Aside

Wednesday: Linnar Viik‘s Skype van: turns out, he also loves windsurfing, and apparently needed a vehicle big enough to carry his and his buddies’ gear to reach the best spots. So what did he do? He bought a big, fuck-off SWEDISH MILITARY TRANSPORT vehicle at auction, from a colleague who bought it at auction. (Thanks to Siim Teller from Skype for setting me straight!) Oh, and it has on-board CDMA/WiFi, and power outlets, naturally. Wednesday: There’s this neighborhood on the…

FP Passport, via David J. Kilcullen, a senior advisor to Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq: “At present, the U.S. defense budget accounts for approximately half of total global defense spending, while the U.S. armed forces employ about 1.68 million uniformed members. By comparison, the State Department employs about 6,000 foreign service officers, while the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has about 2,000. In other words, the Department of Defense is about 210 times larger than USAID and State combined—there…

CIA: Population of Estonia: 1,315,912 Mobile Telephones in Estonia: 1,445,000 Industries: engineering, electronics, wood and wood products, textile; information technology, telecommunications Or, as my friend, the astute Aaron Azlant quipped in an IM conversation: “haha one of these things is not like the other. specialties: web 2.0, cell tech, cedar”

Apparently our exploits last weekend got us some Estonian media attention. Thanks!

I just finished putting the rest of my Mexico photos online.

Salinas won’t be shutting down its taco truck scene. Yay! However, New Orleans isn’t so keen on its taco trucks, reports the LA Times [via Daniel Hernandez] Still, I think David Boyk put it best: “I just don’t understand people who hate Mexicans. Mexicans are fucking awesome, and people who don’t understand that are assholes. “

And yes, there’s WiFi at this pub. Could Estonia get any better than this?

Thanks to Veljo Haamer and his band of WiFi minions, there’s now free WiFi on the Hiiumaa ferry, a journey that takes an hour-and-a-half to complete from the mainland. It works via a long-range EVDO modem, connected to a WiFi access point, and provides free Internet access in the on-board restaurant. It took Veljo and two assistants just a short couple of hours to get the new maritime access point set up this morning. I never cease to be amazed…

I’m off to spend the weekend in Hiiumaa. Not sure what the Internet sitch will be, but have a great weekend, otherwise!