I’ll admit that I thought this was a little crazy at first. However, once the giddy newness of watching someone find a new way to zoom down a mountain wears off, I began to see honest potential in those plastic shoes. Grass skiing could be as cool as downhill skateboarding, or the undeniably ballsy street luge.

Some of the videos I found on youtube are actually quite a testament to the possibilities of this nascent sport. People can get going pretty fast and still actually turn.

I’m glad to see the trend of moving cold weather sports into warmer seasons continues. Roller blading is undeniably cool. Street luge is fun to watch…mostly because of those occasional puffs of hay that signal a whipeout. Now, we can even watch grass skiing.

East of flagstaff, Arizona there is a giant hole in the ground that is totally worth a visit. It was created by either a meteor impact 50,000 years ago or a really big gopher. Whatever future studies conclude actually caused it, it is quite impressive.

If you are struggling get your mind around the idea that really big rocks sometimes crash into the earth at over 28,000 miles per hour, this is a good crater to visit. The dry climate of the region allows one to see the whole crater. Erosion hasn’t changed all that much since those heady days when giant ground sloths roamed the area. This crater also doesn’t have a forest to block your view of the destruction fast moving rocks can wreak.

Here, there is just a 4,000 foot wide hole.

Creative Commons picture by Marcin Wichary.

Creative Commons picture by Beige Alert.

Now that we have established how cheap airfare has become (My God!), we can talk about how you can get some of that sweet sweet honey. Plane tickets are not like most other services. When the normal laws of economics get within range of the airline’s reason-distorting glare, they ball up in fear.

Here are three quick tips to help you navigate your next airfare purchase. After all, tickets are cheap (My God!).

1) Watch for deals

Here is where your flexibility and willingness to go anywhere that is both cool and not dangerous can save you some serious bank. Though airfare is “My God!” cheap, it isn’t cheap everywhere all the time.

For example check out this list of deals. Right now you can buy a round trip ticket from New York to London for $90 (My God!). See, I only know that because of that deal section. I also know that it is a little misleading because fees and taxes will add hundreds of dollars. However, it is still cheap.

2) Time your purchase right

Much like eating a peach, there is a fine art to biting into airfare at just the right time. If you do it too early you can end up with an overly crunch somewhat tasteless fare. However, if you are too patient and wait too long you will get a somewhat spoiled kind of revolting fare. The goal is to buy your ticket at just the right time. Right after the airlines start panicking about not selling enough tickets yet before the last minute buyers start panicking about not having tickets.

In all honesty, I am really bad at this art. In response, I often refer to the number-based farecast.com approach. They try to help you figure out the best time to buy. Luckily, they provide this service even if you don’t buy through them.

3) Consider the quirks of the airlines

In what sort of strange world is it cheaper to buy more? I’m not talking in a salesman-ese “cost per unit” sense either. I’m talking absolutely cheaper. Airlines.

Sometimes buying the round trip is cheaper than the one way, even if you only want to go one way. Unfortunately, airlines can also raise the price of tickets to certain cities if they see a rise in search traffic. Yup, this is what airlines can do to reasonable economics.

There are several of these quirks and paying any significant amount of attention to them is probably too paranoid. However, I swear I have seem airline prices go up hundreds of dollars when I search for a specific destination and date on several different sites. Plus, worrying about this matches my tinfoil hat perfectly.

Creative Commons picture by Chrispitality.

Tradition says that if you toss a coin in the Trevi fountain you will one day return to Rome. This tradition, coupled with an apparently widespread desire to return to Rome, has resulted in so many coins being tossed into the fountain that the city must regularly vacuum them out. As you might expect, the Trevi fountain also seems to be one of the cleanest and best cared for sights in Rome.

The Trevi fountain could be an excellent example of group financing for ancient monument preservation. Many of the great Roman monuments hark back to the beginning of western civilization. The right mix of cultural importance and a widespread superstition that your fortunes will improve if money is left may be able to preserve these monuments for another two thousand years.

So…I hear that those who leave money under the railing of the main path in the Roman Forum will be “prosperous in wealth.” You know, the path in the Forum with railing on either side that is meandered by tourists looking up at the monuments around them every year.

Oh yeah, and if you pick up the money others leave you will be cursed with bad fortune until you replace it (unless you are collecting the money to help preserve the forum).

Here are four super-tough bags that one could take around the world.

Concealed Holster Attache or Laptop Case

I love the duality here. You could use it as a shield when under fire and to carry a weapon in secret…or you could carry your laptop.

This little beauty is said to be able to withstand sub-machine gun fire and provide the highest blunt trauma protection available with soft body armor. This is a class III-A protection shield and can perfectly fit your toothbrush, shaver, and a change of clothes.

A Pelican Case

These cases are focused on protecting things from threats like three story drops and submersion. Pelican says their cases are extremely sturdy, water proof, and even airtight. So sturdy in fact that they can handle being run over by a truck or submerged for two hours without any problem.

I just wonder…will it blend?

A Pacsafe Bag

In order to foil pickpockets and other street theifs pacsafe has woven steel cables into their bags. There are some in the strap so that it can not be easily cut off you by a passing thief. There are even some cables in the fabric itself to prevent someone from slashing the bottom of the bag and letting things fall out.

But perhaps the most important features counter the sneakier criminals. With carefully placed zippers, many with locking ability, the sticky fingered will probably skip this bag.

I actually have and use one of pacsafes smaller bags and enjoy it’s durability and well placed zippers.

A Metal Laptop Case

Few things will raise more eyebrows than a shinny metal briefcase that is handcuffed to you. Combined with a few gigantic bodyguards I know of few flashier ways to securely transport things.

Sure, because it gets more attention than the other methods it may not be nearly as secure as the other bags mentioned above. However, what is really more important respect or security?

Creative Commons picture by twodolla.

The Power of Such Knowledge

Find the shortest security line

The TSA website estimates the wait time for each terminal and section of gates. Getting separate estimates for the security line at the A gates and the one at the B gates is more valuable than one might at first think.

In most airports the different gate sections are connected by walkways. Assisted by TSA’s estimate of wait time you can see if you would be better off going through the C gate security checkpoint and then walking around to the A Gates. This could give you an extra half hour to spend with a cinnabun rather than standing around in the security line.

Arrive at the airport just in time

If you don’t like sitting around at the airport, you can time your arrival so there is just enough time to make it through security and catch your flight.

Sure, this significantly increases your risk of something going wrong and missing the flight. However, sometimes that is a risk worth taking.

Possible flaws in the website

Holidays

This website doesn’t seem to compensate for holidays and other times of heavy air traffic. Which, if correct, seems like a big flaw. When the security lines are most likely to cause a problem, this website will be least suited to help you avoid such problems.

Just the line

Aside from the line there is also the time you spend frantically taking of your belt, shoes, and unpacking your computer. However, only the time you spend in the line seems to be included in the website.

Live information

Granted, this website is designed to help people estimate what their wait will be like. However, the website doesn’t seem to display what the wait is now. This live information could be both interesting and useful (especially on holidays).

Oh the potential of this information

The TSA has made a valuable step in the right direction. However, more timely data could really help. Rather than just estimates, telling people what the wait is like right now could have many uses.

If posted in the airport, live information could also help decrease overall wait time by encouraging people to spread out among the different security checkpoints.

Creative Commons picture by wili_hybrid.

The FAA sort of does this too

The FAA also has a page that displays similar information. The FAA’s site shows how far behind airplanes are running at various airports. Such information allows you to see how long you may have to wait on an airplane before it takes off.

Luckily the FAA seems to post much more current information than the TSA.

Creative Commons picture by jurvetson.

This is incredibly gutsy. No matter how many times the math is carefully worked out on this one, only the most daring will actually attempt this. These are really really big rockets.

In fact, I am hard pressed to come up with a more gutsy action. Perhaps removing your own soon to explode appendix without anesthetic…but, that would usually fall into the “just crazy” category.

For those who would like to watch the launch of a humongous rocket that has people tied to it, the space shuttle discovery is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on February 12th.

As gutsy and amazing as this action is, and as terrifyingly powerful as those rockets are, there are other reasons to find this interesting. Watching a hurricane form from above (space) can be really helpful in predicting hurricanes in general. We could even say that much of our present weather predictions (and thus many farming decisions) are dependent upon people having done this very gutsy action. Oh yeah, GPS, Satellite Television, and Google maps are also dependent upon such gigantic rockets and the people who have tied themselves to them.

The technique of using a short ladder with a hook on the end to climb a tall building was once an important way for firefighters to avoid dangerously damaged staircases. A skilled firefighter could quickly hook the ladder on a window sill above him, climb up the ladder, then sit in that window while repeating the process. Theoretically this allowed a firefighter to get to any story of a burning building without much equipment.

As cool as this technique is, the function it provided firefighters has simply been replaced by other methods in North America. However, in eastern Europe speed hook ladder climbing has started to slide from “professional practice” to “sport.” If you are not yet convinced of the coolness of this sport, a 30 second video of a contestant climbing a building facade at amazing speeds will probably change your mind. I love seeing people do things that I thought were impossible, the outfits are pretty cool to.

Imagine retracing the path of pepper across the earth.

Though pepper now huddles unpretentiously on the table, it has seen the world. It has felt the monsoons of India and the dusts of Egypt. It has shaken empires and to retrace it’s path through history would be a true adventure.

1) Goa, India

This trip could start on the south western coast of India, in black pepper’s native land. Here your bare feet could feel the cool sand in the blue light of dawn. You could wander the spice markets and smell the tangy symphony of every spice at once. You could see the monuments built by the many who conquered parts of this coast to control black pepper. Then you could fall asleep swinging inside a hammock in the sticky red afternoon, listening to the Arabian sea.

2) Alexandria, Egypt

The next stop should be Egypt. From here the roman empire’s fleet of 120 ships would annually depart for the coast of India to retrieve black pepper. In Alexandria you could hear the call to prayer echo through narrow streets. Your teeth could crunch through the warm outer layer of round Falafel balls. You could see the overwhelming scale of things ancient.

3) Venice, Italy

Next to the city of water and light. Through the ports of this city pepper would flow to the rest of Europe and wealth would flow back. Here you could stroll the massive farmers markets of a city without farms. You could float past parties in the moonlight and hear harmonic voices sing at sunset. You could feel a cacophony of church bells wash over the city.

Creative Commons picture by i_yudai.

4) Lisbon, Portugal

Finally this journey would go to Lisbon. Here you could stroll past the golden limestone facade of Jeronimos Monastery, built to honor Vasco de Gama’s courageous new route to India’s spices. You could stand under the vaulted ceilings of the powerful Belem Tower and peak past the canons to the blue Atlantic. In the calm of mid-afternoon you could relax under the gently fluttering greens and reds of a bougainvillea. Here you could discover the restrained zing of black pepper, waiting for you.

You would never have guessed.

If you were some ancient explorer who happened across peppercorn, you would never guess that it could have such a profound impact on the world. Who would? Standing in the jungle next to your newly discovered plant it would be crazy to think that this small spice, with no noticeable pharmaceutical properties, could drive whole empires to war. But, it did.

Among the forces that have shaped the world, the desire for a certain type of pain is surely a strange one. Yet, the desire for the tang of peppercorn caused the Romans to send a fleet of 120 ships to the Malbar Coast of India…annually. Ramesses II was buried with some of it. Wars were fought, countries were conquered.

It was like the oil of ancient times. Something of such value that by producing it you ran the risk of having your country conquered to control it. the Indian town of Goa was once conquered by the Portuguese for the pepper trade. However, unlike many of the extreme sources of oil, Goa has palm trees, warm beaches, and magnificent ocean sunsets.

Today this has created one of the best vacation spots in the world. Not only is Goa a tropical paradise with sparkling beaches, it also has magnificent cuisine. Cuisine that combines Portuguese cooking, incredible access to a huge variety of spices, and a very long tradition of seafaring. Goa’s vindaloos, fish curries, and perfectly spiced potatoes alone are almost worth the trip.

Creative Commons picture by jmsuarez.