Author: Joey deVilla

This one isn’t so much a story as it is a photo:

American Airlines neon logo at Logan Airport’s Terminal B.

There are a couple of these neon signs in the north pier of Logan Airport’s Terminal B. These face large banks of windows in the terminal so that passengers both in the lounge as well as in taxing planes can see theme.

I’m sure there were more signs like this in older airports all over the world, but in the rush to make airports more modern-looking, grand old artifacts like this got removed. I’m glad to see that the Massport folks either kept or restored these neon signs, as I think they’re gorgeous.

[This was also posted on Global Nerdy.]

Here’s something for gamers who want to go big: the Cineplex chain of movie theatres in Canada is renting out downtime at 29 of its locations to people who want to play XBox 360 games on their giants screens. CDN$179 (US$169) gets you and 11 of your friends 2 hours’ worth of big screen time.

Here’s an excerpt from the CBC article:

Theatres will generally have about 12 to 24 hours of available downtime a week, mostly in the morning, she said. Many theatres are in “full grind” right now showing summer movies, but they should slow down and have more available time once school begins in September.

Theatres may also stay open late into the evening to accommodate groups, at the discretion of each manager.

“If they wanted to book a four-hour window, we could certainly go later in the evening,” [Pat Marshall, Cineplex’s vice-president of communications] said. “If the theatre manager has the staffing, they could go till two in the morning.”

The wife is a big Rock Band aficionado. Maybe I could book something for her birthday…

Most of them are countries where Horlicks is readily available:

Based on this map in Wikipedia.

For the full story, see the Right- and Left-Hand Traffic entry in Wikipedia.

Of all the countries in the world, only three backwaters still use the archaic Imperial system of weights and measures:

• Liberia
• Myanmar (a.k.a. “the country formerly known as Burma”)
• United States of America

I say we let them get some decent governments first, then worry about getting them on the metric system.

Remember, folks: this was posted back in 2008, when George W. Bush was president. I lived in Canada, and the time, and that the “let them get some decent governments first” line was a poke at “Dubya”.

Also worth reading

Be sure to check out this follow-up article: More on America and the metric system.

Here’s a great t-shirt design fans of sports, monster movies or Gahan Wilson-esque humour — it’s titled Foam Monster in Emotional Reunion with Severed Limb:

Click the image to visit the T-shirt’s order page.

“Staycation” is a portmanteau that was probably coined by someone in public relations, since it has that “trying to repackage something bad as a really cool new thing” feel to it, in that Toxic Sludge is Good for You way.

My friend Merlin Mann feels pretty much the same way, as he says:

“Staycation” is such a clever coinage. I also like “home funclosure,” “personal awesomeruptcy,” and “stunning national opportunitypression.”

Here’s a personal ad from Craigslist Austin, presumably written by some guys who are deep in denial. The photos above are from their ad:

PARTY MANSION!!! – mm4mm – 29 (North Philly)
What up? We are three cool dudes looking for other cool dudes to come hang out at our party mansion. Nothing sexual. Dudes in good shape encouraged, but if you are fat you should find humor in the little things. NOTHING SEXUAL!

Update: Good thing I wrote “presumably”. As it turns out, the ad is a word-perfect copy of a scene from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I’ve never seen an episode of the show.