Details about the story here.

Ever since American Airlines announced they’d be charging for the first checked bag, this is the blog post I’d intended to write.  Well, close to it anyway — I’d also thought that the only effect is going to be everyone trying to bring bags on board and making the clusterfuck that is boarding even worse, but charging for carry-on bags instead
is a brilliant idea. The only modification I’d make is to make it apply to bags in the overhead compartments only (the space in front of your legs is still free).  The airlines could sell a limited number brightly-coloured carry-on bag tags (for say, $15 each) for each flight, and anything found in the overhead compartment without a tag automatically gets checked.  (Passengers in bulkhead seats get a free tag to compensate for the lack of underseat storage.) It’s a great way of managing a limited resource, and a revenue generator for cash-strapped airlines.

And on a similar topic, I now refuse to fly US Airways since they announced they were to start charging for soft drinks during flights. This is simply penny-pinching gone to far.  In the dry environment of a low-pressure airline cabin, everyone needs a drink. Just add a few dollars to the fare, for chrissake, and save all the costs of re-engineering the beverage and cash collection process!

I just discovered from this useful guide to gay marriage from the LA Times that as of 5:01PM on Monday, Jay and I will be married in California, thanks to our Vancouver, BC Wedding. I wonder if that means we can now go through immigration at LAX together — several times we’ve been rudely turned back from the podium after approaching it together because we’re “not a family”. (Welcome to the USA!) I wonder if the state law will trump the federal bigotry in this case.

I also learned something quite disturbing in the same article:

You do not have to live in California to marry here, and Massachusetts and New York state will recognize the marriages. Other states may not recognize the marriages, and some, including Wisconsin and Delaware, impose criminal penalties on its residents “if they enter a marriage outside the state that would have been prohibited in the state,” such as gay marriage, according to a fact sheet posted on Lambda Legal’s website. The law in Wisconsin, for example, permits authorities to punish offenders with a fine of up to $10,000 and nine months imprisonment.

Seriously?  A huge-ass fine and nine months in prison just for going through a wedding ceremony in another country or state?  Wisconsin, welcome to my list of places I’ll never visit.

Thanks to everyone who came to Jay’s 35th birthday party — it was awesome to see everyone and I think it helped Jay get over his midlife crisis :).  The photos are up on flickr.  And confidential to Julie: the flowers were gorgeous, thanks!

Heard the one where Jesus got mad at a tree? Or the one where 42 children were mauled by bears for making fun of a bald spot? Or the time when God showed Moses his ass (and no, not his donkey)? It’s all in the bible, and it’s all true.

I love design, I love criticism, and I especially love sarcastic antipodean humour. So this site that gives letter grades to all the flags of the world according to arbitrary but hilarious criteria is just about perfect for me. The patriot in me was disappointed by Australia’s C score, but the maths geek in me had to chuckle at this one:

UPDATE: At this other cool site, you can vote on your favourite flags “Hot or Not” style, and see the hottest and not hottest flags others have voted on.

Found this cool story about a young guy’s hitchhiking trip from NY to Alaska.  Check out the “abridged” link for some of the best photos, but I really enjoyed the stories from the unabridged link.  Really reminded me of the film Into the Wild that Jay and I just saw.  Really good film, especially for me since I hadn’t read the book and was totally surprised (and even shed a few tears!) at the ending.

EDIT: OK I guess that was kind of random.  I meant to make this a private post, but it got published by mistake.  I was just using nonfamous as an image host for a posting about a game of Civilization IV I made on another forum.

I spent some time wandering down memory lane at flightmemory.com, trying to remember the places I’d been to by air. Remembering the places you’ve been to is easy, but when there are layovers involved trying to remember how you got there is tricky. Anyway, I think this is pretty close. I’m sure there are a few places I’ve left off, and I’m sure I’ve missed or mistaken some stopovers here and there. And it doesn’t count places I’ve been to by train (many cities in Europe), by car (many places in Southwest and Northwest USA) or boat (mainly Alaska and some European cities I visited via ferry).

(Click for a full-size view.) Counting the flights shown alone, I’ve flown 72% of the way to the moon and spent two full weeks of my life on planes. But each leg is only counted once, and I’ve crossed the Atlantic at least 30 times, the Pacific 10, and done Europe-Australia 5 times. So it’s probably safe to triple those numbers. Scary!

Apparently one of our local senators, Maria Cantwell, is opposed to eliminating the tax break for hedge fund managers, who despite six-figure salaries only pay 15% tax.  But there’s no justification for maintaining this tax break.  So why does she support its continuation?