Mona Lisa mob marvels Miami

by Sean McLachlan on

It’s the most iconic painting ever made. The Mona Lisa, painted in the early 16th century by Leonardo Da Vinci, has inspired a whole genre of painting. Perhaps the first imitation was this one by Gian Giacomo Caprotti, Da Vinci’s favorite pupil.

Since then the Mona Lisa has been reproduced on countless coffee mugs, handbags, t-shirts, mousepads, even toothpaste.

Now the Freedom Tower at Miami Dade College is examining this artistic obsession with Mona Lisa Unveiled, an exhibition that traces the influence of Mona Lisa on subsequent artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Jean Margat, and Salvador Dalì.

The painting inspired thieves too. The exhibition marks the 100th anniversary of the theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. An Italian named Vincenzo Peruggia hid in a broom closet until the museum closed, and then made off with the painting. He later claimed he wanted it returned to its native Italy. He fled to Florence and kept it in his apartment for two years before trying to sell it to a local gallery. The art dealer did the right thing and called the cops. Peruggia was hailed as an Italian hero and only did a few months in prison.

Mona Lisa Unveiled runs through October 7.

[Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons]

Hurricane rebooking madness: US Airways wins, American loses

by Grant Martin on

Stella Service just captured an interesting slice of airline customer service data during hurricane Irene. The weather catastrophe, which stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers throughout the weekend, left many trying to rebook their tickets at the airport and on the phone — only to be met with hours of on-hold-music and frustration.

Not all airlines handled the disaster equally, however. Based on a series of eight test phone calls and a dozen tweets to each airline, Stella determined the responsiveness of each airline and ranked them accordingly. What they found was that on average, hold times with US Airways were an average of only 2 minutes and 38 seconds long, while to reach an agent at American it took over an hour and a half.

Similarly, Delta was the best at responding to Twitter issues, responding to 100% of Tweets in an average of 14 minutes, while neither American nor United nor AirTran even bothered to respond.

These data paint a rough portrait of the state of customer service at the airlines during a weather emergency, though they should be taken with a grain of salt. In their defense, American and Delta have more flights departing from New York City, so it follows that more passengers were probably displaced on those carriers. Southwest and US Airways, conversely, have their major hubs inland.

Attention to Twitter, however, is harder to defend. Any airline can devote manpower to a Twitter feed, and letting customers stew in that medium without resolution is just plain irresponsible. As a silver lining to this study, hopefully these data provide incentive for the airlines to put more thought into their social media strategies.

You can read the full dataset over at the Stella Blog.Update 1: United Airlines issued the following statement following the release of this data:

STELLAService sent 12 Tweets to our inactive @Continental handle, and we replied to six of those from our active @United account. A short time later, we saw the same 12 questions submitted to the @United handle. STELLAService’s assertion is that we didn’t reply to any of the questions they submitted to @United, which is only true because we had already answered the identical questions they submitted to @continental.

Had we not answered the questions they tweeted to our inactive @continental handle, we would have replied to the questions they tweeted to our active @United handle, just as we replied to more than 200 other customer inquiries on Twitter.

Update 2: American Airlines issued the following statement following the release of this data:

We disagree with the findings of the study. We believe it is highly inaccurate and based on an insufficient sample size – eight calls and 12 tweets on average – that that skewed results and does not represent reality. We handled more than 100,000 calls on Friday, and during the period in question our customers waited an average of 21 minutes – far less than alleged and in line with most of our peers. Our response time for AAdvantage Executive Platinum, Platinum and Gold customers averaged from 30 seconds to less than three minutes per call. Of the 78 tweets directed to us from Thursday through Sunday, a significant number of which did not request action, we responded to 46 tweets either publicly or privately to assist customers, and we also sent four proactive tweets with travel information related to the storm. Each day, and especially in times of service disruption, we make responding to and informing our customers – whether through social or other traditional direct channels – our highest priority.

Forest fires impact national parks

by Kraig Becker on

While parts of the eastern United States continue to struggle with too much water in the wake of Hurricane Irene’s passing, out west the dry conditions have led to forest fires that are having an impact on two of the nation’s most popular national parks.

Late last week, a fire sparked up on the edge of Yosemite National Park when a motor home caught fire. The blaze quickly spread to the Stanislaus National Forest, which borders Yosemite, closing down a popular road leading into the park itself. Over the course of the past five days, the fire has consumed more than 4775 acres, and while firefighters feel they have it under control, the park’s rough terrain hasn’t made the battle an easy one.

Fortunately, most visitors to Yosemite haven’t been effected by the blaze at all. In fact, park officials say that none of the park’s trademark vistas have been obscured by smoke, although nearby Merced River Canyon has seen its walls blackened by the fire. The park itself remains open, although visitors will want to check the status of Highway 140 before using that entrance.

Meanwhile, lighting strikes were responsible for igniting five forest fires in Yellowstone National Park last week as well. The fires were discovered throughout the day on Thursday after a storm passed through the area the night before. Park Service firefighters reacted quickly to each of the blazes, and they were contained before the flames could spread too widely. Yellowstone remains at a “very high” risk for wildfires at the moment however, and heading into the long Labor Day weekend, there are some concerns about more fires springing up.
Yellowstone was of course the site of one of the largest and most devastating forest fires in U.S. history, when more than 793,000 acres were consumed by flames in 1988. The remnants of that wildfire are still evident today, but it has also brought renewed life to the park’s ecosystem as well. While it is a long, slow process for the forest to rebuild itself, it is amazing to see plants and animals return to the park as the natural ecological forces take over.

If your Labor Day plans include camping in a local, state, or national park, be sure to check-in with park rangers to find out of their are any fire restrictions in effect. Campfires, grills, or camping stoves can all be very dangerous during the late summer.

You can also check inciweb.org to find the status on the most recent wildfires in your area as well.

[Photo credit: AP Photo/The Reporter via Rick Roach]

Camping America’s most beautiful desert lake

by Kyle Ellison on

In the middle of a high altitude desert completely devoid of shade, I somehow find myself setting up a tent on the beach.

At least, I think it’s a beach. There’s sand under my toes, the sound of waves lapping against the shore is no further than 10 yards from my tent flap, and between lukewarm sips from my Tecate beer can I’m able to faintly make out the scent of sea salt wafting on the breeze.

Only, I’m not on the coast. I’m in Nevada, 300 miles from the Pacific Ocean, on the shores of one of the few remaining salt lakes in the entire country. Furthermore, this is the desert, a place that only receives 7 inches of rain a year and is synonymous with exceptional dryness and heat.

Yet here I sit, tailgate facing the water and beach chair firmly planted in the sand, wondering if there is a reason why I’m the only one here.

%Gallery-131840%At 3,800 elevation and over an hour from the nearest urban center (Reno), Pyramid Lake is regarded by many to be the nation’s most beautiful desert lake. Covering a swath of 188 sq. miles of desert, the lake is 1/10 the size of Utah’s Great Salt Lake, yet due to its greater depth actually contains 25% more water. And yes, it’s salty, with the water containing about 1/6 the salt of regular ocean water.

As the terminus of the Truckee River which flows from higher, cleaner, and far more popular Lake Tahoe, Pyramid Lake retains an aura of tranquility and calm that’s lost on its famous neighbor. While other notable Nevada lakes such as Tahoe and Lake Mead swell with weekend partygoers and well-heeled recreationalists, it’s still possible to find a sliver of sand on Pyramid Lake where the only semblance of movement is the sun sinking below the distant horizon.

Set entirely within the boundaries of the Paiute Indian Reservation, Pyramid Lake is also a renowned spot for fish-hungry anglers looking to go home with a filet and a photo. In addition to the various species of trout that populate the lake (many of which are caught by fisherman sitting in the shallows of the lake in strangely concocted fishing chairs that look curiously like glorified lifeguard stands), Pyramid Lake is the only place on the planet known to contain the critically endangered cui-ui fish.

At the general store in the town of Sutcliffe, a local, non-Indian woman sporting a “Charter Member of the Piss and Moan Club” t-shirt is criticizing the recent move by the Paiute to close certain sections of the lake to non-tribal members. Due to various instances of graffiti found on sacred sites along the lake’s eastern shore, the tribe has taken the drastic measure of closing these sections to the general public.

These sites include the pyramid shaped rock structure 19th century explorer John Fremont incorporated into the lake’s name when in 1844 he became the first Westerner to lay eyes upon the lake. For the next 16 years, Pyramid Lake would be at the center of the tensions between native Paiute tribes and the hordes of American prospectors looking to strike it rich in silver, lumber, whiskey, and gold. Finally coming to a head in 1860, over 70 early settlers would be killed in a botched attack on the Paiute Tribe in what would infamously be the Pyramid Lake War. A full account of the reservation and the cultural history is available by visiting the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Museum and Visitor Center in the town of Nixon.

Camping permits for the reservation and Pyramid Lake are available for $9/night at either the Nixon General Store or by advance purchase online, so for less money than the minimum bet at the Vegas craps table, you can have the finest piece of beachfront property Nevada has to offer. The sunsets even come free.

A Short Break From The Road In Oklahoma City

by Paul Brady on


Seeing the recovery underway in Joplin, Missouri was an end point to a chapter of my trip. I’d done the Great Lakes, the East Coast, the South and, now, the Midwest. As I drove out of Missouri, the great expanse of the West loomed, a monstrous stretch of America to cover in the less than two weeks that remained in my trip.

I wasn’t looking forward to it. After eight weeks in the car, on the road, sleeping on floors, in tents, in anonymous hotel rooms and cozy bed and breakfasts, I could feel the end of the trip creeping closer, my end goal of Los Angeles in sight, if more than 2,000 miles away by the sinuous route I’d plotted. But first, I’d spend the night in Oklahoma City.

Traveling the American Road – Oklahoma City Baseball


After passing through Tulsa, with a quick stop for lunch at the Dilly Deli and coffee at DoubleShot, it was on to Oklahoma City. Like Atlanta, it’s a place much changed since the ’90s, when Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people with a truck bomb at the Murrah Federal Building. A beautiful and contemplative memorial to the dead now marks the site, its reflecting pool shimmering in the scorching August heat.

In the sixteen years since the attack, the downtown neighborhood of Bricktown has developed into the city’s preeminent nightlife and entertainment district. Anchoring it, at least for someone fascinated by baseball as a cultural touchstone, is RedHawks Field at Bricktown, the home of the Houston Astro’s AAA affiliate club. I was determined to see a game despite the triple-digit heat and bought a $15 ticket that would park me right behind the home team’s on-deck circle. I was in the second row.

I didn’t know it at the time, but it would turn out to be the last ballgame of the trip. There was too much road to cover, too much to see in Texas and New Mexico and the vast spaces of the American Southwest. It was a bittersweet game, this last minor league battle, a sign that my trip would soon be over, even if I had thousands of miles yet to go.