Tom Perkins had done it all. He'd made a fortune, conquered Silicon Valley, even been Danielle Steel's fifth husband for a time. His venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, was an early backer of Genentech, Netscape, and Google. But when he turned 70 a few years ago, Perkins decided to do something even grander and a bit crazier: He would build the biggest, riskiest, fastest, most technologically advanced, single-hulled sailing mega yacht in the world. The 289-foot Maltese Falcon, launched in spring 2006, is that engineering dream come to life.

If the 1,367-ton Falcon were anchored in New York Harbor, its masts would nearly reach the tablet in the arm of the Statue of Liberty. The exterior has teak decks, a varnished cap rail, and exquisitely finished surfaces — all attributes of a classic ship — yet the overall look is sleek, metallic, and ultramodern, almost foreboding. When Darth Vader builds his own intergalactic yacht, it will look like this.

Wow. Tom Perkins wins..

More pictures here. Apparently you can charter it for the low, low price of $330,000 Euros a week.

Tom Perkins, Silicon Valley Pirate

rattle says:

Heat-tempered aluminum shell has the strength of steel at only one quarter the weight
Sturdy triple-digit combination lock for superior security
Easy to customize, high-density foam padding
Two to four key locks
Extra strength hinges withstand pulling of over 400 pounds
Sturdy drawbolt latches
Innovative neoprene gasket keeps out dust and moisture, providing unrivaled protection
Manufactured in the USA

I'm fast becoming a big fan of Zero Halliburton cases, mostly due to the one I've borrowed from Decius. This one might qualify as dual use. I could envision it working well for other weapons, such as guitars. I think this has made my want list. Why the hell do I always seem to develop such expensive tastes? The exceptions don't add up to the desired. There is just something about a brief case that can stop a carbine round that's, well, sexy..

Zero Halliburton - Double Long Case

] The Atlanta Time Machine website is dedicated to
] examining the history of Atlanta, Georgia by comparing
] vintage photographs of Atlanta with much more
] contemporary images shot, more or less, from the same
] perspective of the original photographer.

Atlanta Time Machine

] I am sorry to report that much of Elena's story is not
] true. She did not travel around the zone by herself on a
] motorcycle. Motorcycles are banned in the zone, as is
] wandering around alone, without an escort from the zone
] administration. She made one trip there with her husband
] and a friend. They traveled in a Chornobyl car that
] picked them up in Kyiv.
]
] She did, however, bring a motorcycle helmet. They
] organized their trip through a Kyiv travel agency and the
] administration of the Chornobyl zone (and not her
] father). They were given the same standard excursion that
] most Chernobyl tourists receive. When the Web site
] appeared, Zone Administration personnel were in an uproar
] over who approved a motorcycle trip in the zone. When it
] turned out that the motorcycle story was an invention,
] they were even less pleased about this fantasy Web site.
]
] Because of those problems, Elena and her husband have
] changed the Web site and the story considerably in the
] last few days. Earlier versions of the narrative lied
] more blatantly about Elena taking lone motorcycle trips
] in the zone. That has been changed to merely suggest that
] she does so, which is still misleading.

The photos were very cool. However, everything else you know is a lie force fed to you by the KGB.

Boing Boing: 'Girl Photoblogs Chernobyl on Motorcycle' thing a fraud

] History, rather than geography, solves the puzzle of BNA,
] TYS, GEG, OGG and MCO. The main airport in
] Nashville, Tennessee, was named in honor of Col.
] Harry Berry who helped build it: BNA. Knoxville, also in
] Tennessee, doesn't have a single letter in common
] with its tag of TYS; however, a historian would
] know that the Tyson family donated the land in
] honor of their son killed in World War I.

Some interesting factoids if you fly alot...

Airport Codes: A History and Explanation

] The day before yesterday, my wife came home with a new license
] plate frame for my car: "My other cars are on Mars."
. . .
] I just finished working the Martian night (which today happened
] to be daytime at JPL), planning Spirit's activities for Sol 5,
] the rover's fifth day on the surface. The uplink team is doing a
] great job of getting a lot done in a short amount of time. The
] rover seems to be getting more sleep than we do...
. . .
] I'll make additions to this site as often as living on
] Mars time and exploring an alien planet permit...

Elonka says:
This is a new blog page that was created by my childhood friend Andy Mishkin. In it he's documenting some of the day-to-day activities at JPL. Fun reading!

Mars Roving: Andy Mishkin's Blog

] Wikitravel is a project to create a free, complete,
] up-to-date and reliable world-wide travel guide. It is
] built in collaboration by Wikitravellers from around the
] globe. So far we have 634 destinations, itineraries,
] travel topics and other articles. Check out the Help page
] to see how you can edit any page right now.

Started in July.. Its still pretty new, and doesn't have content for many places yet. However, if the Wikipedia is any example (it is), this is going to be awesome. Lonely Planet, only anyone can contribute.

Main Page - Wikitravel