Good morning Happy 75th birthday to the Golden Gate Bridge, which opened in May 1937. It has become one of the world’s most instantly recognizable bridges, and is approaching its two billionth vehicle crossing sometime very soon. Although having the longest span in the world when built, it lost that title in 1964 to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, and nowadays is the ninth longest suspension bridge, with a 4,200 ft main span length.  The longest [...]

From time to time, a story ‘gains legs’ in the media, telling the sorrowful tale of some person who through terrible tragedy and no fault of their own, is unable to take the flights they had previously booked and paid for. Such stories are made better if the person in question is elderly, in poor health, short of money, and either a veteran or a mother with (sick) young children, and they become unavoidably compelling [...]

Good morning I had another burst of intense self doubt earlier this week.  Are airlines really as stupid as I say they are?  Or am I missing something so thunderingly obvious as to imply I’m even more stupid than I suggest the airlines sometimes are? This was triggered by the confirmation that Delta is indeed buying an oil refinery, and was underscored by the near unanimous chorus of approval by the usual talking head commentators [...]

Earlier this week we heard what seemed like interesting, unexpected, and exciting news from beleaguered Barnes & Noble and their epic struggle to make second place a viable place, with their Nook battling against mighty Google’s Kindle. Here’s a typical cheerleading article about this. But is there a darker underlying truth to this?  Quite possibly so. First, to put this into context, let’s take a quick recap on the situation prior to the announcement. The [...]

I’ve recently been getting junk/spam type text messages on my cell phone. This felt way more intrusive than regular spam emails and unwanted phone calls.  Text messages are typically ‘interruptive’ type events – you stop what you are doing to look at the message, whereas with email you can choose when you check your email.  And, of course, depending on your phone and messaging plan, you might find yourself paying for the cost of receiving [...]

We wrote a month ago about Delta being rumored to buy a closed down loss making oil refinery in the Philadelphia area.  Although we had no exact data on the claimed benefits to Delta or clear reasons why it might consider such a strange diversification, we were still able to reach a clear conclusion – it would make no sense at all for Delta to buy the refinery. The rumors have now been proven true, [...]

Good morning ‘Waste not, want not’ has been my motto for a long time now. It is amazing how many experiences can become Travel Insider articles – it seems a shame to waste an interesting or learning experience so I try to write about them whenever possible.  Our feature article this week about in-car emergency kits arises from one such experience a week or so ago. Hopefully after reading the article you’ll be spared the [...]

I nearly died of exposure a week or so back. Well, okay, so I’m exaggerating somewhat.  What happened was my car broke down and I had to park it perilously close to fast traffic zipping by.  The car’s problem was a failed alternator, which resulted in a dead battery and subsequent engine failure, so I couldn’t even turn on the emergency hazard flashing lights to hopefully help make the car more obvious and to encourage [...]

While the TSA continues to blindside itself by overlooking enormous vulnerabilities in airport and aviation security, and while it seeks to expand its role to stopping ordinary cars driving on ordinary highways for random searches (goodbye, Fourth Amendment rights), it hasn’t lost sight of its prime mission :  The ludicrous hassling of  ordinary Americans wishing to fly; people who are 100% obviously not any threat of any sort at all. Look at these appalling examples [...]