Another Airport Testing Self-Selection Lanes
Indoor Hookah Ban in Turkey
Riders Grumble Over NYC’s Shoddy Subway Elevators
Spy Cameras in UK City Monitor Motorists
Want to Buy an Island?
ANOTHER AIRPORT TESTING SELF-SELECTION LANES – Minneapolis Star Tribune
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) is testing out a new program to ease travelers’ frustrations at the dreaded security checkpoint. The new design lets travelers choose from three lines to wait in: families, casual travelers and expert travelers. In February airports in Denver and Salt Lake City began testing these self-selection lanes and have as of late since expanded the program to all security checkpoints. Some airports using just two lanes, one for experts and one for families, have shown a considerable amount of success. Hopefully, the new lane design will help ease MSP’s congestion—and passengers’ nerves.
Link: Minneapolis Star Tribune
HOOKAH BANNED IN TURKEY’S ENCLOSED LOCALES – Al Jazeera
The Turkish government is forcing tobacco smokers to put out their butts while in public places. The new law has stirred mixed results, especially considering that two-thirds of the male population smokes. The law, which passed in January, restricts people from smoking in government offices, workplaces, shopping malls, schools, stadiums and hospitals, but some of these locations do have designated smoking zones for those who really need to light up. Cafes and restaurants have some time to crack down on patrons, given that their ban doesn’t go into full effect for them until July 2009. If an establishment violates the ban, it first will receive a written warning, followed by a fine for as much as $4,000. An individual will be fined $40. Nearly 60 percent of men and 20 percent of women are smokers in Turkey, and a fifth all the country’s deaths are blamed on tobacco-related diseases.
Link: Al Jazeera
RIDERS GRUMBLE AS NEW YORK’S SUBWAY ELEVATORS STILL FAIL – The New York Times
Failing elevators have prevented New York’s subway riders from reaching their train on time. According to New York City Transit, one of every six elevators and escalators in the subway system was out of service for more than a month in 2007. And, the 169 escalators in the subway averaged 68 breakdowns or repair calls each in 2007. Since the early 1990s the agency has invested nearly $1 billion to install more than 200 new elevators and escalators, but now it needs to spend nearly as much in the next decade to remedy the failing machines.
Link: The New York Times
SPY CAMERAS IN UK CITY EYE MOTORISTS’ MOVES - Manchester Evening News
A new network of police spy cameras is designed to snap a photo of every car driving into Manchester, England. The Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras will capture 600,000 motorists’ journeys every day, and the data will be stored for five years. Twelve main routes traveling into the city will have cameras installed, so sneaking into the middle of Manchester without one’s license plate being recorded nearly will be impossible. The database will be able to identify stolen vehicles, track cars used by terrorists, criminals and banned drivers and locate car tax and insurance dodgers. Cameras can scan cars that are speeding up to 100mph.
Link: Manchester Evening News
IN THE MARKET TO BUY AN ISLAND? – Agence France-Presse
A tiny Channel island off the northern coast of France has gone up for sale. It is one of eight inhabited Channel islands. The firm Martel Maides said it was hunting for a new buyer to purchase the 40-year leasehold of the island Herm. Complete with its own jail, “The island offers a beautiful place to live with a remarkable lifestyle, supported by a thriving tourist based business,” according to a description on the firm’s Web site. The island also has a manor house, a 13th century chapel, the world’s supposedly smallest jail, farmland, white sandy beaches, pub, restaurants and a hotel sans clocks, televisions or telephones … talk about an off-the-grid vacation.
Link: Agence France-Presse [via Yahoo!]
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