Vote for the new Seven Wonders of Nature

by Kraig Becker on

A few years back there was an organized effort to select a New Seven Wonders of the World, which resulted in a list of seven amazing places that joined the Great Pyramids on a modern list of spectacular destinations. Now, a similar effort is being made to select a New Seven Wonders of Nature as well.

The process began not long after naming the New Seven Wonders, with more than 440 locations, in 200 countries being nominated. That list was eventually whittled down to 77 locations for the second round of voting, which resulted in 28 finalists which are now being considered.

Amongst the finalist are such iconic places as The Amazon Rainforest in South America, the Grand Canyon in the U.S., and Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Those locations are well known and are likely to earn a spot on the list, although there are a few destinations that are just as spectacular, but are lesser known to the genearl public. Those places include Milford Sound in New Zealand, the Mud Volcanoes of Azerbaijan, and Jeju Island in Korea.

The organizers of the competition have made it easy to cast your votes for the New Seven Wonders of Nature, but just in case you need a little help, they’ve created a video showing you just how to make your selections. Voting will continue in 2011, with the officiall annoucement expected to come on November 11. (11/11/11)

If I were pressed to make my choices, my Seven Wonders would include The Amazon, The Great Barrier Reef, The Galapagos Islands, The Grand Canyon, Kilimanjaro, Angel Falls, and Jeju Island. What are yours picks?

TSA pees on Tom Sawyer

by Andrew Evans on

Start with three key ingredients: Detroit, a bag of urine, and the TSA.

Add an agressive pat-down at security and what do you get? A disgruntled man on a plane, soaked in his own warm pee and a national news headline!

On Nov. 7th, a male passenger flying from DTW to Orlando, Florida was selected for additional security screening. A bladder cancer survivor, the passenger carried an urostomy bag under his clothes–a plastic bag attached to his abdomen for collecting urine. Despite repeated requests to exercise caution in their search, the agents broke the seal on the bag, spilling the passenger’s urine all over him.

Adding insult to injury of the American psyche, the poor guy’s name was Tom Sawyer (not making this up), a Michigan special education teacher who is currently learning the true power of the internet. Obviously, this guy is pissed–he’s already taken the issue to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security.

An official response is still unknown, but the current threat advisory level is yellow.

FlightTrack 4 updated with seat maps, flight alternatives and more

by Scott Carmichael on

FlightTrack, my all-time favorite mobile application just got better – In addition to its arsenal of flight tracking tools, the new version adds a much cleaner interface, a delay forecaster and instant access to SeatGuru seating charts.

The tracking feature now also lets you search for alternative flights and information about diverted flights – something that will (sadly) come in quite handy this holiday season.

FlightTrack is available for iOS, Android, Blackberry and Palm WebOS. The new features are currently only available in the iOS and Android version. The Pro version of FlightTrack adds TripIt synchronization, push alerts, terminal maps and FAA notices about airport delays and closures.

To compare the various features, head on over to Mobiata.com.

One more excellent reason to invest in this excellent application – all purchases made before 11:59PM on November 23, 2010 will help support Mercy Medical Airlift thanks to a 20% donation from each purchase.

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Keep track of Thanksgiving holiday airport ruckus with Travelocity

by Grant Martin on

The busiest travel day of the year is almost upon us — have you got your chain mail travel pants and your 3oz 4Loko shots ready yet?

There’s no doubt that the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is the craziest day of the year to travel, and with this year’s new security screenings in place and a higher volume of air travelers predicted over last year, airports are going to be experiencing record-setting tumult.

For many of us who are dreading the miserable trek from the ticket counter through security and onto the plane, this year Travelocity is again placing spotters inside of the 12 largest airports in the nation to monitor crowds, security and whatever else manifests during two days of crazy airport mayhem.

This year, the online travel agent is coordinating the entire effort over Twitter. You can find and subscribe to your airport’s feed by looking it up over at the Window Seat Blog and then follow along over the course of the day as the drama unfolds.

Another nice advantage of using Twitter for the feeds is that you can actually interact with the spotters. At Chicago‘s O’Hare, for example, I can ask my spotter Jel to mosey on over to the Garrett’s popcorn booth in terminal 3 to check on the lines and volumes. Or you can just try to track your spotter down and mess with them.

Either way, make sure you spend extra time getting to the airport and doing your dilligence for your Thanksgiving travel this year. All of this airport research will turn moot if you end up missing your flight.

First look at the world’s fastest roller coaster: Formula Rossa

by Joel Bullock on

The incredibly fast Formula Rossa has taken the world’s fastest roller coaster crown from Six Flags Great Adventure’s Kingda Ka. The Formula 1-themed coaster, located at the new multi-billion dollar Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, has eclipsed Kingda Ka’s 128 mph launch by pushing the envelope to an insane 149.1 mph (240 kmh).


After the powerful launch briefly turns the rider’s faces into play dough, the train climbs a hill that appears to be lined with trim brakes that sap a lot of the roller coaster’s initial speed. Who’d want to go that fast for too long anyway?

Then, much of Formula Rossa seems a bit uneventful. I’m sure those banked turns so low to the ground are fun, but this video doesn’t have me booking my plane ticket to Abu Dhabi just yet. To be clear, I’m definitely not the type to invoke U-S-A chants when it comes to theme parks. I’m envious of roller coaster fans in other countries like Japan and Great Britain. However, in this case I’d rather ride the former record holder, Kingda Ka. While this is just a video, and videos can never completely do a ride justice, Kingda Ka looks like a more fun ride with it’s skyscraping height of 45 stories and that twisting drop back to Earth.One has to wonder if we’ve reached the speed and g-force limits that the human body should be exposed to. In a New York Times article, officials from Ferrari World shared that while Formula Rossa will be able to attain nearly 150 mph, they might actually operate it at lower speeds. So, Ferrari World can claim the World record, but not have to deal with rider complaints from the ridiculous g-forces this thing must pull. This may be smart from the park’s standpoint, but kind of stinks for roller coaster enthusiasts. Imagine traveling half way around the World for that record-breaking launch and unbenounced to you, they’re running Formula Rossa at only 125 mph.

Still, Formula Rossa looks like fun and I’m looking forward to more videos of Ferrari World, its dual track racing coaster Fiorano Challenge, and the other rides.