I’ve been keeping my eye on the Olympus Stylus Tough-8000. It’s reportedly durable and waterproof to 33 feet. But I’ve just discovered the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1, also supposedly tough and waterproof (though only to 10 feet). The Panasonic, however, can shoot HD video and has a higher maximum ISO. The Panasonic also does some funky facial recognition (which favors recognized faces when focusing), but the Olympus can stitch multiple-shot panoramas in the camera and has “tap control” that allows, well, it appears to allow you to control the camera’s settings by tapping the sides rather than fiddling with buttons.

This reviewer seems to think the Panasonic bests Olympus’ offering. The Olympus is available now, however, and users seem to think it a good one.

Richard Moore’s Pac-Txt is even more brilliant than his Paper Pong (which, ironically, you can play online).

Here’s a transcript of my best Pac-Txt game to date:

Pac-Txt!
--------
You awaken in a large complex, slightly disoriented. Glowing dots hover mouth level near you in every direction. Off in the distance you hear the faint howling of what you can only imagine must be some sort of ghost or several ghosts.

> go east
Huh?!

> look
You are in a long corridor. You may go forward or backward and there are glowing dots in every direction. There is a glowing dot hovering near you. 

> eat
You have eaten the glowing dot!

> go forward
Huh?!

> forward
You have moved.

> look
You are at an intersection. You may go forward, backward or right and there are glowing dots forward and right. There is a glowing dot hovering near you. 

> eat
You have eaten another glowing dot!

> check score
Huh?!

I learned of it last night on The CBC’s As It Happens: Miles Hilton-Barber, blind since age 30, has flown from Biggen Hill, south of London, to Gosford, outside Sydney, by ultralight in a journey that took almost two months.

Aviation regulations required he take a sighted co-pilot, but in the As It Happens story he explained how his instruments were geared up to give him audio and voice feedback such that he could do most of it on his own.

Still, one gets the idea that the man wouldn’t let a lack of suitable instruments keep him from making the flight or any other adventure. Speaking with Hilton-Barber before his flight, BBC World Service explained:

55-year old Miles Hilton-Barber has already competed in the gruelling Marathon des Sables, has climbed in the Himalayas, hurtled downhill on a bobsleigh, and holds the lap record for a blind man on the Malaysian Formula 1 motor-racing circuit.

In a presentation to the National Federation of the Blind, Hilton-Barber noted that his callsign was to be “Batman” — “because I am blind as a bat” — and related a story from his youth:

I was eighteen, growing up in Rhodesia, what is now called Zimbabwe. I joined the Air Force. I could still see then. I didn’t know I was going to go blind, and neither did they. But they said, “Sir, you will never become a pilot because your eyesight isn’t good enough.” Just the other day I was sitting in my bath back in England, and I suddenly remembered that occasion. I said, “Blow me down. Thirty-five years later, even though I can’t see a thing, I now have the privilege of flying more than halfway around the world.” Don’t tell me you can’t live your dreams!

Miles Hilton-Barber, flight, blind, adventure, blind as a bat, flying blind, inspiring

It started with The Plastics Museum and Museum of Bad Art, progressed with a visit to the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame and continued with a tour of Donut shops in Lowell, MA.

Now I can report that the MaisonBisson Weird Travel Archives include the Thermometer Museum, the Edward Gorey House, and the Paper House. Click the links to see Photosets at Flickr, and watch MaisonBisson for full reports later.

tags: adventure, bowling museum and hall of fame, donut shops in lowell, ma, edward gorey house, museum of bad art, paper house, plastics museum, thermometer museum, tour, weird, weird museums, weird places, weird travel

Donut Shack

Eat-a-Donut

Still Hungry

Top Donut

See the full What’s Up With Lowell And Donuts Flickr photoset with slideshow. Follow that with the Post-Donut Tour photo set.

Story/explanation/narrative to follow. Sometime.

Road-trip Music:

We compared the Magnetic Fields’ original version of Book of Love from the 69 Love Songs set to the new Peter Gabriel rendition from the Shall We Dance soundtrack.

We spent much time laughing at and singing along with William Shatner’s new album: Has Been, especially the faux-Western title track: Has Been.

As much as Shatner’s new album rocks, his art is really the spoken word. He doesn’t sing so much as talk…with style. To that end, I had to share some Ken Nordine tracks with the donut-eating crowd.

Finally, after getting our fill of Nordine and Shatner, we cruized around listening to Swearing at Motorists and other tracks from 69 Love Songs.

tags: adventure, donut, donut shack, donuts, doughnut, doughnuts, eat, eat-a-donut, fat, lowell, lowell ma, massachussetts, sugar, top donut, tour