Skip to Content

Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.

Map of the world

Libby Zay

-

Architects Give Sneek Peak Of Post-Sandy Beaches In New York

Images courtesy Garrison Architects
Seven months after Hurricane Sandy ravaged New York City-area beaches, construction will begin on replacement pavilions for those that were destroyed in the storm. Here's a peek at what destinations like Rockaway Beach and Coney Island will look like, courtesy of Garrison Architects, the firm that was asked to create these modular pavilions.

Structures include bathrooms for the public, stands for lifeguards and offices for beach staff, all of which sit on concrete stilts in order to meet standards put in place by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). According to architecture blog Architizer, the materials used to produce the pavilions, like galvanized steel frames, will ensure the structures resist severe weather in the future. The pavilions also have double-ventilated roofs with solar panels on top to save on energy consumption.

According to the architects, the pavilions will be built in Pennsylvania and then transferred via flatbed trucks to New York, where cranes will set them on pile foundations. Ramps and stairs will connect the structures to each other and provide access to the beaches and boardwalks. The new facilities should be put in place just in time for summer.

Check out even more images after the jump.

Air India Pilot Locked Out Of Cockpit After Bathroom Break

allenthepostman, Flickr
In what would otherwise make for a great comedy sketch, an Air India captain took a bathroom break during a flight Tuesday night and returned to find a jammed cockpit door. But according to a report by USA Today, this was no laughing matter: after all efforts failed to open the door - even from the inside - the co-pilot landed the plane at the nearest airport, where ground maintenance staff fixed the problem. The plane then resumed its flight, which was making its way from New Delhi to Bangalore.

This is the second strange cockpit incident that's happened with Air India recently; earlier this month, pilots allowed flight attendants to sit in their chairs while they napped, and one of the attendants accidently disengaged the plane's autopilot function. In both instances, no passengers were injured.

Two Pilots Fired After Brazilian Pop Star Takes Captain's Seat Mid-Flight

Latino / Instagram (Courtesy The Aviation Herald)
A Brazilian pop star who calls himself Latino has put TAM Airlines in the hot seat after he was allegedly invited to sit in the captain's chair during a cross-country flight from Recife to Rio de Janeiro. Pictures of the singer in the cockpit of an Airbus A320-200 were circulated on Instagram and posted to the musician's website the day after the incident, but were later removed.

According to an incident report on The Aviation Herald, autopilot was on and the first officer was in his seat when Latino climbed into the captain's chair. After a few pictures were snapped, the captain took back his seat and the aircraft continued for a safe landing in Rio.

The news outlet reports the airline initially claimed the photos were taken while the plane was on the ground, but later admitted the aircraft was in-flight, evidenced by engine instruments and navigation displays in the background of the photos. Both pilots have been fired as a result of the occurrence, and Brazil's Agência Nacional de Aviação Civi - the country's equivalent to the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States - has opened an investigation.

Forbidden America: Cold War-Era Map Shows No-Go Zones For Soviet Tourists

Image courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center
If you think security is tight now, imagine what it was like for Soviet tourists who came to the United States during the Cold War. Although a select few private Soviet citizens were granted permission to visit the Land of the Free in the 1950s, the U.S. government was very specific about the places these tourists could and could not visit. A map that surfaced on Slate's new history blog, The Vault, details those forbidden places, which are shaded in green above.

The U.S. barred the admission of all Communists in 1952. According to Slate, tourists had to produce a detailed itinerary and get it approved before obtaining a visa to visit the U.S. Most ports and coastlines were off-limits to these travelers, as well as anywhere near weapons facilities or industrial centers. It seems these restrictions mirrored Soviet constraints on American travel to the USSR after World War II, with the only exceptions being journalists and government officials. These travel restrictions stayed in place until the Kennedy administration lifted them in 1962 as a symbol of the openness of American society.

[via BoingBoing]

Feminists Protest Barbie 'Dreamhouse' In Berlin

Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Barbie's Eurotrip hit a roadblock at its first stop in Germany, where an activist group caused quite a production at the opening of a touring Barbie "Dreamhouse." CNN is reporting a group of left-wing feminists, Femen, protested the opening of a 27,000-square-foot pink mansion earlier today in Berlin, arguing the attraction puts the sexism and shallow materialism they believe Barbie symbolizes on display.

Above is a picture of one of the bare-breasted protesters in front of the Dreamhouse. An inscription across her torso reads "Life in Plastic is Not Fantastic," and - in case you can't tell - she's holding up a burning cross with a charred Barbie doll attached to it. Protesters were arrested, but the movement led to an "Occupy Barbie Dreamhouse" page on Facebook, which already has thousands of "likes."

Located off the shopping district of Alexanderplatz, the life-sized mansion is full of Barbie-related fashions, furniture and accessories. It will be open to the public until August 25, at which point it's slotted to move on to other cities throughout Europe. A Dreamhouse also opened inside a Florida shopping mall last week.

Six Flags Texas Debuts Record-Breaking Hybrid Coaster (VIDEO)

Coaster enthusiasts, get ready to roll. Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio is introducing a new coaster with a first-of-its-kind looping zero-gravity barrel roll on a hybrid coaster. The new coaster, dubbed the Iron Rattler, will also feature the world's tallest and steepest drop, an 81-degree fall from a height of 180-feet. The coaster is fast, too; it tops out at 70 miles per hour as it snakes through four over banked turns and eventually flips riders upside down.

Here's a summary of the record-breaking stats, according to Six Flags Fiesta Texas:
  • A 180-foot lift hill makes it the tallest hybrid coaster in the world.
  • An 81-degree drop makes it the steepest hybrid coaster in the world.
  • A top speed of 70 mph makes it the fastest hybrid coaster in the world.
  • A zero-gravity barrel roll makes it the first hybrid coaster in the world to flip completely upside down.

Season pass holders will get a sneak peek at the Iron Rattler on Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19, and then the coaster will be available for public rides on Saturday, May 25.

Bulldozers Destroy Maya Ruin In Belize

Maya Ruin Destroyed in BelizeA Maya ceremonial center that has stood in northern Belize for approximately 2,300 years was destroyed when construction crews chipped away at it with backhoes and bulldozers to extract rock for a road-building project, Associated Press is reporting.

The news outlet detailed how construction crews demolished parts of a pyramid in the Nohmul complex, the most important Maya site in northern Belize, near the border with Mexico. There are 81 structures in the complex, but the destroyed pyramid was the ceremonial center, as well as the namesake structure for the complex. Now the once large structure has been whittled down to its core, and the limestone that was extracted will be used for gravel roads in a nearby village.

Although the land the pyramid sits on is privately owned, laws in Belize maintain any pre-Hispanic ruins are under government protection. According to the Associated Press, police said they are conducting an investigation and criminal charges are possible.

Video Of The Day: Modern Day 'The Motorcycle Diaries'


Before beginning his doctorate in biomedical sciences, "Alex the Adventure Biker" took a break to realize his lifelong dream: to ride a motorcycle through the Americas. Over the course of nearly a year and a half, he rode his bike through 22 countries as he made his way from El Paso, Texas, to Argentina and then back up through Brazil and all the way to Alaska - a journey of more than 82,000 miles.

"In short I drove solo half way around the world, through interstates, highways, dirt roads, no roads, mud, rivers, through hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, rain, hail, sun shine, snow, ice roads you name it and I made it back," the adventurous biker wrote on his website. Ride along and check out the varied landscape as he saw it (and some disco dancing, too) in the video above, which was created from more than 600 hours of footage.

An Airplane Is Born: Airbus A350 Shows Off Paint Job, Ready For Test Flights



The first flyable Airbus A350 emerged from a hangar in southwestern France earlier today, showing off a freshly painted livery stamped with the Airbus logo. But the significance of this morning's roll out goes beyond just a few layers of paint; according to Airbus, the plane has passed a number of milestones, including flight-test-instrument (FTI) verification, and should be ready for its maiden flight this summer.

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the manufacturer hopes to bring the wide-body aircraft into commercial service by the end of 2014. The model has been built to rival Boeing's popular 777 model as well as the 787 "Dreamliner," which has come under fire recently due to overheating concerns on the aircraft's lithium-ion batteries.

[Photo credit: P. Pigeyre (Courtesy Airbus)]

Pilot's New Book Argues 'Everything You Know About Air Travel is Wrong'


From white-knuckled first-time flyers to seasoned business travelers, anyone looking for a behind-the-scenes look at air travel should pick up pilot and travel columnist Patrick Smith's new book. To compose "Cockpit Confidential: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel: Questions, Answers, and Reflections," Smith pulled (and updated) content from his former Salon column and AskThePilot.com to give a comprehensive look at the often misunderstood airline industry.

Here's an excerpt from the book's introduction:

More than ever, air travel is a focus of curiosity, intrigue, anxiety, and anger. In the chapters that follow I will do my best to provide answers for the curious, reassurance for the anxious, and unexpected facts for the deceived.

It won't be easy, and I begin with a simple premise: everything you think you know about flying is wrong. That's an exaggeration, I hope, but not an outrageous starting point in light of what I'm up against. Commercial aviation is a breeding ground for bad information, and the extent to which different myths, fallacies, and conspiracy theories have become embedded in the prevailing wisdom is startling. Even the savviest frequent flyers are prone to misconstruing much of what actually goes on.

Gadling Features

Categories

Become our Fan on Facebook!

Featured Galleries (view all)

La Convención: A Festival Of 'New Circus' In Buenos Aires
The S. Pellegrino Cooking Cup
Disappear From The Map On These Independent Islands
Moynaq, Uzbekistan
Dallol, Ethiopia
Svalbard: The World's Northernmost Inhabited Place
The National Bonsai and Penjing Museum
10 Islands To Visit Next
Revere Hotel Boston Common

Our Writers

Grant Martin

Editor-in-chief

RSS Feed

Don George

Features Editor

RSS Feed

View more Writers

Find Your Hotel

City name or airport
POWERED BY
City name or airport
City name or airport
POWERED BY
City name or airport
City name or airport
POWERED BY
City name or airport code
If different
POWERED BY
POWERED BY