Amy Strand: TSA Forces Mom to Pump Breast Milk in Public

Oh, TSA… You Continue to Suck

The TSA is dead-set on maintaining its reputation as the most-hated and least-useful agency in the USA. This time, a vigilant (if ill-trained and arguably stupid) TSA agent targeted Amy Strand, a mother of four travelling with a breast-milk pump and empty bottles.

You see where this is going.

The TSA agent had a problem with Amy Strand bringing empty bottles and a cooler aboard the plane. Their use should have been instantly obvious to anyone who knows about the existence of babies, but this clearly excludes the TSA agent in question.

Amy Strand was pulled aside and forced to pump milk from her breasts in the public area of a women’s toilet, even though the empty bottles are permitted aboard in the first place.

Amy Strand made what is perhaps an unavoidable mistake: trying to avoid TSA hassle. Look, when the TSA wants to hassle you, they’ll find a way. When it comes to actually keeping planes safe, well, the TSA is not so hot at that.

TSA later released a statement saying  their agent had acted in error and that he’s “receiving remedial training.” According to their statement, the TSA agent told Strand that ice packs could only be carried on a flight if they were medically necessary, which isn’t true. Strand says that the head of the Hawaii TSA personally apologized to her and that he “seemed very sincere.”

I don’t doubt the TSA’s “sincerity”; only their competence. Now the TSA’s designated punching-bag blog team will spout some bullshit about “keeping the skies safe”, and then the TSA will do absolutely nothing to solve the root problem, and the cycle will continue.

Wouldn’t it be nice if your job allowed you to commit such colossal fuck-ups without any real consequences?

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Tokyo Penguin on the Loose

Escaped Penguin Evades Zoo Staff

A Humboldt penguin escaped from Tokyo Sea Life park, and the zoo staff are having trouble finding him. In fact, all they have is a photo of the penguin going, “peace out!”, which you can see below. Then *poof!*, he was gone.

Good luck with this one, guys. That penguin may be like Danny DeVito on land, but he’s Michael Phelps in the water.

I can personally attest to how quick and agile penguins can be as they swim, having had the opportunity to share the water with them in South Africa. They’re really freakin’ fast.

“We first noticed the penguin might have fled when the director of a neighbouring zoo e-mailed us Sunday with a photo,” park official Takashi Sugino told AFP news agency.He said officials were struggling to recapture it because it swam “at a tremendous speed”.

BBC News – Tokyo search for young penguin escapee.

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The Saga of the Stinky Seatmate: A Dispatch from @BluestMuse

Stinky Seatmate: ‘Someone Has Soiled the Air!’

This travel tale comes to us from Shawna Malvini Redden, who is no stranger to adventures in coach class. I discovered her writing while covering an incident with Southwest Airlines: Shawna was aboard when the fuselage ripped open mid-flight.

However.. can she survive the stinky seatmate? Let’s find out…

“Im sorry, I think Im allergic to your perfume.”

Her eyes bulged and she spat, “Well thats funny because I dont wear perfume.”

Read the whole thing at The Blue Muse.

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Plane Takes a Shit on Long Island Couple

“Oh my God, it’s raining”? Oh, if only that were rain.

What would you do if a jetliner took a shit on you? For one Long Island couple, this is not a hypothetical question.

The FAA confirmed that an “incident” had taken place as a plane flew over Malverne, NY after taking off from JFK.

“An incident”. Sounds like a euphemism used by parents, no?

“He had spoken to somebody down at either the Port Authority or the FAA and said ‘Yeah, it looks like there was an incident,” he said. “Some lavatory excrement had leaked out.”

Blue ice” is real, but cannot be intentially discharged from a plane midflight. There is no “empty toilets” button in the cockpit. However, to use another poop-euphemism, accidents happen.

1010WINS, via  CBS New York.

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Two missing after explosion at Brazil’s Antarctic research station

A fire at Brazil’s research station on King George Island has killed one soldier, and two more are missing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17168526

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Insane Habits from Living Alone

How Living Alone Makes You Go Mad

I love this article about the weird habits one develops while living alone. The idea of the at-home self, invisible to the rest of the world, is fascinating; I actively try to keep from some of these nobody-can-see-me habits, but it’s not easy.

After all, cooking an entire meal using one pot means your cleanup will be much faster and easier.

However, I avoid at-home outfits and keep in the habit of closing the bathroom door. Living alone requires discipline, which nobody seems to realize until they’re actually living by themselves.

Among her domestic oddities: running in place during TV commercials; speaking conversational French to herself while making breakfast (she listens to a language CD); singing Journey songs in the shower; and removing only the clothes she needs from her dryer, thus turning it into a makeshift dresser.

Not an issue with me. I don’t have a dryer.

However, I’ve been known to do push-ups and sit-ups during commercial breaks when I watch TV, and while working from home. This is actually somewhat healthy: I do around 120 pushups a day.

Walking around in the nude? Not too often, because I don’t have curtains in my apartment. It’s like living in a terrarium.

via NYTimes.com.

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Sarah Baker: The Ultimate ‘Do Not Disturb’ Sign

Spot-On ‘Do Not Disturb’ Doorhanger

British artist Sarah Baker busted out this to-the-point “Do Not Disturb” sign for the Town Hall Hotel in London. She totally nailed it.

Hang it on your door so the instruction in the slot asks for the room to be made up, and the maid appears neatly dressed in black, with a feather duster. Invert the sign so Do Not Disturb slides down into the slot, and – whoops – kiss me quick-style, the maid’s outfit slides away to reveal satin undies and suspenders. Totally non-PC. Love it.

via Sally Shalams Britain.

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Vancouver Contemporary Art: Instant Coffee at Western Front

Feeling So Much Yet Doing So Little: Instant Coffee’s Prospective Retrospective

Western Front is hosting a “prospective retrospective” for Instant Coffee, a collective of contemporary artists who focus on service-oriented art.

FRom February 17-April 7, 2012, check out Western Front to see what Instant Coffee has brewing (sorry):

About Instant Coffee:

As any good collective would, in 2005 the members of Instant Coffee drafted a “manifesto” of sorts. In it, they define themselves and their objectives in terms of their caffeinated namesake: Instant Coffee “mimics the real thing without the pretense of being better. It isn’t that much easier to make, but that much is reason enough to justify its particularities.”

The idea is that the real difference between instant and regular coffee is taste, and tastes change. After all, both deliver caffeine, but instant coffee is just a bit faster and easier to make: it’s cheap but effective.

I’m not going to try to describe the work- it’s better to just show you some of my photos, along with the video provided by Instant Coffee. As the artists say, “it doesn’t have to be good to be meaningful”. Enjoy.

Instant Coffee: Feeling So Much Yet Doing So Little

Feeling So Much Yet Doing So Little

Instant Coffee: Bleachers as Participatory Art

Bleachers as Participatory Art

Instant Coffee: 20 French Songs for 20 French Kisses

20 French Songs for 20 French Kisses

Intense neon at Western Front

Ka-Pow!

Instant Coffee: Wish You Were Here

Wish You Were Here

Instant Coffee at Western Front: You're Involved

Western Front: Viewers/Participants

Instant Coffee: Bleachers, Lamps, You, Them

Bleachers and Lamps at Western Front

Feeling So Much Yet Doing So Little from Instant Coffee on Vimeo.

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First Class Travel: A Peek Inside Airline Amenity Kits : Daily Traveler : Conde Nast Traveler

Flying First Class: What’s In Those Amenity Kits? Let’s Find Out

Ever wonder how the 1% fly? I’ve snuck into First Class for a pre-flight drink once, but never got to peek inside the amenities kits. Now we can unpack those mysterious first-class amenities bags together, thanks to a photo gallery from Conde Nast Traveler

In my opinion, the Singapore Airlines kits look the best. Quantas comes in second best. Delta’s looks kind of cheap. Virgin’s, however,  is the most disappointing, judging from these photos.

 

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Bloody Mary Celery Sticks: Brunch Drinks to Go

Check it out: Portable Bloody Marys. I don’t have a whipped-cream maker, but this recipe is a pretty compelling reason to consider adding one to my kitchen arsenal.

Think about it… carrying your Bloody Mary out the door, consuming it during a leisurely stroll.

Besides, any recipe that demands 8oz of gin is a recipe worth sharing.

Time: 20 minutes plus dripping and chilling times

3 pounds very ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1/2 teaspoon, plus pinch kosher salt

3 celery stalks

8 ounces gin

12 dashes Tabasco

12 dashes Worcestershire sauce.

Preparation takes a bit of time, but it sure sounds worth the wait.

Bloody Mary Celery Sticks: NYTimes.com via Boing Boing.

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