Vin Crosbie's Personal Blog

For his business blog, visit http://www.digitaldeliverance.com

Spain

Underuse > Use of This Websites

Vin

All year, I’ve been thinking about how I tend to underuse this website compared to my two occupational websites: DigitalDeliverance.com and IndividuatedMedia.com. It’s time I resumed aptly using VinCrosbie.com. I’m also planning to launch a substack version of it, too. Let’s see if I can turn it on by simply posting the non-work things that interest me each day. Unsurprisingly since I’m in the process of moving my legal residence to Spain’s Canary Islands, this story in Forbes magazine caught my eye. Were you to awake outside and see this thing roving around, you’d definitely think you’re in the future. That future is now. I’ve flown Malaysia Airlines and liked it a lot. (Yes, the airline during 2014 had been VERY unlucky and unfortunate in having had (1) a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur shot down by pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists who mistakenly thought it was a Ukrainian airliner [298 deaths] and (2) had another flight mysteriously disappear (239 dead) enroute between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing. But I would readily fly them again. Their service is almost as good as their former ‘Siamese twin’ Singapore Airlines. Malaysian Airlines has the world’s best inflight safety video. There are few things in the world happier than a skateboarding bulldog. No, I don’t mean a dog placed atop a moving skateboard; I mean a dog that knows how to launch and steer its own skateboard. Meet Walter.

My Favorite Beach in the World

Vin

I’ve swum in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans and the Caribbean and Mediterranean seas. I’ve trod the beaches of numerous American, Mexican, Brazilian, Hawaiian, Caribbean, South African, Balinese, and Persian Gulf beaches. Yet my favorite beach in the world, where I’ve lately been staying, is this one on my wife’s native island. It is superb, always sunny year-round, and free to use. See why in this six-minute video.

Volcano Erupts in My Wife’s Native Islands

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In the south of La Palma, one of Spain’s Canary Island of La Palma, a volcano has erupted between two village in Cumbre Vieja national park. Elsewhere in the Canary Islands is the sites of Spain’s highest point, the dormant volcano Teide (3,715-meter or12,188-foot), which is also the highest point along the Atlantic Ocean. Off El Hierro island, an undersea volcano has been erupting during recent years. And the island of Lanzarote is the site of more than 30 extinct or dormant volcanoes (as well as a restaurant that use a volcanic vent to grills meat).

Flying into Lisbon (4K video)

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FOR MY FRIENDS WHO ARE ‘ARMCHAIR’ TRAVELERS and need a scenic, seven-minute breaks. Although the weather in this video is so perfect that it looks more like a Microsoft Flight Simulator artificial view than reality, it is the actual view outside the window of seat 1A while TAP Air Portugal’s Flight #1117 makes its final descent into Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado international airport. It starts with a view of the Atlantic Ocean and the ‘Portuguese Riveria’ where the resort towns of Cascais and Estoril are located, with the Sintra Mountains in the background. Then the mouth of the Tagus River (Portuguese: Rio Tejo) appears as the aircraft steadily descends. At the 1:45 mark, the 16th Century Belém Tower (Portuguese: Torre de Belém) monuments rises above the northern bank of the river, with the Jerónimos Monastery (Portuguese: Mosteiro dos Jerónimos) two blocks behind it. The flight path then passes over the heavily-forested Monsanto Forest Park (Portuguese: Parque Florestal de Monsanto) at the center of the city. I regret that this descent doesn’t the old parts of this ancient city, only the new parts of the Portuguese metropolis. The airliner lands at the four-minute mark, then taxis to the airport terminal. If you ever have the chance, visit Lisbon. It is a lovely, charming city, full of friendly people, history, and excellent cuisine. I’ve loved it ever since my first visit in 1970.

Tiempo en Las Canarias

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I’m spending most of this month in my wife’s native Canary Islands, doing videography for a project she and I are undertaking later this year. Most of the past weeks have involved shooting ‘B-roll’, which are short background scenes designed to be used beneath narration or other contents. This is an example from a farm in the highlands of Gran Canaria island. This is the Hubble Space Telescope’s photograph of Arp 195, the collision of three galaxies.