Make a statement at the TSA checkpoint with metal-ink undies

by Grant Martin on

Tired of all of this business with patdowns, nude-o-scopes and grope-a-thons at the security checkpoint? Want to make a statement? Don’t want to strip down to your speedo to make that statement? Well then metal ink undergarments might be in your future.

Over at cargocollective.com, a series of undergarments are now on sale that use metal ink to print in their silk screening process. The ink looks and feels the same way that traditional materials do, but under an x-ray — well, they light up like a Christmas tree. This means that anyone viewing the passenger subjected to backscatter x-rays will see the metallic printing stand out.

In this case, that message is the fourth amendment, the part of the bill of rights “which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures when the searched party has a ‘reasonable expectation of privacy’.”

A great way to make a statement? Definitely. Will they prevent your special parts from being seen by the x-ray? Absolutely not. But it’s a clever trick. Among the site’s offerings are t-shirts, socks and other undergarments ranging in price from $19 to $45.

[Via Erin Drewitz]

Shift in Earth’s magnetic north pole forces Tampa airport to repaint its runways

by Scott Carmichael on

Stories about a shift in the Earth’s magnetic north pole are usually topics for the Science Channel, or a great way to score bonus points in an otherwise boring conversation – but now the phenomenon has actually forced an airport to close one of its runways so they can repaint its designation.

Tampa airport Runway 18R/36L will be called 19R/1L after it reopens on January 13. Later this month, the other runways at Tampa airport will undergo the same transformation.

The magnetic north pole has been shifting towards Russia at 40 miles a year for the past decade due to changes in the core of our planet. In 2009, National Geographic posted a study on the effects of these changes which is really worth reading if you’d like to learn more about what goes on inside Earth.

As you can see in the map above, the runway is currently designated 18R, and the map is valid till January 13, after which time all pilots flying into Tampa will need to update their kitbag.

The FAA lists the runway closures in a NOTAM (NOtice To AirMen) on their site:

!TPA 01/011 (KTPA A0011/11) TPA SVC RWY 18R RVR OTS TIL 1101132100

Pretty meaningless to you and I – but if you are really bored, you can browse these notices for yourself on the FAA site. And if this kind of stuff really interests you, you’ll love the articles by our resident pilot, Kent Wien!

Photo of the Day (1.1.2011)

by Catherine Bodry on

Happy New Year! We hope today finds you merry and optimistic about the year ahead, rather than remorseful about last night….

This photo of an empty waiting room seems appropriate for two reasons. First, I always associate an airport waiting room – or airports in general – with anticipation. I’m not usually inside an airport unless I’m going somewhere, or just returning. We can think about 2011 as a trip that we are about to embark on, with all the happy trip anticipation that comes with the sound and smells of an airport.

The second reason I like this photo is because an empty waiting room is generally a good thing. No one likes to wait, and a packed waiting room usually means that somehow plans have been delayed. Flickr user jwannie writes that “the MSP airport at 5am is boring,” but I happen to think it looks like a wonderful place to be.

Have any travel photos that exude optimism? Upload them to Gadling’s Flickr pool, and we just might choose one for our Photo of the Day feature.

Pat Robertson says “God and gays” to blame for recent snowpocalypse airport delays

by Scott Carmichael on

Were you one of the unlucky travelers stranded at the airport during the recent massive dump of snow on the East Coast? Flights all around the world ended up being impacted when operations at New York area airports were shut down, causing a massive disruption during what is one of the busiest times of the year to fly.

700 Club broadcaster Pat Robertson has the explanation for it all – it was God’s way of stopping gays from doing “something gay”.

According to Robertson, God shut down major airports “so that so that people who were hoping to fly to do something of a gay nature would have to take a train or a bus, so it might be days before the gay thing they were going to do could occur.”

And yes, since this comes from the Borowitz report, this can be filed under “fake news”.

[Photo: DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images]

Galley Gossip: A flight attendant Christmas story

by Heather Poole on
I graduated from flight attendant training on the 8th of December in 1995. Two weeks later, on Christmas Eve, my roommate and I were called out to work a trip – together. The crew scheduling God’s must have been smiling down on us that day because it’s not often a flight attendant gets to work with their roommate who also happens to be their best friend on reserve. Although we were scheduled to layover in Buffalo, or maybe it was Albany (I can’t remember), we knew we were lucky. By the way, that’s us in the photograph.

What I remember most is glancing out the window and seeing rooftops and – Oh. My. God! – we were seconds from landing and I still had first class meal trays out in the cabin! I ran like crazy to collect everything and lock it up in the galley before we touched ground, barely making it to my jump seat in time. The Captain never made the prepare for landing PA, even though he swore he did when I called him on it later, which is why I had no idea how close we were to landing. As if that weren’t stressful enough for a new-hire, things went from bad to worse (at least in my head it did) real quick.

As we taxied to the gate, I began to make an announcement, you know the one. “Ladies and gentleman, welcome to….to….to -” Oh no…where the heck are we?! For the life of me I could not remember. My brain was shot after having flown to so many cities in just two weeks on the job. With my heart pounding like crazy, I frantically searched my pockets for the flight itinerary.

“Buffalo, we’re in Buffalo!” yelled a passenger. Or maybe he said Albany. I still can’t remember. But wherever we were that Christmas Eve, that’s when everyone on board started to laugh – at me. Mortified, I hung my head.

The following day my roommate and I wound up eating Christmas dinner out of a vending machine located on the second floor of our three-star hotel. The restaurant in the hotel was closed and there was nothing else open nearby. Although we would have been much happier eating turkey and dressing at home with our family and friends, we made the best of it with a couple packets of peanut butter crackers and Diet Coke. To this day, fifteen years later, it’s the most memorable Christmas I’ve ever had.

Four months later my roommate quit. I’ll never forget the day my cab pulled up to the curb outside our crash pad in Queens and I spotted her sitting on the stoop smiling from ear to ear. She couldn’t wait to tell me the big news. I hadn’t seen her look so happy since our first day of flight attendant training. The job is not for everyone, and being away from loved ones during the holidays certainly doesn’t make it any easier.

Today I still work for the same airline, and from time to time I still screw up. But not this Christmas! Seniority is everything at an airline and because I work out of New York, the most junior base in the system, I have the day off. New Years Eve, however, is a different story. So for those of you traveling to North Carolina in a few days, consider yourself warned.

NOTE TO SELF: North Carolina, North Carolina, I’m flying to North Carolina!

A special thanks to all the airline employees who went to work today! It’s because of them that many of you are having a very merry Christmas this year.

Photo courtesy of me! (Heather Poole)