How to Pack

“Next week, AirTran Airways and American Airlines will join Northwest, Delta, US Airways, United and Continental in requiring passengers to pay a fee if they can’t cram all their clothes, shoes, books, and hairdryers into one bag to check.”

How to Pack Everything You Own in One Bag

More:

“If it’s not on your list, it shouldn’t be in your bag,” Dyment tells NPR’s Michele Norris. “What happens with people is that they pack before their trip, and that packing activity consists mostly of talking to yourself and saying, ‘Well I might need this and I might need that and what if the queen invites me to dinner?’ And that’s death to light packing.”

That’s me all right, though I did have just one bag (plus a carry-on backpack) for my recent week-long trip to Virginia.

Running on Empty: Cars That Never Need Gas

The Sierra Club reports on an electric car “charged by solar panels on the roof of one’s house. They never need gas, and the power is free after the set-up cost.”

Dickey says the Rav4EV is the best car he’s ever owned. “My wife commutes in it 40 miles a day, five days a week. We drive it for our weekend outings and it does errands that are too far or too bulky for the bicycle. It has never been tuned up, and I’ve spent about $50 total on it for maintenance. My wife has not been to a gasoline station in seven years and 70,000 commute miles—not once!”

His home electricity is free, too. (Well, free after the cost of the solar installation, which is almost paid for.)

May 14th, definitely a workday

Today we acknowledge the birthdays

… of George Lucas. He’s 64. Lucas has twice received a writing Oscar nomination and a directing nomination for the same film (American Graffiti and Star Wars). He’s won none. He did get that Thalberg Award thingy though.

… of David Byrne. He’s 56. Byrne is an inductee in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Talking Heads. An excerpt:

Among the most adventuresome bands in rock history, the Talking Heads drew from funk, minimalism, and African and Brazilian music in promulgating a new sound that was both visionary and visceral. They were invariably challenging and inventive, using infectious rhythms as a form of sorcery to introduce their ever-expanding audience to exotic influences from abroad that they might otherwise have never heard. In so doing, they helped pave the way – along with the likes of Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno – for the “world music” phenomenon of the Eighties and beyond.

… of Cate Blanchett. She’s 39. Nominated for best actress twice and supporting actress three times, Ms. Blanchett won the supporting actress Oscar for playing an even more famous redhead, Kate Hepburn, in The Aviator.

… of Sofia Coppola. She’s 37. Ms. Coppola was nominated for three Oscars for Lost in Translation — best picture, best director and best original screenplay. She won for the writing.

Frank Sinatra died on this date in 1998. He probably died because it was also the date of the last Seinfeld episode and what was the point of going on.

Here’s Jay

• “And President Bush announced this week that he will go to Saudi Arabia and meet with King Abdullah. That’s got to be nerve-wracking for President Bush, huh? Being called to the carpet by the big boss.”

• “Jenna Bush and her husband, Henry Hager, are honeymooning in Europe right now. … And President Bush is nothing if not consistent. Like, he said, there’s no timetable for bringing them home.”

Jay Leno

Darth Vader Feels Blue

Stick with it until you laugh.

Via kottke.org :: home of fine hypertext products

Best line of the day, so far

“For those of you still not sure whether the gas tax holiday is actually a good idea or not, Bush is considering it, so that should clear things up”

FARK.com

Best line of the day about retiring

“I guess I am officially retired in a couple of weeks. At least I got some certificates to the Cold Stone Creamery.”

Tony Kornheiser, leaving The Washington Post after 29 years.

NewMexiKen always enjoyed Tony’s writing much more than his radio-TV stuff.

Google Now Maps Real Estate Listings

“Google Maps now makes it easy to check out real estate listings in a certain area: click on the “Show search options” link next to the Search Maps button, and choose “Real Estate” from the drop down. Your search will map homes for sale, with photos and prices.”

Lifehacker

Rain!

Albuquerque had measurable precipitation overnight — the first in five weeks. Nice to have the dust dampened down. Our spring winds have been strong, dust-filled and have lasted way too far into May.

I hate it when the clouds cover the mountains, though. Where’d my Sandias go?

Shakespeare

NewMexiKen read Bill Bryson’s Shakespeare: The World as Stage (Eminent Lives) last evening. The 199-page biography is well-paced, occasionally witty — though less so than Bryson’s usual work — and informative. He sticks pretty much to the life and times — and how little we actually know and can know about the Bard. There are quotations from the plays and sonnets, of course, but this is a biography, not comparative literature.

I liked it.

Best line of the day, so far

“[B]ut rather to go into that convention united as a party, ready to beat John McBush this fall.”

Rep. Nick Rahall, D-WVa

The Blues

A Democrat won a special election in Mississippi yesterday for the House seat in a district that went 62% for Bush in 2004.

It’s the third straight special election Democratic win of a formerly Republican seat..