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The Coolest Airplane Shadow I’ve Ever Seen

March 27, 2011 By 9 Comments

Airplane Shadow

Airplane Shadow

A couple months ago I took an early morning flight from Dallas to Las Vegas, and everything lined up just right on this landing.

I was sitting at the window and I noticed that our shadow was nicely tracking us and converging with the general direction we were going. (As expected obviously…) You will rarely see this because everything has to be at just the right angle. The position of the sun, the direction of the runway, the approach to the runway, and even your vantage point within the plane all have to be correct.

Anyway, I pulled out my Samsung Galaxy Tab and started videoing, and I think what I caught here is actually pretty cool. Hope you enjoy.
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Filed Under: The Man's Videos, Vehicles, Videos Tagged With: , , , , ,

Leaking Naked Photos, Crotch Grabbing, and Other TSA Hobbies

January 18, 2011 By 12 Comments

TSA Full Body Scanner

TSA Full Body Scanner

If you’re an experienced traveler, you may have noticed by now that the TSA has installed the full body scanners in basically every airport in the US. It was over three years ago when I reported that “The TSA is Going to Photograph You Naked!!!“, and the mandatory scanning has now gone into effect.

“We Don’t Save The Photos.” Really?!?

Despite promises that these full body scanning systems will not save naked photos of you, recently it was discovered that 35,000 photos of naked citizens were being stored by the U.S. Marshal’s Service (another Federal agency) and over 100 of those photos were leaked.
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Filed Under: News, Security, Thoughts, Travel Tagged With: , , , , ,

Photos From Virgin Airline’s DFW Launch Party with Richard Branson and Willie Nelson

December 9, 2010 By 4 Comments

Last week I headed on down to the Dallas Opera for the Virgin America party to commemorate the commencement of service from LAX to DFW airport. This marks Virgin’s arrival into the Dallas area, which is extremely signifigant because Dallas is the headquarters for two major airlines, American and Southwest, and DFW is also:

  • Fourth largest airport in the world by land area.
  • Third busiest as measured by aircraft movement.
  • Eighth busiest in terms of passenger transport.
  • So big it has its own post office, ZIP code, and public services.

And Virgin clearly understands the signifigance of reaching into the DFW metroplex with its 6.5 million plus residents. So much so that Sir Richard Branson himself was present for the opening, and he brought along a surprise guest to entertain the attendees – Willie Nelson!
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Filed Under: Photography Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Halleluja! New Rules for the Airline Industry: 3 Hours Max on the Tarmac!

December 22, 2009 By 4 Comments

I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced the hell of being trapped on an airplane against your will, but I have on numerous occasions. Years ago I was trapped in a plane in Boston for 6 hours. We were even at the gate, but they literally would not let us off the plane although it was after midnight and we would rather just stay the night there.

I’ve also been trapped for over two hours for a flight that was only scheduled for 40 minutes. And I can’t think of how many times there have been 1-2 hour delays where the airplanes sit on a hot Texas runway with little or no air conditioning going. With ALL passengers complaining – just to save a little fuel.

Well, the US Transportation Department says they can no longer hold passengers hostage on delayed planes for hours on end. Starting in April, there will be a three-hour limit for planes stuck on tarmacs. And I for one think this is an idea whose time has long since come. (Here is the official government document in PDF.)
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Filed Under: News, Travel, Videos Tagged With: , , , ,

Should Fat People Be Allowed to Fly?

December 5, 2009 By 27 Comments

Kieran Daly wrote an article called Passenger creates big debate at American – I mean big! a couple of weeks ago. The story originated as a result of the following photograph taken by a flight attendant aboard her flight while the plane was boarding.

Fat Guy on Airplane

Now anyone who has to do a lot of traveling can empathize with the guy in the middle seat here who is stuck by this morbidly obese person. God knows I’ve had experiences where a huge person has spilled over onto me, and frankly I don’t want another person touching me for even a second, much less hours on a long crowded flight.
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Filed Under: Thoughts, Travel Tagged With: , , , ,

SouthWest Airline’s Rapping Flight Attendant – David Holmes

May 28, 2009 By 4 Comments

Rapping Flight AttendantIn light of the fact that shortly I’ll be boarding a plane to San Francisco to serve as the official videographer for WordCamp once again this weekend, I thought I’d share this fantastic airline video of the Rapping SouthWest flight attendant!

Unfortunatly, I’ll be riding courtesy of American Airlines, and there will be NO fun on our airplanes mister! Anyway, I’ll fantasizing about this guy when my stewardess is giving the whole boring lecture… Word.
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Filed Under: Travel, Videos Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

One Man’s Weekly Links – June 20, 2008

June 20, 2008 By 3 Comments

Been a while since I’ve handed out a list of links for you guys, but this week I’ve got some good ones, so have fun with this!

The first one not to miss is the UniQlock. And here it is in action. Mesmerizing. By the way, the girls in the clock do different things at different times of day! So you have to come back and check it out at night, in the morning, evening, etc.
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Filed Under: Politics, Travel, Web Links Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Airplane Seats by the Lavatory Suck!

December 18, 2007 By 13 Comments

Airline Complaint about ToiletsMan, have you ever been stuck on an airplane anywhere near the lavatory? It can be a downright miserable experience. And the attached PDF is a scanned copy of a customer letter sent to Continental Airlines by a passenger seated directly beside the toilet on a nice long flight.

Here is a choice quote from the letter, but I’m telling you – you’ve got to read it yourself. It brought tears to my eyes!

I constructed a stink-shield by shoving one end of a blanket into the overhead compartment – while effective in blocking at least some of the smell, and offering a small bit of privacy, the ass-on-my-body factor has increased, as without my evil glare passengers feel free to lean up against what they think is some kind of blanketed wall!

Read the entire letter here.

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: , , , , ,

Southwest Airlines to Eliminate the Cattle Drive!

October 11, 2007 By 3 Comments

Southwest Boarding School DiplomaYea! Southwest Airlines just sent me an e-mail today that very soon they will be restructuring their boarding process. This should help eliminate some of that …having to get to the gate to stand in line for an hour in a cattle stall before you board the plane… crap!

The deal is, now instead of just having a free for all, when you login on line and print your boarding pass you will be assigned a number along with your boarding group. Monitors will direct people to board according to the new more specific groupings, and you don’t have to stand in line to do it!
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Filed Under: News, Travel Tagged With: , , ,
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