Polar vortex and our quiet Sun are making making the Northern Hemisphere VERY cold!

Hmmm where's the North Pole these days?

wiki location etc...

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It's a little chilly out there!

Polar vortex...

Yup, the wind chill is pretty notable with most of Minnesota, the Dakotas and Wisconsin seeing -50 to -60 F and ambient temps hovering around -25F  on this cold winter day.

Global cooling seems to be kicking in...

Stay warm NLO, JRO and SEO AML!

Happy B-Day NLO

AML Dad!

Shanghai and Seoul in the winter...

So much history and culturally fascinating.   In a recent trip to Shanghai I had the opportunity to visit The Bund area of Shanghai and I must say even in the winter it has some of the most amazing architecture I've ever seen.

The view of Pudong from The Bund is amazing! The Oriental Pearl Tower is obscured by fog, but that is one incredible structure...

Shanghai is one of those places in the world that has a story to tell.

The botanical gardens in Seoul reminded me of the Mitchell Park Conservatory in Milwaukee

A really pleasant place to explore, the buildings house some perfectly maintained plants and the grounds have paths that surround a lake and forested areas.

The architecture blends into the garden. This sort looked like the bridge of an Art Deco inspired ship and to the left, some sort of organic mushroomy kind of structure?!  What makes it so cool to me, is its something so different.  A mushroom like dome is something Gaudi would have surely appreciated!

Even the landscaping exhibits the horticultural mastery that resides within the gardens

More street art... there's a lot of attention to aesthetics like this which give Seoul a really interesting and pleasant vibe.

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I finally got to experience the 787 on a long haul flight...

I had head that the environmental controls on the new Boeing were a big step forward in comfort so I was anxious to see for my self.

A little less intimate than the 777, but the 787 seating is just as comfortable.

Woah, the 787 has one very  bendi-flexi wing

And the magical lighting is great!  The cabin dims with changing wave lengths of light to a subtle ice blue.  The cabin windows dim by button, no pull down shades. The Dreamliner’s cabin pressure simulates an elevation of just 6,000 feet, a 20 percent reduction over similar aircraft. This has tremendous benefits for the passenger experience. According to statistics from Boeing, just five percent of passengers struggle with “respiratory distress” in the Dreamliner, versus one in four passengers traveling in more conventional airplanes on flights of 12 hours or more.

Leg one, arrived Shanghai.  The 787 really does make a huge difference in travel comfort!

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Merry Christmas to all of my Orthodox friends!

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