Category: Up in the Air

Movie Night: An American Tragedy

"Basically, amoral social climber from poor background seduces poor factory girl, gets her pregnant, wants to marry a rich socialite and so kills poor factory girl by smashing her in the head with his tennis racket and dumping her body in a lake, fakes a canoe accident, trips self up by being basically an idiot, dies in electric chair after mercy is refused by Governor Charles Evans Hughes."

Squeezed to Death

"On every airline flight, a crew member talks to passengers in the exit rows to see whether they can, as Federal Aviation Administration regulations specify, “pass expeditiously through the emergency exit” if needed. Given how passengers have grown in inverse proportion to the spaciousness of airliner seats, anything like “expeditious” evacuation of an entire airliner seems doubtful."

BA223 Arrives

Welcome to KBNA, 787-8 BA223, arriving on 20R after an 8 hour, 56 minute flight from LHR. British Airways began five-times-a-week, nonstop service between...

Snow in Dixie

Snowing to beat the band in Music City and they’re as panicked as if General George Thomas and his Yankees was a-comin’ agin. Winter...

Shuttling Between Failures

The story is sordid and long, but the details were made clear by Matt Viser's excellent Globe piece. To wit: Lorenzo sold the Donald the Eastern Shuttle for an overvalued $365 million (if DT had created a brand-new shuttle from the ground up with brand-new planes, not old worn-out 727s, estimates were that he could have done it for $300 million.) Of course, the money was all borrowed. It was 1989; Eastern (and Continental) were already almost dead from Lorenzo's sledgehammer and the economy was tanking. Pan Am 103 was bombed, the first Gulf War was about to begin. It was incredibly bad judgement to overpay a bunch of other peoples' money for something that was guaranteed to tank.

Almost Home

I knew I was close to home when I encountered a truck carrying Brad Paisley's "Life Amplified" Tour headed for Music City. Posted by...

Seeing Things

Frank didn't tell me he's running for governor of Missouri. I might be like Bill Clinton, First Gentleman of Missouri! (I think this road...

Pokemon Going

I found four Pokemons. What'll I get for 'em? They're not Pokemons? No? Shoot. Posted by Steve Pollock on Sunday, August 7, 2016

Choo Choo

Finally, some excitement! A train! (US 36 in northern Missouri is great and immensely less stressful thab the hellish I70 bryween KC and Stl…...

Off I Go

Off I go! Road trip to Falls City, NE, to speak in honor of victims of Braniff flight 250, crashed 50 years ago this...

Trees, Part Deaux

Trees, Part Deaux (cont'd) … but it fell onto the neighbors' yard, barely missing their porch and stuff. Its carcass… Posted by Steve Pollock...

Trees, Part Une

Trees, Part Une: "I think that I shall never see "A nasty devil like a tree. "They always fall over on me, "Leaving a…...

Sleepy Easter

On a rainy, cool, early Spring, Easter Sunday afternoon, the absolute best thing to do is to #BeLikeTheGoose and sleep. Posted by Steve Pollock...

Smithville?

Is it Smithville? McMinnville throughthat very dirty windshield? Nooooooo … Posted by Steve Pollock on Saturday, March 26, 2016

We Are Minnesota.

Coats? Coats?! 20 degrees outside and snowing, eh? We don't need no stinkin' coats. We. Are. MINNESOTA!!(Two movie references there, sorry.) Posted by Steve...

Wednesday

This pic pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the weather this week. It actually got hotter after I took this...