Interested in Air Traffic Control? Watch this.

by Justin Glow on


There are roughly 15,000 air-traffic controllers orchestrating over 55,000 commercial flights per day in the U.S. alone. It’s no wonder the position is called “the most stressful job in the world,” where “one mistake — one slip of the tongue — can lead to disaster.” Check out the short documentary above, which interviews air traffic controllers in Washington Dulles International Airport, “the second busiest trans-Atlantic gateway on the Eastern Seaboard,” scheduling roughly one take-off or landing per minute.

Interested in becoming an air traffic controller? Read this. [via]

Power Tool Race and Derby: Start Your Chain Saws

by Jamie Rhein on

I’m mentioning this event now because I want to give you time to get started on your own efforts or plan to get there to be a witness. The Seattle Power Tool Race and Derby is coming up June 23 in Washington state. This doesn’t mean you set your electric drill on the ground and yell, “On your mark. Get Set. Go!” or run with a power tool as you race and hope for the best, as in “Watch for the nail gun!” This is where folks who have created mobile contraptions with power tools and parts of tools put them in competitions with names like: Grudge Matches, Deadly Ring of Death and Jumping Jackass. Beer drinking is involved, but it’s a family friendly affair. Kids can even compete with their own inventions.

If there is a part of you that wonders, “Is this for real?” I can assure you it is. But if it sounds kind of, well, stupid, it’s supposed to be. The reason for the derby is to have fun in a wacky kind of creative way. Consider this one. The Giant Gerbil Ball has a person inside it. Flickr has many other pictures from last year’s event to give you an idea of what’s possible. The hobby horse in the photo is somehow affixed to a single power saw.

Power tool races don’t happen only in Seattle. Check out the blog, Make:Technology on Your Time for photos and a You Tube video of an event in San Francisco.

Rogues Ales Brewery: Humor is an Ingredient

by Jamie Rhein on

Beer is a beverage we’re fond of here at Gadling. Just this month Neil wrote about the best pubs in the UK, Justin wrote about the practice of drinking beer upon reaching a mountain summit, and Willy mentioned beer drinking in his post “Dear First-Time Vietnam Visitor.” With the weather heating up, this is beer drinking weather. If you happen to be in Newport, Oregon, head to Rogue Ales Brewery. If touring the brewery is as fun as its video tour is, I bet it will be a blast. Here’s another video about brewmaster John Maier the brewmaster. There are healthy doses of humor mixed in. Here are some locations where you can enjoy some of Maier’s finest yourself.

Milk and Opium: An Expat Artist’s Success Story

by Jamie Rhein on

When I was browsing You Tube videos looking for what caught my attention, I came across the trailer for Milk and Opium. This clip captures the mood of a young male musician leaving a small village in India and traveling to the big city looking for success. That story alone interests me. The real reason this video caught my attention, however, is I know the back story about the director. Four years ago, Joel Palombo did a 10 minute conceptual art film, “Ranger Puja,” where a procession of people led by a tuba player carried a huge, and I mean huge, plywood cutout billboard style head and torso of The Lone Ranger to the Yamuna River in Old Delhi, India and floated it as an offering of sorts. The floating of the Lone Ranger was accompanied with floating candles in a Hindu style ritual until the Lone Ranger sank.

Early that morning, I stood on the bridge over the river taking pictures. This was an odd, wonderful kind of experience caused by a person using the arts to infuse two cultures in an unusual way in order to make a statement about spirituality and pop culture. The film’s message is left to the viewer’s interpretation. While Joel was figuring out how to get the Lone Ranger in and out of the water (after it sunk), people were fishing, washing clothes, collecting trash, etc. like they normally do every morning at the banks of this holy river, pollution aside.

Palombo, an American, has taught art at the American School in New Delhi for years and knows India well. Milk and Opium was a film he made while he was on sabbatical. For an interesting read, check out the link labeled “Product” of the Milk and Opium Web Site. Here, Joel explains how the film was made

Since then, it’s been on the international film festival circuit earning awards. He earned the Best New Director Award at the Brooklyn Film Festival in 2006. There have been other awards as well. In April it was at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival. Just last weekend Milk and Opium was featured at the Monaco Music Festival. After coming across the trailer, I emailed Joel to ask him about upcoming showings. He said there are some in the future, he’ll let me know. Soon you’ll be able to order Milk and Opium from the website. I’d keep an eye out for more films from Joel. I’d say he isn’t done yet.

For those of you travelers out there, maybe you’ll come across something that appeals to your creative eye. Go for it.

The Trailer