Beam me up Scotty, that was HOT....plus a lot of hard work too.

Click here to listen.

This week ye olde podcasts is a little different. Simon had to go down to Santa Monica for an intensive study weekend (Friday to Sunday, followed by an exam on Monday...yikes!...but passed) for his pilot instrument rating exams. At the last minute (and upon request) Greg joined him, even though he was snowed under with work (hotel rooms with a network can be very productive if you want them to be!) It worked out well in the end and they even managed to get a quick dinner in at Beverly Hills, or to put it another way 90210....which was spiffing. The hotel was on Santa Monica Boulevard, so, we can now assert that, as the song says, the Sun does indeed come up over Santa Monica Boulevard. Simon was up very early every day for class so saw the sun just as it peeped it's head up over the horizon (well buildings)! Santa Monica Boulevard is also the beginning of the historic Route 66. Interestingly enough, and probably not by planning, the part where that route starts is full of car dealers. Pretty apt really.

LA hit 114 degrees this weekend, and it was 107 as we left, at 10.30am!!!!! 114 is 45 Celsius.....that's as hot as it gets on the Egypt Sudanese border......that's ridiculous. Did we mention that it's the end of September! Good grief that was hot. 

So the podcast was recorded as the guys drove up HW 5 back to the San Francisco Bay Area....so the background noise is a little bit of the car joining in this week's podcast.

Greg reviewed the 'event' at his favorite local cigar shop in San Jose, where he met LeVar Burton....if you're not into Star Trek, you'll not have a clue who he is. If you are into Star Trek, you'll be jumping in your seat for joy at this point. LeVar played Geordi La Forge on Star Trek, the Next Generation, and for a while at least, took the role that had previously been Montgomery Scott (Scotty), from where the wonderful phrase "Beam me up Scotty" came from.

Catch you all later.

BMSMA!

G&S

A cool concert and some cross country hiking.

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So this week, we have a 2 part show for you.


In the first part, Gregamundo and Simon discuss Simon's awesome weekend, where he got to see Harry Connick Jr in concert, complete with back stage passes. It was not just a regular concert though. This was a big deal, as Harry has been an important part of the life of Simon's niece. She's very sick (terminally) and has been a big fan of Harry's since she was 7. 

Simon's niece, just before her diagnosis.

Since learning of her predicament, he has invited her to concerts and spent a lot of time communicating with her, and seeing her whenever possible....all without any publicity. He's a genuine and very decent guy: a rarity in the music business. Simon was at first reluctant to disclose any of this, but decided to discuss some of the details, as it was such a good event and Harry deserves a great deal of credit for what he's done.  The concert was at the Saratoga Mountain Winery, which is a gorgeous outdoor venue in Northern California, seats about 1500-2000 people and is a stone's throw from Simon's house. 

After the show we had back stage passes to meet Harry and once Simon introduced himself, he knew immediately who he was and was incredibly friendly and chatty, commenting on the bravery of Simon's niece and the strength of his sister. It was, as you can imagine, a rather wonderful event and made Simon's year, let alone week.

After discussing this, Greg announces some bloody big news, about something which puts him into the minority among Americans. 


Then we switch to a portable recording we made the day before, with our friend Macy. 

An example of Simon's day job...a photo of Macy.

She and another friend hiked the UK's Coast to Coast trail, covering about 15-20 miles a day, with elevation changes of between 2000-3000 feet per day.....it's a big deal to do day after day for a week or so.  They documented the adventure, complete with gorgeous photos on Macy's blog...it's definitely worth looking at and reading. They passed through some of the UK's most gorgeous landscapes, taking in Ennerdale, Borrowdale, Rosthwaite, Grasmere, (the home of William Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter), Ullswater, out to Shap, and eventually onto Richmond in Yorkshire, (Simon's place of origin), before catching a train up to Edinburgh for a few days of luxury before heading home. She tells us all about her adventure and experiences. As a result, we're planning an afternoon out at a local English style tea shop.

This is the photo that Simon thought was just amazing, looking down the valley of Buttermere from near Haystacks.....a view he knows well and adores.


Take a look at the links. There's a lot of great information here. It was a great weekend!


Closing music is a snippet from "The Hidden Step" by Ozric Tentacles of course!


BMSMA!


G&S

Columbia and High Energy Particle Physics!

Click here to listen.

......no, not Columbia as in El Presidente and interesting pharmaceuticals. We flew to Columbia airport on Friday, which is near Sonora, which is near Yosemite. We talk about the flight, the fact that it was, in actual fact, the wrong airport, but we had a splendid time at Pete's Cafe, enjoyed a great conversation with Diamadi, the owner's son, not to mention staggeringly good burgers and baklava. Holy smokes that was good. Thanks guys, and we gave you a good review on Yahoo yellow pages! In case you're ever in the vicinity it's........

Pete's Cafe, 22267 Parrotts Ferry Rd, Sonora, CA 95370

We flew with another friend, also called Simon....gets very confusing at times. he took a photo of Greg, Simon and Diamadi, after we tried to digest the wonderful lunch.

We can't NOT talk about the iPad this time, and the application Foreflight....amazing combination from a pilot's perspective... On the way back to Palo Alto, we saw some wonderful views...of course...this is the whole point of taking such a flight. This first photo (below) is of a camp Greg used to visit when he was 10. Yes, there is a camp down there. Really! This is the view (above) of Columbia airport from 2000 feet above it. This is why we do this....looking over one of the reservoirs before reaching the Central Valley of California. Before we get all serious we have to mention this...this is an infantile, scatological, yet hysterically video sent to us today. It is also quite disturbing....still, we have to share it. You have been warned. http://www.thebuzzmedia.com/monkey-has-his-way-with-a-frog/ Last but not least, before we get to the meat of the podcast this week, Simon heard from an old tour leading friend, from when he led tours in Egypt....Carl is experimenting in homestead living, raising his own animals as livestock. It's quite an amazing story. http://smallholding-in-wales.blogspot.com/ Then we switch to the mobile recorder. On Sunday, we headed to Stanford University to meet with Yao, a PhD student, studying High Energy Particle Physics. We head to Knickerbockers, a local cigar shop and sit there while we talk and record. (Because this is a public place, we do experience a little background noise, and occasionally, it's a little loud. Yao explains to us what high energy physics actually is, how he studies it, what that actually involves (Stanford Linear Accelerator) interestingly known as SLAC. If you want or need some background to what Yao was talking about......here's some background from Wikipedia on Quarks which seem to be the hub of the matter. A rather educational podcast, with a touch of infantile humor in for good measure. Enjoy. We close the show with a couple of minutes of a hard rocking Iron Maiden track, Alexander the Great, in honor of our new friends from Sonora. (this is the link to the full thing on YouTube.) BMSMA. G&S.

Birthdays, ticklish camels and too much weird shit.

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This week, we talk about Gregamundo's birthday bash. A big thanks to everyone who sent him birthday messages on Facebook. It culminated with everyone in O'Flaherty's singing him happy birthday.....it made his day.

Greg plays a hysterical video of a woman tickling a young camel, and it appears that it's laughing. Brilliant!

Simon had a quiet week (apart from a stressful flight on Friday). That said, he had another close encounter with 3 coyotes....all nice and friendly, as he followed them up the road. It was really wonderful to see them relaxed and hunting (not knowing he was there for a couple of minutes). He also watched a disturbing movie, "District 9", (read the link and you'll see why it was disturbing) and a breathtaking piece of TV, "Nature's Most Amazing Events", the US title for the BBC's "Nature's Great Events". Either way, staggering TV. Here's the trailer. Turn the music up loud for the trailer!

Greg then plays some very odd "Death Metal" Abba, from Youtube.......you'll see.

This week seems to have been just plane weird, with so much strange stuff in the news, so we cover some of it that was in keeping with the "What the Hell Just Happened?" theme.

A female doctor, 49 year old dies while trying to break into her boyfriend's house....down the chimney. She suffocates and it takes the fire crew 5 hours to get her decomposing body out, when the house sitter discovers it.....ewwwww.

Next, a few weeks ago we talked about the Pakistan flood disaster and the problems with aid getting through. Well, it turns out that the predictions of corruption were true.....read all about it here. 

A crazy woman tries to frame her husband, to ruin his life during their divorce (as if the divorce wasn't enough!). She was discovered doing all kinds of nasty things, almost succeeding, but eventually got 7 years for this.

Apparently, many Americans don't know they're fat. Greg's theory is that comparison is the cause of this mis perception.

Finally, we talk about the iPad and a new competitor. Simon is a BIG iPad/iPod fan but uses a Blackberry for a phone. It's going to be interesting how this market shakes out in the next few years.

BMSMA.

G&S