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Hotel: Room keys gone, soon key cards gone, too |
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How many of us are old enough to remember getting a real metal room key at the hotel front desk? We just had to put it in the slot, turn it and we were in the room.
Those days are gone in most hotels. Now we get those plastic things that look like credit cards. We drop them into the slot on the door, a little light goes on, we turn the handle and the room door opens. However, if we’ve put the plastic key card too close to our cell phone or some other magnetic item, the room door wouldn’t open. Then we had to go griping back to the front desk for a new one.
New advances may soon replace those troublesome key cards. Rumors are that developments are being made where smartphones and other personal electronic devices will open hotel room doors.
In the future, after your little gizmo has been individually activated when you check in at the hotel front desk, you can go key-less and card-less to open the hotel room door. Of course, that won’t guarantee that the room has been cleaned, or prevent you from seeing the unchecked-out occupant still in bed. |
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Morning Glory Pool, Yellowstone National Park WY |
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The distinctly brilliant displays of colors of the pool are because of bacteria that manage to survive in the often almost boiling hot water. In addition to admiring the colors, you may be lucky enough to be there when underground volcanic pressures cause the Morning Glory Pool to spout as a small geyser.
When you visit Yellowstone, be sure to bring your camera to get the amazing other-worldly colors and currents of the Morning Glory Pool, the big geysers and other great natural sights. |
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Cornwall, England: Beef pasty & chips |
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King Arthur and all the guys at the Round Table would've appreciated this delicious dinner of meat pie, salad and French fries |
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Philadelphia: Are you my mummy? |
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We don’t know if the exhibit will feature wrap music, but Mummies of the World are now on display at Philly’s Franklin Institute.
Maybe more appropriate for Halloween, the 45 ghoulish figures range from a child who died in ancient Peru six thousand years ago to a wealthy German alcoholic who is still perfectly pickled after nearly 400 years.
For those interested in such creepy statistics, exhibit explainations for how the bodies were preserved include natural conditions, as well as early skills at embalming. Included are demonstrations of state-of-the-art digital research and scanning methods of detecting mummy ages and causes of death.
Since people like to travel with their pets, some of the mummies are accompanied by preserved dogs, cats and monkeys. For more information about the exhibit and the Franklin Institute, go to www.fi.edu |
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How to pass the time when your flight is delayed |
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Chicago: Recent United Airlines computer breakdowns completely disrupted all of their weekend flights. O'Hare Airport and others were jammed with delayed passengers.
We’ve all had it happen to us, and have concluded there's not much you can do about flight delays. You can get angry, yell and stomp around. That will do no good at all, except raise your blood pressure.
Or, you can find ways to make the time pass. First, whenever you go to the airport for a flight, be sure you have a pull-down visor cap to reduce the lights. Look for a place on a terminal seat or against a wall for as much privacy as you can find. Then turn on your magic device.
1. Ebook: The electronic wonder can hold hundreds of titles, enough to keep you reading for days, including novels, histories, biographies, languages to learn and scads of other subjects.
2. Mini CD player: Clamp on your earphones and drift off to fantasy land. Play live radio, recorded music, dramas, novels, language learning and old radio programs.
3. Laptop/DVD player/video: Get the smallest, lightweight all-purpose iPod or other all-purpose device: This little gizmo can keep your mind/eyes/ears busy for hours with all kinds of work. Use the keyboard to send out Emails, write essays or outlines for next business campaigns.
If you use any of these little miracles, the hours will seem like minutes until your flight is finally scheduled to depart. |
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