Find The Boots

1. Cost. Who wants another multi-hundred dollar gadget?
2. Power. Right, another power cord. And please don't tell me to "get a tip" for my portable power supply. Those d*mn things just don't last long enought to find the tips for my laptop, my US phone, my GSM phone, MP3 Player, etc, etc. Plus I have to remember to seperately expense a dozen tips.
3. Complexity. Duh

The government is is funding the roll out of fingerprint security at the doors of pubs and clubs in major English cities.

Funding is being offered to councils that want to have their pubs keep a regional black list of known trouble makers. The fingerprint network installed in February by South Somerset District Council in Yeovil drinking holesy is being used as the show case.

Bradburn could not say if fingerprint security in Yeovil had displaced crime to neighbouring towns, but she noted that domestic violence had risen in Yeovil.

BA flight 2166 carrying 175 terrified passengers, three pilots and 11 crew plunged 600 feet in a bid to avoid collision with another plane above it....

The emergency collision avoidance system on the Boeing 777 plane kicked in over the Atlantic Ocean, causing lights to flash and an alarm to sound in the cockpit, with the pilot hearing the words "descend,descend,descend."

The descent was so sudden that some of the crew members left the floor, went into "freefall" and hit their heads on the ceiling of the plane as it plummeted.

Others slammed into the bulkheads. All four crew were stood down from their duties while being treated for bruises on board in the Club cabin for the remainder of the flight.

But, you say, why is it so expensive and why were you blathering on about sunlight and power plugs? Ah-ha!
Yes, that his a solar panel. And, yes, the bag has a internal power distribution system so you can leave your laptop, iPod (Zune, whatever), and cell phone plugged in. And, yes, that is a big picture, but you get your money's worth here at Find-The-Boots!

Oh, and all the money goes to Doctors Without Borders. (Personally I like a little border between my doctor and me!)

Burri doesn't even own a car - he rents one when he lands at home in Clearwater, Fla., where he lives with his wife and six kids. "I would just as soon fly to Hong Kong for Chinese food than order delivery from the place around the corner"

Later this month, he tells me, he's flying from L.A. to Honolulu to Guam to Manila to Taiwan to Macao to Hong Kong to Seoul to Tokyo to Newark and back to Tampa, all in seven days. What's more, he's doing it for fun: The idea is to hit airports he hasn't been to before.

Shadowing Burri in an airport is like following a Porsche around in a Toyota Corolla. Though he's 6-foot-5 and 340 pounds, he has the agility of a left tackle. When I ask how he always manages to be first in line for everything, he looks at me quizzically.

I just flew over to blighty on American in business - what a crap service, as usual. Luckily it was on one of the older 767's as their business class seats aren't quite as crappy as the newer 777's. And how did AA pull that trick off?

Anyway, connected to BA to India and what a nice ride that was - but we all know their lie-flat seats are prime. What struck me was that they'd switched over to a new blanket - call it a duvet. It was bigger, padded, and warmer/softer.It can't have cost them a fiver, but they cemented their relationship with me once again.I do give AA props for finally introducing some new food items - crab cakes and a kind of cheese anti-pasta. Both quite good.

My wife was arrested for standing against a wall

Well, actually, she was yelling at the TSA because the mom had

been a widow for 25 years. As far as we know, she has never had any intimate contact with anyone (except for a TSA screener) in that amount of time. Mom is very religious and objects to being touched by homosexuals. So, she always relates to the screener that if the screener is a homosexual, that she would prefer that another screener be brought over.

I do not possess "government issued" ID. First, because I see no reason to make application for permission to exist, second, because this is the land of my birth, and third, because most states "require" a Social Security Account Number (SSAN) to make application, I never made application for one.

So, the ID that I have, I make myself. It has my picture, name, mailing address (PO Box), height, weight (still fluctuating) and signature on the front, and is in the form of an affidavit on the back. I do not put a date of birth on it, as first, it's none of anyone's business, and second, because I cannot swear to the exact date from personal knowledge (Do you remember the day you were born and did you have an understanding of the calendaring system at that age? For that matter, do you even know that the people that you believe to be your parents actually are your parents?)

In a canyon in New Mexico, technicians detonated beaker after beaker of liquid explosives. In laboratories in Florida and New Jersey, scientists concocted dangerous brews. In drugstores and supermarkets in the Washington area, government officials shopped for tiny containers of shaving cream, shampoo and toothpaste.

Since a London-based plot to bomb airliners was broken up seven weeks ago, aviation security officials in the United States have pushed to assess how serious that threat was and what safeguards should be taken. The revised checkpoint rules announced last week by American, Canadian and European authorities were the result of that frenzied effort....

But the changes also provoked some skepticism by the public about the reasoning behind the decision.

Aviation security officials said they were confident they had settled on a sound course. "We looked at it from the chemistry point of view, the physics point of view — which kind of operational tactics one might use, with different scenarios," said Kip Hawley, the assistant secretary for the transportation agency. "The arrangement we came up with does have a good margin of error."

The testing, Mr. Hawley said, confirmed that the risks posed by the London plot were real. "This was a serious, serious, serious threat — chilling is the word,” he said in an interview last week. But extensive work by government and university scientists showed that the threat could be largely counteracted by limits on the size of containers", he said.

With the seal on a sports drink called Lucozade intact, the plotters apparently intended to remove the drink with a hypodermic needle and replace it with highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide, a syrupy liquid once used as rocket fuel.

Another bottle would be filled with a common household substance, which The New York Times agreed not to disclose at the request of Homeland Security officials. After the two were mixed, a detonator hidden in a hollowed-out AA battery would be used to set off the bomb, according to this theory.

Taking into account the possibility that terrorists might act as a team and pool ingredients, officials arrived at the limit of one quart-size plastic bag per passenger. That amount of liquid explosives could still cause damage or harm passengers, but it would be unlikely to destroy a plane, officials said.

"It is well within the comfort zone of what we need to protect the public," Mr. Hawley said.

Mr. McHale, the former T.S.A. deputy administrator, said he thought the agency had made a reasonable decision.

"You have to act on the info you know, not fears of what you don't know," he said. "People who aren't faced with the pressures of keeping the aviation system running might prefer to just shut the system down or have everybody fly naked. But obviously, you can't do that."

It wasn't planned that way.

It just happened.I had French fries in France, a frankfurter in Frankfurt, a hamburger in Hamburg, a Danish in Denmark, a Polish sausage in Poland, Swiss chocolate in Switzerland, and in Sweden, yup, you guessed it... I walked through an IKEA listening to ABBA.

French fries in
France... no matter what else you think or say about the French (or how hard you
hit them -- more on that in a minute) they have great food. I once worked long
hours on a job in Brest, so long that by the time I got back to the hotel the
kitchen was closed. So I just drove up to the BP Petrol station, bought a couple
of sandwiches, some fruit, maybe a pastry for desert, and some fruit juice. But
unlike "gas station sandwiches" elsewhere in the world, these were great! Fresh,
tasty, and packed with the good stuff. Not like some of those crappy oversized
loves with a paper thin sheet of meat or cheese. No, these were real sandwiches,
and I looked forward to them each evening.Frankfurter in Frankfurt... well, I've
always known them as "European weiners" (which I think is another name for the
French). I've always liked them, and this one was no different. Not too
exicting, but a nice change.Hamburger in Hamburg... OK, so it was MacDonalds. We
were in a hurry, OK?Polish sausage in Poland... pretty damn good, and cheap too.
So was everything, including this great sidewalk stand where you could get a
huge Belgian waffle (hmmmm... note to self: next time stop in at Belguim),
loaded with about 10 different kinds of fruit, fresh whipped cream and ice
cream, for about CAD $4. Brilliant, and delicious.Swiss chocolate in
Switzerland... well, tasted just like the same stuff in the office vending
machine. Not surprising I suppose, since the airline was handing them out for
"desert."Danish in Denmark... WOW! These are to die for. There's nothing rotten
in this part of Denmark. I just couldn't believe how good they were. I'll be
travelling to Denmark on a regular basis from now on (a la Mexican Hat Dance)
just to stop in for a Danish. More brilliant than Polish Belgian
waffles.Sweden... don't ask. (But I'm told that if you don't pay Swedish
gangsters protection money, they come around to your house and take your
furniture apart.)