A Cuban plane was hijacked and diverted to Florida late Wednesday night. There’s nothing too surprising about that, given current information. I wouldn’t want to live in Cuba either. But for anyone who ever questions just how backward Cuba is, note this one salient point about the story — the plane was a DC-3, still in regular operation in Cuba, sixty-seven years after it was first introduced.
USAirways to Test Selling Food Onboard
USAirways begins its two-week test tomorrow on flights between Pittsburgh and Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Kansas City, Nashville, and New Orleans. Here’s the press release.
What Does TSA Stand For?
The TSA stands for Taxpayer Soaking Agency. And I thought it mean (T)housands (S)tanding (A)round or (T)aking (S)cissors (A)way.
Why Rail Transit Systems Fail
Rail transit only makes sense in the largest cities, with concentrated downtown districts. Most rail transit is built to serve the downtown business districts in cities. But the days when downtowns functioned as the primary centers of employment are long gone. Since about 1955, when people and office equipment began taking up more space, most new jobs have been created in industrial parks and small office parks–areas outside of downtown. Now, less than 10 percent of the nation’s employment in metropolitan areas is located in the old central business districts. So for more than 90 percent of commuters, rail transit isn’t an option. Yet this fact is not an argument for extending rail transit into the suburbs. Employment outside of downtown areas is spread too thin to support rail transit. And any system serving the…
A Weighty Decision to Committ a Very Large Crime, or Casino Worker Crapps Out
The Associated Press reports that a casino worker named Crapps, whose girth prevented him from fitting into a standard company-issued pocketless uniform, stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from slot machines by stuffing the money into his sweatpants.
Whether you believe in such things or not, this is just too good…
Jewish Miracle Fish Believed To Warn Of Apocaplyse An obscure Jewish sect in New York has been gripped in awe by what it believes to be a mystical visitation by a 20lb carp that was heard shouting in Hebrew, in what many Jews worldwide are hailing as a modern miracle. Many of the 7,000-member Skver sect of Hasidim in New Square, 30 miles north of Manhattan, believe God has revealed himself in fish form. According to two fish-cutters at the New Square Fish Market, the carp was about to be slaughtered and made into gefilte fish for Sabbath dinner when it suddenly began shouting apocalyptic warnings in Hebrew. Read the whole thing. My favorite part? Stand-up comedians have already incorporated the carp into their comedy routines at weddings. One gefilte company has considered changing it’s…
Really, really big bubbles
And you thought that 20 million frequent flyer miles were impressive? Try 1 million gum wrappers in a chain.
500 Free Air France Miles for Taking a Survey
Click this link or click on the tenth anniversary graphic on the Air France page.
What Will YOU Do For Your Beliefs?
We all contribute to debates in our own way.
TSA: Promoting Your Safety, Scolding You For Your Ideas
Those of you who have been visiting this site since the summer know that I have been very skeptical of the federal government’s efforts at ‘airline security.’ Basically, my position has been that the TSA is filled with un-serious people who are asking us to give up liberties while doing little that actually protects us. Now here comes a story that really chills me. A TSA employee slipped a note into a passenger’s baggage, questioning his patriotism: “Don’t appreciate your anti-American attitude!” was neatly hand written on the standard notice TSA places inside all the bags that screeners open. “This security person decided to let me board, but not before scolding me for being un-American,” Goldberg told Reuters in an interview. It’s one thing to throw out ideas like probable cause in the name of…
