Experts say 18 months from site selection is enough time for the automaker to start producing the all-electric sedan.

By Scott Doggett, Contributing Editor

Tesla Motors says plans calling for its Model S battery-electric sedan to enter production in 19 months or less are on schedule even though its production site has yet to be determined, and speculation has begun that the factory won't be ready in time.

Ricardo Reyes, Tesla's top spokesman, said that a report in the Downey (Calif.) Patriot newspaper misinterpreted a Tesla filing with the city that seemed to say construction at a facility being considered for Model S production in that city would require a year and a half and 100-hour workweeks to prepare.

Specifically, the April 30 report in the Downey paper said converting the property - the former NASA Space Shuttle factory 18 miles southeast of Los Angeles - "to suit Tesla's needs would take 18 months, with construction occurring in two 10-hour shifts five days a week, with weekend shifts added 'during peak periods.' "

The account was based on a confidential draft environmental assessment that Tesla was required to submit to Downey city officials that contains details on portions of the automaker's proposed manufacturing facility.

In a phone interview with Green Car Advisor this week, Reyes said that long hours might be required to modify existing structures at the former NASA property to suit Tesla's needs but that the environmental report presents a worst-case scenario, not Tesla's actual plan.

Continue reading...

In tribute to March Madness, I decided to write a tournament piece.  No, not about the NCAA tournament, but an entirely fictional one I came up with.  I’ve already narrowed down my 64 competitors to a lean Sweet 16.  And trust me, just like this year’s NCAA tourney, some worthy opponents of the original 64 were knocked out early by Cinderellas.  (Rest up and we’ll see you next year, Slutty HR Chick.) The remaining Sweet 16 will face off in a systematical competition between the best and worst people at BigLaw Firm USA to see how each would fare in my imaginary tournament.  Don’t forget to cheer on your favorites. ________________________________ MIDWEST YOUNG, COOL PARTNER (1) This overall number-one seed is my favorite.  He’s the guy all male associates look up to.  And he’s one all the female associates want to sleep with.  He’s the future rainmaker.  He usually has a pretty attractive wife and seems pretty happy with his life.  In my firm, the one I simply call “YCP” is the guy who has always understood me as a person, appreciates my true debaucherous nature and has never held it against me.  Because he’s just that cool.  And since he’s always allowed me to be myself, he has the ability to reign me in and scold me when necessary.  I like him so much I rarely even use my duplicitous nature on him like I do to all other partners. For that disarming ability, I commend him.  In this matchup, he goes against the lowest of all firm life: TYPICAL FIRST-YEAR GUNNER (16) You know the one… Top of his class at Harvard, never shared outlines, pretends to know the difference between Chilean and Argentinean wine and thinks telling people he works 100-hour weeks is impressive.  I’m pretty sure YCP would happily oblige and bury him in a sea of documents.  Winner: YCP ________________________________ In the other Midwest region matchup, we have a much more even contest. DIRTY OLD-MAN PARTNER (8) Dirty Old-Man Partner (DOMP) is old school.  He has a decanter of scotch in his office, talks shit about my generation’s work ethic and is generally misogynistic and racist…but in a kind of amusing way. Basically, he’s me in 30 years…hopefully. He’ll be facing off against a familiar opponent: MARRIED FEMALE ASSOCIATE WHO CHEATS—BUT ONLY WITH PARTNERS (9) This married female associate is no stranger to infidelity—but not with associates.  She wouldn’t lower herself or take the risk of getting caught unless it’s with powerful man who also has a lot to lose.  She finds security in screwing while staring at the framed family photos on said partner’s credenza.  The thrill of doing something elicit in an otherwise bland existence.  Generally, the DOMP is her gentleman caller.  But once he decides its time to cut the cord (or worse, she does), he seemingly always manages to find a way to ship her off to another firm.  Somehow it seems that nobody ever knows about that affair while it’s happening, but the second she leaves, the whispers start.  (Translation: Gossipy HR Chick tells all.) Therefore, in this bracket, the same thing happens.  After two Viagra-fueled overtimes.  Winner: DOMP ________________________________ WEST HOT HR CHICK (2) She is the number-two overall seed who is playing in the West bracket.  Every firm has one of her—well, at least any firm worth its salt.  If yours doesn’t, you need to call a recruiter immediately.  This chick is usually friendly and flirty but not too flirty.  (Or else she becomes the Slutty HR Chick, which is a different category altogether.) At my firm, she isn’t quite hot enough anymore.  Maybe a few years and pounds ago. The last three years and uncounted calories catch up with her as she goes against… PARTNER WITH NO CONCEPT OF WORK/LIFE BALANCE (15) At my firm, this is the guy who is a real thorn in everyone’s side—Jin.  I have managed to stay under his radar, but he has ruined at least a few of my colleagues’ personal plans on a variety of occasions.  Call me racist if you want, but it seems that Asian partners are the worst offenders.  (I see no color—only people who rain on parades.) Jin’s mentality would normally not fly, but not even the sex appeal of a flirty HR chick can convince sex-deprived Jin to ease up on his rigid weekend work ethic.  Not in his house! Winner: Partner With No Concept of Work/Life Balance ________________________________ The other West game is perhaps the most interesting.  These two are often comrades at any good firm. WILD AND CRAZY MALE ASSOCIATE (7) The guy is often found bottom feeding after firm functions, doing bumps of blow together with his opponent in the bathroom and occasionally having drunken sex.  WCMA will take out a group of Summer Associates or throw down his credit card for bottles out with co-workers, praying that leveraging his relationship with Hot HR Chick will bail him out.  Example of a WCMA?  Yours truly.  MEDIOCRE, MORALLY CASUAL FEMALE ASSOCIATE (10) The mediocre, morally casual chick is there to sexually heal any male associate who just broke up with his girlfriend by giving him an easy rebound lay.  Or good for a lay on any occasion, really. These two types are both super important, and no firm should be without either of them.  In my humble and completely unbiased opinion, WCMA squeaks by because of his intangible, value-added ability to show clients a good time at a Thai massage parlor. Winner: WCMA ________________________________ EAST In the East, we have the number-three overall seed. COOL, YOUNGER ASSOCIATE (3) He is socially adept and a solid worker, but he’s not a kiss-ass and doesn’t take things too seriously.  At my firm, that guy is Marcus.  He shrewdly latched onto the cool midlevel (me!) and followed his (my!) lead.  True, he is his own man, better dressed, more emotional (translation: he has emotions) and a harder worker, but at the end of the day, he is my protégé.  And for that I salute him.  He easily blows out… FEMALES WHO CRY AT WORK (14) I’m talking any female—attorney, paralegal, secretary, cleaning lady or cafeteria worker.  As I recently stated, these people should be shunned and sent off to some anti-crying seminar.  I’m sure when they find out they lost in my imaginary pool, they will even cry about it! Winner: Cool, Younger Associate ________________________________ In the other East matchup, we have: HOT FEMALE SUMMER (6) HFS could have gotten a higher ranking, but lets face it, she’s only there for the summer.  Not to mention, if she’s really that hot, she usually has a boyfriend—or worse, a fiancée.  But there’s nothing more enjoyable on a hot summer day than a US Open firm outing where you get to see her nipples poking through a nice, tight, white polo.  Actually, there is: If she’s daring enough to layout in her bikini or go swimming at a firm pool outing. SENIOR ASSOCIATE WHO SUDDENLY BECOMES A DICK WHEN HE’S UP FOR PARTNER (11) I would have ranked him lower, but he usually is a pretty cool guy up until that point.  You can’t lump him in with partners, like Jin, who lives in the office.  Even though he always billed pretty heavy hours, he was still cool with you and didn’t try to boss you around.  But once he finds out he’s up for partner, he tries to make a show of having a commanding presence.  Sneaking out together to get wasted while you’re on a deal is no longer an option.  When faced with HFS, even a senior associate up for partner loosens up a bit and forgets to act like a dick. Winner: HFS ________________________________ SOUTH In the South, we have a few rare breeds. SECRETARY WHO IS BOTH COMPETENT AND COVERS YOUR ASS (4) Even if she isn’t at all competent, if she still at least covers your ass, she’s easily a number-four overall seed.  Nancy, for all the shit I give her, is actually in the top 10% of secretaries.  The fact that nobody has ever noticed that I have done multiple closings from the privacy of my bedroom is a testament to her covert skills.  Her matchup is against one of the most loathsome types of male attorneys: SLOVENLY ASSOCIATE WHO ALWAYS TALKS ABOUT SPORTS (13) If he finds out you like the Mets, he will never let a conversation go by without talking about their starting rotation holes.  For some reason, he always manages to have stains on his shirt and bad breath.  Note to this guy: Grown male attorneys—even ones who like sports—don’t want to engage you every single day about sports, unless they’re in your fantasy league.  We just don’t.  If that hurts anyone’s feelings, then you should know that you ARE this guy and consider making some alterations to your small talk.  Unfortunately, upsets happen.  Otherwise they wouldn’t call it March Madness.  Despite all of his shortcomings, the sports mental patient is usually a pretty competent lawyer.  And while competing against a secretary (yes, I still call them secretaries because it makes me feel superior about my station in life), however useful, is a grinder of a matchup, she’s still a lowly secretary.  He can muster enough brain capacity, even with all his moronic sports chatter, to be somewhat of an asset to the firm.  Therefore, he defeats the Iona graduate.  It’s just science folks. Winner: Slovenly Associate Who Always Talks About Sports ________________________________ In the final Sweet Sixteen matchup are an anomaly and one type you could a throw a stick down any firm hallway and hit three of.  COMPETENT, YOUNG PARALEGAL (5) The competent young paralegal is usually straight out of college, sometimes headed to law school.  This paralegal can be counted on for pretty much anything.  Their desire to lock up a job at your firm five years before they get their JD makes them blind to the indentured servitude you sometimes put them through. CHIP-ON-HER-SHOULDER FEMALE PARTNER (12) I think I have discussed her ad nauseum, so I will just say this is the biggest blowout of the whole tournament. Goodbye, biatch. Winner: Competent, Young Paralegal ________________________________ Here’s your handy bracket below.  Stay tuned for the Final Four matchups next week.  Outcomes will be determined after extensive empirical research I conduct this week at my firm.  Matthew Richardson is mergers & acquisitions by day, Unethical & Amoral by moonlight. Join Bitter Lawyer on Facebook.  Follow on Twitter. Buy Bitter Lawyer merchandise.

LaGUARDIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Goldman Sachs’
10,000 Small Businesses Initiative

EDUCATION SERVICES DIRECTOR

Job Description
Background: 10,000 Small Businesses is a national $500 million investment by Goldman Sachs to spur growth and job creation in small businesses over the next five years. Goldman Sachs selected LaGuardia Community College of the City University of New York as the pilot partner to design and launch 10,000 Small Businesses. Through an unprecedented combination of classroom training, expert advice and mentoring, business owners will develop and implement strategies to grow their firms. Those business owners selected to participate in this intensive six-month program will receive rigorous training on business fundamentals through a curriculum devised by the nation's top business schools and tailored to the practical needs of small firms. Consulting and executive mentoring from business professionals at Goldman Sachs will give participants the chance to transform their learning into action. By the time business owners graduate from the program, they will have formulated their growth plans and be on track to expand and develop their businesses.

LaGuardia Community College has made the 10,000 Small Businesses initiative a significant program in its Adult and Continuing Education (“ACE”) division. The resources of the entire division have been committed to making the program a success. The ACE staff has worked hard to develop the key components of the program. The College is now seeking individuals to launch, lead, manage and continuously improve the program to ensure that it is meeting the small business needs of the New York City community.

The Position: Under the direction of the Executive Director, the Educational Services Director will lead the successful development, implementation, and delivery of the course curriculum for 10,000 Small Businesses at LaGuardia Community College. The anticipated curriculum will provide business owners with skills and information to improve their ability to grow their business. The successful candidate will demonstrate a vision for effective curriculum and instruction and an in-depth knowledge of best practices in adult education, including the use of technology and online instruction. The Educational Services Director will ensure that the curriculum is carefully coordinated with the business services components of the program providing participants with a comprehensive learning experience and preparing them to expand their businesses.

The Educational Services Director must be a self-starter with the desire and ability to generate innovative methods for teaching small businesses how to expand. He or she will be outcome-oriented and convey a compelling vision to staff, partners, and program funders, as well as to current and potential program participants. The Educational Services Director will be a leader, problem solver, skillful communicator, creative, opportunistic, and an effective collaborator.

Specific responsibilities:
· Manage the development, implementation and delivery of high-quality, practical and engaging educational program and allied services to 10,000 Small Businesses scholars
· Lead the day-to-day operations of the 100-hour certificate program, including the scheduling of modules, development and modification of curriculum and course materials, and review of lesson plans
· Identify, recruit, assign and supervise instructors to deliver course material
· Oversee the development and implementation of technologies to support the delivery of education services
· Manage the program budget and instructional staff for the education services component of 10,000 Small Businesses
· Coordinate the college administration, faculty, program and administrative staff to ensure that education services are delivered effectively
· Develop methods for data collection and quality assurance to ensure the curriculum is appropriate and effective on an ongoing basis
· Conduct educational research to derive best practices to improve the quality of the curriculum
· Coordinate with the Business Services Director to ensure that the educational services properly align with business services in a comprehensive program
· Represent the college and 10,000 Small Businesses internally and externally
· Instruct as needed
· Perform related duties as assigned
· Collaborate and coordinate with the Wharton School of Business in the creation of curriculum

Qualifications:
· Advanced degree from an accredited school
· At least six years experience teaching adults
· Experience with curriculum design, and the implementation and operations of educational services for diverse populations
· Excellent spoken and written communication skills
· Committed to finding innovative ways to serve program participants
· Must be a passionate advocate for 10,000 Small Businesses, its participants, and LaGuardia Community College
· Familiarity with use of technology in the classroom
· Instructionally creative
· Ability to develop and oversee quality assurance measures to ensure program effectiveness
· Familiarity with business management education a plus

To Apply: LaGuardia Community College has retained the services of Harris Rand Lusk to conduct this search. Inquiries, nominations, and applications may be directed in confidence to:


Jane Herzog, Senior Associate
Harris Rand Lusk
261 Madison Avenue, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10016
jherzog@harrisrand.com

A millionaire in his thirties, Charles Veley decided he wanted to "go everywhere". Ten years on, he has visited 806 of 871 "countries" and is looking to complete the set. Tim Adams joins him in Heligoland to find out why he has to keep moving

One of the things Charles Veley, the world's most-travelled man, has discovered is that there is always a bar. There was a bar on Palmyra Atoll, south west of Hawaii (population: 8); there was a bar on Willis Island in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland (population: 4). Ten minutes after he and I have arrived in Heligoland (population: a few hundred frozen Germans, and us) we are, therefore, sitting in a one-roomed pub, advertised by a gigantic wooden herring outside, and crammed inside with Dutch and German and English nautical knick-knackery. It is midday, and we have been on the road for four hours: first by car from Hamburg through fog and a blizzard to an airstrip at Uetersen. Then by eight-seater plane, which took off in a perturbing foot of snow, to an island called Dune. Then by roiling ferry across to here, Heligoland, holy land. It feels something like a pilgrimage for the insane and the desperate, and Veley, a neatly groomed, 44-year-old American, has been on the lookout for signs and wonders.

"This is part of my style," he tells me, gesturing around the bar. "Heligoland: I had no idea about it. So when we got here I waited for something. I saw this piece of paper in the window saying Eiergrog – "Egg grog" – and it looked interesting, so I walked past the big wooden fish and came in. My philosophy for travel is this: always plan as if you are going to do a Japanese-style tour and every second is accounted for. But on arrival, abandon all that and do whatever feels right. Eiergrog felt right. And you walk in, there is a pretty girl behind the bar, and you start to understand the place."

Iris, the pretty girl, has just placed two Eiergrogs on the table in front of us: hot, rum-based, raw-egg drinks whisked into a froth. Iris came here six years ago to do a seasonal job from Berlin, met a man, and stayed. "It is," she says, nodding at the swirling snow outside, the boarded-up beach huts and shop fronts, "better in summer." She has now met another man and plans to follow him to Australia. There is one other drinker in the bar, an 87-year-old named Herr Westerhaus, sipping glasses of hot gin. He has a daughter in East Anglia and was, he says, a radio signaller here for U-boats during the war. He had so many good memories he came back when he retired.

Veley, who slips easily in and out of German, has stories for both Iris and Herr Westerhaus; he has been to all the places they have been. In fact, as it quickly becomes apparent, he has been to all the places anyone has been. Heligoland is number 806 on Veley's list of visited "countries". He ticked off all the 193 UN-recognised nations eight years ago, and since then he has been collecting islands and atolls, provinces and protectorates. These days he runs a website called Most Traveled People, which has 8,000 members, mostly, like him, "competitive travellers", trading stories about Mizoram, Kingman Reef and Rio Muni. He established it, he suggests, in an attempt to bring some rigour to these travellers' tales, to rationalise the globe's possibilities (and, you imagine, to advertise his own unprecedented wanderlust).

It hasn't, he concedes, always worked out like that. The world of competitive travelling is, well, nothing if not competitive. For a start, deciding what is and what isn't a separate "country" – "a discrete geographical, ethnological or political entity" – threatens to become almost a full-time job in itself. Border disputes are rife. "People put forward nominations and I collect those," he says. "And whatever has the most nominations becomes a candidate, and then there is a voting process. Spain and France and Italy and several others are now divided into semi-autonomous regions. So it's getting tougher…" He doubts anyone, not even himself, will ever get the whole list (which currently stands at 871). "We are always adding new places. And there are already some really difficult places out there. Like Scott Island, a New Zealand island toward Antarctica; only six people have ever landed on it." He says this with a certain frustration.

Beyond the attempt to quantify all the world's remotest corners, there are also ongoing qualitative arguments, mostly about what is meant by the word "visit". Some travellers claim you must spend a night in a place; some argue it is enough to visit a lavatory there; "others," Veley suggests, somewhat wearily, "will say you have to sleep on a park bench or do it for less than $10 to make it real. And some people believe you must have cocktails at Annabelle's or wherever…" Veley has attempted to bring some order to this area, too. Just touching down while on a plane is not enough; Most Traveled People requires a photograph or a passport stamp or a credit card receipt. He recently, he says, personally defined the minimum requirements of what constitutes a "landing" on the North Sea island of Rockall (of shipping forecast fame).

He'd had a go at Rockall once before, with his friend, the clubbable castaway Ben Fogle, but the weather had been too tricky and they had turned their sailboat back. This time, with a different group, he set off from Benbecula, and it was beautiful, calm sailing for two days. When they got to Rockall, however, even in those perfect conditions, it was not clear exactly how they might land. "The swell is 7 metres, maybe," Veley recalls, "and the rock has sheer sides all round with powerful eddies beneath them." Veley and his fellow travellers circled the rock for half a day, waiting for a change in the sea. "We eventually decided to have a go at one corner that was a bit more craggy and had a skirt of thick kelp attached to it," he says. Among the crew was a photographer from Stornoway, who donned a wetsuit and jumped on a surfboard. "He timed the swell, grabbed the kelp, found the crag and hauled himself up," Veley says, "and we were all cheering wildly." Then it was Veley's turn. It took him ages to get the wetsuit on. The swell seemed even wilder. He plunged in. "I found the kelp, timed the surge, grabbed the crag, stood up on Rockall for maybe one and a half seconds before the next wave crashed over and knocked me straight back into the sea. But that counts, for sure…"

We order two more Eiergrogs.

Charles Veley grew up in Brooklyn and never left the United States until he was 18. His parents split up when he was young; money was tight and didn't extend to foreign holidays. Veley recalls sitting as a boy in the driver's seat of his father's car with the Rand McNally map on his knees, planning trips from coast to coast in his head, imagining himself always on the open road.

His first attempts at escape came when he was sponsored through his computer science degree at Harvard by the Officer Training Corps of the US Air Force; this was the era of Top Gun and competition for places was intense. Veley topped his year as a trainee fighter pilot before being abruptly dropped from the programme when a routine medical discovered a minute scar on his retina. By that time he was pulling jets out of tailspins and imagining 10 years stationed in remote air bases.

He responded to the disappointment by taking a flight over to the UK to see some friends at Cambridge, and from there his addiction to travel began. He took a Eurail pass and was hooked by the possibility. The last time he was in this part of Germany he got off at Hamburg train station and went running round town trying to eat a hamburger. "I had never left the States and suddenly there were borders, passport stamps..." Romance was a part of it, the prospect of unexpected encounters. "I had a three-week coach pass around Britain, too," he recalls. "I really wanted to go to Dorset because I loved Thomas Hardy, and I wanted to go to Scotland. I remember being in this overnight coach from Birmingham up to the Highlands and there was this redheaded girl sitting next to me. And I remember sort of in the middle of the night we were snogging suddenly. I had a lot of interesting seat mates on coaches."

When he returned to the States, Veley joined with some friends in setting up a dot.com company creating software that delivered business intelligence, helping retailers to understand the buying patterns of consumers. He worked 100-hour weeks and managed some long-haul travel when he could. In 1999 the company, MicroStrategy, floated on the ballooning Nasdaq and the share price peaked at $333. Veley had 500,000 shares. He was about to get married, he was 35, and he decided to retire.

"I'd always had a goal to speak five languages," he says. "I was studying French, German and Italian at night school, and then I thought: why do this? Why not go and live in these places instead? So my wife Kimberly and I went and did a year abroad – this was 2000. We got two round-the-world tickets and we lived in France and then Germany and then we went down to South Africa, and the geography down there just blew my mind. I realised we could go to Malawi, Botswana. And then we took another year and went to South America. And then I learned about the Travelers' Century Club, which has an entry level of 100 countries." At the same time he was getting more and more interested in round-the-world tickets. "If you really get into the mechanics of them," he says, "you can fly first or business and pay much less than economy, and that appealed to the computer side of me, puzzling over algorithms."

Along the way, while he was in Tasmania, Veley discovered by turning on the TV that he was no longer a multimillionaire: the MicroStrategy share price had crashed to 40 cents, but he was too far gone in his travelling to turn back. He figured the shares would bounce back. He booked some more flights. It was when he and his wife were on the way to Hong Kong from Korea and he became excited when he realised they could stop in Taiwan for four hours that he knew he was hooked.

For a few years after that Veley averaged around 100 countries per year. Some trips were more efficient than others. He flew to the South Pole in 2003 and took in Argentinian, Australian, British, Chilean, French, New Zealand and Norwegian territories without leaving the same spot – all countries disputing a single patch of land. The share price did rally somewhat, and he spent, he reckons, more than $1m on plane tickets and freighter passages and sailboat charters: 1m miles of travel in just three years, which took in every place you could name, and plenty you couldn't: Malyj Vysotskij Island, Zil Elwannyen Sesel, Ogasawara.

For much of that time, Veley's wife accompanied him, clocking up 200 countries herself, but in 2004 they had their first child, and now they have three, aged six, four and two, all autumn births because the Antarctic exploration season ends in February, and by that time Veley had generally been away from home for more than three months. He insists that since his children have been born family has been his priority, but he still pursues his impossible itinerary. When we meet he is midway through a 16-stop round-the-world ticket, en route home for a week in San Francisco to catch the end of Valentine's Day and take the children off to Disneyland. Then he has a province of Argentina to collect.

Veley is telling me all of this while we wander somewhat aimlessly in the sleet and knifing cold, fortified by Eiergrog, up to the high point of Heligoland, past a stark geometric church to a headland spiked with radio masts and overlooking rock stacks washed by the ocean. He takes it all in without too much comment. He doesn't collect souvenirs, or take photos beyond the odd snap on his iPhone, or jot down notes. Never does.

I'm intrigued, of course, by his motivation, but he can't explain the obsession much except in the blandest terms – proof positive that you are either a psychologist or an adventurer, but rarely both. "If you want to have a complete worldview you have to go everywhere," he'll say. "Every place you learn something new." Or: "It's an investment in life experience. Whenever I meet anyone, no matter where they are from, I can always relate to them." Or: "While I'm alive I just want to see as much of the world as I can. I'm organised; I have a computer background." When I mention the environmental impact of his travels, he brushes the question aside. "I care about the environment just like you," he says.

The challenge itself is sometimes enough of a motivation. Palmyra Atoll (population: 8; bars: 1) is maintained by Nature Conservancy in the US. In his enquiries about how he might get there, Veley was referred to a woman named Nancy at the Conservancy offices in Vermont. She suggested to him that the only people who ever got to go to Palmyra Atoll were those who made at least a "six-figure contribution to Nature Conservancy". To Veley this was fighting talk. "I can be quite persistent," he says, on deserted Heligoland, with a degree of understatement. In the end he chartered a boat out of Hawaii with a few others to share the cost. "We finally arrived at Palmyra some days later," he recalls. "The bar is a run-down wooden structure built 30 years ago and yachties had written stuff on the walls. I wrote a 'Poem to Nancy': 'Palmyra is nice/great palm trees and sand/please lower the price/from one hundred grand…'"

It seems almost redundant to ask Veley about his favourite places, though from time to time – he has a weirdly accurate memory for names and events – he will suggest how he had a fine time on St Kilda, or he'll let slip that everyone loves country and western music on Pitcairn. The strangest place he's ever been was the "conference room" between North and South Korea, in Panmunjom, two nations staring at each other. The scariest: Afghanistan on the first anniversary of 9/11. He once made a list of all the worst things that had happened to him: the time a tree frog urinated on his forehead in Tortuguero, or when his canoe capsized in the Zambezi, among hippos, or when he waited for three days for a boat out of Christmas Island, and when it arrived he went to introduce himself to the captain before their 1,000-mile voyage only to discover him drunk, stoned, naked and masturbating in his cabin.

The urge to travel to Veley's extent, a kind of attention deficit on a global scale, has a medical diagnosis: dromomania, the addiction to new experiences, the vagabond neurosis. He's a curious case, though. While most dromomaniacs are permanently wedded to the road, Veley is both rooted and adrift, very settled, he insists, and almost permanently travelling.

His rivals – nearly all of them acquaintances – have sometimes claimed that what Veley does is not really travel at all: it's too systematic, there's no depth to it, not enough danger. He became friendly with John Clouse, who for many years was the Guinness world record holder as the most travelled man (before Guinness decided to abandon the category, as there were too many conflicting criteria). Clouse, a lawyer from Indiana, went through six marriages before his death two years ago at 82. "He tended to find a new wife and travel with her, and then she would realise what was involved," Veley explains.

About three-quarters of the travellers on his website are men, though the "leaderboard" used to include a woman who claimed all sorts of incredible journeys. She had claimed, for example, that she had been to Mount Athos, the Greek monastic state into which only males are allowed, arguing that when she was a girl her father had cut her hair short and taken her in. Veley asked for proof of some of her exploits and she immediately removed herself. The table currently shows a man named Bill Altaffer slightly ahead of Veley, but though Veley doesn't doubt Altaffer's "been all over the place" he suggests that Altaffer refuses to always provide the evidence required, and that their paths don't cross too often, and "it is, I guess," Veley says, "not worth worrying too much about".

One of the things that his years of waiting for planes and boats has taught him is that, try as you might, you can't force situations. "I remember on my initial Euro trip it was late afternoon and I was in Rome and I couldn't go in the Vatican because I was wearing shorts. I remember thinking: this is the only chance I will ever have. I was wrong." The first time he tried to get to the North Pole on an icebreaker from Svalbard they got stuck in the ice at 86 and a quarter degrees latitude. He went back the next year and made it. "Things will come round again" is his mantra. His only assets, he suggests – beyond, that is, his financial resources – are patience and politeness in negotiating the world's officialdom. To that I would add a certain sure sense of restlessness, of giving the impression of being on the way somewhere else, of nowhere being a final destination.

On the boat back to the airstrip on Dune we find ourselves in the cabin of the Heligoland ferry with half a dozen German men in their sixties, who appear to have been at the Eiergrog all day. Discovering we speak English they launch into a rousing version of "What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor" as the small boat pitches across the bay. They come here every year, one of the more sober members of the group explains to me as we approach the airstrip. Have been doing so for 40 years, always this weekend in February, always this place. "Nothing changes. Friends, the same. Heligoland, the same. That's how we like it," he says. Charles Veley joins in with the singing, files away the experience neatly, but I'm guessing he is also planning what to do later in Hamburg, and thinking about tomorrow morning's flight, and the one after, and the one after that. Novelty can have its own monotony, too.

Charles Veley's top tips

Favourite all-round destination: Lord Howe Island (370 miles east of Australia)

Favourite country: I love them all

Best cuisine: Thai

Worst cuisine: Turkmenistan

Favourite bar: Hemingway Hotel Ritz, Paris

Favourite airline: Singapore for long-haul; Virgin America for domestic

Best airport: Hong Kong

Secret to beating jet lag: Travel westwards

Most underrated tourist attraction: most World Heritage Sites

Most overrated tourist attraction: South of France in August

Best beach: Anywhere on the north shore of Kauai, Hawaii

You Don’t Know It Yet, But…

This will be the third greatest watch you will ever own.

The second greatest watch you will ever own will be given to you while you are sitting at your grandfather’s bedside just before he passes away. He will take your hand and give you the watch his commanding officer gave him as a show of appreciation of his service during the war.”History,” he will whisper to you with some of the last breaths he will ever take. “History is a very important thing.” He will then go to join his loved ones in the tunnel of light and live no more.

Unfortunately, no matter how important history is, it won’t keep that bookie off your back. You’ll have to pawn the thing fast if you want to keep all your fingers for your grandfather’s funeral.

The greatest watch you will ever own will be dropped by someone you think is a hobo but is actually a time traveler from the 32nd century who has lost his mind. When you pick it up, you will accidentally hit a button that will send you forward in time to dystopic era in which humanity is ruled by horrible pigeon-bots. There you will have a grand adventure and save the world from their awful tyranny, but a twist of fate will transport you back to moments just before you left. Your mind will shatter and you will drop the watch on the sidewalk for your past self to pick up, thus completing the circle of destiny.

THIS watch, however, is a darn fine watch, the third best you’ll ever have. This blue Timex iControl Ironman Resin Strap Watch has controls for your iPod (but not the Shuffle) and iPhone (if it’s in Airplane Mode) built right in so you can control your music while walking, running, or exercising. Not only that, you’ll have all the other great features you’ve come to expect from Timex, including various alarm settings, lap management system, 100-hour chronograph with lap or split in large digits, and more. You will always think fondly on this watch. So much so, that you will name your first child “Timex”.

Warranty: 90 day Timex Warranty

Features:

• The iControl watch transmits signals seamlessly to your iPod so you can control your music in a heartbeat
• Wireless control of main iPod functions: play and pause, track forward and back, volume up and down
• Chronograph training log stores workouts by date, with best lap, average lap and total segment time
• 100-hour chronograph with lap or split in large digits
• 50-lap memory recall for effortless review after workout
• Total run format/synchro timer maintains total activity timers settable up to 24 hours: countdown/stop (CS), countdown/repeat (CR)
• Automatic interval repetition counter
• 3 customizable alarms: daily/weekly/weekend/weekly options
• Total Run Timer
• Lap Management System
• 24-Hour Countdown Timer
• Interval Timers
• Automatic Interval Repetition Counter
• Three Daily, Weekly, Weekday or Weekend Alarms
• Three Time Zones
• Built-In Setting Reminders
• Month, Day and Date Display
• Durable and Lightweight Resin Case
• Top Pusher for Easy Operation
• Durable Resin Strap
• All-Day White Reflector Display
• Includes Wireless Receiver
• Co-molded dura-strength resin strap for improved fit
• Dependable water resistance to 100 meters
• Easy to view in dark condition with INDIGLO night-light
• Paring: Each time the receiver is placed in the iPod, it pairs with the first watch it sees. No confusion if there is more than one person using an iControl nearby
• Compatible with iPod Classic Sixth Generation (80GB, 160GB), iPod Nano (3rd generation video – 4GB, 8GB), iPod Touch (8GB, 16GB), iPod Nano (2nd generation – 2GB, 4GB, 8GB), iPod (5th generation 30GB, 60GB, 80GB) and iPod Nano (1st generation 1GB, 2GB, 4GB), iPhone 3G/3GS. Note: Does not work with iPod mini, or iPod shuffle

In the box:

• (1) Timex iControl Ironman Resin Strap Watch - Blue

A Florida Sport Fishing Staff Report


It’s no surprise that outboard engine maintenance is a hot topic. Who wants to be stranded offshore or deep in the backcountry with a mechanical issue that could have easily been avoided with only a bit of preventative maintenance? With just a little TLC and responsible practices you can keep your outboard engine(s) running reliably and smoothly for many years to come.

If you’ve recently purchased a new outboard motor—for approximately the same price you could have purchased a new car—it’s in your best interest to make it last. Although pricey, the benefit of new-age outboard engines is that they offer technologically advanced designs and feature cutting-edge engineering, ensuring they will perform as expected for the term of your vessel ownership—if not longer. However, one downside to modern engineering is that the latest electronically controlled systems are quite complex and if you neglect them in any way, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise.


With the latest and greatest outboard engines, manufacturers have employed a wide variety of technologies and design features in an effort to improve performance and reliability, while simultaneously increasing fuel economy and lowering emissions. You can count on one thing—whether it’s an electronic fuel injected four-stroke, carbureted four-stroke, single-point fuel injected two-stroke, low pressure direct injection or high pressure direct injection two-stroke, modern outboard motors are not designed for owner maintenance. If you’re not a certified, factory trained technician, it is in your best interest to leave the tough task of performing annual service to someone with years of experience.

To get the inside scoop as to what’s involved in annual outboard servicing, we contacted Mike Lund of Outboard Specialties (www.fixboat.com) in Pompano Beach. Lund tells us for many boaters around the country winterizing is a hot topic, but for those who ply their craft in the temperate, sub-tropical climate of Florida, it’s clear that the boating and fishing season never ends. With that being said, it’s still best to perform your annual maintenance during the winter season. This is due to the fact that boatyards and mechanics won’t be as busy and any issues that arise during your annual service can be handled promptly.


While many boaters follow the “When it breaks, I’ll fix it” mentality, this is not a good idea and will surely reduce the reliability and efficiency of your outboard(s). According to Lund, approximately 50-percent of damaged motors that come through his shop are a result of lack of maintenance. Talk to distinguished mechanics around the state and they will likely sing you the same song. Regardless of the hours accumulated, annual service should never be neglected. Many boaters think that an annual service and 100-hour service are interchangeable terms, but this is far from the truth. Contact your manufacturer or local mechanic and see what service plan is best for you.

While you may think of yourself as handy and slightly educated in outboards, that’s fine and dandy, but professional technicians will be able to locate and troubleshoot certain components and aspects that could lead to trouble down the road if not taken care of immediately. If you’re confident in your abilities, changing your own oil will certainly cut costs when it comes to annual service, however, replacing an impeller or checking a thermostat is a different story altogether. Lets say for example your thermostat is stuck half-open. This will cause your engine to idle a bit cooler, but that’s pretty much the only warning signal you’ll receive. You will have no idea that your engine is running richer, effectively diminishing your outboard’s overall efficiency. Another component you may visually inspect and come to the conclusion that everything is okay is your sacrificial zinc anode. While a seasoned zinc and a brand new zinc may look the same, the used zinc will weigh significantly less and lack the integrity to perform effectively.


When it comes to outboard maintenance with today’s technologically advanced motors one thing is for certain; seasons of neglect will lead to major expenses. The bottom line is that you should have your outboard(s) serviced annually by a certified technician. Don’t find yourself saying, “If I only would have…”

Annual Service Checklist

• Perform Compression Test
• Replace Spark Plug(s)
• Inspect Thermostat
• Replace Fuel Filters
• Replace Engine Oil Filter
• Replace Lower Unit Oil & Inspect For Water in Lower Unit
• Pressure Test Lower Unit
• Install New Water Pump
• Remove Prop & Inspect Seal
• Replace Zincs
• Grease Fittings, Prop Shaft, Drive Shaft, Trim Steering
• Inspect Popit Valves
• Protect w/ CRC Corrosion Block
• Perform Vital Systems Check
• Inspect Steering Components
  

Source: Florida Sport Fishing

With the release of Mass Effect 2 today, Bioware pushes further into digital content. "We are trying to create an ongoing digital strategy around connecting with players," said Dr. Greg Zeschuk, cofounder of Bioware. The game is launching with the Cerberus Network, an in-game channel for the company to connect with players, sharing with them free downloads and news from Bioware. "In a player's perspective, they just put a code in and get some stuff. It's also a channel for us to communicate with the player. Just that ability to open a channel with them, your most engaged and interested fans, is pretty valuable."

While Cerberus Network will be free, Zeschuk said that not all downloads will be. "We are going to still put bigger pieces up for sale." An example of such sizeable downloadable content (DLC) could be found in the developer's fantasy epic, Dragon Age. Though successful enough to earn $1 million in the first week alone, that DLC received immediately criticism from the gaming public since it was available at the game's launch and was even sold by a character within the game. "I think if the fans love the game and you create an experience that is good enough to live on, they'll buy stuff. If you don't want to buy it, the game is awesome without it. We get arguments, 'It should've been packed in.' We're already giving you a 100-hour game, don't complain about the content value we are giving you."

Looking at the success of the DLC for music games (Guitar Hero or Rock Band; Rock Band has sold over 60 million songs) and multiplayer games (Halo or Call of Duty; Call of Duty: World at War sold 7 million map packs), downloadable content is now necessary for a title to be successful, right? "Most games probably have less than 10% of total revenue from DLC, with the average around 5%," said gaming analyst Michael Pachter, Managing Director of Equity Research at Wedbush Securities. "I think this will increase over time, but it's nice to have, not essential."

Added David Riley, analyst at NPD Group, a market research firm that compiles the gaming industry's sales figures: "There's no doubt in that Online/Multiplayer capabilities can help to sell a title, but DLC? Not enough to move the needle."

Downloadable content does have a business advantage, according to Riley. "DLC helps to prolong the shelf life of a title, while producing additional revenue for the publisher/developer." Zeschuk agrees, "DLC is really working in the games business now. One of the things that has been a challenge for the business is that we really have only had one way to monetize and that has been some kind of retail event. DLC gives us more options, and allows us to reach more people." For developers, creating downloadable content makes sense beyond revenue. "For us it's really beneficial to get fans trying stuff, getting their feedback, and work that into our development," Zeschuk said.

Bioware's DLC releases are also part of a larger strategy to connect with fans on an on-going basis. Dragon Age has a social networking site, as well as a disc full of new content called Awakening, coming in March. The Cerberus Network will keep players of Mass Effect connected and downloading add-ons for the sci-fi RPG. But where can the developer take its franchises next? "One thing we look at is to make something truly multiplatform: You have a world server running. The console can poke it and play on it. Your iPhone can play on it. Your Facebook game can play on it. But they're all doing different things. You might play Mass Effect, using your iPhone to explore the galaxy, using Facebook to build a weapon, and on console you may be reaping the benefits: using that weapon, or going to the planet you discovered on your iPhone," Zeschuk said.