Wanted in North Manchester, England: Serial bottom-pincher. A surveillance camera caught the man in action, loitering in the Tib Street area between 7 and 8 a.m. Police have asked that if anyone should recognize the suspect to please get in touch. No word on whether or not he is after a specific type of bottom.

A Turkish or Greek-looking man has grabbed the behinds of at least 19 girls and women between the ages of 13 and 43 over the past 12 months in the town's center. The suspect, in his late 20s or early 30s, usually approaches his victims from behind and tries to sexually assault them by grabbing their bottoms. While the incidents have not increased in severity, the man has put his victims in extremely uncomfortable situations, police said.

Here is a message for you, serial bottom pincher: Move your operation to New York City. There are plenty of women there who would kill to get their butts pinched occasionally. (Don't tell anyone I told you to do it.)

[via APP]

This morning, when there was one woman (me) in one car (a Toyota Corolla) going along 3 streets in 5 minutes on my way to teach a class, I heard about these 3 guys who are in a car traveling this week to all 48 states in the continental U.S. They're not traveling through each state, but are at least crossing borders to say they've been in each one.

One of the guys, Joshua Keeler, was being interviewed on the radio about the trip. Originally, years ago, this was going to be his father's trip. His dad, James, had mapped out the journey, but James' mother's death kept him from going. Joshua got hold of the maps and corralled his two friends Joey Stocking and Adam Gatherum to go along with him on this journey they are calling, "The Great American Road Trip." There is an attempt to break the Guinness record for a similar trip, although, Guinness no longer keeps such records for road safety sake.

April Fool's Day, 2007, I wrote a post on Linfen, China. Although it was written as a joke, the premise is true. Linfen is a royal mess. Its mighty pollution problem has earned it the number 2 spot on the recent "Hells on Earth" list. The air quality in Linfen is so horrific that there is a perpetual feeling of dusk in this coal dust laden city.

Here's the rest of the ten places that have a hellish quality. Perhaps you know of others that should have made the cut.

Here's a way to win a trip to Europe for two. Here's one catch. You have to either travel to Europe and shoot a video of the experience--or have been there before and have a video on hand, or there's no hope for you. The European Travel Commission's, "You and Europe" contest is one where travelers submit video footage of their European trip to www.visiteurope.com. There it can be viewed by the public and the judges.

If you're heading to Europe this summer, you have time. The deadline isn't until September 30. After that the judges will decide who wins. According to the Web site, videos can be "funny, poignant, romantic, serious, or silly--capture an aspect of the culture--whatever captures your imagination."

Videos need to be no longer than three minutes. As a bit of advice, based on "an aspect of the culture," I wouldn't make this a Borat-style film where your interactions are the focal point. The Web site is pushing Europe to travelers. As darling and stunning as you are, you're not it.

To give you tips and ideas, there is a how-to video on making a travel video from CompulsiveTraveler that is geared towards the contest. You can also view what others have submitted for a shot of inspiration.

Hint: These are good. Make yours better.

L-A-H-O-M-A , Oklahoma! Yow!

The fact that the song Oklahoma is playing in my head at this moment is John Ur's fault. Of course, I do still know a song medley of the musical by heart thanks to high school choir days, but over at Intelligent Travel, John Ur's mention of the lyrics to "Oklahoma" in his post about movies filmed in this state, put me in a red gingham dress and cowboy boots looking for a surrey with fringe on the top.

When I read Ur's post, I flashed back to my own Oklahoma experience sitting in the audience of an outdoor production of "Oklahoma!" This outdoor theater in Tulsa uses real horses and wagon and a building was set on fire. At least that's what I remember. Discoveryland's season runs June 6--August 16, so you still have time to plan your trip here.

This is a professional production with crowd pleasing appeal. It's also kid-friendly. I only went to the main production, but you can add a western-style dinner and before show entertainment.

"Why is it so hard to admit you like the good 'ole US of A?" asks Ben Groundwater, resident Backpacker Blogger at the Sydney Morning Herald.

As a non-American who spends a lot of time in the US, I wept with joy when I read his latest blog "The most underrated country in the world". OK, I didn't weep but I did enjoy it tremendously.

He gets into analyzing the American psyche, which--let's be honest here--has been the full-time job of many a backpacker worldwide. From my own modest experience psychoanalyzing the American "it", I advise against it. Unless of course you take pleasure in pissing people off. (Gadling is hiring, by the way)

Anyway, back to Ben. He shares his own observations about America: "I first touched down in the US as a kid, a time when it's impossible to hate the place....As you grow up, however, the place becomes harder and harder to love....My long-time travel buddy, the Hilton Hippy, has got the shits with the Yanks. Never going back there, he says. Doesn't want to be fingerprinted by some half-witted goon in immigration. Doesn't want to throw his tourist dollars into a place run by a glorified county sheriff....But let's cut to the biggest perceived problem with the US: the people.....They're meant to be loud-mouthed, rude, arrogant, and ridiculously insular."

Hold on here, be patient. This is where Ben goes positive on us. "Thing is, the Seppos get a bad wrap because of their behaviour when you meet them overseas, but at home, they're generous to the point of being overbearing. I've been driven across state lines by people I barely know, been offered directions by New Yorkers before I've even had a chance to pull out a map, had people beg me to come visit so they can show me their home town. Borat made those college kids look pretty damn stupid when he hitched a lift with them in the movie, but have a think about what was actually happening. Here was a bunch of kids heading off on holidays, picking up what was, to their minds at least, a middle-aged Kazakhstani hitchhiker, sharing their precious stash of beer with him and trading stories. Find me any Australians who would do that."

He's got a point there. Americans are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. (As a non-American I can actually say that and not sound like a totally clueless Yankee flag-waver.)

(Read Ben's entire The most underrated country in the world" blog here)

Location: Delhi, the city with a history that dates back to 1650 A.D. This is where the Mughal Empire once reigned supreme leaving stunning buildings in its wake, and the British tried to recreate into an organized place of roundabouts and more stunning buildings. Common to every part of the city is the sacred cow that wanders throughout. Food truths: milk crosses cultural boundaries, and there's nothing quite like a perfect masala.

Episode Rating: 4 Sheep Testicles (out of 4) using Aaron's system, but trade sheep for goat.

Summary: Oh, rapture! Joy! I thought I missed food in Taiwan until I saw Andrew Zimmern eat his way through Delhi. With the abundance of food options and places to eat, Zimmern and his crew did an admirable job honing in on highlights of the gastronomic variety. If one thinks that Indian food is nothing but yellow curry powder, this episode dispelled that. Another dispelled myth is Delhi belly. I never had it in two years that I recall. If I had it, I'd remember.

What do Jaunted.com and HotelChatter.com now have in common? Both of these blogs have been snapped up by CondéNet, the publisher of Concierge.com. SFO*Media, the previous publisher of these two travel blogs is now under the CondéNet umbrella.

Does this mean that Jaunted.com or HotelChatter.com will look different? Will they be different? Not necessarily. Both will continue in their blogging world ways with Jaunted honing in on popular culture travel and HotelChatter continuing to provide the latest news bits and tips about hotels and lodging around the world. Add Concierge's focus on upscale, trendy travel to the other two, and that's a powerful travel trio.

What does this mean for me, you might wonder? CondéNet now has more reach when it comes to marketing and attracting big money advertising. There will be more coordination between the three sites, so you might notice crossover information. It also says that the media world is recognizing that the people who are reached by travel blogs are mighty in numbers, are passionate about travel, and they have some money to spend. These are forces to tap into.

Remember the guy who auctioned off the service of sending your friends and family bizarre postcards from a far-off location, each peppered with enough personal information to really freak them out? We covered the story back in December of '07.

The winning bidder ended up paying $415, and they gave permission for Bryan Sack -- the guy behind the idea -- to post them on his website. Seven post cards were sent from locations around Poland and Berlin. Here are a few choice lines:

• "I gotta tell ya, the radio here leaves a lot to be desired. It's like most of their music came from a flea market in Yonkers."
• "If you send me an MP3 of you doing a Jackson 5 cover, there's a good chance I can make you a chart-topper."
• "A lot of the food here is delicious, but it operates under the presumption that I will be plowing a large field or operating a grain harvester."

Can you imagine randomly getting these from someone you don't know? I'd love to here a follow-up from the winning bidder and see how the recipient reacted.

Check out all the postcards here.

(Via Boing Boing)

American Airlines has launched a new blog, titled "AA Conversations." It went up on Friday, April 11 -- the end of one of the worst weeks in recent memory for the world's (formerly) largest airline, which saw it cancel more than 3,000 flights serviced by its MD-80 fleet. The cancellations left tens of thousands of passengers stranded in major hubs across the country.

Not surprisingly, the first post is an apology for the week from hell, along with some helpful links to pages to seek refunds for canceled flights. The company reported that things were back to normal as of this past Sunday, and the blog's latest post is on the company's reaction (they say 'position') concerning the recent Delta/Northwest merger, which really doesn't say anything at all.

Yesterday I wrote a post reporting that a bunch of AA pilots have launched their own Web site aimed at giving upset AA travelers a forum to air their complaints about the airline's service.

No word yet on whether the AA blog is planning to go toe-to-toe with the pilots' site.