Booing Passengers Cause Crew to Cancel Flight
Don’t Go There: New Site Maps Up-to-Date Disease Outbreaks
Preventing Pet Heatstroke, Teen Sees Need for Car Alarms
After Repairs, Waxwork Head of Hitler to Return to Museum
When in Rome, or Anywhere, Just Dance
BOOING PASSENGERS CAUSE CREW TO CANCEL FLIGHT - Gothamist
A swathe of passengers waiting for their long-delayed flight greeted the crew with a collective and overwhelming boo. Vying for the last laugh, the crew refused to work the flight due to concerns over the “hostile mob,” so the American Airlines flight from Miami to LaGuardia Sunday night was canceled. Since the carrier couldn’t conjure a replacement crew, the passengers were put up in a hotel with “barbed-wire all around it.” To make matters worse, their luggage was shipped to JFK—not LaGuardia—by “mistake.” Next time your flight arrives late, if at all, just cheer.
Link: Gothamist
DON’T GO: NEW SITE MAPS UP-TO-DATE DISEASE OUTBREAKS - Wired
Wouldn’t it be nice if you instantly could find out if a disease outbreak is plaguing the destination to which you will be traveling? The next time an outbreak occurs, such as salmonella or avian flu, just turn to the trusty Internet. The new Web site HealthMap will extract text from Google News, the World Health Organization and online discussion groups, then tailor and apply the content into mapped data, region by region. “There is so much information on the Web about disease outbreaks, but it’s obscured by garbage and noise,” said John Brownstein, a professor at Harvard Medical School, and co-founder of HealthMap.org. “The idea of HealthMap is to get filtered, valuable information to the public and public health community in one freely available resource.” Though the site is geared toward public health officials, the general public can also access it.
Link: Wired
PREVENTING PET HEATSTROKE, TEEN SEES NEED FOR CAR ALARM – Edmonton Journal
Dozens of pets have been known to die in overheated cars, and Brian Larson hopes to change that. Larson, a 13-year-old science student, spent his summer gathering data to design an alarm system that will siren if temperatures become scorching. Vehicles can become boiling hot quite quickly, and pet owners don’t realize that their loved ones are endangered, so an alarm would be very useful in saving fluffy Fido’s life. Larson formulated this idea after his aunt and uncle’s two Chihuahuas died after they were left in an RV for an hour. Mark Archibald, chair of the electronics engineering technology department at NAIT, is helping the teen make this project successful. “I thought, ‘Wow, this is pretty ambitious and this is a very intelligent young man to be pursuing something like this,’” he said.
Link: Edmonton Journal
AFTER REPAIRS, WAXWORK HEAD OF HITLER TO RETURN TO MUSEUM – Reuters
Soon after Berlin’s new Madame Tussauds museum opened on Saturday to the public, a 41-year-old man jumped over a rope barrier and tore off the head of a waxwork of Adolf Hitler, shouting, “No more war!” The museum announced Monday that experts will restore the head. A fury of protest over the Hitler waxwork has erupted in Germany, where “public displays of Nazi memorabilia or symbols are generally banned,” reported Reuters. Many critics find the exhibit tasteless and insensitive. Others are more concerned that the exhibit will lure a neo-Nazi homage. “Hitler represents a significant part of the history of Berlin which cannot be denied,” the museum said in a statement.
Link: Reuters
WHEN IN ROME, OR ANYWHERE, JUST DANCE – The New York Times
When some people travel, they document their adventures in a journal or pick up a few destination souvenirs—but some people dance. Matt Harding, 31, created a video called “Dancing,” and it has received such rave reviews that over for million have viewed the viral video on YouTube alone. Harding has traveled to 69 various locations and danced, complete with a toothy grin. Some destinations include India, Kuwait, Bhutan, Tonga, Timbuktu and the Nellis Airspace in Nevada, where he wiggles a jig in zero gravity. Years ago, he began breaking out in dance at work, while he was residing in Brisbane, Australia. “I’d dance at lunchtime or during an awkward pause or just to annoy people,” Mr. Harding said. “It was sort of a nervous tic.”
Link: The New York Times
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