Federal Lands in the US

via Strangemaps

Posted at 06:14 AM in Design, Travel | Permalink

Sources:
The Safest Seat to Sit In On a Plane is…
Flowing Data, May 20, 2008    
http://flowingdata.com/2008/05/20/the-safest-seat-to-sit-in-on-a-plane-is/

Safest Seat on a Plane: PM Investigates How to Survive a Crash
David Noland
Popular Mechanics, July 18, 2007   
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4219452.html

Posted at 06:09 AM in Travel | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

via Flixxy

Posted at 06:10 AM in Travel, War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The latest advertising campaign in Mexico from Swedish vodka maker Absolut promises to push all the right buttons south of the U.S. border, but it could ruffle a few feathers in El Norte.

Source:
Mexico reconquers California? Absolut drinks to that!
LA Plaza
L.A.Times, April 03, 2008
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2008/04/mexico-reconque.html

Posted at 09:36 AM in Food and Drink, Humor, Travel | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Totally addictive:

Posted at 08:57 AM in Travel | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Pretty damned cool

(where's the clutch?)

Posted at 09:55 AM in Design, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Posted at 06:34 AM in Humor, Travel | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

This explains why I can never find a place to park the XSR48!

In a world where the lifestyles of the superrich are increasingly spectacular, it seems as though there is no end to the number of resorts under development and no limit to the luxuries they offer. And some resort developers have found a niche that has not been fully mined: luxe marinas with boat slips that can serve giant yachts.

These days there are more pleasure boats that are longer than 80 feet. In fact, they average nearly 100 feet and top out at about 500 feet, according to Yachts International Magazine, which publishes an annual survey, The Global Build Report.

These boats are floating mansions, often with their own management companies, captain and crew, chef, swimming pool, garages and helipad. More than 820 such megayachts are now under construction, according to Jamie Welch, the editor of Yachts International. That’s just a 3 percent increase over last year, he said, but a 58 percent increase since 2002.

Source:
Resorts Respond to the Yacht Parking Problem
VALERIE COTSALAS
NYT, September 5, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/realestate/commercial/05yacht.html

Posted at 09:51 AM in Finance, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Fantastic review of Virgin America, via boingboing:

(1) Most comfortable coach I've experienced on any domestic carrier. Roomy, well-designed seats, nice leg room, seats sit at a pitch that maximizes stretch space.

(2) Obscenely comfy white leather seats (with "massage" feature) in first class. Pretty reasonable first class fares (I suppose they'll be higher later, but they're comparatively quite low right now).

(3) They're using open source software in every place possible. Linux galore.

(4) In-flight, seat-to-seat chat. Now you can bitch about babies crying or barf-inducing turbulence -- with emoticons! Or group chat around each TV channel (while you watch TV), or join topic-based chat rooms.

(5) Google Freakin' Maps. I heard details of additional add-in features they're planning to launch with this -- not bloggable yet, but when they're live, they'll be mindblowing.

(6) In-flight entertainment and info system has a super user-friendly GUI, and it's touchscreen! With little qwerty keyboards!

(7) Games. Including Doom. They're planning an open source game design competition, will feature winning games on the flights.

(8) In-flight text messaging and email are apparently on the way, as are pay-per-download music sales (mostly Virgin artists at launch, I'd guess).

(9) Movies are fairly recent ones you'd actually want to watch. Large selection of international fare for non-English-speaking passengers. Wide TV selections. You can get channels like IFC and Current in-flight. Music videos. Scan TV listings in a programming guide, see what's on when. You can set reminders for yourself for TV shows you want to catch.

(10) Some great internet content on the way. They're doing deals with internet video content producers and other video sources you'd never expect to see on a plane. They plan to have in-flight broadband in place next year (pending FAA approval) for even more frequent video content uploads. Incidentally, they have a smartly designed related method for system software updates. Many cool things about the IT design behind VA.

Looks way way cool . . .

Source:
Getting high with Richard Branson: Virgin America's virgin flight
boingboing,Wednesday, August 8, 2007
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/08/08/getting_high_with_ri.html

Posted at 10:01 AM in Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Fascinating look at how mankind spread out from East Africa through the Middle East, Asia, Oceania, Europe, and the Americas over the past 150,000 years. Especially interesting are the interaction of migration and climate, and the effects of geological events, such as the eruption of Mt. Toba in Sumatra.

Posted at 06:53 AM in Science, Travel | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack