Category Archives: Travel

Free to Use and Reuse

Valet: Print Your Own Vintage Images from the Library of Congress. “Download all this old school WPA artwork (legally!) for free.”

“You see, we just stumbled upon a vast archive of historic images digitally housed at the Library of Congress. The Library shares the images (available for download in multiple sizes) because the artwork is “either in the public domain, has no known copyright, or has been cleared by the copyright owner for public use.” What does that mean? We’re all free to print them and hang them in our place, at no charge.

There’s plenty to choose from, but we’re particularly drawn to the WPA posters. Between 1935 and 1943 the Work Projects Administration’s Federal Art Project printed over two million posters in 35,000 different designs to stir the public’s imagination for education, theater, health, safety and travel.”

I especially like the Travel Posters and the Work Projects Administration (WPA) Posters.

Link via Garret (dangerousmeta).

“Few people know more about the change of pace in travel than Bette”

The Washington Post: Meet the woman who’s spent 60 years making the skies a little friendlier. (Nov 25, 2017)

“It’s early on a Thursday morning and flight attendant Bette Nash has just strolled up to Gate 19 at Reagan National Airport, where American Airlines Flight 2160 bound for Boston is parked and preparing for boarding.

As she pauses at the counter to adjust her scarf, a 20-something guy looks up. He lets out a gasp.

“Oh, my God,“ he says excitedly. “Are you Bette Nash? Can I have your picture?“

This is what life is like when you are Nash, 81, who has been flying since Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the White House and a ticket for a flight cost $12.”

Southern Living: Virginia Woman Celebrates 60 Years of Service in the Skies—World’s Most Senior Flight Attendant. (Nov 10, 2017)

“For years now – decades, really- Nash has been a staple on the shuttle that zips back and forth between Washington, D.C. and Boston. […]
She flies the route several times a day and then drives home at the end of her shift. While the route doesn’t have the glamour of, say, a trip to Paris or London, the regular hours were important for Nash, because it meant that she could be home for her son. Nash a single mother and her child has special needs. “I have my handicap son. I wanted to be home every night. It wasn’t a choice for me,“ she told ABC.

Now, at 82 years of age, Nash may be the most senior flight attendant in the world. That hasn’t slowed her down much, though. She can still be seen working on the shuttle as it flies between Boston and D.C. She’s been on the route so long that she knows many of the passengers.”

CNN Business Traveler: Lessons from 60 years as a flight attendant. (YouTube, 4min, published on Dec 2, 2016)

Corresponding article: Meet Bette Nash: She might just be the world’s oldest serving flight attendant.

“[T]here are so many areas where you can get lost and not even realize it until you’re lost”

The New York Times Magazine: Tragically Lost in Joshua
Tree’s Wild Interior – Dark Zones.

“In June 2010, Bill Ewasko traveled alone from his home in suburban Atlanta to Joshua Tree National Park, where he planned to hike for several days. […]

Ewasko left a rough itinerary behind with his girlfriend, Mary Winston, featuring multiple destinations, both inside and outside the park. […]

The plan was that after he finished the hike, probably no later than 5 p.m., he would call Winston to check in, then grab dinner in nearby Pioneertown. But 5 p.m. rolled around, and Ewasko hadn’t called. Winston tried his cellphone several times, and it went directly to voice mail. She knew he might still be in a region of the park with limited cellular access, but the thought was hardly reassuring. As night fell on the West Coast with no word from Ewasko, Winston tried to call someone at the park, but by then Joshua Tree headquarters had closed for the day. Her only option was to wait.”

Link via MetaFilter.

I’ve been following the efforts of Tom Mahood as chronicled on his weblog Other Hand for years, ever since I read about the The Hunt for the Death Valley Germans.

“Here I am, brain the size of a planet and they ask me to take you down to the bridge.”

The Guardian: Don’t panic! The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is back. “It’s the biggest thing to happen to the universe since the Vogons blew up Earth. Our writer grabs a babelfish and goes behind the scenes as the space satire returns.”

“The original cast has been reunited to record a new radio series of the intergalactic comedy that, from small beginnings in 1978 on Radio 4, grew into a juggernaut that spawned a TV series, a Disney film, a much-loved series of books, several stage shows and even a video game.
[…]
The new series combines unpublished material, dug out of Adams’ notebooks by archivist and superfan Kevin Jon Davies, and newer plotlines drawn from And Another Thing, Eoin Colfer’s book continuing the saga, which was commissioned by the Adams estate after the author’s sudden death at the age of just 49 in 2001.”

I’ve read the four-part trilogy and enjoyed the original radio play. Looking very forward to this!

Link via MetaFilter.