Picture of the Day

(from the always-inspiring My Confined Space)

Wordle cloud

Wordle is a fun online toy that makes pretty-looking tag clouds of whatever you fancy. I tried squirting the whole manuscript of my book in but of course the words that got the most action were rather dull conjunctions that tend to appear a lot in any long English document. These are a shade better, if not absolutely 'true' -

The world's most expensive flight simulator! Try it today!

I know I should be running stories about more varied topics than just the stupidity of airlines, but really - they keep doing funny stuff.

OK, funny stuff where somebody dies, but still. Funny stuff.

Budget airlines do the funniest things - #69: The phone sex line

Here's our on-the spot correspondent Barbara in Michigan

Did you know that Spirit Airlines is now charging their customers for making a seat reservation — middle seats are $5, Aisle and Window seats are $10 and the "exit row seats" are $15. I was shocked with this change. I didn't make a seat reservation because I already paid the airfare for the ticket, which entitles me to a seat. I know the gas prices are very high, however, this was too little information, not written int he small print (I checked) and only identified when you selected your seat. I tried to call customer service, but was connected to someone in the Far East (they didn't identify the country they were calling from) and their English was so poor I could not understand the person I was trying to communicate with...When I mentioned I lived in Michigan, I was repeatedly asked, "Where, where do you live?"

Then, when, I asked for a "customer service" number in the US and the number I was given connected me to a "pornographic" phone service — I was more than startled!

Seriously - can I get a ROFL?

We've all done it, haven't we?

Fallen asleep while flying a packed airliner and just gone past our stop.

Haven't you? Well these guys did. If you must fly somewhere this Summer, ignoring the irreversible damage that you're doing to the environment, your finances and your sanity, then just make sure you make plenty of noise while you're airborne.

After all, it seems to happen a lot.

Quite a lot

It's not that surprising, when you think about it.

And if the price of keeping the pilot awake is to be Tasered by an overzealous Sky Marshal, then so be it.

And there was I thinking I was the only person that didn't like holidays

The chap (or, equally, it could be a lady) that runs Cruise Bruise hates 'em. Admittedly, he (or she) has a narrower focus, saving all his (or her) disapprobation for ocean cruises. The Cruise Bruise website (see how I avoided the gender pronoun there? Sweet eh?) features a long..surprisingly long..list of people lost on diving expeditions, getting drunk and falling off boats, passengers stranded after liners sink, and a few more people getting drunk and falling off boats.

There's also a hefty collection of pederasts working at Disneyland and assorted terrorist plot rumours. If you were an unusually parsimonious individual, perhaps hoping to persuade a feckless spouse not to squander a four-figure sum on a Caribbean boat ride, the site is your cast-iron guarantee of a nice Summer at home in the shed instead.

Picture of the Day

Austin, Texas: Come for the weather, stay for the HUGE FLOCKS OF TERRIFYING BATS