August 16, 2008

The August 16 show closes Expedition 08 with Paul and Angelica safely back in Tucson after roughly three months through Central America. The Land Cruiser may have brought them home as much as they brought it home, the final sixteen-hour push includes roadside radiator and diesel work and the entire experiment surprises Dr. Dave because the mobile office needed less technical help abroad than it did after returning. Back at the radio bunker, a bad capacitor creates an elusive streaming-server failure that works one boot and fails the next, giving Dr. Dave another example of why intermittent problems are harder than dramatic ones. His troubleshooting advice is similarly human: stay calm, work methodically, walk away when nerves take over and recognize the limits of what can be controlled on somebody else's computer. The broader technology history catches people already looking past Vista to Windows 7, excitement and anxiety about an iPhone 3G radio problem and growing enthusiasm for cloud computing that Dr. Dave believes needs a practical rather than fashionable boundary. Across security and purchasing calls, he argues against emotional brand loyalty and against both total neglect and obsessive overprotection.

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