News and notes from around the interweb:
- 6 year old denied passport because she’s named Khaleesi (Game of Thrones) the UK initially claimed she couldn’t have the name due to trademark.
- United Airlines Faces Lawsuit After Passenger Was Seriously Injured When He Swallowed Piece of Wire Hiding In His Inflight Meal honestly you’re better off bringing your own food when you fly United anyway
- Hawaii flights no longer a wifi dead zone thanks to new ViaSat satellite
- Southwest Airlines flights now on Kayak after having been added to Google Flights, Southwest needs passengers anywhere they can find them
- Lufthansa’s new Newark lounge opens August 14th.
- Struggling Intel grounds its corporate airline
- Global Entry expected to finally open to Australians next year
The Khaleesi name is not protected by intellectual property rights law, so obviously the UK Govt messed up in its initial refusal of recognizing the name as acceptable for UK passport issuance purposes.
Speaking of names, I have run into people whose ID says Yoda. “May the Force be with you” when dealing with upright Europeans with their excessive name-control rules.
Classy of the UK to call and apologize for the error. At some point after the US declared independence, elements of class were lost. It’s quite remarkable how one can walk into most London shops and be welcomed warmly in a dignified manner. Whereas, in NYC, one can walk into most shops and be met by blank expressions. Picking up a $400 overpriced piece of bedding at West Elm in Chelsea, I asked a greeter next to the entrance where was the pickup area. Instead of smiling and directing me gracefully to the area, she said one word: “Back.” and she continued to stare expressionless into the distance. That’s most of NYC for you–I thought West Elm was high end enough to be more gracious. Alas.
One time at a restaurant I was eating the food and found pieces of metal that had came off when the can was opened with a can opener. I have no idea of how much I swallowed but the crunchiness and hardness alerted me to closely examine my food. I quit eating and never went back to that restaurant even though they had generally good tasting food. I didn’t complain to the staff because I thought it would be a waste of time.
@jns … I ate C-Rations for years , and I opened the cans with p-38 or my knife , without problems .
The restaurant must have used a cleaver or a hammer and chisel .
Well, good for the Aussie, they deserve it.. They and NZ have amazingly easy electronic passport control systems US passport holders are allowed to use. For those who haven’t experienced it, with no exaggeration, the walk from the plane to the baggage claim area requires two stops delaying you approximately the duration of two stops a a water fountain.
@Alert, no, they used a can opener. I know because the metal in my food was the same twisted shape that a twist type can opener sometimes, but rarely, makes. It comes off of the lower part of the rim where the drive wheel engages it. I have used all sorts of methods to open cans myself including the famous P-38 can opener. Knives and knife like bayonets such as the one for an M-14 work quite well using a rocking motion. The ones that are in combination with some bottle openers do quite well.
Wow — I don’t have Netflix/HBO/whatever it’s on — but doesn’t this character turn into a mass murdering, genocidal maniac in the end?
If so, hopefully then named the girl before the character’s personality changed. If not, there’s therapy in that kids future….
IIRC, it’s HBO — although in various other markets it’s been distributed via other channels on top of the contemporary version of the DVD and VHS box sets of yesteryears.
There are people named after brutal dictators, crooks and rotten billionaires. Most of the people who happened to be named after such messed up people probably chalk out their own lives just fine.
Cue talk of a rose by any other name still being a rose and of a pig being a pig even with lipstick.
I just read a bit if this article and I can’t believe that a passport place would deny a 6yr old a passport due to her being named after a Game of Thrones character. I honestly think that this is Absolutely stupid and I think that little girl’s family should of challenged the passport company because I honestly don’t believe that any names out there should be allowed to be trademarked or copyrighted at all.NO ONE or Any company has the right to do that at all ! Parents should be able to name their children anything !
In various parts of Europe, the government authorities are very fussy about how their citizens — and sometimes even resident foreign citizens — names get registered with the government for identity purposes and it’s because they are picky like crazy and have some kind of sick idea that they should be able to control how people name their children and even themselves. A lot of it has to do with the history of the power given to the ruling classes of monarchs, nobles and priests over the peasantry. And even the rise of social democracy as a counter to the power of the old school powers didn’t get rid of those intrinsically classist ways meant to “keep you in your place” by protecting names for some and refusing some names for others.
It’s only been about a decade that a married woman in France could adopt the husband’s surname for legal purposes. We have learned that with the rapper’s arrest in ATL, having a unique name could be advantageous.