A Golf Blog

Travelogue

Often times, it is interesting to read what others have to say about their travels.

Carrie “Princess Leia” Fisher did an article on her recent trip to China. It’s informative and funny and worth the read.

At least I think so. Original pointer from Gadling.

Pampered Luggage

Here’s one for the traveler that prefers to not schlep luggage through airports.

Pleasant Holidays has what they’re calling “mobile skycap” – it’s a service that handles luggage for you. Simply call and they come to your home, pick up your luggage and check it in at the airport.

The service is provided by BaggageDirect and is approved by the TSA. The only catch is that so far, it’s for LAX departures on ATA or Hawaiian Airlines for flights to Honolulu or Maui. The first customer pays $30 and for each additional customer it’s $15 provided you are within 20 miles of LAX.

Google Creepiness

I hadn’t really given much thought to the idea that a Google search for a phone number would actually return an address with links to Yahoo Maps and Mapquest – odd, no link to Google Maps though.

You do have the option of removing the number but you have to fill out a form and it takes up to 48 hours to remove the number.

With all the creeps and weirdoes running around, this strikes me as over the top and it also creates serious safety issues.

Your thoughts?

A Whole New Mind – R&D Required Reading

Did you know that today’s 19 years olds are not going into engineering because they fear the discipline will be outsourced? And, did you know that it is harder to get into UCLA’s master of fine arts program than it is to get into Harvard’s MBA program? Harvard admits about 10 percent of applicants while UCLA admits only 3 percent.

Author Dan Pink has nailed it in his new book A Whole New Mind. It is no longer optional to be either logical or creative. If you are going to keep your job, you need to start thinking with both sides of your brain.

I’ve suggested that this be required reading for Sabre’s R&D team.

The Star Telegram did a good review (free subscription required).

Secure Flight and a Slippery Slope

Yup, the TSA lied about using and protecting passenger information. Now, the GAO says they missed on nine of ten conditions required for implementation and they are even questioning if Secure Flight will even work.

Great write-up by Bruce Schneier.

Outside The Star

Man's mind, stretched by a new idea, never goes back to its original dimensions. Oliver Wendell Holmes via Outside the Star

Get the R&D perspective on Advertainment, Gamevertising, Web Technolgy, and Travel at Outside the Star. My friend and co-worker Tony Brice has taken the plunge and has started blogging.

A9 Security Problem

A short while ago, I wrote about how we might be able to leverage some of what Ryan saw at ETech. As is often the case, tidbits picked up at conferences are not necessarily communicated via a Vulcan Mind Meld so much as they are done one on one in someone’s pod-like cubicle office type thing.

Today, after a short preview of A9 on a co-workers machine, Ryan signed out and his co-worker went to Amazon.com. Guess what? He went directly to Ryans store and had access to all Ryan’s account information.

Seems that A9 has a bit of a security problem and I’ve contacted them about it.

Consolidation in the GDS Industry

Travel Weekly is reporting that Galileo laid off a small percentage of its workforce following the consolidation of Product Marketing in Denver, CO and Marketing Operations in Parsippany, NJ.

Citing the need for lowering expenses and enabling a more flexible organization were the reasons for the consolidation. There were no impacts to other Cendant businesses.

It will be interesting to see how Sabre, Worldspan, and Amadeus tackle expenses and flexibility.

Fibs and Half Truths from the TSA

Easter weekend is usually light on news and that might lead you to think that the TSA was trying to fly one under the radar this past Friday.

It now looks as if the TSA only partially disclosed its role in obtaining personal information on about 12 million airline passengers. You’ll recall earlier that the TSA had mandated that airlines share passenger information for the Secure Flight program – one in which they use data about you to determine terrorist threat levels for flights.

Back in September of 2003, the TSA’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) staff received hundreds of inquires from JetBlue passengers as to whether the TSA had their flight records. They reported they didn’t and posted it on the TSA’s web site. The FOIA staff subsequently found they did have JetBlue passenger records but neglected to update their web site or actually tell anyone.

The TSA has been told by congress that they can not proceed with the Secure Flight program unless the Government Accounting Office can show that the technology being used can guarantee privacy and that the data is protected.

Stay tuned, the report is due out tomorrow.

Frankenstein Foot

Back before the holidays, Mandy’s left foot had an encounter with an immovable object. The loser of the encounter was the foot – Mandy broke the middle toe of her left foot. After several weeks of procrastination, she went to a Podiatrist and he gave her a cute little shoe (not quite a Birkenstock knock-off) and within 4 to 6 weeks, the toe healed.

Unfortunately, during the time before seeing the Dr. and while the toe was healing, Mandy favored the left foot and that put additional stress on her right foot. At first it was thought to be arthritis, then a neuroma, then after an MRI, it was diagnosed as a stress fracture. So, for the next 6 to 8 weeks, I’ll be wearing a chauffeur’s hat.

Mandy’s really bummed out.