Gadling

Despite all the mocking of the TSA, I do need to compliment them on how they try and educate the traveling public on how to deal with their (often silly) rules.

As we approach the busiest travel season of the year, the TSA has taken the time to once again remind people what you need to know about traveling with food or gifts.

The basic rules still apply - liquids are not allowed through the checkpoint unless they are in a "one quart baggie" and under 3 ounces each. Exceptions are made for medication, baby formula and breast milk.

These rules obviously mean that gravy, maple syrup, wine and anything else not on their exceptions list must be placed in a checked bag, or sent ahead in the mail.

The good news is that anything solid is permitted - this includes pies, cakes and that leftover turkey. I'm not entirely sure why jellies and jams are not allowed, but pies are. Bottom line; if you want to carry jam or jelly, put it in a pie.

A special reminder for snow globes - nobody wants to pack those in checked luggage, but the checkpoint will not allow them to pass, so either leave them at home, or send them with FedEx.

As a final reminder, always keep Christmas gifts unwrapped until you arrive at your destination. It sucks to have a TSA agent unwrap all your gifts just to be sure that Zhu Zhu pet isn't actually a bomb. Once again - shipping gifts is best done by mail, UPS or FedEx. If you ship ahead of time, you'll be able to send a large box from coast to coast for about $20, which is well worth it, considering how much hassle you'll prevent.

Here's an unusual piece of American history that illustrates the power of philanthropy and what happens when money is used for the purpose it was intended. Imagine what James Smithson must think if he can view Smithsonian Castle and all the other buildings that line the Mall in Washington D.C.? Possibly, he's pleased as punch.

Smithson, an illegitimate Englishman who died in 1829, left between $50 to $100 million dollars to the United States, a country he had never visited. His desire was for his money to be used "'for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.'"

If the slew of buildings that includes the Air and Space Museum, the American History Museum, and the African Art Museum isn't an indication of what can happen when one person's generosity is put to good use, I don't know what is. Of course, Smithson's money wasn't enough to create all of the Smithsonian's building, but still, consider what what can happen when there's a mighty good idea that has a healthy start.

In this article that first appeared in the Washington Post, Moira E. McLaughlin covers a bit of the history of Smithson's gift that consisted of 105 bags of gold. She also points out the significance of Smithsonian Castle, the Smithsonian's first building that is now used for the Smithsonian's administrative offices and information center. According to McLaughlin, the information center is a perfect place to begin a visit to the Smithsonian. It can help you orient the rest of your time there.

I've been to the Smithsonian several times and have never visited The Castle. Next time I'm in D.C., this is my first stop. In case no one has thanked you properly James Smithson,THANKS a million times over. Your gift was truly splendid.

If the style of the building looks familiar, it's because its architect, James Renwick, Jr. also designed St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.

U.S. airline passenger revenue fell in October, completing a full year of dismal monthly performances. From October 2008 to October 2008, passenger revenue dropped 15 percent, according to calculations by the Air Transport Association. The study was based on a sample group of more than 24 air carriers. Falling ticket prices are said to be the problem ... which means we can trace it back to household finances, throwing the job market into the mix.

With unemployment now above 10 percent, consumers are being careful with their extra cash (if they have any), and dropping cash on plane tickets is pretty difficult. Hey, that's why more people are driving this year than in the past.

In October, the number of people flying on U.S. airlines fell 3 percent, and the average price to fly one mile dropped 13.5 percent. Basically, the number of people flying hasn't fallen much, but they're demanding much better pricing for their business. Airlines have to take it on the chin in order to bring any revenue in the door at all.

Our friends at Autoblog discovered a pretty neat airport tug under development by auto parts maker Ricardo. Airplane tugs are normally only used to push a plane back from its gate, or when they need to tow the plane from a hangar to the gate.

In this new tug design, the plane is clamped to the truck, and then puts the pilot in charge of driving it to the gate. In a normal taxi situation, planes keep their engines on until they reach their parking spot. Of course, anyone who has flown will know that the destination gate is almost always occupied, forcing the plane to sit and wait for up to an hour.

All this time, the engines are still running, spitting out tons of emissions. With this new design, as soon as the plane is clamped to the tug, the main engines can be turned off. The new TaxiBot could save millions of dollars in fuel costs, while reducing emissions.

(Via: Autoblog)

Here are the hottest gear deals for today, Sunday November 22nd 2009. Remember, these deals are often valid for just one day, so act fast before they are gone.

Today's first deal is for yet another GPS unit. This time, it is for the $99.99 TomTom XL 340. This wide screen unit features spoken turn by turn directions, and for a limited time it comes with a free leather carrying case. You need to scroll down a little till you see the deal. Be sure to click "add both to cart" in order to get this free $25 case with your purchase. Click here for this deal.

One of the best pocket HD camcorders on the market just dropped to $146. The Kodak Zi6 can record in 1080p, features a microphone input, an HDMI output, and a large LCD screen. It comes complete with an HD cable and battery charger. Click here for this deal.

Next up is a laptop backpack with room for a 15" laptop. It also features a huge variety of pockets, including an mp3 pouch, headphone pass through and a detachable mobile phone pocket. On sale for just $14.99, with $5 shipping. Click here for this deal.

And finally in today's lineup, head on over to deal site Tanga.com for a 53" aluminum camera tripod. It probably won't help make the next award winning photo, but at just $9.99, it is cheap enough to help some amateur photographers. Shipping is just $5. Click here for this deal.

Do you struggle with what to get your favorite ski bum for Christmas each year? Have plenty of cash, but unsure what to buy? Then you're in luck, as Utah ski resort Elk Meadows has gone on the Internet auction block, looking for a new owner. But you better have deep pockets, as the auction, which opened on Friday, has a minimum bid of $1 million.

Elk Meadows was originally designed to be an exclusive luxury ski and golf area, catering to an upscale clientele. But its location made it difficult to attract that crowd. While it is located in a very scenic area, with good ski runs and plenty of snow, it is more than four hours south of Salt Lake City, requiring visitors to bypass a number of other excellent options to hit the slopes. The resort closed its doors following the 2001-2002, averaging just 20,000 visitors per year.

The winner of the auction will likely get quite a bargain. Elk Meadows comes complete with six ski lifts, covering more than 1300 vertical feet. Reportedly, there are other pieces of infrastructure in place as well, but the company that is conducting the auction says that the resort will require a lot of work to get up and running again. Consider this investment property a "fixer-upper".

The bid deadline has been extended to 6 PM Mountain Time on Monday, in order to allow more potential buyers to consider purchasing the property. As of this writing, the highest bid is $1,051,000, and it is unclear if there are other interested parties who may make a move to grab the resort on the cheap. If you'd like to make a bid of your own, head over to LFC.com and get your Christmas shopping started early.

Maybe the flight attendants should start talking to the cockpit, too. When a plane overshot Minneapolis last month because the crew was playing around with personal laptops, national attention turned to what actually goes on in the front of the plane. Congress is kicking around the idea of a new bill that would kick personal electronic devices from the cockpit.

Unsurprisingly, the pilots and airlines aren't crazy about the idea. They say that the measure would impede progress by making innovation less accessible. Scott Schleiffer, a cargo pilot who's also thrown some brain time at safety issues for the Air Line Pilots Association, told USA Today, "We would like to have access to tools, and as tools evolve, we would like to have better tools."

FAA chief Randy Babbit agrees, saying, "We need to be very careful," in regards to the prohibition of personal devices in the cockpit.

Airlines are starting to bring new technology into the cockpit, with laptops and other devices used to improved weather and safety information. The devices aren't all that different from what distracted the Northwest pilots who missed Minneapolis. JetBlue has issued laptops to pilots, which are used to push through calculations during takeoff and landing. But, the airline doesn't allow personal use of them.

Seeing as the Leonids meteor shower gave some of us a show earlier this week, it seems fitting to pay homage to the night sky this weekend. I love this photo in particular because it proves that the world still turns and time passes ever so consistently from one second, moment, hour, day, month, year to the next.

This lovely shot entitled "Tunnel View" comes to us from ohad*, who writes, "Shooting into the dark, I decided to shoot a portrait of Yosemite Valley. Half dome in the distance (with airplanes rising) and El Capitan on the left. Shot at 10mm f/3.5 for 601 seconds." The different lines of movement from the lights of cars that cut through the dark valley to the rising airplane leaving its pink trace toward the heavens and the curving stars really make the world feel alive and allow us to appreciate just how beautiful it really is.

If you have some great travel shots you'd like to share, be sure to upload them to the Gadling pool on Flickr. We might just pick one as our Photo of the Day!

In a language that's mostly all vowels, a bit of interpretive dance helps communicate one's deepest thoughts and feelings. Sad? Lower your eyes. Fierce? Scowl and posture. Happy? Shake it, baby. Travelers have been awestruck by Tahitian dancers ever since they first landed on these dancing shores. The bearded missionaries of long ago secretly loved it and today's MTV backup singers wanna steal these moves but ain't got no rhythm.

Every two-bit hotel in Tahiti puts on a decent dinner dance show for the tourists, but when the natives start dancing for the natives, things get hot fast. I caught this little show at an official awards ceremony on a hot white sand beach on Bora Bora. Sit back and enjoy, and just ask yourself, can you shake it like a Tahitian? I didn't think so.

After years of reviewing hotels, nightlife, bars and restaurants, the Zagat Survey has started publishing results of its first cruise line survey.

To generate reliable results, the Zagat.com survey asked cruise passengers for their opinion of cabins, service, facilities, activities and of course dining. The results were split into three categories - large ships, mid size ships and small ships (under 200 passengers). In total, over 22,700 cruise trips were used to reach a conclusion.

The winner of the "best overall" category was Cunard Line. Given the rich tradition of top class service on the Cunard ships, it should come as no surprise that they took the top spot. In the individual categories, Cunard won in the dining and facilities categories, and took the second spot in activities, right behind Disney.

Cunard Line has been crossing the Atlantic since 1840 and currently operates two ships - the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Victoria. In October of next year, the brand new Queen Elizabeth will join the fleet.

More on the results of the Zagat cruise line survey can be found here, and a PDF with the complete results is here.