Tony DeLLomo is on a mission from God.

In a hard-to-miss motor home covered with biblical passages, “Jesus is God” signs and an offer of a free Bible, DeLLomo has been spreading the Gospel by parking in high-traffic spots throughout central Florida.

“It’s all to glorify God,” DeLLomo said while wearing a sleeveless, white hooded sweatshirt with “Jesus is King” in red letters.

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Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Evangelism and Church Growth • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Travel • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A. • * Theology • Christology • Soteriology

Listen to it all (about 20 minutes). Those of you who are preachers, please note: this is a model of how to tell a story. It is heartwarming, hilarious, and oh so wonderful because it is true--you could not make this up if you tried--KSH (Hat tip: EDH).

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • History • Religion & Culture • Travel • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A. • Asia • India

"Saving abandoned animals, one ride at a time..."

Guaranteed to brighten your day--watch it all (Note: video is linked at the top, if no video capacity you can read the story. Make sure to check out the map of how long the ride is from Texas to Tok, Alaska where the dog was delivered).

Also, please note that the website for Operation Roger Operation Roger (a ministry which, as the video notes, was begin through a prayer) is there.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Marriage & Family • Travel • * General Interest • Animals • Natural Disasters: Earthquakes, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, etc.

This blew my mind--watch it all (in case of any trouble, there is another link there). Wow.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Science & Technology • Travel • * General Interest • * International News & Commentary • Europe • Germany

Boeing Co on Thursday said it was working around the clock to resolve issues that have grounded the entire global fleet of the company's new 787 Dreamliner for over eight days, and underscored its regret about the issue.

Boeing said it welcomed Thursday's briefing on the 787 investigation by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and said it continued to assist the NTSB and the other government agencies investigating two recent 787 incidents.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Science & Technology • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • The U.S. Government

Last week, a fire on a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner parked in Boston prompted American regulators to launch a comprehensive review of the new jet program. But they maintained the plane was safe and allowed it to keep flying during their unusual if not unprecendented re-examination.

That changed Wednesday after pilots on an All Nippon Airways 787 had to make an emergency landing after another smoky battery malfunction. Before the day was over, the FAA had grounded Boeing’s technologically advanced jetliner, declaring that it won’t fly again until the onboard batteries are proven to be safe.

“Before further flight, operators of U.S.-registered Boeing 787 aircraft must demonstrate to the Federal Aviation Administration ... that the batteries are safe and in compliance,” the U.S. agency said in a statement accompanying its emergency airworthiness directive.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Science & Technology • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • The U.S. Government • * South Carolina • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

As all children and many adults know, there’s something deeply enticing about playing on the road.

But a growing number of international cities have leveraged the allure of that normally prohibited behaviour to create hugely popular festivals that allow tens of thousands of residents to literally take to the streets with their bikes, blades, boards, wheelchairs and strollers.

During a trip last winter to Guadalajara, Mexico, which played host to the 2011 PanAm Games, downtown councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam found herself swept up in one such event – the Via RecreActiva – that involves closing more than 60 kilometres of roads to vehicular traffic on Sunday mornings, when traffic in the city of 4.3 million is light.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Marriage & Family • Travel • Urban/City Life and Issues • * International News & Commentary • Canada

An airline says it will offer baby-free "quiet zones" on its flights. Should all planes and trains follow suit, or do adults need to learn to live with child passengers?

At 35,000ft, the klaxon-like howl of a distressed toddler screeches through a pressurised cabin.

For travellers already stressed by lengthy security checks, crammed into cramped seating and unnerved by the very fact of being so high above ground, it's almost enough to make them shatter the Plexiglas windows and jump.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Marriage & Family • Psychology • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

The dismal economy and skyrocketing gas prices may have accomplished what years of advocacy failed to: getting more people to stop driving solo. The share of workers driving to work alone dropped slightly from 2010 to 2011 while commutes on public transportation rose nationally and in some of the largest metropolitan areas, according to Census data out today Thursday.

Group commuting — riding buses, trains, subways or sharing cars or vans — rose from 2005 to 2011 in more than a third of 342 metropolitan areas for which data exist, according to a USA TODAY analysis.

About two-thirds saw jumps in residents using public transit. The share driving to work alone dropped in about two-thirds or more than 200 metros.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

In... [British Columbia], if you blow .08 or beyond, you can avoid the justice system – and a criminal record – if you fit certain criteria. Conditions include not having killed or injured anyone or caused property damage as a result of your actions. If you qualify, you can opt for administrative sanctions over the courts.

If you choose this path, you have to go through a rehabilitation program, which could lead to treatment for alcohol abuse. When the person is given the right to drive again, it can only be in a car outfitted with an ignition interlock system, for a minimum of one year. The device prevents the car from starting if the driver’s blood alcohol level is above a certain limit.

“The focus is very much on rehabilitating the driver and not simply punishing him,” says Mr. Murie. “I don’t think just punishing drivers works.”

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Alcohol/Drinking • Law & Legal Issues • Teens / Youth • Travel • Young Adults • * International News & Commentary • Canada

The ban is proposed by Councilman George O'Kelley Jr. and would prohibit cellphone use by drivers younger than 18 and texting by all drivers. Drivers who break the law would be cited and face fees starting at $50 and increasing to $150 for repeated violations, according to the ordinance.

"If we save a life, I don't care if they are convicted or not in court," O'Kelley said. "If we stop it, we can save an innocent person's life. And if word gets around that if you do this in the city you get in trouble -- that's a deterrent in itself."

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Science & Technology • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • City Government • * South Carolina

Like their owners, cars have been piling on the pounds in recent decades. When the Volkswagen Golf was launched in 1974 it weighed 0.75 tonnes and was 3.8 metres long. By 2008, when the mark six Golf was launched, its weight had soared by more than 50% and it had stretched by 38cm. Apart from making their cars roomier, motor manufacturers have added all sorts of gadgets and safety devices and each of these has meant a gain in weight. Finally, however, the pressure from regulators to make cars more fuel efficient, and the rising cost of materials are combining to make carmakers slim down their models.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Globalization • Law & Legal Issues • Science & Technology • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • Energy, Natural Resources • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Europe

For 30 days, Mr [Joe] Garner turned to Craigslist to see if he could find ways to get the food, transportation and shelter he needed on a trip around the US.

Would strangers he contacted online be happy to help?

Read it all and enjoy the video.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • Movies & Television • Science & Technology • Travel • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

When asked if he favored mandatory helmet laws for cyclists, Wiggins responded that he did, adding, "because ultimately, if you get knocked off and you ain't got a helmet on, then how can you kind of argue?" He went on to say, "when there's laws passed for cyclists, then you're protected and you can say, 'well, I've done everything to be safe.' "

Wiggins was denounced for his remarks.

Cyclists and non-cyclists; conservatives and liberals — they all united in arguing that wearing a cycling helmet should be a matter of choice, or else the popularity of cycling might decline. Darren Johnson a London Assembly member from the Green Party, said the issue of mandatory helmet laws missed the point. "We need to focus on the solutions to the problem of left-turning lorries," he said.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Globalization • Law & Legal Issues • Sports • Travel • Urban/City Life and Issues

Myra Walz comes off as shy and quiet. Not much of an activist. But in late June came the phone call that forced her out of her shell.

Hundreds of miles away, on a barren strip of Wyoming highway, her niece had crossed the center line, slamming into an oncoming truck.

Sabrina “Bree” Wilson, 31, a mother of two daughters, died on the scene in a horrific crash.

“As soon as we found out that she was texting while driving, I said ‘no more, never again,’?” Walz said.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Science & Technology • Travel • * South Carolina

A young man talking on a cellphone meanders along the edge of a lonely train platform at night. Suddenly he stumbles, loses his balance and pitches over the side, landing head first on the tracks.

Fortunately there were no trains approaching the Philadelphia-area station at that moment, because it took the man several minutes to recover enough to climb out of danger. But the incident, captured last year by a security camera and provided to The Associated Press, underscores the risks of what government officials and safety experts say is a growing problem: distracted walking.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Psychology • Science & Technology • Travel • Urban/City Life and Issues

One Simple Decision, created by Virtual Driver Interactive Inc. (VDI), one of the nation's largest driving simulator manufacturers, seeks to modify driver behavior by showing drivers what can happen if they have a crash while driving under the influence or texting while driving. It combines simulated driving and interactions with police, judges and emergency medical personnel in an intense, 20-minute experience featuring a real judge, actual sheriff's deputies and EMTs.

Harry Mochel, now 19, of Rye, N.Y., experienced One Simple Decison about a year ago at a private driver's education school in Rye. "I'd been driving for a little while already," he says. "My parents had heard about it and said you should try it."

He says he was "driving" along on the simulator. "It tells you to start texting, so I took out my phone and started texting," he says. "I ended up crashing into a stop sign and got into a head-on collision. It's crazy to see how easy it was."

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • --Social Networking • Psychology • Science & Technology • Teens / Youth • Travel

Saying he was sending a message of deterrence to Massachusetts drivers, District Court Judge Stephen Abany today imposed maximum sentences on Haverhill teen Aaron Deveau for causing a fatal crash by texting while driving.

The judge sentenced Deveau, who was 17 at the time of the crash, to concurrent sentences of 2½-years on a charge of motor vehicle homicide and 2 years for a charge of negligent operation of a motor vehicle causing serious injury while texting.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Science & Technology • Teens / Youth • Travel • Urban/City Life and Issues

Oxford is not a college town — it is the college town. Its namesake university’s 38 colleges are so steeped in scholarly history they make Harvard and Yale seem like baby-faced freshmen. To wit: Oxford’s New College was last considered “new” in the 14th century. (Even the obsolete term “New World” is newer.) Students here get into the act, many dressing in tweed coats, sometimes even with elbow patches, and ordering pints of cask ale at pubs that have been in business for nearly four-fifths of a millennium. But Oxford has a modern side, too: night spots blare house and electronic music; restaurants serve modern takes on local food and exotic ethnic cuisine; and comfortable boutique hotels and bed-and- breakfasts beat medieval lodging houses for comfort any day. (Just don’t ask for a place to hitch your horse.)

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

Commemorations of the sinking of the Titanic 100 years ago will put the spotlight on a young Irish priest whose photographs are some of the only surviving images of life onboard the liner on its first and last voyage.

Jesuit Father Frank Browne, 1880-1960, became a prominent documentary photographer and a much-decorated chaplain in the British army in World War I.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • Religion & Culture • Travel • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic

Toward the end of “A Night to Remember,” Walter Lord briefly nodded to “the element of fate” in the story, which teases its audience with a sense at once of inevitability and of how easily things might have turned out differently. It is, he says, like “classic Greek tragedy.”

He was right. All the energy spent on the mechanics, the romance, the construction, the passenger list, the endless debates about what the Californian might have done and just how many people perished (still never resolved) has distracted from what may, in the end, be the most obvious thing about the Titanic’s story: it uncannily replicates the structure and the themes of our most fundamental myths and oldest tragedies. Like Iphigenia, the Titanic is a beautiful “maiden” sacrificed to the agendas of greedy men eager to set sail; the forty-six-thousand-ton liner is just the latest in a long line of lovely girl victims, an archetype of vulnerable femininity that stands at the core of the Western literary tradition.

But the Titanic embodies another strain of tragedy. This is the drama of a flawed and self-destructive hero, a protagonist of great achievements and overweening presumption....

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Books • History • Movies & Television • Travel • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

"What concerns us is the message that it sends," said Atheist of Florida member Rob Curry. "A very chilling message that, if you're not a Christian, if you don't believe as we do, then you're not welcome."

Curry's referring to a road-anointing performed on CR 98 last year as part of the "Polk Under Prayer" campaign, where Christians poured olive oil on the asphalt and prayed over it, calling for a revival in the area.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Rural/Town Life • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • City Government • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Atheism

A growing number of people are traveling really long distances to work.

Researchers call them "super-commuters." Many of them travel hundreds of miles from their homes to work. They take a combination of cars, planes, trains and buses to get from home to the office.

New York University's Rudin Center for Transportation reports from 2002 to 2009 the number of super-commuters grew in eight of the 10 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. They grew in the Philadelphia area by more than 50 percent during that period.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • Urban/City Life and Issues • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

Nevada is envisioning a day when taxicabs might shuttle fares without a driver, or people with medical conditions that make them ineligible for a license could get around with a virtual chauffeur.

The concept took a big step when Nevada became the first state to approve regulations that spell out requirements for companies to test driverless cars on state roads.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Science & Technology • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • State Government

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Watch it all, very heartwarming.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Marriage & Family • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • * General Interest

Check it out.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * General Interest

The National Transportation Safety Board recommended Tuesday that all states and the District ban cellphone use behind the wheel, becoming the first federal agency to call for an outright ban on telephone conversations while driving.

Distracted driving, some of it due to cellphone use, contributed to an estimated 3,092 deaths in highway crashes last year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“No call, no text, no update, is worth a human life,” said NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. “It is time for all of us to stand up for safety by turning off electronic devices when driving.”

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Science & Technology • Travel

"We knew that when states pass good laws, lives are saved and a lot of money is saved. We'd just never done the analysis," says John Ulczycki of the National Safety Council, which researched the issue for the Allstate Foundation.

The report comes as Congress prepares to consider a multiyear highway and transit-spending bill. Advocates of graduated driver licensing (GDL) laws are pushing to include funding for about $25 million a year in incentives for states to strengthen GDL programs.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Teens / Youth • Travel

There are 19 in all--check them out.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Marriage & Family • Sports • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • * General Interest • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

The toll hikes are more than chump change: Cash tolls on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge jumped to $4 from $2.50, and to $12 from $8 on all the New York-New Jersey Hudson River crossings.

The trend reflects tough economic times and growing uncertainty in state capitols about the future of federal road money. Congress has repeatedly delayed approval of a multiyear funding bill for highway projects.

The tolling also highlights the intensifying national debate over how the USA should pay to maintain and improve highways, bridges and tunnels — the federal fuel tax, tolls or something else, such as public-private partnerships. The federal gas tax, 18.4 cents a gallon, has not been raised since 1993; more fuel-efficient vehicles have worsened the funding shortage.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Personal Finance • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • Politics in General • City Government • State Government

Mayor Joe Riley was pleased the city he's helmed since 1975 is now the No. 1 tourist destination in America.

"We love to share our extensive heritage and tradition of hospitality," Riley said in a prepared statement. "It is thrilling to see that the visitors who come here not only enjoy what they see and experience, they also find an open welcome from the city. Great food and lovely hotels add much to the enjoyment of our guests who come either for a day or a week. We look forward to the opportunity to show visitors what makes Charleston a great place to visit."

Voters annually evaluate cities based on six categories: atmosphere/ambience, culture/sites, friendliness, lodging, restaurants and shopping. The city with the highest composite appeal wins top honors.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Politics in General • City Government • * South Carolina

EF - Live The Language - Vancouver from Gustav Johansson on Vimeo.

Watch it all--I lived there for two years in graduate school, and our oldest daughter Abigail has just moved there for the same reason--KSH.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • Urban/City Life and Issues • * International News & Commentary • Canada

I really enjoyed this, especially the pictures.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Travel • * International News & Commentary • Europe

This made BBC World News this morning where I caught it--watch it all--KSH.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * General Interest • Animals

Following a recent survey of over 3,000 of our cabin crew, we’ve compiled a selection of the strangest, most unusual requests received over the years. Topping the poll for popularity are “Please can you open the window?” and “Can you show me to the showers?” but the survey also revealed a few, what can we say, unique examples…

“An elderly gentleman who couldn’t sleep in Upper Class first asked for a sleeping pill. When I explained we didn’t have these on board he then asked if the captain could turn the noise down. When I asked what noise he meant, he replied “The noise out there!” “Do you mean the engine?” I asked. “Yes, yes the engine!” I was speechless at first and in the end just replied “We can’t do that Sir, we need the engine to stay airborne…”"

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * General Interest • Humor / Trivia

Florida-based Spirit Airlines has announced it will charge a $5 fee for passengers who ask an agent to print their boarding pass at the airport.

You can bypass the fee by checking in online and printing your own boarding pass, or by checking in at an airport kiosk -- for now. (Starting next summer, boarding passes at airport kiosks will cost $1.)

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life

STUCK from Joe Ayala on Vimeo.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • Young Adults • * General Interest • Humor / Trivia

Nearly six of 10 Americans — 57% — say they won't buy an all-electric car no matter the price of gas, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll.

That's a stiff headwind just as automakers are developing electrics to help meet tighter federal rules that could require their fleets to average as high as 62 miles per gallon in 2025. And President Obama has set a goal of 1 million electric vehicles in use in the U.S. by 2015.

The anti-electric sentiment unmasked by the poll shows that pure electrics — defined in the poll question as "an electric car that you could only drive for a limited number of miles at one time" — could have trouble getting a foothold in the U.S.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Energy, Natural Resources • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

The United States is falling dramatically behind much of the world in rebuilding and expanding an overloaded and deteriorating transportation network it needs to remain competitive in the global marketplace, according to a new study by the Urban Land Institute.

Burdened with soaring deficits and with long-term transportation plans stalled in Congress, the United States has fallen behind three emerging economic competitors — Brazil, China and India, the institute said.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Politics in General • City Government • State Government • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Tuesday said the imposition of a new tax on cars and trucks based on how many miles they drive would be one way of generating revenues for the federal Highway Trust Fund.

Joseph Kile, CBO's assistant director for microeconomic studies, told the Senate Finance Committee that a tax on vehicle miles traveled (VMT) would help the Highway Trust Fund meet its spending goals, in particular because the Fund is already spending more than it collects through the federal gas tax.

But he also said the tax would better align highway costs with revenue generation, and promote the more efficient use of the highway system.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Taxes

Watch it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel

Along with nationwide prayers on Sunday the Church has also organised a two-day retreat for drivers where they can reflect upon their attitude when they get behind a wheel.

Aggressive and bad driving make a significant contribution to the high death-rate on Polish roads, one of the worst in the developed world. A survey by the by the OECD-affiliated International Transport Forum for 2009 found there were 12 deaths on Polish roads for every 100,000 inhabitants while the UK clocked up just 3.9 despite having more cars and a greater road network than Poland.

"Many of us behave like pagans when we're driving," said Father Marian Midura, the organiser of the prayer day, which has the support of the national police. "Even though we hang rosaries, carry images of saints and have the early Christian sign of the fish on our cars we do not respect other drivers." Priests will also beseech people to avoid drink driving, another contributing factor to the death rate.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Spirituality/Prayer • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Travel • * International News & Commentary • Europe • Poland • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic

Interstate 70, through central and eastern Missouri, was closed down for a while because of snow and ice. The closure stranded many motorists and workers along the highway. Host Michele Norris speaks to Terri Brackney and Greg Stratton, who work at the Travel Plaza Truck Stop in Warrenton, Mo., and have been stranded there since Monday.

Over 200 trucks parked overnight! Egads! Listen to it all--KSH (Hat tip: Elizabeth).

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * General Interest • Weather

American Muslims reentering the United States from abroad are alleging U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents inquired about their religious beliefs and practices—questions they say violate their constitutional rights.

Two civil liberties groups, the American Civil Liberties Union and San Francisco-based Muslim Advocates, are now calling on the Department of Homeland Security to investigate.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • Travel • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Islam

Bruce Holloway was turning into his driveway in Mount Juliet, Tenn., in April 2009, when he was struck and killed by Brian Duffey.

Duffey was driving 80 mph with alcohol and painkillers in his system, according to police and court records.

"He was already home," said Holloway's fiancée, Mary Loving. "It's so unfair."

Duffey pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide and was sentenced to 22 years. He was one of a growing number of heavily medicated Americans who get behind the wheel every day.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Drugs/Drug Addiction • Travel • Violence

A suspect package containing a detonator, batteries and a ticking clock was found on a suitcase checked onto a Munich-bound plane, German police have said.

The bag was detected before it could be loaded on the flight from Namibia.

The flight was delayed for several hours but landed safely at Munich on Thursday morning.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • Europe • Germany

The Transportation Security Administration said Wednesday that it is planning to impose new air cargo screening rules by Friday, in reaction to the recent securities gaps revealed by the the bomb plot in Yemen.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Globalization • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • The U.S. Government • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • Asia • Yemen

Airports in some of the United States were on high alert Friday after investigators found a suspicious package on a plane in the United Kingdom the night before, a law enforcement source with detailed knowledge of the investigation said.

The suspicious package, which contained a "manipulated" toner cartridge, tested negative for explosive material, the source said, but it led to heightened inspection of arriving cargo flights in Newark, New Jersey and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and a UPS truck in New York.

Police also were investigating a suspicious package at the distribution center of an airport in East Midlands, in the United Kingdom, an airport spokesman said. Authorities said they could not immediately connect that investigation to the ones unfolding in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Authorities seemed most focused on inspecting cargo planes.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Terrorism

Anyone driving the twists of Highway 1 between San Francisco and Los Angeles recently may have glimpsed a Toyota Prius with a curious funnel-like cylinder on the roof. Harder to notice was that the person at the wheel was not actually driving.

The car is a project of Google, which has been working in secret but in plain view on vehicles that can drive themselves, using artificial-intelligence software that can sense anything near the car and mimic the decisions made by a human driver.

With someone behind the wheel to take control if something goes awry and a technician in the passenger seat to monitor the navigation system, seven test cars have driven 1,000 miles without human intervention and more than 140,000 miles with only occasional human control. One even drove itself down Lombard Street in San Francisco, one of the steepest and curviest streets in the nation. The only accident, engineers said, was when one Google car was rear-ended while stopped at a traffic light.

Autonomous cars are years from mass production, but technologists who have long dreamed of them believe that they can transform society as profoundly as the Internet has.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Science & Technology • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Terrorism

Charleston still has its cannons aimed at Fort Sumter, where the Civil War began, and has elected the same mayor, Joseph Riley, since 1975. It even has some of the country’s most aggressive historic preservation. But that doesn’t mean this charming Southern city has nothing new to offer. There are new galleries on Broad Street, and a festoonery of restaurants, bars and boutique bakeries have transformed the once-struggling design district on upper King Street. Charlestonians, governed by laws of hospitality as incontrovertible as those of gravity, cannot help themselves from sharing their new finds, even if you are “from off,” as those who grew up on this once swampy peninsula refer to outsiders.

I post this in part as a reminder that it is a fabulous place to visit. If you have not ever been you need to put it on your list. Read it all--KSH.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * South Carolina

Vacations have become a luxury for many Americans trying to make ends meet in this economic downturn, but there are signs that people are slowly, even timidly, on the move again.

Families who postponed trips last year are making modest vacation plans, travel agents say. And business owners or executives who felt it was insensitive to travel as they cut costs and laid off workers are again making plans to get away, leisure industry experts added.

Stacy H. Small, president of Elite Travel International, said at least half of her clients who were business owners cut back last year. “I had a lot of clients say ‘I just don’t feel right,’ ” she said. This year, nearly all have returned.

Read it all

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • Personal Finance • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--

You may see them riding their motorcycles at March for Life rallies, motorcycle rallies, Knights of Columbus and Girl Scout meetings. They look like bikers, but their goal is far different.

"We're not a motorcycle gang, we're a motorcycle ministry," said Hank Stanco, Oklahoma state coordinator of the Catholic Cross Bearers Motorcycle Ministry.

Although Christian motorcycle ministries have been around for a long time, most chapters of the national Christian Motorcyclists Association are connected with Protestant or nondenominational churches. The Catholic version of this evangelical ministry is new.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Travel • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic

Paved roads, historical emblems of American achievement, are being torn up across rural America and replaced with gravel or other rough surfaces as counties struggle with tight budgets and dwindling state and federal revenue. State money for local roads was cut in many places amid budget shortfalls.

In Michigan, at least 38 of the 83 counties have converted some asphalt roads to gravel in recent years. Last year, South Dakota turned at least 100 miles of asphalt road surfaces to gravel. Counties in Alabama and Pennsylvania have begun downgrading asphalt roads to cheaper chip-and-seal road, also known as "poor man's pavement." Some counties in Ohio are simply letting roads erode to gravel.

The moves have angered some residents because of the choking dust and windshield-cracking stones that gravel roads can kick up, not to mention the jarring "washboard" effect of driving on rutted gravel.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • Politics in General • City Government

Gasoline prices will be at the lowest level since March as U.S. drivers take to the highways this Memorial Day weekend, the traditional start of the summer driving season in the world’s largest energy-consuming country.

Pump prices have dropped for three weeks to an average $2.749 a gallon for regular gasoline, as of May 26, as crude oil prices collapsed, according to AAA, the nation’s biggest motoring organization. Consumers will be paying 12 percent more than a year ago, though prices are 30 percent less than in 2008, the year crude oil rose to a record $147 a barrel.

About 28 million people will be on road trips during the holiday, a jump of 5.8 percent from a year earlier and the first increase since 2005, according to AAA, which calculates the period over five days, from yesterday through Monday.

“We look forward to this weekend,” said Bill Compitello, senior director of petroleum supply at Wawa, Pennsylvania-based Wawa Inc., a gasoline retailer with 272 outlets in five states from New Jersey to Virginia. “The last few seasons people have been staying closer to home.”

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Energy, Natural Resources • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

The massive disruption caused by the volcano cloud has come at a bad time for pet shippers. Many have seen their shipment numbers drop by 50% to 60% in the past year, as companies stop paying to relocate employees' families abroad, said Sally Smith, the owner of Johnsonburg, NJ-based Airborne Animals LLC. In 2008, 75% of pet owners polled in the U.S. said they frequently travel with their animals, according to BringYourPet.com, a directory service for pet-friendly hotels.

Pet shippers have lost precious time and money during the disruption, often having to re-file lengthy health certificates that sometimes must be completed within hours of a pet's takeoff. Many have stranded animals in their midst, biding time until it's safe to fly....

In Frankfurt, Mr. [Paul] Robinson was reunited with [his dog] Pen on Saturday afternoon. He found his friend "quite thin—like a hyena during a summer drought in the African Savannah kind of thin." That night, he put Pen in the front seat of the Fiat and cruised back to Ljubljana in the slow lane of the autobahn.

Both are taking the journey in stride. "We all have adventures doing things for the people we love, the animals we love," Mr. Robinson said. "You just take the risk and go."

Read it all from yesterday's Wall Street Journal.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * General Interest • Animals

A British decision to ban an Israeli tourism ad because it includes holy sites in disputed territory has angered Israel’s supporters.

Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority nixed an ad sponsored by Israel’s tourist agency after it received a complaint that the photograph featured the Western Wall in East Jerusalem, according to ASA’s Web site.

The complainant “challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied that East Jerusalem was part of the State of Israel,” the ASA said.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • Middle East • Israel

A picture that is worth thousands and thousands of travellers stranded in Europe. Ugh.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel

If you have traipsed through a hotel lobby lately; tramped on a health-club treadmill; guzzled a beer at a bar; or nervously anticipated your turn in the dentist's chair, you likely found your eyes wandering to a video screen. The business of "captive TV," as it is called, is booming. According to Nielsen, the television audience-measurement people, we collectively viewed a quarter-billion video advertisements in the last four months of 2009. Whatever the exact number, we don't need Nielsen to tell us that it is getting harder and harder to find a public space free from the tireless and tiresome electronic beckonings of "location-based video."

The business has grown by boasting several advantages for advertisers. A crowd of people with nowhere to go and nothing to do will look at the screens—plus the ads—grateful for anything to "help pass the time," as one of the services says in its promotional material. Doctors' offices, airports and the DMV get to turn the inconvenience of their clients into a revenue stream. The place-based systems also promise to deliver narrowly defined audiences that can be given tailored pitches. How better to market to drinkers than with ads in bars? Then there are the screens in bathrooms, which provide ads that one media company crows are, "perfectly gender segmented." Perhaps most attractive to marketers in the age of digital video recorders: The passive public viewers don't have access to a remote control. There's no fast-forwarding through the advertisements.

Unless you have tremendous discipline and willpower, there's no ignoring them either....

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Movies & Television • Travel

Diane Medved, a clinical psychologist and the wife of radio host Michael Medved, says that the time before Passover "used to be a black month" for her. There was so much work to be done—cleaning the house from top to bottom, getting rid of any "leavened food," switching to a new set of dishes, cooking for a large extended family—that she began to dread the whole experience. But then, like her ancestors in Egypt who labored under the pharaoh, Ms. Medved jokes, she was "released from bondage." Twenty-one years ago, Ms. Medved and her family started going to resorts for the entire eight days of Passover, and she has never looked back.

Kosher-for-Passover vacations have been around for more than a quarter-century, but in recent years they have become more popular and more elaborate. Raphi Bloom, the sales and marketing director of Totally Jewish Travel, a Web site advertising getaways for observant Jews, says that he has 120 hotels on five continents promoting vacations for the holiday this year, which runs for eight days starting at sundown on Monday. From cruises to South America to resorts in Hawaii to luxury hotels in Europe, these vacations can run more than $10,000 for a family of four (not including airfare).

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Travel • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Judaism

It was Easter Sunday last year and Joe Cabuk, the pilot of a chartered plane carrying Doug White of Archibald, La., and his family, suffered a heart attack and died soon after takeoff in Florida.

White is certified to fly single-engine planes, but not the twin-engine turboprop he was aboard — but he took control and, with the help of air traffic controllers in Miami and Fort Myers, landed the aircraft safely.

Those air traffic controllers won the Archie League Medal of Safety Award, given by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. When they receive that award Monday, Doug White will be there. Host Liane Hansen speaks with Brian Norton, one of the air traffic controllers who helped White land the plane.

I caught this on the way to worship this morning--the audio is just riveting. Listen to it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * General Interest

The experience reinforced for me the reality of terror in the sky. Sitting in an aircraft, 37,000ft over the Atlantic, there is nowhere to go, no escape and, confronted by passengers behaving suspiciously, a total sense of helplessness.

The nonchalant manner with which the male passenger was allowed to walk through the plane and enter the toilet during the landing approach, and to remain out of sight and control for around five minutes, was simply incredible and extraordinarily alarming.

Afterwards, I complained to the United Airlines desk. I was informed that an armed air marshal was probably on board the flight, as is most likely the case on high-risk routes between the United States and the UK.

However, I wondered what difference the marshal's presence would have made had the passenger beside me turned out to be a suicide-bomber. Would he - could he - have shot the suspect through the toilet door and saved our lives?

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • --Ireland

The people of Arizona kept their upper lips stiff when officials mortgaged off the state’s executive office tower and a “Daily Show” crew rolled into town to chronicle the transaction in mocking tones. They remained calm as lawmakers pondered privatizing death row.

But then the state took away their toilets, and residents began to revolt.

“Why don’t they charge a quarter or something?’” said Connie Lucas, who lives in Pine, Ariz., about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from here. “There was one rest stop between here and Phoenix, and we really needed it.”

Arizona has the largest budget gap in the country when measured as a percentage of its overall budget, and the state Department of Transportation was $100 million in the red last fall when it decided to close 13 of the state’s 18 highway rest stops.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • Politics in General • State Government

It soon could be illegal to text and drive in this town.

On Monday, three of four members of the Police, Legal and Judicial Committee, including Mayor Billy Swails, voted to ban text messaging while driving.

The mayor called for a public hearing on the issue at a council meeting April 13.

Statistics show texting behind the wheel distracts drivers, Swails said.

"It's not about your liberties. It's about safety."

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Science & Technology • Travel • * South Carolina

Indonesia's leading clerics are considering a religious edict against riding a motorbike without a crash helmet to promote safety on the chaotic and deadly roads of the world's most populous Muslim country.

Such a fatwa would not carry a penalty for those who ignore it, but advocates said Sunday making road safety a moral issue could be more effective than the law.

Helmets have been compulsory in Indonesia since 1988, but a 2005 government study found that up to 30 percent of riders in cities still did not wear one. Even fewer riders wear them in rural areas.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Travel • * International News & Commentary • Asia • Indonesia • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Islam

On Tuesday, the federal government formally barred truckers and bus drivers from sending text messages while behind the wheel, putting its imprimatur on a prohibition embraced by many large trucking and transportation companies.

"We want the drivers of big rigs and buses and those who share the roads with them to be safe," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "This is an important safety step, and we will be taking more to eliminate the threat of distracted driving."

LaHood has made the effort to curtail driver distractions a centerpiece of his tenure as the nation's top transportation official. Some saw his announcement as a step that might ultimately fuel a push to ban cellphone use by all drivers.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Science & Technology • Travel

Al Qaeda's leader claimed responsibility for the Christmas Day attempt to blow up an American civilian jet in an audiotape broadcast today on Arab television.

In the clip, Osama bin Laden said his group was behind the failed attempt, allegedly carried out by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, to blow up a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight.

Speaking directly to President Obama, he vowed to continue launching terrorist attacks against the United States as long as Washington supported what he described as Israel's unjust treatment of Palestinians.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Terrorism

Mr. Obama this month presented his government’s findings on how the plot went undetected. But a detailed review of the episode by The New York Times, including more than two dozen interviews with White House and American intelligence officials and with counterterrorism officials in Europe and Yemen, shows that there were far more warning signs than the administration has acknowledged.

The officials also cited lapses and misjudgments that were not disclosed in the declassified government report released Jan. 7 about what went wrong inside the nation’s counterterrorism network.

In September, for example, a United Nations expert on Al Qaeda warned policy makers in Washington that the type of explosive device used by a Yemeni militant in an assassination attempt in Saudi Arabia could be carried aboard an airliner....

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Economy • The U.S. Government • Terrorism

...there is another growing problem caused by lower-stakes multitasking — distracted walking — which combines a pedestrian, an electronic device and an unseen crack in the sidewalk, the pole of a stop sign, a toy left on the living room floor or a parked (or sometimes moving) car.

The era of the mobile gadget is making mobility that much more perilous, particularly on crowded streets and in downtown areas where multiple multitaskers veer and swerve and walk to the beat of their own devices.

Most times, the mishaps for a distracted walker are minor, like the lightly dinged head and broken fingernail that Ms. Briggs suffered, a jammed digit or a sprained ankle, and, the befallen say, a nasty case of hurt pride. Of course, the injuries can sometimes be serious — and they are on the rise.

Slightly more than 1,000 pedestrians visited emergency rooms in 2008 because they got distracted and tripped, fell or ran into something while using a cellphone to talk or text. That was twice the number from 2007, which had nearly doubled from 2006, according to a study conducted by Ohio State University, which says it is the first to estimate such accidents.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Science & Technology • Travel

Watch it all--wonderful stuff.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel

To the dismay of safety advocates already worried about driver distraction, automakers and high-tech companies have found a new place to put sophisticated Internet-connected computers: the front seat.

Technology giants like Intel and Google are turning their attention from the desktop to the dashboard, hoping to bring the power of the PC to the car. They see vast opportunity for profit in working with automakers to create the next generation of irresistible devices.

This week at the Consumer Electronics Show, the neon-drenched annual trade show here, these companies are demonstrating the breadth of their ambitions, like 10-inch screens above the gearshift showing high-definition videos, 3-D maps and Web pages.

The first wave of these “infotainment systems,” as the tech and car industries call them, will hit the market this year. While built-in navigation features were once costly options, the new systems are likely to be standard equipment in a wide range of cars before long. They prevent drivers from watching video and using some other functions while the car is moving, but they can still pull up content as varied as restaurant reviews and the covers of music albums with the tap of a finger.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Science & Technology • Travel

EU countries have been debating the use of body scanners at airports, in response to the Christmas Day attempt to blow up a US-bound jet.

The European Commission is holding talks with aviation security experts from the EU member states in Brussels.

Italy has said it will introduce the scanners for US-bound flights, alongside the Netherlands and the UK.

The 27 EU countries are free to use the scanners as long as the security checks do not contradict national or EU law.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • Europe

The attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253 from the Netherlands as it prepared to land in Detroit on Christmas Day was mercifully aborted by good luck -- and the brave intervention of Dutch passenger Jasper Schuringa and the flight's crew. But while the incident had a happy ending, it raised a number of troubling issues, starting with the stunning failure of the U.S. terrorist watch program to identify the suspect in this case as a threat despite ample evidence.

The suspect's father, a prominent and wealthy Nigerian banker, had warned U.S. officials about his son's radical religious views (see Cal Thomas' column on today's Commentary page).

The London Times reports that in May the suspect was refused re-entry to Britain, where he had been a university student and resident until November 2008. The New York Times reports that the alleged bomber's name was recently added to a list of people to be investigated for terrorist ties. That list has 550,000 names, whereas the list of people who must have additional screening at airports has only 13,000 names and the "no fly list" has only 4,000.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Terrorism

The explosive allegedly used in the failed bombing plot aboard a transatlantic jetliner over Detroit on Christmas Day could have been detected by existing screening equipment, and the failure to do so reflects significant weaknesses in aviation security and intelligence, former U.S. government officials and international security experts said.

The compound that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly brought aboard Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam was PETN, or pentaerythritol tetranitrate, the same plastic explosive used almost exactly eight years ago by would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid, the FBI said. The attack sped the launch of the Transportation Security Administration, which took over and expanded airport security screening.

But technology and methods that might have detected the explosive have been deployed in airports on a limited basis in the face of concerns about privacy, cost and the potential to slow airport security lines.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Terrorism

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano insisted Sunday that there was no “specific and credible” information to put the alleged attempted bomber of Northwest Flight 253, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, on the federal “no fly” list.

Yet for the second time in a month, the Obama administration finds itself defending its lack of action against a suspect whose tendencies toward radical Islam had been reported to authorities.

The cases are, of course, different.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

The Obama administration said Monday it would begin levying hefty fines against U.S. airlines for subjecting domestic passengers to lengthy tarmac delays, the government's latest response to a series of high-profile incidents.

The new rule adopted by the Department of Transportation sets fines of as much as $27,500 a passenger when airlines leave fliers stuck on a plane on the ground for more than three hours. Based on a delayed plane carrying 120 passengers, the fine could be as much as $3.3 million. The rule would apply to planes with more than 30 seats.

The Transportation Department has rarely issued fines for tarmac delays. The first case in recent memory came last month when the DOT fined Continental Airlines Inc. and ExpressJet Holdings Inc. $50,000 each, and levied a $75,000 fine against Mesaba Airlines.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • The U.S. Government • Politics in General • Office of the President • President Barack Obama

More than half of U.S. residents who wanted to travel during the holidays have significantly cut back their plans or canceled trips altogether because of the fragile economy, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows.

Americans are suffering from high unemployment, income reductions and financial insecurity that continue to undermine the travel business, even as the economy shows tepid signs of recovery, according to economists and poll respondents.

"I crunched the numbers, checked numerous airlines and it just wasn't a possibility," said Lisa Emmett-Gagliano, 48, of Mesa, Ariz. Emmett-Gagliano, a single mother on disability, wanted to take her two daughters to Chicago to visit family they hadn't seen for nine years.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--

Martin Cooper, who developed the first portable cellphone, recalled testifying before a Michigan state commission about the risks of talking on a phone while driving.

Common sense, said Mr. Cooper, a Motorola engineer, dictated that drivers keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.

Commission members asked Mr. Cooper what could be done about risks posed by these early mobile phones.

“There should be a lock on the dial,” he said he had testified, “so that you couldn’t dial while driving.”

It was the early 1960s.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Science & Technology • Travel

In the Episcopal Church, the late Bill Gordon is probably best known as the church’s youngest bishop.

In Alaska, he’s best known as a pilot.

The second plane of Gordon’s, aka “The Flying Bishop,” is being hung for display next week in the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center in downtown Fairbanks.

The yellow Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser with brown trim has a 35 1/2-foot wingspan and room for a pilot and two passengers.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • * Culture-Watch • Travel

I caught this one yesterday on the morning run and am still thinking about it. What an incredible illustration of the damage unresolved volcanic anger can cause. Take the time to listen to it all (about 5 1/2 minutes).

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Psychology • Sports • Travel • * Theology • Pastoral Theology

Once, in that eon before bandwidth, my mother came to visit. I had a big apartment with lots of room close the to the Vatican.

Coming home one evening at suppertime, ready to dig into the kitchen and make something to eat for us, I arrived at the door and was greeted with wondrous fragrances.

The table was set and there was great golden brown bird and dishes with delights.

That it was Thanksgiving struck me like thunder.

The woman had, without any knowledge of Italian, gone to the neighborhood stores and the open market. She had collected everything useful she could find for the day. She managed to decipher the Italian oven, which doesn’t have degree settings even in centigrade. She made a Thanksgiving feast.

You need to read the rest--wonderful stuff.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Marriage & Family • Travel • * International News & Commentary • Europe • Italy

More than 1,000 Toyota and Lexus owners have reported since 2001 that their vehicles suddenly accelerated on their own, in many cases slamming into trees, parked cars and brick walls, among other obstacles, a Times review of federal records has found.

The crashes resulted in at least 19 deaths and scores of injuries over the last decade, records show. Federal regulators say that is far more than any other automaker has experienced.

Owner complaints helped trigger at least eight investigations into sudden acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the last seven years. Toyota Motor Corp. recalled fewer than 85,000 vehicles in response to two of those probes, and the federal agency closed six other cases without finding a defect.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • The U.S. Government

This is a must watch.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • The U.S. Government

JEFFREY BROWN: One of the themes that comes through is this idea of being prepared, preparation that helped you at that moment. And it comes through in a way that suggests why you don't really like the idea of being thought of as a hero.

Explain that.

CAPTAIN CHESLEY "SULLY" SULLENBERGER III: Well, I think, like many people who have found themselves in such an extraordinary circumstance, they really do feel like their entire lives has been a preparation for that moment.

And I think that's especially true in my case, because I remember vividly as a child knowing that I needed to be prepared for whatever might come. And my mother was a first-grade teacher. And, from her, I got a great lifelong gift of learning.

One of the things I teach my children is that I have always invested in myself, and I have never stopped learning, never stopped growing.

Here is your quiz question before you click. How much time--exactly to the second--did he have between the moment the birds hit the engines and when he landed the plane in the Hudson river? Now go with your guess and read or watch it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Theology • Pastoral Theology

For all the perceived benefits of multitasking behind the wheel — like staying a step ahead of competitors — the dangers have begun to take their toll on companies, leading some to ban the practice by employees.

Some families of victims killed in collisions with a multitasking worker have successfully sued the driver’s employer for tens of millions of dollars.

Researchers say there is another reason to question the benefits of working behind the wheel: a growing body of research shows that splitting attention between activities like working and driving often leads to distracted conversations and bad decisions.

“There is an illusion of productivity,” said David E. Meyer, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan. “It’s actually counterproductive.”

“To the extent that someone is focused on driving, the quality of work product is diminished,” he added. “To the extent someone is focused on work and not driving, there’s a risk of crashing and burning. Something’s got to give.”

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Science & Technology • Travel

The public overwhelmingly supports the prohibition of text messaging while driving, the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll finds. Ninety percent of adults say sending a text message while driving should be illegal, and only 8 percent disagree.

There is no difference in support based on region of the country, party identification, marital status or whether the respondent owns a cell phone, the poll found.

More than 80 percent of every demographic group says sending text messages while driving should be illegal, but some are more adamant about such a prohibition than others.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Science & Technology • Travel

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * General Interest • Humor / Trivia • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ • England / UK

As someone who grew up going to Lake George every summer and who probably takes the water far too much for granted, this one made me cry. Watch it all--KSH

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Travel • * International News & Commentary • Middle East

Watch it all and here is a challenge for blog readers. I think every youth ministry in whatever parish where you worship should be challenged to discuss this issue whether through this report or another. Contact your youth minister or youth leaders and see if it has happened and if it hasn't ask why not--KSH.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Youth Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Science & Technology • Travel

The low-cost airline would charge passengers less on "bar stools" with seat belts around their waists.

Michael O'Leary, the chief executive, has already held talks with US plane manufacturer Boeing about designing an aircraft with standing room.

Read it all

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel

Just in time for the mad rush of travelers headed out for the 4th of July weekend, a computer problem made it so United Airlines flights could not leave O'Hare International Airport for much of Thursday morning.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel

Amtrak has never turned a profit since the federal government took it over in 1971 and began shoveling tens of billions of dollars in subsidies its way. The only routes that actually do slightly better than break even are in the Boston-New York-Washington, D.C., corridor, which is little more than a really long commuter line. Yet, the writer lobbies for even greater subsidies.

Amtrak is slow, unreliable and lacks any significant creature comforts. I know. I made the mistake of taking Amtrak from New York City to — well, what do you know? — Vermont one winter not long ago. The ride took 13 hours and much of the countryside we passed through was not at all scenic. You don't put railroad tracks in the good part of town. The journey ended with several railroad workers taking axes to the train's doors, which had frozen shut, to allow us to disembark.

Read it all, a superb letter to the editor in the local paper.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * South Carolina

Their stories kept him awake through much of the night. The expectant father in his 20s who was to be a witness at his brother's wedding Saturday. The disbelieving teens who had come to Charles de Gaulle airport expecting to greet family members arriving from Brazil. The woman in her 60s who grabbed his hands, begging him to say there was still hope of finding her child.

"I had to tell them the truth, that in my opinion there was no hope," said Guillaume Denoix de Saint Marc, weariness evident in his voice.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Death / Burial / Funerals • * Culture-Watch • Travel • * International News & Commentary • Europe • France • South America • Brazil

I am at Lake George visiting my Father.

Update: There is still more there.

Lake George is without comparison the most beautiful water I ever saw. Its water is limpid as crystal and the mountainsides are covered with rich groves of fir, pine, aspen, and birch down to the waters edge.

--Thomas Jefferson

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel

President Obama seeks to change this. Last month, he released a strategic plan that identified 10 corridors for high-speed rail ranging between 100 miles and 600 miles that could be eligible for federal funding. Attention would be shown to Acela. Mr. Obama would plunk down $8 billion authorized in the stimulus package and $5 billion over the next five years. That is a drop in the bucket; a proposed line between Anaheim, Calif., and San Francisco alone carries an estimated cost of $34 billion and would take 10 years to build. But this is a worthwhile down payment on a transportation system that would benefit the environment.

Mr. Obama calls high-speed rail "long overdue." So is a modern air traffic control system. A car GPS navigation unit is more advanced than the 1950s-era equipment being used today. The Federal Aviation Administration is putting the pieces in place to make NextGen fully operational. It would allow more planes to get into and out of the air faster, relieving airport congestion and reducing delays. This is especially important for the New York area. A third of all U.S. flights go through the region, and a hiccup at any of its four major airports can affect two-thirds of the nation's air traffic.
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But it is not clear how the FAA will pay for key components of NextGen.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • The U.S. Government • Politics in General • Office of the President • President Barack Obama

After several high-profile fiascoes two years ago, airlines promised to do more to avoid stranding passengers on planes for hours. But Delta Flight 510 is a stunning reminder that the problem persists.

On Good Friday, April 10, what should have been a three-hour flight became a 13-hour ordeal for passengers heading home from a Caribbean vacation. When thunderstorms prevented Delta Air Lines Inc. Flight 510's scheduled landing in Atlanta, the MD88 diverted to Columbia, S.C., for nine hours. Passengers spent five of those hours on the tarmac without food or water.

Airport officials say bathrooms turned foul, children got antsy and some passengers became extremely agitated. One woman called 911 because she needed food. Parents with small children ran short on essentials like diapers. Eventually the passengers were allowed off and held in part of the terminal, cordoned off with yellow police tape.

Read it all from Tuesday's Wall Street Journal.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel

In an interview on BBC television this morning, [Ryanair CEO] Mr [Michael] O’Leary said that the low-cost airline was looking at the possibility of installing a coin slot on the lavatory door so that “people might actually have to spend a pound to spend a penny.”

Ironically, in a light-hearted survey conducted by Telegraph Travel last November, we asked readers which service they thought no-frills airlines might start charging for in the future.

56 per cent of readers said that a charge for "using the loo" would be the most likely, while 31 per cent chose "reclining seats" and 11 per cent opted for "sick bags".

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • * International News & Commentary • Europe

"Ultimately, when no one else went along with it, charging for soda was an outlier, and thus easy to criticize," airline consultant Robert Mann says after US Air (LCC) scraps its soda charge. One airline exec says the idea was doomed: "It's kind of like inviting me into your home and then charging me for something to drink."

--From a CBS Marketwatch story today

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel

The landing had to be perfect in several ways, he said.

“I needed to touch down with the wings exactly level,” he said. “I needed to touch down with the nose slightly up. I needed to touch down at a — at a descent rate that was survivable. And I needed to touch down just above our minimum flying speed, but not below it. And I needed to make all these things happen simultaneously.”

After the plane splashed down, he turned to his first officer. “We said, ‘Well, that wasn’t as bad as I thought,’ ” he said.

The plane was evacuated and Captain Sullenberger, “after bugging people for hours,” said he finally learned that all 155 people on board had survived.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * General Interest

For all the annoyance of being crammed into an aluminum tube at 35,000 feet with a bunch of strangers, air travel has offered one benefit: the ability to tell bosses and colleagues, “I’ll be on a flight, so you won’t be able to reach me.”

So much for that excuse.

Wireless Internet service is starting to spread among airlines in the United States — Delta and American have installed it on more than a dozen planes each, and several other carriers are planning to test it.

For the airlines, always desperate for new sources of revenue, offering the service — about $10 for three hours and more for longer flights — was an easy call. And many passengers will cheer the development as an end to Web withdrawal.

But this new frill is hardly as benign as a bag of pretzels....

Please note that the title above is the one given in the print edition (the web title is different). I caught this today on the front page of the New York Times while waiting at the dentist's office. I have to admit that even the possibility of this being used by terrorists never even entered my mind--ugh. Read it all--KSH.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • Travel