Airline pollution activists Plane Stupid have made this brilliant, hard-hitting ad to show the impact of global warming. You'll probably never see this ad on the telly, so watch it now.
"We have a problem. We're flying too much, and it's changing the earth's climate. Aviation is the fastest growing cause of climate change. But instead of doing anything about it, the Government is planning more flights and larger airports."
Are you flying to grandma's for Thanksgiving? Think twice before trying to take leftovers home with you on the plane.
Mashed potatoes are usually thick and gooey, and cranberry sauce wiggles and jiggles. The Transportation Security Administration considers both to be liquids.
It may sound strange, but you can't pack those in your carry-on bag. More obvious no-nos include gravy, salad dressing and soup.
Also, grandma's homemade jam has to go in your checked luggage. Here's one way to think about it: If it's something spreadable, get it out of your carry on and in to your checked bag.
Tuesday's edition of my three times a week talk show.Watch the show here on CURRENT TV on Tues, Thurs & Sats.
In today's show :
YOU CAN NOW SUBSCRIBE TO THE VIDEO VERSION ONCE AGAIN ON ITUNES.UNITED KINGDOM TALK VIDEO.
It's on the other side of the kitchen.
Pub food.
The wires too short.
Product placement.
Things are getting desperate.
Jobs that are not done properly.
Read the instructions.
Still not bought the ticket.
What sort of product should I allow ?
Ding dong.
Recycle the plug.
Why is the video so long ?
Do I need bolts inserted ?
A stupid question.
Susan's roof.
I can't part with the money.
The washing machine story.
Five stars.
Tell me your DIY disasters.
TEXT the show : UK - 078... Int - +44... chris@unitedkingdomtalk.co.uk
WWW.UNITEDKINGDOMTALK.CO.UKTuesday's edition of my three times a week talk show.Watch the show here on CURRENT TV... more
San Diego has been looking at replacing its airport for years. A new $20 billion dollar proposal seeks to build a gigantic one out in the Pacific Ocean, complete with hotels, restaurants and universities.San Diego has been looking at replacing its airport for years. A new $20 billion... more
Continental Airlines and the Port Authority of NJ held a Special Olympics Plane Pull last month. A good day was had by all with fun for the entire family with all proceeds going to the New Jersey Special Olympics. Teams of 20 competed to pull a Boeing 737 weighing over 93,000 lbs. on the Continental Airlines tarmac at Newark Airport!Continental Airlines and the Port Authority of NJ held a Special Olympics Plane Pull... more
A little noticed policy at two California airports allows properly qualified passengers to fly the friendly skies carrying up to a half pound of marijuana, news agencies revealed Friday.
"The policy [at Oakland International Airport] is spelled out in a three-page document quietly enacted last year by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office," Mercury News reported. "It states that if deputies determine someone is a qualified patient or primary caregiver as defined by California law and has eight ounces or less of the drug, he or she can keep it and board the plane."
San Francisco International Airport shares the policy, CBS 5 in Oakland reported. But passengers travel with the drug "at their own risk," the agency added.
Sgt. J.D. Nelson with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office told Mercury News that officers and airport security will issue warnings to those bringing marijuana into areas where it is not legal, but do not call the passengers' destination to notify them of a traveler carrying the drug.
"We're certainly within our right to, but we never have," he said. "Our notification of the passengers [legal risk] is for their own safety and well-being."
In a state that has allowed medicinal marijuana for over a decade, the policy of these two airports is hardly surprising.
Newsweek, in a recent feature, declared Oakland, California to be America's "Potopia," highlighting a nine-block area of the city as "a model for what a legalized-drug America could look like."
"Nestled among what was once a rash of vacant storefronts, [is...] a kind of urban pot utopia, where everything moves just a little bit more slowly than the outside world. Among the businesses [...] are the Blue Sky Coffeeshop, a coffeehouse and pot dispensary where getting an actual cup of Joe takes 20 minutes but picking up a sack of Purple Kush wrapped neatly in a brown lunch bag takes about five. There's Lee's Bulldog Café, a student lounge with a not-so-secret back room where the haze-induced sounds of "Dark Side of the Moon" seep through thick smoke and a glass-blowing shop where bongs are the art of choice. Around the corner is a taco stand [...] that has benefited mightily from the university's hungry students."
The local institution of higher learning, referred to as Oaksterdam University, is like a mecca for marijuana enthusiasts, the magazine reported.
"An education at Oaksterdam means learning how to grow, sell, market, and consume weed—all of which has been legal in California, for medicinal use only, since 1996," Newsweek added. "... But Oakland is unique in that it has four licensed and regulated dispensaries, each taxed directly by the city government. This past summer, Oakland voters became the first in the nation to enact a special cannabis excise tax—$18 for every $1,000 grossed—that the city believes will generate up to $1 million in the first year. Approved by 80 percent of voters, and unopposed by any organization, including law enforcement, the tax was pushed by the dispensary owners themselves, who hope the model will prove to the rest of California that a regulated marijuana industry can be both profitable and responsible."
"Oakland's airport policy was enacted in February 2008, but [Oakland attorney Robert] Raich said he didn't want to publicize it until recently lest the Bush administration change federal regulations, or lest it become an issue in Obama administration drug officials' confirmation hearings," Mercury News added.
A Field Research Corporation poll of Californians found in May that for the first time ever, a majority in the state support legalizing marijuana and taxing it similarly to alcohol.
The poll (PDF link), an “independent and non-partisan survey,” centered mostly on tax issues. Results were culled from the answers of 901 registered California voters, with a margin of error of +/- 3.4 percent.
“Three in four support increasing two so-called “sin taxes” - the state tobacco tax and CON'T>>>A little noticed policy at two California airports allows properly qualified... more
Future passenger security checks at airports may no longer include ‘pat-downs’ with a new full-body imaging technology undergoing trials at Manchester Airport.
Manchester Airport’s Terminal 2 is trialling the Secure 1000 Single Pose, which uses backscatter technology and proprietary image processing software to produce a ghost-like outline of an individual’s body. A concealed threat such as a knife or gun would be clearly detectable on the image.
The US-based developer of the technology, Rapiscan Systems, believes that the technology could, one day, replace metal detectors in airports.Future passenger security checks at airports may no longer include ‘pat-downs’... more
This looks pretty cool, but I'm not sure how practical it is. It's a black upright suitcase that transforms into a chair -- so if all the seats are full at the airport, you can just opne the case up and take a seat. However it looks like the contents of your luggage case would come falling out...probably why it's just a concept for now, but it may go on sale in the future.This looks pretty cool, but I'm not sure how practical it is. It's a black upright... more
Do we think this is a good thing? I don't really mind the security at Airports as id does keep us safe, after all if something bad did happen we would point straight at security for not picking up on them. On a bad not now we will all have to hit the gym before walking through this thing!Do we think this is a good thing? I don't really mind the security at Airports as id... more
The days of being able to walk through airport security checkpoints while wearing shoes and a jacket could return if an experimental program proves successful, some Department of Homeland Security officials say.
The Homeland Security-funded project is Future Attribute Screening Technology, or FAST. Instead of focusing on whether you have hidden explosives or whether you're carrying a weapon, sensors and cameras located at security checkpoints would measure the natural signals coming from your body -- your heart rate, breathing, eye movement, body temperature and fidgeting.
Those physiological signs, measured together, will indicate whether you might have the desire or intent to do harm, project manager Robert Burns said.
"There's been a large field of research that ties your physical reactions to your mental state, your emotional state. We're looking for those signals that your body gives off naturally," Burns said.
Burns said the technology will pick up cues that may not be observed by a human and help security personnel decide more quickly whether to send someone to secondary screening for questioning.
This is cool, but kind of terriflying at the same time. This level of technology presents plenty of times for abuse.The days of being able to walk through airport security checkpoints while wearing... more
"Federal inspectors found numerous violations at O'Hare International Airport that endanger airplanes at the most critical phases of flight -- takeoffs and landings, officials said Wednesday."
" An object as small as a stone on a runway can pose a danger to flight by being ingested into aircraft jet turbines or piercing a fuel tank and sparking an explosion and fire.
Yet FAA inspectors found rocks, garbage and wood survey stakes used during construction on runways and taxiways at O'Hare.
Collisions between aircraft and birds are a constant threat to safety at airports like O'Hare that are surrounded by woods and waterways."
Yikes"Federal inspectors found numerous violations at O'Hare International Airport that... more
Finally, we are in the future -- Heathrow Airport is rolling out those driverless pod taxis it announced two years ago, and they look just as adorable as ever. The ULTra Personal Pod cars are fully automated battery-powered pods that zoom around at up to 25mph on a special road network, and can transport four passengers and their luggage between Heathrow's Terminal 5 and its business car parks. If, like us, you have a thing for retro-futuristic design, you'll do well to check out the gallery below, complete with interior shots, and there's also a video after the break. Enjoy!Finally, we are in the future -- Heathrow Airport is rolling out those driverless pod... more
What do you do when you love someone but you don’t know if your IN love with them any longer? In this piece out blogger comes to the realization that when her partner has been gone for 3 weeks to the UK she has welcomed the freedom. When she goes to pick him up at the airport, their eyes meet and those windows to the soul express a vacancy that wasn’t their before he left. She knows she loves him as her best friend, but is she IN love with him?
A really interesting piece about love, life, humanity, relationships and the end of the road in terms of breaking up.
Blogger has an amazingly eclectic site with everything from beauty, fashion, diary style entries, poetry, life in the magazine world----this girl has everything. Already winner of the prestigious “Blog Of The Day Award” (some people take years to earn this—she’s only had her blog up 3 weeks!) and on top level blog rolls of awesome bloggers, this girl is amazing. A+++++What do you do when you love someone but you don’t know if your IN love with them... more
We learn from Curbed that environmentalists are agog at the idea of converting Central Park in New York into a new airport. And why not? look at all the fuel that will be saved on trips to and from Kennedy and LaGuardia. And after Sully's Glider got knocked out of the sky by Canada Geese, it is perfectly obvious that if you have too much green space these things breed unsustainably. Isn't it better to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, and turn Central Park into a fabulous new airport?
And as Toronto's experience with Porter Airlines has shown, you can't be a world-class city without a downtown airport. It just makes so much sense to take New York's last, biggest undeveloped piece of land and turn it into something useful, especially if it saves precious fossil fuel. The Manhattan Airport Organization writes:
Perhaps most importantly, the significant reduction in energy consumption and carbon-based emissions pursuant to single-person automobile trips between Manhattan and the region’s existing three major airports underscores the fact that building Manhattan Airport is a critical step in living up to our environmental responsibility.
Regular readers of this site will know that we are committed to historic preservation, that "the greenest brick is the one already in the wall." Therefore we are pleased to report that:
Vestigial architectural elements of the original Central Park site will, when possible, be retained or reworked in to the context of the new designs. Past will meet present in an aesthetic, yet pragmatic dialogue as our city’s priceless architectural heritage is reshaped and infused with a bold new relevance and sense of purpose befitting the financial and cultural capital of the world.
Congratulations to the Manhattan Airport Foundation and the " numerous civic organizations, design professionals, and civic-minded individuals and businesses from New York and around the world, united in the goal of providing a viable transportation hub in New York City for the benefit of all New Yorkers."We learn from Curbed that environmentalists are agog at the idea of converting Central... more
Maybe these bees were too tired to fly for themselves. A gang of honeybees landed on the wing of a plane used for flight school training at Beverly Airport. At first, the 10,000 or so bees swarmed over the left side of the aircraft, then landed on top of the left wing. The owner of the flight center called police, who said to call local bee removal expert Al Wilkins.
Wilkins used a specially designed vacuum to suck the bees off the plane, and then relocated them to hives where they will produce honey.
Wilkins guessed that the queen may have stopped to rest on the plane, and the other bees congregated around to protect her.Maybe these bees were too tired to fly for themselves. A gang of honeybees landed on... more
Police in Liberty County, Texas, say they are working with the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration in a review of an alleged UFO sighting.
Ken DeFoor, Liberty County Sheriff's Department chief deputy, told The Houston Chronicle Tuesday an ExpressJet Airlines pilot claimed to have seen on object flying near Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
"The FAA is in the process of debriefing the pilot today (Tuesday)," DeFoor said. "We are going to try and come up with a more definite track of this object and its path. We are trying to find out where it came from, where it went, and who may be responsible for it."
"No people were injured and no evasive action on part of the airplane was taken," DeFoor added regarding the Continental Express jet the pilot was operating at the time of last Friday's sighting.
The pilot, whose identity was not reported, said the object appeared to possibly be a missile or rocket.
DeFoor told the Chronicle authorities were investigating the possibility the unknown object may have been launched from the ground.Police in Liberty County, Texas, say they are working with the FBI and the Federal... more
For the business traveler (and the traveler in general, really), Wi-Fi is important -- crucial, even. But more important than sustenance? That's exactly what was found in a recent survey by American Airlines and HP, where some 47% of business travelers responded that Wi-Fi was the "most important airport amenity, outscoring basic travels needs such as food by nearly 30 percentage points."
The online study gathered results from 1,500 frequent travelers who log more than 20 trips a year on three or more airlines, and it also found that the largest complaint wasn't delayed flights, cramped areas, endless fees or the lack of an AC outlet in coach -- no, it was dead PC batteries.For the business traveler (and the traveler in general, really), Wi-Fi is important --... more
Ron Rosenbaum writes, "I love airport best-sellers because I see them as our Nostradamuses, the literary canaries in the dark coal mines of our paranoia. They sniff out and serve up fictionalized but "realistic" prophecies of coming doom of one sort or another. Perhaps it's that in their visions of total world immolation they diminish in the mind of said traveler the possibility of something so trivial as a 757 engine malfunction.
The nature of the doom these books threaten us with has recently undergone a subtle shift, especially in the realm of what I've called in the past "nuke porn." I coined the term (in a Harper's article) at the height of the Cold War to characterize the way nuclear war novels and films from Fail-Safe to Strangelove and the like adapted or imitated the techniques one could find in conventional porn: the excitement of arousal and buildup, the finger on the trigger as the world was brought to the trembling brink of a consciousness-obliterating climax. And the post-coital tristesse of "survivor novels" like On the Beach, where the onrushing end of the species licensed a doom-inflected licentiousness.
The new nuke porn is hard-core, more graphic and full-frontal than the Cold War version of the genre. Instead of the anticipatory excitement (Fail-Safe, Strangelove) or the post-coital tristesse (On the Beach) of First Era nuke porn, we get real-time blast-burns and melting flesh. There was always an erotic component to apocalyptic literature—those end-of-the-world sects were notorious for their doom-fueled orgiastic behavior—but I always wondered why most nuke porn was about looking forward to the approaching act or looking back on its consummation but rarely about looking directly at it. Yes, Strangelove ended with a suite of stock footage of mushroom clouds exploding (to the strains of "We'll Meet Again"), but while we saw the explosions there, we never confronted face to face—in the way film and fiction can—the actual experience of being inside a nuclear blast. (The most notable exception being, of course, the few seconds of—did it happen or was it averted?—nuking footage in Terminator 2. Remember the playground scene where the nuke turns the frolicking moms and kids into scary X-rays?* It's a key transition between the old nuke porn and the new.)
But now the genre has entered a new era—an era of looking "directly at it"—a fact that didn't really register with me until I read Whitley Strieber's airport novel, Critical Mass, in which we get the nuke porn equivalent of the "money shot." You know Strieber, right? Mr. Airport Extreme. He's the auteur of what some might see as another strange form of porn, those alien-abduction fantasies that feature anal probes. He was among the first to bring UFO abductions complete with probes into the airport "bookstore.""Ron Rosenbaum writes, "I love airport best-sellers because I see them as our... more
We can't get enough of infoporn Twitter mashups, can we?
Canadian artist Jer Thorp extracted travel information from people’s public Twitter streams by searching for the term ‘Just landed in…’. He combined the location they’d just landed in with the home location they list on their Twitter profile, and then used this information to map out travel in the Twittersphere.
Watch the result in the video below.We can't get enough of infoporn Twitter mashups, can we?
Canadian artist Jer Thorp... more
![CRASH n BURN! -[Plane Crash Death%]](http://i2.crtcdn.net/images/asset/901/253/36/Q23703_60x45.jpg)
