Zachary Quinto Talks to Letterman About Traveling to Promote Star Trek
Zachary Quinto, who plays Spock in the upcoming Star Trek film, talks about traveling to countries like New Zealand and Australia to promote the upcoming film. He also says they went to Kuwait and visited the troops. Zachary says he got to fly in a Blackhawk helicopter. Star Trek is in theatres May 8th. We can't wait!
Celebrities Galore at Opening of Dubai's Atlantis Hotel
ITN has a video of some stars at the opening of the luxurious Atlantis Hotel in Dubai. The L.A. Timeshas more on the spectacular opening. Kylie Minogue performed for part of the opening celebration. Chris Tucker was even there. Why is it that Chris Tucker doesn't make more movies?
Surely he could have found a decent script to fill that six year gap between Rush Hour 2 and Rush Hour 3.
Here's a first look at what the world's first rotating skyscraper will look like. It's going to cost a fortune to build and will be located in Dubai, where all the cool, futuristic buildings are being built. Why can't the U.S. have all the cool architectural projects? Although this one probably won't be for those that are 1) afraid of heights or who 2) get violently ill on merry go rounds.
Japanese designers have proposed a futuristic, intelligent, giant skyscraper that will house one million people and be solar-powered. The building would be built in Tokyo Harbor and will be the tallest building
in the world.
if the enormous, 13,000 ft X-Seed 4000 structure ever gets built in Tokyo - it will win the worlds-tallest-building competition hands down and leave its puny competitors in the dirt.
Looking eerily like Mt. Doom in the above rendering, the mountain-like X-Seed 4000 represents a utopian eco-vision for a self-contained high-rise city in the Tokyo harbor - powered mainly by solar energy. Aesthetically inspired by nearby Mt. Fuji, the behemoth building would measure 13,123 feet tall with a 6 square-kilometer footprint, and could accommodate five hundred thousand to one million inhabitants.
Designed by Taisei Construction Corporation as an "intelligent building," the futuristically-named X-Seed 4000 would maintain light, temperature, and air pressure in response to changing external weather conditions.
Unlike conventional skyscrapers, the X-Seed 4000 would be required to actively protect its occupants from considerable air pressure gradations and weather fluctuations along its massive elevation. Its design calls for the use of solar power to maintain internal environmental conditions. Some estimate that the cost to construct the X-Seed 4000 structure may be somewhere between US$300-900 billion
One million people in the same building? Is that a good idea? And what if the power goes out? Or an earthquake hits? Still, the solar-power and the artificial intelligence aspects are pretty cool. And what's $900 billion, anyway? The Iraq War is now estimated to cost $1 trillion. And we won't even have a cool, intelligent giant mountain/building to show for it after the war ends.
Italian women are fed up with being hit on at the beach by beer-guzzling, fried-squid eating macho men. So now they have their own beach, called the Pink Beach. The beach bans loud disco music, fried squid and men. Except for the lifeguard -- he is a man.
We run away from Italian men," said Tiziana Andreoletti. "They're such a drag."
And it happens all the time. Boy meets girl and boy annoys girl. So, the Italians have enacted an interesting solution to this problem. They have created a beach strictly for women. No men, children or loud disco music are allowed.
"It's a simple idea," said beach owner Fausto Ravaglio. "We have given the women their own world.''
Known as "Pink Beach," the area opened a week ago and is complete with exercise classes, water aerobics and makeup and manicure tips. It greets men with a pink sign that reads: "No Men."
The 50-mile stretch of coastline linking Rimini to Riccione also restricts traditional beach food such as deep-fried squid and chips.
Women can enjoy the sun, sea and sand without the lustful leers of men.
Beach-goer Marianna Sandu said she hit the testosterone-free sands to meet new friends and talk about "women stuff."
But for some men the idea is a little farfetched. One man said the concept might be good for women, but it would fall flat with men.
The beach does have one man.
"The lifeguard must be a man," Ravaglio said in a foreign newspaper interview. "You clearly need a man to save women in the sea. It's a question of muscles."
Penelope Cruz completely freaked out on a plane to Barcelona, Spain from New York.
Penelope Cruz had a panic attack onboard a Continental flight from Newark to Barcelona Thursday night. Cruz, who appeared to be traveling alone, was in first class and became agitated after the plane left the gate. After she spoke with the cockpit, the plane returned to the gate and Cruz deplaned. A fellow passenger told Huffington Post, "She was freaking out and refused to fly." In the process of Cruz deplaning, the flight removed all the bags, which then sat in the rain to the consternation of fellow passengers, so that the airline could locate her luggage.
The status on Continental's website of Flight 120 shows that the airplane returned to the gate in Newark before taking off almost two hours late, at 8:52 pm for a 7:10 pm departure.
Continental spokesman Dave Messing had no additional comment.
Cruz's publicist Carrie Gordon insisted to Huffington Post all is fine, saying, "There was no panic attack. The airline let her know there was going to be a 3 or 4 hour delay due to the storm. She had work so she figured she'd deplane and fly when the storm passed."
The Oscar nominee is scheduled to shoot a Woody Allen film in Barcelona.
Those passengers must have been really, really ticked off. We know we would have been.
Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants recently visited Dubai to take in Dubai's architectural attractions including the Burj Al Arab hotel. Nickelodeon and United Arab Emirate's based Al Ahli Group announced that SpongeBob along with other Nickelodeon properties will be the newest additions to the giant Al Ahli park development currently underway in Dubai and set to open in 2011. Over 60 million people watch SpongeBob each month and this likely includes some Dubai residents. Dubai is also building other things including a Dubia Space Port and Ski Dubai, an indoor ski slope.
Nearly eradicated in the United States 50 years ago, resistant strains of "super" bedbugs are infesting mattresses at an alarming rate. In what's being touted as the biggest mystery in entomology, all 50 states are reporting outbreaks of the blood-sucking nocturnal critters.
Pest control companies nationwide reported a 71 percent increase in bedbug calls between 2000 and 2005. Left alone, a few bedbugs can create a colony of thousands within weeks.
"We never treated bedbugs until 2002. Now we have a dedicated bedbug crew working on this every day," said Luis Agurto, president of Pestec in San Francisco.
Agurto's arsenal includes a vacuum, steam heat to cook the bedbug eggs and targeted spraying of insecticides. It takes three, eight-hour visits and about $500 to $750 to exterminate one room. A whole house would cost closer to $5,000.
The bulk of Agurto's clients live in low-income hotels and shelters in the Tenderloin, but he's been called to five-star hotels and suburban homes in Walnut Creek.
Bedbugs have been found in moving vans, public transit seat cushions, airplanes, college dorms and even a Bay Area meditation retreat. They spread by hitching a ride on your clothes or in your luggage and crawling off to infest your home or apartment building.
Nearly 300 bedbug infestations were reported to San Francisco health officials in 2006, more than double the number in 2004. Most of the cases involved travelers discovering bedbugs in upscale hotels.
The size and shape of a lentil, bedbugs lay eggs during the day and hide in your bed, clothing and light sockets. At night, they suck your blood, leaving itchy bumps on your skin and little bloody excretions on your sheets. They don't pass diseases, but they are incredibly difficult to exterminate, even following their blood hosts who move to new apartments trying to get away.
You can share your bedbug horror stories and get tips for eradicating the horrid pests at BedBugger.com.
Massive Dome Tent Will Bring Summer Beach to Kazakhstan
The BBC reports that an impressive 500ft dome tent is being planned for Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan. The massive dome will contain a climate-controlled indoor city. The dome will keep temperatures summer like inside even when it is well below freezing outside.
Underneath, in an area larger than 10 football stadiums, will be a city with squares and cobbled streets, canals, shopping centres and golf courses.
The idea is to recreate summer, so that when the outside temperature is -30C, the residents of the Kazakh capital can play outdoor tennis, take boat rides or sip coffee on the pavement cafes.
Called Khan Shatyry, the project is designed by Lord Foster, who has recently built a giant glass pyramid in Astana.
"Nothing of the sort has been done before, and from the engineering point of view it's an extremely difficult project," says Fettah Tamince, the head of Turkey's development company Sembol that is building the tent.
The dome would give Astana a year-round beach. Borat would probably like to wear his unattractive swimsuit to the Astana beach but he probably won't be welcomed anywhere in Kazakhstan. Borat, the fictional Kazakh reporter, claims to have studied at Astana University.
A giant sculpture of a man's member is front and center of a controversy in Taipei.
A giant wooden sculpture of a penis on display at Taipei's international airport has stirred up controversy among some foreign visitors and flight crew, who have demanded its removal, media reported Tuesday.
The one-metre-long sculpture in the Number 2 Terminal is part of an exhibition of artifacts of the Thou tribe, one of Taiwan's ten tribes. But some foreign visitors and crew find it offensive and have demanded its removal, according to the Liberty Times.
Some foreign crew members and flight attendants refer to the sculpture as "The Thing" and have posted the photo of it on their websites, saying it is an offence to female visitors and flight attendants.
In response, the Taoyuan International Airport wanted to move the sculpture to a quiet corner of the exhibition, but the Thou tribe refused.
The Thou tribe said the sculpture is part of their culture because since ancient times, the Thou tribe has been using the giant wooden penis to tamper the female 'mountain god,' who can unleash rock and and mudslides.
Airport authorities aren't sure what to do about the sculpture and the furious visitors. Meanwhile, "The Thing" remains on view, presumably performing its primary function of "tempering the female mountain god." Shouldn't that be "goddess" if she's a female? We're just asking...
Nissan is introducing a new system that will nag drivers. "Watch out for that car!" "You're going too fast! Slow down!" That's what drivers will hear (only in Japanese, of course) as their cars yell at them about traffic violations.
Japanese carmaker Nissan has said it will mobilize 10,000 drivers in a 30-month experiment to develop an "intelligent transportation system" that sends wireless messages to passing cars.
"Car approaching from left" and "School ahead. Watch your speed," are two voice messages which drivers will receive through the system which uses information obtained from nearby vehicles and roadside optical beacons.
The information is received by an onboard antenna on the vehicle to alert drivers to potential danger from approaching vehicles or inform them of traffic congestion ahead, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. said in a statement.
The test will start on October 1 on public roads in Kanagawa, a prefecture just south of Tokyo, with the number-two Japanese carmaker hoping to commercialize the system in 2010.
"We want to make it a success in Kanagawa prefecture and spread the technology nationwide and around the world," Nissan senior vice president Minoru Shinohara told a news conference.
The experiment will involve Nissan cars equipped with the company's own car navigation system.
The system is seen feasible in Japan where more than 50 percent of cars are equipped with such navigational gadgets linked to the via-satellite Global Positioning System, compared with fewer than 10 percent in the United States and European countries.
The system will be developed in cooperation with NTT DoCoMo, consumer electronics maker Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., the National Police Agency and other concerns, the statement said.
The experiment will test several functions including the "vehicle alert" which tells drivers that other vehicles are moving too fast at blind intersections.
"Speed alert" warns drivers when they are speeding in a school zone. An image of a school zone sign appears on the drivers navigation screen along with a voice warning.
So, will the new system prevent accidents, or just cause more of them as drivers freak out when their car yells at them?
Airplanes are the perfect vehicle for spreading flu germs, especially bird flu. A new report states that when air travel dropped by over 30% after 9/11, the flu season was delayed that year.
While there is no way to stop a pandemic completely, the researchers at Children's Hospital Boston said restricting air travel could delay the spread of a deadly virus and buy some time to prepare vaccines, drugs and take other measures.
"For the first time we've been able to show, using real data, that air travel spreads the flu, suggesting that reducing the number of air passengers might ameliorate a flu pandemic," said John Brownstein of the Children's Hospital Informatics Program at the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program, who led the study.
Dr. Kenneth Mandl, who worked on the study, said the team realized they had a "natural experiment" when air traffic fell after the Sept. 11 attacks. The number of people flying internationally fell by 27 percent to 3.5 million passengers in September of 2001 from 4.9 million passengers in September 2000.
Mandl and Brownstein had been trying to map the spread of flu. Flu season usually starts in the Northern Hemisphere in September or October, and peaks between January and March.
They looked at data from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the years between 1996 and 2005.
"When we first looked at our data we noticed that the 2001-2002 flu season was highly aberrant," Mandl said. "At first we thought it was a problem with the data, but then we realized we were seeing the shadow of September 11th cast upon the influenza season."
*****
"The number of airline passengers flying in the United States determines how quickly influenza spreads within the United States," Brownstein said in a telephone interview.
"The more domestic travel, the faster the spread of flu, and the more inbound international travel, the earlier the influenza season begins."
Influenza is caused by a variety of viruses and usually the mix changes slightly from year to year.
We knew it: that jerk sitting behind you that's coughing and sneezing all through your flight is probably carrying deadly bird flu. Or at least a nasty cold virus. You don't think airport security will look at us strangely if we board the plane wearing a mask, gloves and carrying a bottle of disinfectant spray, do you? Oh wait, no liquids. How about a jumbo box of anti-bac wipes and a gas mask?
The South Pacific island of Vanuatu has been rated as the happiest place on the planet.
The 178-nation "Happy Planet Index" lists the south Pacific island of Vanuatu as the happiest nation on the planet, while the UK is ranked 108th.
The index is based on consumption levels, life expectancy and happiness, rather than national economic wealth measurements such as GDP.
The study was compiled by think-tank the New Economics Foundation (Nef).
One of the authors, Nef's Nic Marks, said the aim of the index was to show that well-being did not have to be linked to high levels of consumption.
"It is clear that no single nation listed in the index has got everything right, but it does reveal patterns that show how we might better achieve long and happy lives for all while living within our environmental means," Mr Marks said.
The small island state of Vanuatu is situated in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean, and has a population of 209,000. Its economy is built around small-scale agriculture and tourism.
Latin American nations dominate the top 10 places in the index, while African and Eastern European nations fill most of the bottom 10.
Among the world's largest economies, Germany is ranked 81st, Japan 95th, while the US comes in at 150th.
Richard Layard, director of the Well-Being Programme at the London School of Economics' Centre for Economic Performance, said that the index was an interesting way to tackle the issue of modern life's environmental impact.
"It reminds us that it is not good enough to be happy today if we are impoverishing future generations through global warming.
"Over the last 50 years, living standards in the West have improved enormously but we have become no happier," Mr Layard told the BBC.
"This shows we should not sacrifice human relationships, which are the main source of happiness, for the sake of economic growth."
So, when does the next plane leave for Vanuatu? You can see Vanuatu's oldest -- and happiest -- website at Vanuatu.net.vu.
The New York Times has an ominous article about summer air travel: in a nutshell, it's going to be a nightmare.
Brace yourself for a summer of miserable air travel.
Planes are expected to be packed fuller than at anytime since World War II, when the airlines helped transport troops. Fares are rising. Service frills are disappearing.
Logjams at airport security checkpoints loom as the federal government strains to keep screener jobs filled. The usual violent summer storms are expected to send the air traffic control system into chaos at times, with flight delays and cancellations cascading across the country.
And many airline employees, after years of pay cuts and added work, say they are dreading the season ahead. Those workers — and there are about 70,000 fewer of them than in 2002 — will be handling more than 100 million more passengers this year than they did four years ago.
The friendly skies, indeed.
"Everybody's stressed. Everybody's feeling it," said Bryan Hutchinson, a former baggage handler at United Airlines who now works in a joint airline-union program to counsel workers suffering from stress or other emotional problems.
*****
Domestic flights are running at about 80 percent full, and that means that flights on popular routes are often fully booked. Tim Winship, publisher of FrequentFlier.com, said that advanced bookings suggest that planes, on average, should be close to 90 percent full this summer.
"It means flights will be sold out," he said. "They're downgrading aircraft types, from wide to narrow bodies, narrow bodies to regional jets."
*****
After 9/11, airlines parked hundreds of planes to cut costs. Financial problems mounted, leading several major airlines to file for bankruptcy-court protection. They laid off workers, cut frills and switched to smaller planes on many routes.
Six big airlines cut their fleets by about 700 planes, or close to 20 percent, since the peak in June 2001, the Air Transport Association said.
Airlines also shifted larger planes from domestic to international routes. With scant competition from low-cost competitors internationally, airlines can charge higher fares on such routes.
It goes on about air rage, smaller planes, grumpy flight attendants and even more security screenings. Oh, and as for redeeming your frequent flyer miles this summer: good luck. Well, now you know.
Passengers who are considering getting wasted on their next plane flight might want to reconsider. One pilot was so fed up with a drunk that he stranded the obnoxious passenger on a volcanic island, then continued the flight on to the original destination.
The pilot of the Monarch Airlines flight made an unscheduled stop at the Portuguese island of Porto Santo off the coast of West Africa when the man became abusive after being refused more alcohol, newspapers reported.
The flight from Manchester to Tenerife, with more than 200 passengers onboard, finally arrived four hours late following the unscheduled stop.
The unnamed 53-year-old was charged with disruptive behavior after police escorted him from the plane, the Daily Mirror said.
In a statement, Monarch said the passenger had become "disruptive and abusive towards staff onboard."
"Despite repeated attempts by Monarch staff to calm the individual, the passenger's behavior did not improve and the decision was taken to divert to Porto Santo where the passenger was removed."
Porto Santo, a volcanic island that is just 16 kilometers (10 miles) long and home to around 5,000 people, is connected to the larger island resort of Madeira by a two-hour ferry ride. The Mirror said that the man had flown onto Tenerife via Madeira after spending the night on the island.
Local reporter Goncalo Maia told the Mirror the passenger was "short and stocky and looked as if he was under the influence of alcohol."
"But he was very peaceful and well-mannered. There was no trouble. I saw him later walking down the main street. He was looking better and seemed to be quite happy."
Looks like we'll be ordering ginger ale on our next flight, lest we get dumped on an island somewhere. And since we're avid Lost fans, we know how incredibly dangerous that can be.
Now here's a new tourist attraction for the adrenaline junkie in you: the Grand Canyon is about to get it's first
glass-bottomed viewing platform.
An American Indian tribe with land along the Grand Canyon is planning to build a glass-bottomed walkway that will jut out 70 feet from the canyon's edge.
The horseshoe-shaped skywalk, expected to open in January, is part of the Hualapai Tribe's $40 million effort to turn 1,000 acres of reservation land into a tourist destination that will also feature an Indian village and Western-themed town.
The tribe's reservation is some 200 miles by road to the west of the section of the Grand Canyon National Park that most tourists visit.
The walkway, with a glass bottom and sides, will be supported by steel beams and will accommodate 120 people, though it is designed to hold 72 million pounds, said Sheri Yellowhawk, chief executive officer of the Grand Canyon Resort Corp., the tribal-owned company that is overseeing the project.
"You're basically looking 4,000 feet down. It's a whole new way to experience the Grand Canyon," Yellowhawk said.
Admission will be $25.
The project is still seeking an insurer, said architect David Jin, who said he came up with the skywalk idea while visiting the canyon in 1996.
Still seeking an insurer? That's so weird...why in the world would any insurer be wary of insuring a glass platform hanging off the side of the Grand Canyon? What could possibly happen?
You can no longer avoid credit card offers and other forms
of advertising even while flying. Advertisers must have
realized that you cannot escape their advertising pitches
once you have boarded the plane and taken your seat.
The Washington Post reports about this new inconvenience.
On a recent Alaska Airlines flight, passengers were told to
remain buckled and seated for the last 30 minutes before
landing at Reagan National Airport. It was a standard security
measure for flights heading into restricted airspace over
Washington.
It also turned a planeful of passengers into captive customers
who were then pitched a Bank of America Visa card -- with
little chance of tuning it out. Over the intercom, a flight
attendant encouraged passengers to sign up for the Bank of
America credit card. Then other flight attendants went down
the aisle handing out applications.
We would rather be read Vogon poetry than endure this torture.
An MSNBC.com horror storynews article says bed bugs can live for months without food -- patiently waiting for the
next hapless hotel guest to arrive so they can
feast on him.
Even upscale hotels are not immune to litigation, and bug specialists say the pests can thrive even in a spotlessly clean room.
In 2003, a Mexican businessmen sued the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel in New York after he and a companion allegedly suffered numerous bedbug bites to their torsos, arms and necks while staying at the property, which overlooks Central Park.
Helmsley Enterprises Inc., the owner of the hotel, settled the suit quietly last year. Stopping short of confirming bed bugs had been a problem, Howard Rubenstein, a company spokesman, said the hotel had not had any problems with bed bugs since the lawsuit.
Oval-shaped and less than a quarter of an inch long, the brown-colored
insects like to settle close to their food source, often hiding out under
mattresses and bed frames, in crevices and behind picture frames.
Once attached to a sleeping human, they use a barbed proboscis to
bore through the skin and suck their blood meal. They can go months
without feeding, patiently awaiting a new host or travel companion.
One woman unknowingly brought home some of the bed bugs after a business trip; her home became infested in no time. And all we can say is "Ewwwww."
Zachary Quinto Talks to Letterman About Traveling to Promote Star Trek
Japanese designers have proposed a futuristic, intelligent, giant skyscraper that will house one million people and be solar-powered. The building would be built in Tokyo Harbor and will be the tallest building
in the world.
The BBC reports that an impressive 500ft dome tent is being planned for Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan. The massive dome will contain a climate-controlled indoor city. The dome will keep temperatures summer like inside even when it is well below freezing outside.
Nissan is introducing a new system that will nag drivers. "Watch out for that car!" "You're going too fast! Slow down!" That's what drivers will hear (only in Japanese, of course) as their cars yell at them about traffic violations.
The South Pacific island of Vanuatu has been rated as the happiest place on the planet.
Now here's a new tourist attraction for the adrenaline junkie in you: the Grand Canyon is about to get it's first
glass-bottomed viewing platform.
