. In the corner of a cenuries old building, you will see a modern bank, while above it will be laundry hanging out of a resident's window. The cars are runt sized - an alley that in the United States would be just squeezable through, here serves as a street plus parking. Dogs are everywhere, most of whom are not on leash but just happily following their owners.

Now that I've had lunch, we will be heading out, Lord willing, in a half an hour for a bus tour of the city.

Hanging out.

Andrew and I have finished the first breakfast of the day. We went along and watched the ship dock afterwords. Now Andrew and I are up on my favorite deck chairs and looking out over the harbor. The sky is beggining to brighten, but it is still dark out. Sunrise is a half an hour away.

Early rising.

Andrew and I have already been up for a half an hour, prowling around the ship in the pre-dawn darkness and watching us sail into Marseille. It's great to own the the ship for a few hours.

Photos done.

The lights have dimmed, and I've just finished picking my favorite pictures, croping them, and getting them ready to upload to the photos site. I'm doing things differently on a cruise than I normaly do. I have the camera resolution cut down, and just deleting anything that I don't think is good. It means spend a lot less time messing with the pictures, so in thoery I can take more of them - which should be a good thing.

Good night!

My spot.

I'm in my favorite place on the ship. A row of about 12 deck chairs are in an enclosed space near the top of the ship. While seated here the coast slips by and I can work on my laptop, read, or just plain think. It's a great spot, and what cruising all about for me.

Right now I'm downloading all the pictures I took today - only 20 left to go. We had our life boat drill earlier ( I brought a book about software requirements to read during the long periods of waiting), followed by a wonderful dinner. As on the Infinity, dinner is a chance to to get pampered by a pair of waiters, and eat delicious foods, the names of which I've never heard.

We made it to the ship.

We made it to the ship! Since I've not slept in more than 32 hours, It's time to catch a little nap before the lifeboat drill in an hour an a half. I'm waiting for internet conntion kit to arrive - funny rules here will not let you take it to your cabin, an attendant must bring it.

First Glimpse of Europe.

Well, here I sit in the Lisbon International Airport, having survived a sleepless nightime transatlantic flight. No matter how I twisted or turned, the fact remained - I was too tall to fit. A nice bed on a cruise ship will feel so nice, but we still have five more hours to go.

Every vehicle zipping around the airport is so different in design. For the most part they are shorter, and look like they have tiny engines under the hood. A Dodge Ram or a Ford F-150 pickup would look like weight lifter here. And the quantity of special purpose trucks at the airport is astounding. I've never seen busses with liftting bodies to allow hadicap visitors to enter the plane.

Every one drives fast around the planes. I'd say it's at least twice as fast as the fastest someone dares in the US. Plus they never stop at intersections marked "Stop", they just zip into to the traffic, weave through airplanes, and generaly just race around. Needless to say the view out the airport windows is much more entertaining here.

So far this trip, I've managed to remeber every piece of metal in my pockets, and I've made it through security with out a hitch everytime. When I step through the detectors, and nothing squals I feel like I've just won a little victory.

Lisbon was beautiful from the air, all the houses and buildings are painted the same color, and in the rosy dawn the city had a surreal appearence.

From the Laptop.

A few short hours before we leave, I finaly get Blapp up and running so I will have my normal updating of braino.org while on the ship. This post, is of course, just a test. :)

Mail Updates.

Now I can update braino.org by email - perhaps from my father's spiffy
Treo. This evening I tried a few existing mail-to-blog programs, but
none of them quite worked the way I wanted. Naturally I made just made
my own and learned a lot in the process.

Guestures for all.

What a great idea, now I can have my beloved mouse guestures from Opera available in most of mw programs on my whole mac. I'm downloading CocoaGesture right to give it a try.

Fort Benning.

The air was hot. Aside from a clanking fan placed at the end of the long hall of people, there was not a sound. The tension in the air could be felt - and seen in the stillness of everyone in the room. Along both sides of the hall, windows opened up into a large room surrounding us. An unbroken line of targets ran along the wall, each mounted on a green stand, and ready to electronically to the millimeter the location of each shot fired at it.

Unknowingly we had stumbled onto the Women's US Air Rifle finals - the winner would be going to the Olympics.

Only eight finalists stood by windows, though there were windows in the hall for seventy two. Their rifles, partially resting on stands in the windows, could have been taken out of a futuristic movie. Their clothing too, could have come from another time. Totally concentrating on the match they were about to shoot, the women stood motionless, each looking to the side over their rifle, intently gazing at nothing.

Only ten rounds would be fired, and each shot was given everything each contestant had. Ninety seconds were allowed for the finalist to take a single shot. After each person in the line had fired once, the range master would walk down the line and announce each person's score, while those on the firing line again stared at nothing, and those watching quietly applauded for every ten point shot. "Load one match round," was be announced, and the entire process was repeated yet again for one more hole in the target.

4x4 Scouts.

Soldiers on 4x4 ATV's with Light Anti-Tank Weapons could be effective against tanks in woodland areas. Just an idea... :)

Saved.

Saw someone give their live to Jesus Christ last night. The joy pouring out of their face made me cry.

Toolmaker.

Being able to program is a wonderful thing. Suddenly I can make tools that allow me to do things previously time consuming or impossible. Yesterday I made a tool that allows a Wulfram map designer to import in a image, and turn the dark areas into valleys and the light areas into hills. Being able to do so opens up a huge wave of programs that can be used to make maps with. It probably cuts about two whole days of the time to make a map.

Profiling won't even work.

From personal expereice, profiling of international visitors to the USA won't stop terrorists. Subjecting people who are suspected to be possibly like terrorists to additional searches and scrutiny, has come under a lot of fire for it's negative "Racism" attributes, but proponents of profiling say it will increase security. Nope.

I ran the community of an online game for a few months. One day I decided to have player ranking, so I took the numbers and worked out a formula that put the good players on the top, and the bad ones on the bottom. Now if I had kept that list totally secret, and showed it to no one, it would have continued to give correct results, but when it was posted on the website, people began working to get up it. Bad players, started figuring out ways to beat the system, and began looking - on the stats - just like good players.

It's the same way with any active form of profiling. Not all humans are idiots. As soon as bad people see that a twenty eight year old arab male is subject to extra hassles, they will send in sixty nine year old white females.

Yup.

"It is a mistake to allow any mechanical (or Electronic) object to realize that you are in a hurry."

Opera.

Opera 6 beta is out for Mac OS X. Unfortunatly, it's slightly slow, and missing my favorite features (mouse guestures and all web pages in one tabbed window) Though Opera is the best browser on PC's, Mozila remains my choice for OS X.