It’s a Wonderful Life Festival

by Jamie Rhein on

With Thanksgiving over and the Tryptophan feeling from eating turkey waning, these are the days to turn towards one of the next holiday opportunities—Christmas. Each year I look for somewhere new to head. With my son still thoroughly engaged and enthralled by any tinsel and glitter, festivals and events that offer something the rest of my family would enjoy capture my attention most.

Here’s one.

The It’s a Wonderful Life Festival (Dec. 12-14) in Seneca Falls, New York offers a true nostalgia boost. Seneca Falls is the town that Bedford Falls– the name of the town in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” was patterned after.

Not to let an opportunity for some holiday cash pass them by, the people of Seneca Falls began the festival 62 years ago to pay tribute to their ties to the movie and warm fuzzy, hopeful feelings.

If you go, you can attend a screening of the film narrated by Karolyn Grimes. She’s the actress who played ZuZu in the movie. There are the other trimmings and trappings of a Santa-train, horse drawn wagon rides, and I imagine plenty of opportunities to buy “It’s a Wonderful Life” themed gifts. If you buy a snow globe, remember that you can’t take it on a plane in your carry-on. Check it in your luggage.

This year with the economic forecast not looking particularly sunny, a festival called It’s a Wonderful Life that turns on a movie about a guy who almost lost everything during the Depression somehow seems apropos.

Here is the event’s website that examines the similarities between Bedford Falls and Seneca Falls along with providing festival details. Also, here’s an article by Joan McDonald that was published in The Buffalo News . McDonald has been to Seneca Falls and experienced the It’s a Wonderful Life experience.

New York City MTA helps commuters lie to bosses

by Mike Barish on

There are lots of valid excuses for being late to work. Your power was out so your alarm clock failed to go off. Your kid was sick and you had to take him to the doctor. You passed out at the brothel and didn’t have money for a cab. The problem with all of those excuses is that you have no way to prove to your boss that you’re telling the truth. But validating your tardiness just got simpler if you take the subway in New York City.

According to the New York Post, the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is going to start emailing commuters notes to provide to their bosses to verify subway delays that may have caused late arrivals. The New York City Transit division has long provided notes to commuters but required individuals to call a customer service number and then wait upwards of two weeks to receive a letter in the mail. These notes detail what lines the commuter claimed to have been using and any reported delays during the specified times.

In an effort to modernize, the MTA will soon allow commuters who were inconvenienced by subway delays to submit an online form and then receive an expedited email response. They hope to have the online system up and running by mid-2009. Currently, 34,000 people per year contact the MTA for notes to prove that they didn’t simply oversleep due to the heavy drinking that they rely on to help them cope with their mind-numbingly droll lives.

As a NYC resident who relies on the oft-delayed subway system, I’m looking forward to the ease of use of this new online system. Granted, my habitual tardiness can only been blamed on pathological use of the snooze button and a penchant for long morning showers that involve a good cathartic cry. But all my boss needs to know is that the F train got held up because of sick passenger. Everyone’s just more comfortable with that story.

Germany to ‘test’ so-called naked security scanners

by Jeffrey White on

The European Union as a whole may not be too keen on so-called “all body scanners” at their airports — the bloc voted them down earlier this month — but Germany is still going ahead and testing out the technology.

Germany’s interior ministry announced yesterday that in the coming weeks it was going to begin “laboratory tests” of these scanners — known in Europe as ‘naked scanners’ — in an effort to see if it’s possible to produce images with these devises that do not show passengers naked.

The technology is controversial, of course, because in the devises that have been tested at airports in the US, the images do show passengers naked, for all intents and purposes. This enables security to more easily detect concealed weapons and other contraband.

The devises have been tested at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, but have not appeared elsewhere in Europe.

Photo of the Day (11.30.08)

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Flickr user jrodmanjr titled this image of San Francisco’s famous prison “Escape from Alcatraz.” I happen to like the play on words, almost as much as I like the perspective of this shot. Any time you’re taking a photo of a famous landmark, it’s fun to try framing it with some nearby objects to add some additional depth and personality. In this case, the chain link fence adds a playful, geometric aspect to the shot, forcing you to give it a second look. Well done!

Do you have any panoramic photos from San Francisco? Or maybe some candid shots from Sweden? Why not share them with our readers at Gadling by adding them to our pool on Flickr? We might just choose one as our Photo of the Day.

In which countries are there 7-Elevens and how many are there?

by Jamie Rhein on

In his recent Wallet Pop post on 7-Eleven’s move to provide more 7-Eleven private-brand products, Geoff Williams mentioned the U.S. and Canada as two 7-Eleven countries. There are more than that. There are so many that it can make your head spin. With so many companies struggling, here’s one that continues to make its mark. The company started up in Dallas, Texas in 1927, and as far as I know, is still going strong more than 80 years later.

I have never seen as many 7-Elevens in my life as I did when we lived in Taiwan. If you were in need of a 7-Eleven in Hsinchu where I lived, there was one just up the street or around the corner. At some 7-Elevens you could see another 7-Eleven just a block away–or across the street. The products were Taiwan products besides a mix of others. With the 7-Eleven brand coming onto the scene, it might be a hard choice to pick between the shrimp crackers or 7-Eleven potato chips.

7-Elevens can be found in 17 countries outside the U.S. Along with Taiwan and Canada, the other countries include: Japan, Australia, Mexico, Singapore, the Philippines, Sweden, Denmark, South Korea, Thailand, Norway, Malaysia , China, Macau, and Hong Kong. There are approximately 27,250 of them. [from 7-Eleven profile page] Of these, almost 4,500 (or more) are in Taiwan.

When 7-Eleven started in Dallas, it was the first convenience store ever. The first products were ice, milk, bread and eggs.