Man Kicked Off Budget Airline For Wearing Baggy Pants

by Jessica Festa on

In recent airline news, a man was kicked off a Spirit Airlines’ flight for wearing baggy pants with the top of his underwear showing.

According to the Daily Mail, a flight attendant asked the passenger to pull up his pants, but he refused.

“It was to the point where his entire bottom was hanging out,” said Spirit Airlines’ spokeswoman Misty Pinson. “And that’s not appropriate. We have a lot of customers on the plane, a lot of children on the plane.”

According to Pinson, the man’s pants were below his bottom, exposing his underwear but no skin. When he was confronted, the unidentified man apparently become aggressive, threatening to smack the flight attendants.

When law enforcement arrived, the man and his female companion were escorted off the plane with their belongings, and put on a later flight.

What are your thoughts on airlines enforcing dress codes?

[Flickr image via Alaskan Dude]

Journaling App Works Like Magic, Given The Chance

by Chris Owen on

HipGeo is a convenient journaling app that enables travelers to keep track of what they saw and where they saw it. Users then share their travels and use what other people share to enhance their own travel experiences. In a new release, HipGeo instantly transforms all those elements into virtual journals that can then be automatically shared a variety of ways.

“If Tumblr and Foursquare had a baby, it would look like the new HipGeo,” HipGeo’s Rich Rygg told CNET when we first reported on HipGeo back in January.

The latest release enhances social network and private sharing experiences by grouping together disparate mobile photos, videos and text into a location and storytelling stream, automatically.

We put HipGeo to the test on a recent trip through Scotland, Ireland and Wales and found the new version so easy to use it was difficult. In areas where we had no cell signal, we thought the new version of HipGeo was not working at all. But at those locations, HipGeo stores information, much like a digital camera, then uploads it later.Called “background mode,” when out of your home country with data services turned off to avoid charges, or when Wi-Fi is not available, HipGeo automatically saves entries. Later, when back home or when a signal is available, HipGeo posts those entries automatically.

When the trip is over, users can go back and fill in photos, journal details and more when a location has no information listed. HipGeo tracks everywhere users go, automatically. Adding media to the stream is up to the traveler.

Intrigued? A good way to get started with HipGeo is to post photos from a recent vacation or adventure then watch as HipGeo works its magic.

Note to HipGeo: in the next release, train the app to pick my best photos, automatically record descriptive phrasing I might say while at the location and send a text link to my friends who are not traveling, just to rub it in.

[Image- Chris Owen]

World Speed Record Broken By Cheetah

by Jessica Festa on




Before last month, the world record holder for the 100-meter dash was Olympian Usain Bolt, with 9.58 seconds. However, on June 20, Sarah the cheetah beat this time, clocking in at 5.95 seconds. The 11-year-old cheetah, whose home is the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio, was clocked in as going 60 miles per hour.

“She looked like a polka-dotted missile,” said National Geographic photo editor Kim Hubbard. “I’ve never seen anything alive run that fast.”

To prepare, five cheetahs would run several sprints per day. These animals are used to sprinting long distances, as they often do it for zoo visitors who want to see the big cats in action. Not only is this exercise good for their bodies, it has helped to raise over $1 million for conservation efforts.

While Sarah’s sprint was the fastest 100-meter dash ever recorded of any moving thing on Earth, chances are cheetahs in the wild, who are extremely lean and must catch quick-moving prey for survival, have probably run faster.

To see Sarah in action, check out the video above.

Your Kindness When Flying Is Appreciated, Believe Me

by Chris Owen on

When we think of flying, thoughts often turn to pricing, legroom and luggage fees among other contemporary issues. Back in the good old days of air travel, it was more about the fun of flying, brand loyalty and what might be served for lunch. But guess what? We have the power to turn back the clock to a happier time in the air with some common courtesy.

On a recent international flight, I happened to be talking to the passenger sitting right behind me in coach before takeoff. Everyone was getting settled in, arranging their cramped space, putting books, iPads, headphones, snacks and other items within easy reach.

When I mentioned that I had work to do and would probably not sleep or recline, that passenger behind me joyously proclaimed, “Oh thank God!” He went on to say how much he appreciated the thought and noted, “That’s just common flight courtesy.” Others chimed in, agreeing with him.

I really did not think much about it at the time. But in reflection, that few inches the seat goes back really does not make all that much difference when I do try to sleep on a flight. It’s not like reclining turns the narrow coach seat into a Lazy Boy with heated massage capability anyway. But not reclining can mean so much to the person behind us that loses the space.We may not be able to bring back in-flight meals on domestic coach flights or bigger seats to go along with cut-rate fares. But looking at the business of flying in a slightly different way can make all the difference in the world.


[Photo- Chris Owen]

America’s Nuclear Sites Could Become National Parks

by Kraig Becker on

New legislation has been introduced to Congress that could make three sites that played a vital role in creating America’s nuclear weapons program during World War II into national parks. If passed, the legislation would provide resources to preserve the sites and make them accessible to visitors for the first time.

The three sites include the national laboratories in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Los Alamos, New Mexico, as well as the Hanford Nuclear Reactor in Washington. Each of the locations played a key role in the Manhattan Project, the top-secret program tasked with developing the first atomic weapons. For instance, Oak Ridge was used to enrich uranium for the project while Hanford produced plutonium. The two bombs that were dropped on Japan prior to their surrender were assembled at Los Alamos.

Over the years, portions of each site have fallen into disrepair and have been slated for demolition. They have also remained under a veil of secrecy that has kept them off the radar for many Americans and downplayed their significant role in ending the war, not to mention shaping global relations in the decades that followed. By turning them into national parks the sites will be preserved for their historical value and allow the general public to enter for the first time.

The earliest vote on the legislation could come later this week. If the bill is eventually passed, and the locations do indeed become parks, the emphasis will be on their significance in American history and not the glorification of nuclear weapons. It is true that the Manhattan Project managed to create the world’s first atomic bombs but perhaps more importantly it also helped to usher the U.S. onto the world stage as a post-war superpower.