National Archives to ban photography

by Katie Hammel on

Tourists at the National Archives will no longer be able to document their visit, once a ban on photography inside the building goes into effect.

About a million people visit the National Archives each year and though flash photography is already banned inside because of the damage the ultraviolet radiation can cause to the old documents, it’s estimated that 50,000 flashbulbs still go off each year (according to USA Today).

The National Archives, located in Washington, DC, houses important documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.

The ban on photos will go into effect on February 24. After that date, those who want a souvenir of their visit can obtain a replica of one of the documents from the gift shop, for a fee of course.

Another new day, another drunk passenger tries to open the aircraft door mid-flight

by Scott Carmichael on

Rarely does a week go by without a flight being diverted because someone became “unruly”.

These incidents are often pretty innocent, involving a drunk passenger trying to harass fellow passengers. But every now and then the really insane (or drunk) take things to the next level, often with violence or by attempting to damage the plane.

Last night, United Airlines flight 223 from Washington to Las Vegas had to divert to Denver to drop off a passenger who had attempted to open the cabin door mid-flight.

Thankfully this is almost impossible to do because of door seals and the pressure difference, but that doesn’t change the fact that in his mind, he was ready to kill himself and many others on board the plane.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – insane and drunk passengers are a far greater danger than terrorists. See, you can use technology and profiling to spot a terrorist, but the seriously deranged are almost impossible to detect.

As usual, the culprit in this case was alcohol. He had been drinking before and during the flight, which once again shows how dangerous in-flight booze can be, and how important it is for cabin crew to stop serving intoxicated passengers.

The 129 passengers (minus one) continued on to Las Vegas arriving about two hours late.

Smithsonian draws more people, brings in extra cash

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Last year wasn’t bad for everyone. The Smithsonian Institution returned to past glory, logging more than 30 million visits. Action at the Smithsonian hasn’t been this high since before the 9/11-related travel market slump. The 18 museums and galleries — and the zoo — saw an up-tick of 19.4 percent in 2009, up from 25.15 million visits the year before. The fact it’s free to visit probably helped. A difficult economy, magnified for the travel market, left those actually taking to the road to find ways to cut costs. Free attractions take a big item out of a trip’s budget (and one that can sneak up on you in size). And, extended hours over the summer brought in more bodies.

Because of the increase in traffic, revenue at museum stores, theaters and restaurants actually increased from 2008, a rarity in the travel any industry last year. At least some of the credit belongs to locals, since hotel occupancy rates stayed flat from 2008 to 2009. The American History Museum was the star of the Smithsonian collection, drawing 1.4 million more people than it did in 2005, the last full year before its recent renovation began. The National Museum of Natural History added 450,000 visitors, bringing the 2009 total to 7.4 million, making it tops in the Smithsonian. Only the National Air and Space Museum and National Museum of the American Indian experienced declines.

[Photo by mp_eds via Flickr]

New website helps Seattle visitors share a taxi

by Katie Hammel on

Now that visitors to Seattle can hop on the light rail from Sea-Tac Airport into downtown (or take the 45-minute bus), fewer may be likely to take an expensive cab. But for those who don’t want to hassle with lugging baggage onto public transportation or who are arriving at odd hours, there is a new way to get from the airport into the city without spending the usual $40 on cab fare.

RidePenguin.com, which was just launched last week and is still in beta, promises to connect passengers looking for a cab with others who want to share. If you are interested in sharing a cab to defer costs, just log on and either search for a posted ride (rides are posted by time, origin, and destination) or post your own and invite people to share with you.

Sharing a cab would save you quite a bit of money (though not as much as taking public transportation). If you share with one other person, your fare would drop to about $20 from the airport into the city. Share with two people and it’s less than $15. Obviously, the more people who use the service, the better your odds of finding a taxi to share. When I searched recently, I only found one posted ride for the day, and it wasn’t even going into the city center.

It’s a good idea in theory…of course, you could just get in the taxi line and ask around to see if anyone is heading your way and willing to share their cab.

[via The Seattle Times]

Washington airport terminal flooded after water main burst

by Scott Carmichael on

Around 3pm yesterday afternoon, Washington’s Reagan National airport suffered some substantial damage from a burst water main pipe. Passengers arriving at the airport were greeted by several inches of water in the baggage claim area, and by 6pm, most of the airport had been shut down. As you can see in the video above, the amount of water was so great, that it was pouring out of the side of the building.

At the moment, only US Airways flights are being affected, and passengers flying US Airways out of DCA/Regan National are advised to contact the airline for more information. Only terminal C was flooded – terminals A and B were not impacted, and flights out of those terminals should be departing on time today.

More photos of the flooded terminal have been posted over at “We Love DC” and for more on the status of the C terminal, check the site of the airport operator.