Blog Marco

Hunedoara (German: Eisenmarkt; Hungarian: Vajdahunyad) is a city in Hunedoara County, Transylvania, Romania. Hunedoara Castle was the place where Vlad Dracul the Impaler (aka Dracula aka Vlad III of Wallachia) was imprisoned 7 years by Matthias Corvinus (Matthias Kiraly) king of Hungary (aka "the renaissance king") after he was deposed in 1462. The castle received its shape (the way it looks nowadays) mostly in the period between the 15 and 17th centuries. The castle is considered the most impressive and best preserved gothic castle in Romania. The castle is also properly called the "Hunyad Castle". The castle is a relic of the Hunyadi dynasty. In the 14th century, the castle was given to John Hunyadi knyaz Serb, or Sorb by Sigismund king of Hungary as severance. The castle was restored between 1446 and 1453 by his grandson John Hunyadi.

The Castle is known both by the name Corvin's Castle and "Hunyadi Castle". "Hunyadi" is a more internationally recognized name for the same family, "Corvins" being used mostly by Romanians. The Hunedoara Castle is a 14th Century Gothic castle (with Renaissance and Baroque architectural elements mixed in). It was built on old Roman fortifications, on a strategic position, on a rocky cliff at the exit of Zlasti river from a small defile from Poiana Rusca Mountains. Hunedora is evocative, with three huge pointed towers, a drawbridge and high battlements. Five marble columns with delicate ribbed vaults support two halls (1453), the Diet Hall above the Knight's Hall below. The castle wall was hewn out of 30 m of solid rock by Turkish prisoners.

With all the news about the swine flu virus ravaging over the world plastered everywhere, I wonder what the difference is between an endemic, epidemic and a pandemic. (By the way, the photo has a random influenza virus illustrated in brown and the cilia from your lungs in blue)

An endemic is an infectious communicable disease (such as colds, influenza, measles, mumps, tuberculosis, pneumonia, smallpox) that exists permanently in a particular region or population. An epidemic occurs when this disease attack "a lot of" people at about the same time and may spread through one or several communities. A pandemic occurs when an epidemic spreads across the world.

The World Health Organisation has raised the pandemic alert level from phase four to phase five, signalling that a pandemic is "imminent". Here are the six different "pandemic influenza phases" defined by the WHO:

Phase 1: A virus circulates among animals but with no cases reported of infections in humans.

Phase 2: An animal flu virus is known to have caused infection in humans, and therefore considered a potential pandemic threat.

I've got a personal interest in riding bikes. Sometimes I get nightmares of things that can go bad - like this crazy bike crash that happened recently. But of course, you never get your fears the best of you... But there was news recently of a 14 year old girl being attacked by a bear while riding her bike. She was participating in a 24-hour mountain bike race - and in the middle of the night the bear attacked. She called for help through a trusty old mobile phone. The attack was severe - she had head, neck, torso and leg wounds... scary stuff. They said the attack may have been caused by a sow grizzly bear. The bike race itself was an event put on by the Arctic Bicycle Club (about 60 bike riders raced) in Bicentennial Park on Anchorage's east side, borders on Chugach State Park. Wild animals - from grizzly and black bears to moose, wolves and wolverines - frequent the area... Rescuers had to hike in more than three kilometres to reach the girl. When she made the emergency call she had only whispered one word: "bear". Dispatchers, following procedure called back the number and another rider heard the phone ringing, stopped to investigate and spotted the teen off the trail. It's scary stuff... I'll probably won't a bike ride in Alaska... too risky...

Why do you participate in Outdoor activites?

I like to participate in outdoor activities because...

I feel more in touch with myself then
It helps me to relieve stress and refocus
It’s an escape from routine & gives a sense of freedom
It gives my family bonding experiences and an opportunity to grow closer
I enjoy facing the challenges that outdoor activities pose
It’s an opportunity for me to enjoy some time to myself
I enjoy competing against myself more than competing against others
I really enjoy socialising and meeting new people
I feel I share a common bond with others who participate
I enjoy competing against others more than competing against myself
I crave excitement and to get an adrenaline rush
I enjoy exploring places and having new experiences
Of the “natural high” and feeling good
I enjoy experiencing nature and it’s beauty
I’m motivated to test my skills and push myself

I remember this being reported some time ago: about scanning machines which can "see" underneath clothing. And now, they've been installed at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York (JFK). "For now, the scans will also be voluntary. Flyers selected for a secondary screening after passing through the metal detectors will have the option of stepping into the wave scanner, rather than undergoing a physical pat-down." I would rather get the pat down instead of having to step into this machine. Who knows what the long term effects are of having been exposed to these waves? Also what about people's privacy? Personally I've been used to pat-downs. While traveling in the Philippines, for years they have already been patting down everyone at the airport (I remember being searched at least four times before I stepped into the aircraft) and they also pat down people when you enter in any of their shopping centres or their public trains (Yep, you get patted down and your belongings looked at before you enter a train station.

Its no secret - everybody knows which seats on the airplane are the best seats. It's first class, then business class then there's coach aka economy class. Most of us have to travel economy class. Again - its no secret which seats are the best seats in economy class - the exit rows and bulkhead (the front) seats are the bes because they offer the most leg room. Aisle seats are great too (Have you watched those comedies when someone had to get up over people just to go to the bathroom?).

But no. There are other best seats in economy class. So if it isn't the bulkhead, the exit row or aisle seats, which are they? In every plane its different because of the different configurations for different carriers.

Won't it be cool if passengers can invoice the airlines for being late? Well it may become a reality for Australians under new laws proposed by the Government. Foreign airlines will have to pay up to $8000 a person for delayed flights, $1800 for lost luggage and $180,000 compensation for injury or death in a plane crash.

The changes, introduced to Parliament by the Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, yesterday, would bring Australia into line with signatories to the Montreal Convention, an agreement between 86 countries.

"The new scheme makes it easier for Australians to seek fair and timely protection," Mr Albanese said.

Under the old system, a passenger who lost their luggage would have to prove the carrier was at fault. If Australia ratifies the convention, the same passenger would receive up to $1800, no questions asked.

"So for your thousand-dollar bag you'd get your money back straightaway, no ifs or buts from the airline," a spokesman for the minister said. "It reverses the onus. If the bag is worth more than the threshold, it would be the airline that would have to prove it was not at fault."

Travel | Marco's blog | add new comment | read more »

Submitted by Marco on Fri, 21/03/2008 - 2:38pm.

How exciting. Have a watch of these crazy crosswind airplane landings. I wonder if you were a passenger on these planes would you have noticed the plane wasn't landing straight?

Japan Airlines Boeing 747 crosswind landing Hong Kong. Filmed from the checkerboard used for the approach into Kai Tak. Overshoots and then lines it up just to get caught in the wind...again. Unedited. You can hear another enthusiast in the background with a scanner.

Korean 747 Extreme Landing. A Korean Airlines 747 performing an extreme crosswind landing at the infamous Kai Tak airport of Hong Kong. The aircraft busted several tires.

Crosswind Landing Testing. This is a pretty cool video of a 777 & 747 SP landing in a cross winds down in Brazil. This little item shows the Boeing factory determining the demonstrated crosswind landing limits on the 777 and the 747SP. The engineers make educated guesses, but then the test crews have to go actually prove the numbers. They sneak off to Brazil to do these tests at a certain remote BAF airbase famous for its continual atrocious crosswinds... Should the gear sideloads be excessive and fold one up, there is nobody there to take nasty pix for the Airbus guys to wave around in the press...

This package travelled right through airport security in Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) last Monday when I was travelling back to Sydney. All the tight security measures like this and like x-raying shoes and this small amount of liquid gets through... It contains a used toothpaste tube with about 10-15mL left, two containers containing moisturiser and gel, two sample packs of lotion about 5mL each and a 15mL lotion bottle as well as my toothbrush. I normally pack this in my checked baggage but I guess I forgot that I placed it in my hand carry temporarily so I could brush my teeth at the airport.

With new airport regulations you cannot bring many liquids into the aircraft with you. From memory, you can bring in a 1L clear plastic bag with small containers not exceeding 100mL but the containers cannot be half-empty. There are special conditions for baby foods, etc...

Back in February, when I travelled from Manila, Philippines back home I forgot to pack a liquid bottle of insect repellent in my checked baggage. They confiscated the bottle off me.

Qantas in-flight service simply sucks. Well, its average to put it fairly compared to other international airlines. I wrote about the standard of service about a month ago here. And a survey by Choice magazine (as reported by SMH) of its 4000 subscribers corroborates that fact.

So why do I say Qantas service sucks? Well it doesn't really suck that much... but compared to other airlines, their service and the system they use in serving people is definitely lacking.

I really do hope someone from Qantas reads this blog entry. So that they can improve their services. But Qantas isn't at all bad - they really do have good crew - and you wouldn't have a soaring share price, high profitability and record numbers flying with the airline if it were that bad. All I'm saying Qantas needs improvement here and there.

Michael Mijatov, secretary of the Flight Attendants Association of Australian, International division, has said that "...we believe this is not due to poor service or poor attitude on behalf of the cabin crew but to inadequate numbers of cabin crew on the aircraft. The service procedures laid down by airlines are not matched by adequate crew numbers on the aircraft."

Why do people travel? People travel to escape, to escape reality: to escape their jobs, to escape problems, to escape the rigours and stresses of daily life. People travel to London to see the Queen, to see the important historical artefacts, to see great photos and paintings, to see a musical. People travel to Paris to find romance, to see Mona Lisa, to watch Moulin Rouge, to see the Eiffel Tower or the Gargoyles from Notre Dame. People come to Sydney to visit our wonderful beaches, to watch Opera, to witness our beautiful harbour. People come to Fatima, Portugal to find their spiritual peace. People visit Greece to see the ancient ruins at Athens, Olympia and Delphi. And what do people come back to? The same reality, the same job, the same problems, the same stresses.

Instead of posting my travel photography on this blog, I've begun a new section on my new blog specifically for my travel photography. Reason for change? Now that I have a specific blog for my photography, I can have all my photos located there and my other random thoughts, ideas and facts here.

I love watching foreign TV. And I’m not talking about late night SBS. (In Australia, SBS has a reputation for showing foreign films with gratuitous nudity and sex). In England I was able to watch American shows in the morning - there's a channel there that broadcasts repeats of sitcoms and American dramas in the mornings; strange for me because in Australia, public TV usually withholds those programs for primetime. In France, everything American was dubbed in French. Movies are dubbed and TV shows are dubbed. 7th Heaven was dubbed in French - which made Lucy even more sexier with her French accent. There was CSI Miami which was renamed to Crime Specialists. Even Lizzy McGuire was French! I watched a bit of Serendipity (renamed to Un Amour a New York) and also watched the concept shows in their French format: Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Wheel of Fortune and 1 contre 100 (1 vs. 100).

I wrote about Qantas business class food before and I also raved about the service the flight attendants provided. I went to the Philippines in January and I was again seated in Business class... Food was of a good standard - I ordered the Poached Snapper which tasted good. The service from the flight attendants weren't up to standard. I think it was the impending Qantas takeover. But then a month later when I travelled back (in economy class) I found the crew to be totally different and offered a very good service to travellers.

We're in Paris! Here's a family portrait I took last night at Trocadero with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Went around to the usual tourist locations: went up Eiffel tower, went to see Mona Lisa at the Louvre, went up Notre Dame to see the Gargoyles, walked along the Sienne River and watched Moulin Rouge. We'll be in Lourdes by tonight!