Cuz We Said So

Air NZ Staff Deliver Safety Video Wearing Only Body Paint

From Stuff.co.nz (via @GuyKawasaki); "The airline has decided to expand its use of body painted staff from advertisements to the in-flight safety video used on 737 domestic flights. It hopes to catch the attention of travelers ...who often ignore the safety video despite being told they need to watch it even if they are frequent customers."

Coppertone Sport SPF 50: Miracle of Modern Science

In the Florida sun for hours on end yesterday; with no sunburn at all.  Those of you who know how pale my skin is will realize just how impressive this is.

Should A Dome Cover Houston?

Well first, let me answer that for you.  YES! 

Those people who know me well know I am not a fan of Houston weather, though I’ve lived here off and on for many years.  I hate… and I mean hate the heat.  The humidity is worse.  I’ve joked more than once that I’d welcome summer in Houston as soon as somebody stuck a dome over it and fired up some air conditioning.

You know, though, guys… I was actually just joking. 

KPRC 2 Houston:

It seems like an idea from science fiction, a comic book, or even The Simpsons movie -- a 21 million-square-foot dome encompassing a city and insulating it from hurricanes, humidity, and heat. The Discovery Channel program Mega Engineering recently explored the possibility of a dome that would stretch out over downtown. It would be made out of Ethylene Tetrofluoro-ethylene or ETFE -- a light, durable material that withstand winds up to 180 mph, which is well above the speed for a Category 5 hurricane. …Air vents would regulate the temperature and massive doors would allow transportation in and out of the structure.

Bottom line: possible, but probably not for another fifty years.  Crap!

All Coffee Should Come In Cups This Size

Houston from the 44th Floor (Photo)

This is the view from Heritage Plaza, looking northwest.  Not bad, but so very, very flat…

Glowing Cities

A time-lapse video shot by Ettubrute while crossing from Amsterdam to San Francisco (via the Dopplr blog).

“Snowverfield”

Defective Yeti: “They should remake Cloverfield, except set it in Seattle and have a quarter-inch of snow as the monster.”

And More Security Theater

Gov't To Step In For Air Passenger Checks:

A long-delayed government program designed to more accurately prescreen the names of airline passengers against terror watch lists is expected to launch early next year.

On Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was expected to announce the final rule for the program, called Secure Flight, which would validate air travelers' information so there's less chance a person could be mistaken for someone else on a watch list. The program has been delayed several times over privacy concerns.

How unfortunate then if, as Jeffrey Goldberg’s article on airport security outlines, the pre-screening process is a waste of time and money:

Retro Cruise Posting

We didn’t do a lot of posting around here while we were on the cruise… it’s weird how all of that Mediterranean sun, surf, and culture did nothing to inspire us to lock ourselves in our cabin and write blogs posts… but I did keep a diary for most of the trip, and as time permits, I’m going back and posting notes to the dates I wrote them.  Right now I have only through Day 1 up,. but they’ll all appear in the Med 2008 category, eventually.

La Mercè