Travel

On travel, of which I do a lot

عيد مبارك

Saturday, April 22, 2023 

Eid Mubarak 2023

Posted at 10:50:00 GMT-0700

Category: EventsPlaces

@UAL, Congratulations on END:VEVENT!

Wednesday, December 23, 2015 

Life’s little victories.

Starting in 2006, when UAL.com got an upgrade, they started having problems exporting events in vcal format.  They had some issues with time zone declarations that we eventually got sorted out (so many people have problems with time zones):

Ual.com now gives broken "calendar" appointments for flights.  The 
times are wrong, which seems worse than no calendar function at all.

Below is a .vcf file for a flight I will be on tomorrow.
BEGIN:VCALENDAR
PERIOD:Microsoft CDO for Microsoft Exchange
VERSION:1.0
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART:20061214T001000Z
DTEND:20061214T034500Z
CATEGORIES;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:TRAVEL
DESCRIPTION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:UA 0179=0D=0ABOS to 
SFO=0D=0ADepart: December 13 2006 at 18:10 PM (local time) 
=0D=0AArrive: December 13 2006 at 21:45 PM (local time) 
=0D=0ASeat(s): =0D=0AAPOLLO Record Locator: xxxxx
SUMMARY;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Flight From BOS To SFO
PRIORITY:3
CLASS:PRIVATE
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR

It is wrong.

Decoding the DTSTART: field (for example) it says:
20061214 start date, Dec 14, 2006 (correct)
T Time
001000 the "start time" (incorrect)
Z UTC (GMT time zone).

Compare with the description field, literally:
"UA 0179=0D=0ABOS to SFO=0D=0ADepart: December 13 2006 at 18:10 PM 
(local time) =0D=0AArrive: December 13 2006 at 21:45 PM (local time) 
=0D=0ASeat(s): =0D=0AAPOLLO Record Locator: xxxxx"

Aside from being formatted for minimum comprehensibility, it says the 
departure is 18:10 PM [sic, 18:10 is actually 6:10 PM, or 18:10, but 
not 18:10 PM] which is actually 02:10 GMT.  That is the start time 
_should_ read

DTSTART:20061214T021000Z

The end time is also wrong.

Also consider reformatting the description field using text/plain

Content-Type:text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

or just remove the encoding MIME types and take out the carriage 
return/line feeds.

 

That got fixed shortly after I reported it.  But then there was the continental merger and Continental’s software had a different .VCS formatting bug, they closed with “End:VEVENT End:VCALENDAR” rather than “END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR”  – it seems like a minor issue, but it breaks importing into gcal and a lot of other calendar apps.  Outlook is so messed up it doesn’t seem to care if things are formatted correctly or not.  I first reported this in almost 2 years ago and periodically after that, finally reporting it to bugbounty@united.com at the end of October and only two months later, it is fixed!

Old way (wrong!):
 DESCRIPTION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Flight number: UAxx=0DAircraft: Boeing 747-400=0DFare class: xxxxxxxxxx (R)=0DMeal: Lunch=0DConfirmation number: xxxxx =0D=0D This information is subject to change. Sign in to your MileagePlus(r) account at united.com to view your up-to-date itinerary.=0D=0D------------------------------------------------------------=0D=0DCheck in with United beginning 24 hours before your flight:=0Dwww.united.com/travel/checkin/quickstart.aspx?irPNR=xxxxxxxx=0D=0DChoose your seats, select Economy Plus seating, view your receipt and more:=0Dwww.united.com/managereservations=0D=0DCheck flight status:=0Dwww.united.com/flightstatus=0D------------------------------------------------------------=0DFind a hotel or car for your trip...=0DSearch for a Hotel:=0Dwww.united.com/hotels=0D=0DSearch for a Car:=0Dwww.united.com/cars=0D------------------------------------------------------------=0DThank you for choosing United.=0Dwww.united.com
End:VEVENT
End:VCALENDAR

New way (correct! – even with proper indenting now):

 DESCRIPTION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Flight number: UAxx=0DAircraft: Boeing 747-400=0DFare class: United xxxxxxx (R)=0DMeal: Lunch=0DConfirmation number: xxxxxx =0D=0D This information is subject to change. Sign in to your MileagePlus® account at united.com to view your up-to-date itinerary.=0D=0D------------------------------------------------------------=0D=0DCheck in with United beginning 24 hours before your flight:=0Dwww.united.com/travel/checkin/quickstart.aspx?irPNR=xxxxxxxx=0D=0DChoose your seats, select Economy Plus seating, view your receipt and more:=0Dwww.united.com/managereservations=0D=0DCheck flight status:=0Dwww.united.com/flightstatus=0D------------------------------------------------------------=0DFind a hotel or car for your trip...=0DSearch for a Hotel:=0Dwww.united.com/hotels=0D=0DSearch for a Car:=0Dwww.united.com/cars=0D------------------------------------------------------------=0DThank you for choosing United.=0Dwww.united.com
 END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR
Posted at 04:05:32 GMT-0700

Category: TechnologyTravel

That’s so Colorado

Thursday, September 3, 2015 

“…Not allowed in the cargo hold: lithium batteries, e-cigarettes, personal vapes.”

Posted at 13:04:47 GMT-0700

Category: PlacesTravel

United’s Magic Trays

Thursday, September 3, 2015 

@United has new coach trays that are coated with a material that has an amazing coefficient of friction.  They are not sticky at all—there’s no adhesion effect—it is all friction.  Even low surface energy plastics don’t slide on it at all.

The approximately 75-80° angle in the picture is the point at which the cup topples over itself.  It isn’t adhered to the surface and it doesn’t appear to slide at all before toppling.

Super Friction Tray

This would be the perfect coating for a smart phone pad in a car.  I never managed to find out who made it.

Posted at 11:00:39 GMT-0700

Category: FabricationphotoPlanesTechnologyTravel

Lufthansa Business Class

Friday, February 27, 2015 

I’ve occasionally had to buy business on poorly planned Lufthansa intra-Europe flights. While Lufthansa long-haul premium seats are possibly the best in the business, on short-haul/intra-Europe flights, LH business class seats would seam a little mean in most carrier’s coach sections.

There is no difference between coach seats and business class, none at all. In business all middle seats are blocked out, but that isn’t that hard to find in coach. It is efficient to scale business, it involves only moving a rack-mounted divider that is the only obvious differentiation in the classes.

In both the seats are substandard to the amenities one usually expects, especially on a long haul flight:

– little padding on the seats
– cramped seat pitch (worse than econ +)
– typical economy seat width
– no in seat power (not even a usb port)
– no personalized IFE

Such limitations would be cheap in economy, but in business they are, perhaps we should say “disappointing.” Neither the economy nor the business class zone is going to leave the passenger well-rested (IST-FRA is a long enough flight that rest matters); such a flight is a grim endurance test for everyone. But it is very egalitarian in shared suffering, though not particularly egalitarian in pricing.  And were LH business not priced competitively with other carrier’s business, the disparity in services wouldn’t seem quite so jarring.

LH is, of course, efficient and well organized, but every other airline I’ve flown that has a business class has far, far better business class, even those that can’t really manage the basics.

20140328_014237.jpg
Posted at 17:01:05 GMT-0700

Category: PlanesTravel

Basra Snow Storm

Sunday, February 8, 2015 

I was feeling a little left out, reading posts by people digging out of snow storms and here I am in Basra where it gets down to 10C at night sometimes and usually hits the mid 20’s during the day.  Rough.  But the weather here came through with our own sort of snow storm.

 

Blizzard Brown-out conditions

Starting to look like a brown-out!

 

 

Snow covered yard furniture!

 

Obligatory shot of the yard furniture getting covered.

 

I've got snow on my head!

 

Kitty’s head is starting to show some accumulation.

 

Can't see more than a few hundred meters with this snow!

 

With all this blowing through you can barely see a few hundred meters!

 

starting to accumulate!

 

It’s really starting to accumulate. Where’s the snow blower?

 

Takes special cleaning to get that snow off.

 

It takes some special cleaning after playing out in it.

Posted at 06:20:38 GMT-0700

Category: CatsphotoPlacesTravelWeather

Cat Watch

Monday, February 2, 2015 

Cat Watch
Cat_Watch
The twins resting after a busy day.

 

The Twins

Posted at 17:48:24 GMT-0700

Category: CatsphotoTravel

The East Bay Hills

Tuesday, December 23, 2014 

wpid-wp-1419295116305.jpeg

Posted at 17:38:00 GMT-0700

Category: GeopostMapphotoPlaces

Family Feud Basra Style

Saturday, December 13, 2014 

Gunfire is pretty common here, perhaps even more common than in Oakland though usually for the same reasons: celebrating holidays, sports victories, weddings, that sort of stuff.  It is kind of fun to listen to and watch tracers and stuff, but usually the villa is also celebrating in an obvious way; when you hear gunfire you also hear cheers, at least at night.

This evening the house was quiet, but the gunfire sure wasn’t.  The guys tell me it was a tribal feud in the neighborhood, quite close from the sound of it.  This is a low-fi recording from my phone.

Posted at 17:13:13 GMT-0700

Category: AudioPlacesTravel

Power Adventures In Iraq

Friday, December 12, 2014 

Plugging things in here is always an adventure. Most of the outlets are the horrible giant British style so they have interlocked grounds, but most appliances are European style, so plugging things in means either using something to jam open the ground interlock, breaking the interlock tabs with force, or dispensing with the plug entirely and just stuffing bare wires in the holes.

When using the latter method, it turns out the British plugs are actually kind of useful because toggling the ground tab with a screwdriver uses the interlocks to bind the wires in place.  You just hope the ground pin is wired to ground, not hot.  Usually it just isn’t wired to anything.

Most appliances and power strips here come from China and are the sort of manufacture China was famous in the US for about 30 years ago: taking something out of the package usually breaks it.  The wires inside are so thin it is amazing they survive and grounds are never, ever actually connected.  I have cables that on the inside have a ground insulator but no ground conductor inside the insulator.  Awesome!

But we just rewired the new villa and even though the ground isn’t wired (of course), the outlets are new and seem like they’re decent quality.  And we even got British style plugs to dispense with the highly problematic and very melt-prone plug adapters.  All seemed good until….

Uh oh.  Maybe it just needed to create a little vent….

 

Nope.  Melt down.  Good thing these have a built-in fuse…  (which is still fine, though encrusted in melted plastic).

Posted at 15:27:24 GMT-0700

Category: photoTechnologyTravel