How Old Is That Plane You're Boarding?

Travelers are confronting another miserable day at the nation's airports today, as American Airlines anticipates more than 900 cancellations. But American's decision to cancel flights today in addition to the more than 1,000 flights it canceled Wednesday for last-second inspections is just one of many headaches for travelers -- and for a struggling airline industry -- already facing a steady stream of problems.
Now industry experts say several of the airlines' problems are rooted in one underlying issue: aging planes.
Those recently reinspected are some of the oldest planes that U.S. airlines are flying today. While the planes may be safe, the older they get the more likely they are to have maintenance problems, causing another catastrophic delay.
"They've been putting off modernizing the fleet," said Ray Neidl, an airline analyst with Calyon Securities. "At some point it's going to put the U.S. carriers at a big disadvantage to foreign carriers. It's going to drive up their operating costs because these aircraft tend to be less fuel-efficient and require greater and greater maintenance."

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Who Will Create the First Green Island?

The race is on to see who can create the Caribbean's first completely green island. In the running: the Turks and Caicos government, private developer David Skar and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. All have plans in the works – at varying stages – to green up their respective Caribbean isles.
DiCaprio, long a champion of all causes environmental, snatched up his own private island just off the coast of Belize back in 2005: 104-acre Blackadore Caye. According to published reports, the actor envisioned an environmentally sustainable resort, or possibly an entire community, on his private paradise from the start. Development was rumored to have started late last year.
DiCaprio's publicist, Ken Sunshine, declined to comment on the status of the project at the moment, saying there would be more to report in the next few months.
But the other two contenders aren't keeping so mum on their plans. Last month Turks and Caicos announced that it will transform its largely undeveloped Salt Cay Island into the first to be fully environmentally sustainable.

SALT CAY
"It's a conscious decision and very historic," Turks and Caicos Premier Joseph Misick said. "Once we see what works, we'll spread it to other islands as well." What works for Salt Cay will be slightly different than for STAR Island, which is privately owned and currently home to no one except those stationed there to build out the new eco-Shangri La.
Just 2.5 square miles, Salt Cay is already home to about 60 to 100 families. This means the Turks and Caicos government has a slightly different challenge: "greening up" Salt Cay for tourism, but not leaving its current residents in the dust. At the moment there isn't much tourism – or any industry – on Salt Cay. "Time has stood still," as Misick described it. For about 300 years, the island's primary focus was also its namesake: the production of salt from brine. But soon that focus will switch to the courting of tourism. Green tourism. "Going green is more expensive, but in the long run it's better," Misick said. "We want to lead the way and show with Salt Cay that you can develop and be environmentally sustainable."
Plans are in the works for two new resort hotels and an 18-hole golf course – all of which will run according to the new green energy standards. Misick expects the $500 million project to finish in the next three to four years.
As for Salt Cay's current citizens, Misick says they will benefit from the switch to green as much as the future tourists – especially with the Turks and Caicos government's subsidizing the conversion of all homes to the new alternative energy source and even foot the power bill for a brief transitional period.
While the government has not yet decided exactly what that source will be, Misick says it will likely be either wind or solar power generated from an energy park to be built on the island. All cars will run on electric or hybrid power as well.
Meanwhile, other Caribbean governments are watching closely. The 10th Annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development is taking place this month, hosted by Turks and Caicos and the Caribbean Tourism Organization. Starting April 28, travel industry insiders will converge on the Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort & Spa – a Green Globe Certified hotel – to help each other up the learning curve of green tourism.

to be continued...

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21's a Bust? Seven States Debate Lowering Drinking Age

Is 21 a bust when it comes to drinking?
Lawmakers in seven states are actively considering legislation that would lower the legal drinking age.
Military Rights or Drinking Age Bill?
State pols in Kentucky, Wisconsin and South Carolina have introduced legislation that would lower the drinking age only for military personnel, while Missouri, South Dakota, Vermont and Minnesota are considering more expansive measures that would lower the drinking age for the general population.
"These people set themselves apart," said Rep. David Floyd of Kentucky, who supports the state lowering the drinking age to 18, and believes the responsibility that enlistees assume with military service demonstrates their ability to make mature decisions when it comes to alcohol.
Floyd looks at his efforts to lower Kentucky's drinking age as more of a military bill than a drinking bill, and would be opposed to expanding the bill to include nonmilitary personnel. Highway Funds Risked
Legislators, like Floyd, who are proponents of legally lowering the drinking age, are putting their state's highway funds at risk.
Each state contemplating lowering the drinking age could stand to lose up to 10 percent of its federal road money. In 1984, Congress passed the Uniform Drinking Age Act, which was designed to reduce car accident deaths among young people by setting the minimum drinking age at 21 and threatening states with the loss of federal highway funds if they did not comply.
Since the '80s, groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving and why21.org have cited research for their continued support of 21 as the legal drinking age.
According to the National Institutes of Health, alcohol-related traffic deaths have decreased across the board with the greatest proportional declines among people 16 to 20 years old.
NIH studies also revealed that teenagers who began drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence during their lifetimes than those who started drinking at age 21 or later.

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Sex, Murder, Tentacles -- Octopuses have it all

Researchers say wild octopuses are far from the shy,
unromantic loners their captive brethren appear to be.

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Marine biologists studying wild octopuses have found a kinky and violent society of jealous murders, gender subterfuge and once-in-a-lifetime sex. The study by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, who journeyed off the coast of Indonesia found that wild octopuses are far from the shy, unromantic loners their captive brethren appear to be.
The scientists watched the Abdopus aculeatus octopus, which are the size of an orange, for several weeks and published their findings recently in the journal Marine Biology.
They witnessed picky, macho males carefully select a mate, then guard their newly domesticated digs so jealously they would occasionally use their 8-to-10-inch tentacles to strangle a romantic rival.
The researchers also observed smaller "sneaker" male octopuses put on feminine airs, such as swimming girlishly near the bottom and keeping their male brown stripes hidden in order to win unsuspecting conquests.
And size does matter -- but not how you'd think.
"If you're going to spend time guarding a female, you want to go for the biggest female you can find because she's going to produce more eggs," said UC Berkeley biologist Roy Caldwell, who co-wrote the study. "It's basically an investment strategy."
Shortly after the female gives birth, about a month after conception, the mother and father die, researchers said.
"It's not the sex that leads to death," said Christine Huffard, the study's lead author. "It's just that octopuses produce offspring once during a very short lifespan of a year."





adobe from http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/04/01/octopus.love.ap/index.html?iref=24hours

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Olympic Torch Heads off on World Tour as Protests Planned

BEIJING (AFP) - The Olympic torch headed for Kazakhstan Tuesday on the first leg of an epic world tour designed to drum up enthusiasm for the Beijing Games, but also certain to draw anti-China protests.
A chartered Air China plane took off at around 10:00 am (0200 GMT) carrying the torch from Beijing to the Kazakh city of Almaty, where the first leg of the relay will be run on Wednesday, according to the Beijing Olympic organising committee.
Sending the torch on its way with pomp and fanfare, China staged an elaborate ceremony in central Tiananmen Square on Monday attended by top leaders including President Hu Jintao and his number two Xi Jinping.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Jacques Rogge, in a speech delivered to the gathering that was closed to the general public, said the torch would spread Olympic "magic" around the world. But for pro-Tibet activists, human rights groups, and groups seeking to end the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, the torch relay presents an ideal protest platform.
Dubbed the "journey of harmony," the relay is the longest ever, lasting 130 days and covering 137,000 kilometres (85,000 miles), offering ample opportunity for demonstrations.
One likely issue is Tibet, whose government-in-exile says up to 140 people have died in a crackdown on recent anti-China unrest there, while Beijing puts the death toll at 20.
Rights groups are already focusing on the London leg on Sunday, then Paris on Monday and San Francisco, the only stop in the United States, next Wednesday, April 9.

Anne Holmes, acting director of the London-based Free Tibet Campaign, said feelings were running high ahead of the British leg.
"We will have a presence. Our plan is to do something peaceful to make our point," she said.
The relay is billed as the most ambitious of all time with the "high point" being an ascent of Mount Everest in May and several potential hotspots along the route, including a controversial Tibet leg in June.
Campaign groups are also planning protests along the 40,000 kilometre route in China itself, but officials here and in Tibet, where the torch is expected to be in mid-June, are confident there will be no security breaches, even during the ascent of Everest.
"To our knowledge, some separatists from within and outside China are seeking to sabotage the Olympic torch relay within Tibet," Baema Chilain, vice chairman of the Tibetan regional government, told Chinese reporters last week.

"We are confident and capable of ensuring the security of the relay and taking it to the top of the peak."
But outside China the situation will be different. Already protesters defied tight security to disrupt the torch-lighting ceremony in Ancient Olympia last week.
China branded the protests in Greece "shameful" and has put pressure on cities along the international route to ensure smooth progress of the torch.
In an editorial on Tuesday, the China Daily denounced all efforts to disrupt the event.
"Sensational as they are, the calls to politicise the Olympics are a blasphemy against the Olympic spirit," it said.

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