Brought to you by Digital Communications

There are 10 types of people in this world, those
who understand binary and those who don't.

Sorry, thought I'd start with a little Geek humour, given that I am particularly happy today as have found a computer that lets me upload pictures relatively quickly. So I thought I'd indulge myself and write (briefly) about the communication technology that is bringing these posts to you.

My little collection of digital equipment includes a Blackbery which acts as telephone, music player, and word processor, and lets me type these blogs while on buses or in the evenings rather than waiting until I get to an Internet Cafe. It includes a Pentax Digital camera with removable memory cards and a portable USB card reader, which lets me copy data from aforementioned Blackberry and camera onto any every computer I have so far come across.

The other key piece of digital communications technology are of course the international telecommunications networks and the layman's portal to it, commonly known as the Internet. While this represents a great tool while on holidays and making mundane tasks quicker and easier, my observations as to the impact on the people in the developing world is that the results seem to be vastly greater.

I uploaded a post to this Blog from an Internet Cafe on Christmas Day in San Jose, which was full of locals at the time. The most common use of the computers was to make phone calls through Skype, followed by people reading newspapers or banking, with checking email a distant minority. The Cafe was in the less attractive end of town near the bus stations, and for 350 Colones per half hour (about 70-80c) my Christmas Day companions were provided with a multitude of services which were not just cheaper than the old way, but which they had never previously had access to.

The Economist recently wrote that the introduction of a mobile telephone system to a developing world country added about 0.5% to that country's GDP. Rather than simply being an easier way in touch, when introduced it becomes a portal to communications, commerce and (particularly) telephone banking.

So today's pictures are brought to you by lots of little ones and zeros which are changing the world [hopefully] for the better.


David



Aileen, this photo of the ducks is included especially for you. The haze in the photo is the steam coming off the heated pool, which might have been too hot for them to actually swim in.



An example of the traditional oxen drawn carts from Costa Rica. Your social status was indicated by the quality of the artwork on the sides of the carts, i.e. the nicer the paint job, the more wealthy the family. So I guess it was the Costa Ricans who invented Pimp My Ride. And speaking of 'pimp', he charged me a dollar for the photo.


Apparently this little guy is the only diving bird in the world who doesn't produce oil on his wings to keep him dry. So after each fishing 'trip' he needs to fan out his wings to dry off.


Close up of the same bird (in case you couldn't spot him in the original).


This is a Cayman, rather than a small crocodile. It was about 1m long and [I think] fully grown.

Iguana sunning itself on a tree root.


A couple of photos of hummingbirds from the Hummingbird Sanctuary. The birds aren't caged, although with a free and easy supply of food, they happily congregate around the sanctuary, despite all those pesky tourists with cameras.

Tricky little guys to catch on film, and these two were the best of about 40 shots.