what do you think of the new british coins?

Do we really need coins anymore? I think making new coins is a waste of money.

unfriendly skies

A PBS NewsHour transcript in 1997 contains very good information about CAT, Clear Air Turbulence, or much more simply, “air pockets”. Here are some excerpts:

Since 1981, two people have died in air turbulence incidents, one aboard United Airlines Flight 826, where a 32-year-old Japanese woman suffered a fatal head injury when her body was hurled against the ceiling of the plane.

Early analysis of the aircraft’s flight data recorder showed that the 747 initially rose suddenly, then plunged six seconds later about one hundred feet.

According to ABC News Aviation Specialist John Nance, when dealing with clear air turbulence pilots have almost nothing, except their own analysis and experience of the weather reports, where the tropopause is — the layer between the troposphere and the stratosphere, the temperature changes that they may run into, and indications of high clouds that might tell them that they’re running into or out of a jet stream.

Also according to Nance, severe turbulence or clear air turbulence is an extreme rarity. Moderate turbulence is about as bad as it gets. What pilots try to do is avoid any areas of severe or clear air turbulence. Sometimes they can’t. The only tool they have available is to either change altitude, which is what they normally do (Pilots ask other flights, and/or ask the controller — Is it smoother at 33? Is it smoother at 31? ), or vary the speed, but at high altitude, you don’t have the option of slowing down a lot. So that really leaves them with only the option of changing altitude, or changing course.

So what do you think? Do you think you’re going to buckle up your seat belts next time?

Related Links: http://www.turbulenceforecast.com/

Excerpt from Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything:

“At any one moment 1,800 thunderstorms are in progress around the globe — some 40,000 a day. Day and night across the planet every second about a hundred lightning bolts hit the ground. The sky is a lively place.”

“Hi, I’m on a plane.”

According to the Associated Press, you can use your cell phone in the skies over Europe later this year under new rules that will allow air travelers to stay in touch starting at 9,800 feet.

But don’t expect to use your phone on a U.S. flight anytime soon. The ban remains in place for all U.S. carriers, including domestic and international flights.

The decision on April 7, 2008 by the European Union makes the 27-nation bloc the first region in the world to scrap bans on the use of cell phones in the sky.

According to Gizmodo, The technical requirements are quite simple.

Cell phone calls will be connected through an onboard base station. The base will relay all calls to a satellite, which will pass them to the ground-based cell network. A flight’s captain will have the power to turn off service anytime.

Phone service will be blocked during takeoff and landing, EU spokesman Martin Selmayr said. That means using your cell phone will fall under roughly the same restrictions as using your laptop or iPod. In Europe, travelers will be allowed to turn on their phones after planes climb past 10,000 feet. That’s when other electronic devices are typically permitted. Captains will also be able to block cell phone service during turbulence.

Meanwhile, travelers are already expressing concern about another kind of disruption — noisy passengers. The friendly skies are one of the last refuges against shrill ringtones and yapping callers.

The new EU rules were welcomed by airlines, some of which, such as Air France-KLM, had already launched a trial of in-flight phone service on some European routes. Dubai-based Emirates Airlines introduced its in-flight phone services on its Dubai-to-Casablanca route but limits the number of calls passengers can make and bars calls during night flights.

German airline Lufthansa said Monday it does not plan to introduce the service because a majority of its customers saw no need. Surveys have shown a large majority of customers against it, Lufthansa spokesman Jan Baerwalde said.

Expect to pay an arm and a leg for this air roaming.

fortune cookie factory on Ross Alley

I found these interesting excerpt from The Examiner’s recently issued free magazine, Bridge to Bridge: Your 2008 neighborhood guide to San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

The mere mention of Chinatown still evokes exotic tales of mystery from San Francisco’s past. The largest Chinese neighborhood outside of China remains a destination that’s filled with surprises among the gift bazaars and elbow-to-elbow sidewalk traffic.

Due to the density of living quarters in Chinatown, Portsmouth Square at Clay and Kearney Streets has long been known as the living room of Chinatown and its social epicenter and, until the practice was banned in all San Francisco parks, as its smoking parlor. But Portsmouth Square is also a mini-museum, with its various monuments to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, the location of the first public school in California, and the site where Captain John B. Montgomery of the USS Portsmouth raised the first American flag in San Francisco.

Locals have long since discovered the fortune cookie factory on Ross Alley. They also know that this is the best neighborhood for inexpensive cookware, but even a native San Franciscan may overlook an uncelebrated landmark. A plaque on the wall outside among the wares at 823 Grant Avenue marks the location of the City’s first home. Yerba Buena Island founder William A. Richardson erected a tent dwelling here in 1835 and replaced it with a wooden house the following year.

Chinatown architecture is almost entirely European with Asian-style motifs added liberally. However, an authentic pagoda tops the Bank of Canton building, 743 Washington Street. Chinatown is comprised mainly of two parallel streets, Stockton Street and Grant Avenue. Grant is the oldest street in San Francisco. It was known as Dupont Street before the section from Bush Street to Market Street was renamed in 1876. In 1908, the rest of Dupont became Grant. Even before it was called Dupont, the street was known Calle de la Fundacion, street of the founding.

Chinatown meets the Financial District at Grant Avenue and California Street at Old St. Mary’s church. The biblical inscription on the south face of the church clock was originally directed at patrons of the Barbary Coast brothels that operated across the street. The inscription warns, “Son observe the time and fly from evil.”

a regional misunderstanding

Here’s an excerpt from a wonderful book Streetwise Spanish:

A Mexican lady married a man from Buenos Aires and went to live in that city, where she encountered some problems with linguistic differences. One day she called the maid and began to explain the tasks that she would have to do in the house. “In the evening,” she said, “You should clean the table after dinner and then you have to wash the dishes.” (In Mexico, trastes means dishes, pots and pans, but in Argentina it means bottom or buttocks.) The maid almost fainted and replied, “All right, ma’am, I’ll do it for you and the girls, but not for the mister!”

daylight saving time

For those of you in the United States and, especially, traveling to and from the United States, did you know that daylight-saving time begins March 9? We’ll spring forward one hour. Don’t forget!

My partner and I discovered a glitch in American Airlines’ reservation system last year. They didn’t account for daylight savings time in Argentina (our departure time shows 11am when it should have been noon), so we arrived an hour extra earlier at the airport. No wonder we were so confused by our flights and gate numbers (as in where the **** is our flight/gate? Duh we were ****** too early). Imagine how horrible it would have been if the time change went the other way??

Anyway, here are some details about Argentina’s recent time change:

An important new change has taken effect in Argentina…DAYLIGHT SAVINGS.

Daylight savings went into effect on December 30, 2007. Remember that the southern hemisphere seasons are reversed so the old spring ahead fall back works EXCEPT THE OPPOSITE. Argentine clocks will be turned ahead one hour because it’s spring in the southern hemisphere. To make it more confusing, at least for North Americans, the time will return to normal on March 16, almost one week after the U.S.

world poker tournament on the travel channel ?!?

Can anybody try to explain or justify to me what a world poker tournament is doing at the Travel Channel?

A TV show with the word world in it does not qualify it as a show about travel. Does anyone else see or think how absurd this is?

beauty travel survival kit

Next time you visit the wonderful city of Buenos Aires, you might want to bring these items that I found invaluable during my last visit there:

1. ionic travel hair dryer

This is my favorite holiday present of 2007. It is not as expensive as the T3 travel hair dryer and it has that nozzle that is missing from the very very expensive T3. This hair dryer is dual voltage so all you need is an adaptor plug and you’re good to go! Don’t worry if you forgot to bring an adaptor plug. You can easily buy one in Buenos Aires for cheap. I really love this product. Sometimes I don’t even need to flatiron my hair after I use this dryer.

2. 220V flat iron

This device is a great saver for those bad hair days. I find that my hair goes through an ugly phase a few days after I travel while adjusting to new locales. If you know where I can buy a tourmaline dual-voltage flatiron, please let me know. My hairstylist has one but he got it at some fashion trade show somewhere. Luckyy. I searched the internet high and low and couldn’t find a dual-voltage ceramic flatiron. Anyway, I used this particular flatiron in Buenos Aires. It’s not the best, but it worked pretty well.

3. TRESemmé instant heat tamer

If you’re going to be using a hairdryer or a flatiron, I highly suggest you use a heat protecting spray. This product makes my hair smell good and so much more manageable and shiny! I bought this at Jumbo, Buenos Aires’ version of Walmart. This place kinda rocks! Did you know that the mosque right across this store is the largest mosque in South America? Wicked.

4. DHC Cleansing Foam

I brought with me 4 packet samples of this amazing product. It kept my face clean and comfortable after spending humid afternoons and evenings in B.A. A little goes a long way with this product. The samples lasted me throughout my entire 2.5 week trip. I can live without this product in cold climes but would hate to live without this product in humid weathers.

5. pumice stone

If you visit Buenos Aires in the summer, you will want to roam around in your sexy flip flops. To me, wearing flip flops for weeks mean rough bottoms of the feet. So rub those calluses every day while in the shower. Again, if you happen to forget to pack your pumice stone, you can easily buy one at any of the numerous farmacias in the city. And they’re cheap too!

argentine cell phones, why the special treatment? it’s confusing!

Calling a cell phone in Argentina by long-distance can be a challenge (Read: pain in the *ss).

In general, you follow this simple step when placing a long-distance call to Argentina:

International Access Code + Country Code + City Code + Local Number

However, you follow this tricky step when placing a long-distance call to a cell phone in Argentina:

011                                       
This number indicates an international phone call from the United States

54                                        
This number is Argentina`s country code

9                                          
This number indicates that you are calling a cell phone

<city code>                    
The complete and latest list of Argetina’s city codes or indicativos can be found here. Cell phones in Argentina have a prefix of (15). So for example, if a home number in Buenos Aires is listed with a (11) prefix, a cell number in Buenos Aires will be listed with a (15) prefix. So, taking this example further, if calling a cell phone within Buenos Aires, you have to dial the (15) prefix. However, if calling a cell phone outside of Argentina, you have to dial the (11) prefix which is the city code for Buenos Aires, and not the (15) prefix. Confused yet? I hope so.

<local number>

So… to summarize, when placing a long-distance call to a cell phone in Buenos Aires from the United States, you have to dial:

011 + 54 + 9 + 11 + local number

The (15) prefix is the giant elephant in the room you are supposed to ignore. Good luck!!!