Elite Green Car – and other unusual word combinations

by Leif Pettersen on

Here’s a Super-Duper Secret Leif Pettersen Tip to Hilarious Writing (SDSLPTHW): when you’re hurting for a joke, just throw in unexpected word combinations.

Examples: “muscular fart”, “righteous taco”, “likeable president”

Accordingly, when I tried to write the first paragraph of this post and had to arrange the words ‘luxury’, ‘eco-friendly’, ‘chauffer’, ‘Lexus’, ‘hybrid’ and ‘Atlanta’ in an interesting way, it was unexpectedly funny. Not ha-ha funny, but you know…

Elite Green Car is the cause of today’s wordsmith oddity. Launched this month, the company offers eco-friendly chauffeured transportation in the Atlanta area via their fleet of luxury full-size Lexus RX 400 hybrid cars. (See what I mean? Tee hee!)

All kidding aside, there’s a certain inexplicable thrill to tooling around in a swanky, Super Ultra-Low Emission Lexus that boasts “maximum fuel efficiency along with capturing lost energy from braking and deceleration as electric power to recharge the battery”, currently rated as the most energy efficient car on the market.

Elite Green Car is the brainchild of entrepreneur Mike Kersten, a certified pilot, avid outdoorsman and father of two. Concerned about Atlanta’s notorious environmental stresses, Kersten resolved to “fuel” his passion for the planet by launching the Elite Green Car service in his adopted home town.

So, you’re traveling in style with a minimal carbon footprint, what else do you get for your money? Elite’s vehicles are equipped with XM NavTraffic, GPS Tracking (“ensuring that the fuel-efficient ride travels the most efficient routes, minimizing toxic emissions”), WiFi services, Sirius Satellite Radio, DVD, CD, surround sound capabilities and DriveCam’s behavior-based risk mitigation solution. Is technology great or what?

Elite’s primary services include airport transportation, corporate travel, VIP/Executive transportation and special events and occasions. Though, I don’t think they’d be opposed to (unexpected word combination warning) “environmentally responsible gnarly joy ride, dude” (SDSLPTHW: that’s called a “throw back joke”).

Kersten is planning on expanding to Nashville, Charleston, Birmingham and, the eco-friendly center of the universe, San Francisco in 2008.

Halloween boos at zoos

by Jamie Rhein on

Here’s another mega round-up of Halloweeny things to do–some of them mentioned in other posts. But when I saw our beloved Leif Pettersen’s name as the writer for Minneapolis: Zoo Boo at the Como Zoo & Conservatory, I wanted to give this list a shout out. [Check out Leif’s very witty, I can’t say it enough, WITTY Gadling series, My Bloody Romania]

Leif’s zoo mention can be multiplied to take in about any major zoo in the U.S. and reminded me to put our zoo membership to good use. I’ll head to the Columbus Zoo’s Boo at the Zoo, probably this weekend. This photo by Fly on Flickr is from Boo at the Zoo at the Atlanta Zoo in Atlanta, Georgia.

Here are 10 other zoos with boos–some start this weekend. There are lots more since boo rhymes with zoo. What could be more perfect than that?

  1. Boo at the Zoo, Toronto Zoo, Toronto, Canada
  2. Boo at the Zoo Denver Zoo, Denver Colorado
  3. Night of the Living Zoo and Boo at the Zoo. Hogle Zoo, Salt Lake City, Utah
  4. Haunt at the Zoo, Oklahoma City Zoo, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
  5. Boo at the Zoo and Dia de los Muertes, San Franciso Zoo, San Francisco, California
  6. Boo at the Zoo, Philadelphia Zoo, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  7. Boo at the Zoo, Ft. Worth Zoo, Fort Worth, Texas
  8. Boo at the Zoo, Cleveland Metro Parks Zoo, Cleveland, Ohio
  9. Boo at the Zoo, Lincoln Children’s Zoo, Lincoln, Nebraska
  10. Boo at the Zoo, Little Rock Zoo, Little Rock, Arkansas

Zoos have found pushing holidays are real money makers. The events hook me in–otherwise going to the Columbus Zoo on a regular day is just a matter of looking at the world’s largest snake in captivity –again –and deciding if, for variety, we should make our way around the zoo from left to right this time instead of the other way around.

Haunted Tours for Halloween Fun: East Coast Edition

by Kelly Amabile on

Want to get spooked this Halloween? If your travels find you in any of these ten East Coast cities, be sure to check out the haunted tours happening on and around Halloween.

Alexandria, VA: This Colonial Tour Group runs their original Ghost and Graveyard Tour, as well as a special enhanced Halloween version, several times throughout the autumn months.

Atlanta, GA: How about a haunted tour on two wheels? City Segway Tours runs a Ghosts and Legends Tour.

Baltimore, MD: Fells Point Ghost Tours is now called Baltimore Ghost Tours. They offer several ghost walks (including a Haunted Pubwalk) and a Haunted Harbor Cruise.

Boston, MA: Boston by Foot will run a one-time-only tour called Beacon Hill with a Boo! on Halloween night.

Charleston, SC: Bulldog Tours offers a variety of spooky walking tours, including the Haunted Jail Tour and the Dark Side of Charleston.

Pensacola, FL: The Historical Society hosts a Haunted House Walking and Trolley Tour – a “frightseeing tour”!

Philadelphia, PA: A walking Ghost Tour of Philadelphia departs daily at 7:30 pm through November.

Newport, RI: Nightly walking tours by Ghosts of Newport run through Halloween. They also run Carved in Stone, a 90-minute tour of the colonial Common Burying Ground.

New York, NY: Ghosts of New York runs an Edgar Allen Poe and his Ghostly Friends Tour each week, plus other haunted city walks.

Washington, DC: Washington Walks hosts a DC Haunted Houses Tour every Wednesday through Halloween.

Don’t miss the list of haunted tours on the West Coast.

U.S. Cities With the Worst Traffic Are …

by Justin Glow on

The U.S. Department of Transportation has recently announced nine of the most congested U.S. cities which are in the running to obtain federal traffic-fighting aid.

Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Miami, New York City, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle where the nine semifinalists, with a “winner” set to be announced in August. The winning city will receive $1.1 billion in federal program aid designed to fight traffic using “levy tolls that vary based on traffic volumes,” and new mass-transit options for residents.

I thought Los Angeles would be on the list for sure. [via]

Related:

The World’s 10 Busiest Airports in 2006

by Willy Volk on

According to a preliminary report released by Airports Council International, passenger traffic in the US in 2006 increased by 5% over 2005, while international traffic rose by a more robust 7%. In total, therefore, airports moved an astounding 4.4 billion passengers around the world in 2006. That’s a lot of salted nuts.

According to the same report, the world’s 10 busiest airports are:

  1. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson
  2. Chicago’s O’Hare
  3. London’s Heathrow
  4. Tokyo’s Haneda
  5. Los Angeles International
  6. Dallas/Ft. Worth International
  7. Paris’ Charles de Gaulle
  8. Frankfurt International
  9. Beijing International
  10. Denver International

Interestingly, the world’s busiest airport in terms of cargo traffic was Memphis International. Hmm… wonder why.

If you’re interested (or waiting on a flight delay), you can check out the rest of the Top 30 busiest airports (PDF).

[Photo: Brent Danley]