2010 › May

Times Square bomber reveals total failure of airport security measures

by Scott Carmichael on

Just 2 days after his failed bombing attempt at Times Square, Faisal Shahzad was pulled off an Emirates plane bound for Pakistan, via Dubai. At first glance, the capturing of Shahzad looks like a huge success, and the result of the billions invested in airport security.

Sadly, when you start reading the facts the are slowly coming to light, it becomes obvious that some massive mistakes were made, which make a mockery of the entire security theater air travelers deal with.

  • Faishal Shahzad was being watched at his home in Connecticut, but despite FBI surveillance, he was able to get in his car and drive off
  • He then called Emirates on his way to JFK Airport, and made a last minute reservation for a flight to Pakistan
  • He paid cash for his ticket upon arrival at JFK
  • He had been added to the no-fly list, but the airline failed to check the most recent version of the list

You can’t really make this stuff up – his plane was minutes away from taking off, but thankfully the agencies involved were able to contact the plane and have it return to the gate. As soon as he was arrested, he admitted that he was behind the bomb attempt.

Attorney General, Eric Holder said the government “was never in any fear that we were in danger of losing him”. Another spin comes from White House spokesman Robert Gibbs who said the security systems have fallback procedures in place for times like this – which is spin-speak for “we got really lucky”.

UPDATE: The government has realized that the procedures currently in place are not effective. Apparently airlines can stop checking the no-fly list 24 hours before departure, which means any last minute passengers are simply ignored.

Starting today, airlines will need to re-check the list within 2 hours of being electronically notified of a “special circumstance expedited No Fly name”. Amazing that in this day and age there is no real-time watch system in place, and that terrorists need to be stopped by having someone manually check a list of bad guys.

London academy school staff dropped £4,000 on ‘team building exercise’ at luxury hotel

by Melanie Nayer on

File this under “what not to do” with excess funds from the company:

Senior managers of a north London academy school spent more than £4,000 (approximately $6,000 USD) of public money on fine food and boutique hotel accommodation for a “team-building exercise”. This same academy is facing an ongoing battle with teachers over “compulsory redundancies,” according to The Guardian.

Leaked hotel bills from the five star Threadneedles Hotel in London show nine staff members from Crest boys’ academy in Neasden dined in the hotel restaurant and spent the night in rooms that cost up to £339 (approximately $600 USD) a night.

While these kind of company events might be suitable for some businesses, the Crest boys’ academy is under hot water for this one. The academy, located in one of London’s more deprived neighborhoods, is run by E-Act, a charitable trust foundation, and four months prior to the luxury splurge let go of seven teachers, which resulted in a teachers’ strike.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families said all of the hotel bill was reimbursed from department funds except for £341, which was the company’s bar tab. Apparently, the headmaster has offered to repay that portion of the expense.

Tanzanian official urges beauty queens to boost tourism

by Sean McLachlan on

An official at Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Conservation Area is encouraging contestants in the National Miss Utalii pageant to use their assets to boost tourism.

Public relations manager Adam Akyoo said that beauty pageants would attract more tourists to a region already famous for its wildlife.

The dozen contenders for the Miss Utalii pageant are all university or college students from Tanzania’s northern region, where the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is located. The most famous beauty queen from this region is Miriam Odemba, pictured here. She was crowned first runner up for Miss Earth in 2008, winning the title Miss Earth Air.

Much of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is taken up by a large caldera and is home to Olduvai Gorge and its rich collection of fossils of early humans. Huge herds of zebra and wildebeest migrate through the area twice a year and thanks to this it has large populations of lions and cheetahs. Other animals include hippos, rhinos, leopards, elephants, and hyenas.

Unlike many parks in Africa, humans are allowed to use the land for limited agriculture and grazing. The Maasai bring their herds into the caldera every day, but must leave before dark. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is popular with safaris and adventure travelers.

London hotel gives guests an iPad during stay

by Melanie Nayer on

You can buy an iPad for $499, or you can rent a suite at The Berkley in London for £1,850 (approximately $2,800 USD) and get to use an iPad during your stay.

Let’s break that down a bit:

One iPad at $499 to own and use whenever you want or
The use of an iPad for one night when you rent a suite in London for £1,850
£1,850 = approximately $2,800 (as of the date of this article)
$2,800 will buy you 5 iPads (plus tax and shipping, if necessary)

The draw here is that the iPad isn’t available in the UK until later this month, so the London hotel is tempting guests with the coveted iPad for use during their stay. The Berkley’s in-suite iPad will include a variety of games, videos and comics for children as well as downloads of several newspapers, ranging from Le Monde to the Wall Street Journal. The hotel iPad will also come complete with guided tours of London and plenty of Apple iPad applications to help guests plan their London itinerary.

You have to stay in a suite to get use of the iPad. Or, you can just buy your own iPad.

Sahara Hotel & Casino to offer $1 room rates on Twitter and Facebook

by Melanie Nayer on

If you’re looking for a cheap deal to Las Vegas, now is the time to become a fan of the Sahara Hotel & Casino on Facebook and Twitter. The Las Vegas hotel is hosting Twitter and Facebook only specials exclusive to followers throughout the summer.

The deal: $1 room rates during random 24 hour periods starting in May.
The game: Sahara will give notice of the special offer only through its Twitter and Facebook accounts and will provide followers with a special reservation offer code and unique booking link.

The Sahara has been a permanent fixture in Las Vegas since the 1950s and offers 1,720 classically styled guestrooms and Las Vegas suites decorated in a Moroccan motif. Sahara hosts the popular $1 blackjack tables and Dollar Days, which includes $1 beers, $1 hot dogs, $1 shots (in a free souvenir glass). Room rates range from $27 to $300 depending on the time of year you visit and the room type you book, but it’s hard to beat a $1 room rate in Sin City.

The only way to get the deal is to become on fan of Sahara Hotel & Casino on Twitter and Facebook.