Remember when some pilots were recently screwing around on their laptops instead of paying attention to the whole flying-the-plane thing? It would have been nice to hear portions of their conversations in the cockpit—just to see what was actually going on. Well a new bill might allow airlines to listen to portions of cockpit communications.

The current union contracts kind of prohibit eavesdropping on what the pilots are chatting about while they are doing their job. However, this new bill would allow the airlines to use recorded data to discipline or fire pilots if they weren’t doing what they were supposed to be doing. As it stands now, the recordings only become available if there’s an accident or other serious situation, but if the bill goes anywhere, listening in to evaluate pilot performance could become law. ]]> kjb 2009-11-23T09:24:32-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/23/81518/224

Just the other day we were talking about Air Canada and complaining about their decision to start charging for better seats in coach, but today we have a little bit of better news. We knew the airline was working behind the scenes to equip some of their planes with in-flight WiFi, and the first stage of the installation has been completed.

In time for the holiday season, the airline is testing out the wireless Internet magic over a ten week period—just to see how things go at first. They’re the first Canadian airline to provide the service, and passengers will be busy surfing on routes from Montreal and Toronto to Los Angeles. Gogo will be providing the service, but at first, the wireless will only be available when the planes are actually flying over the United States. ]]> kjb 2009-11-23T09:04:32-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/23/25641/759

Click Here for Amazing Race 15 Map

Chasing Racers is back, with a brand-new Amazing Race 15 mashup. This map will update the morning after every new episode. Send along tips, rumors, gossip, locations and spoilers to our map editors; become a member and comment on the stories below and add to the Jaunted-Flickr photo pool to get in on the fray.

Remember to zoom in, out and around on the map—with so much happening in each episode, it's easy to miss a map point.

In the last episode of The Amazing Race, the competition started getting fierce. The Globetrotters and the hot guys fought over a taxi and as they neared the pit stop, Flight Time and Dan fell on a muddy boardwalk and each one pointed fingers at the other for playing dirty. The beautiful blonds also foiled the Americas by promising to have their cabbie send them taxi, which they didn't do. Despite all of the underhandedness, it was Pinky and the Brain who were eliminated, mostly because Pinky had no idea what a candelabra was.

Four teams remain. What other lowdown tricks will the racers do to make it to the final three? Will they go too far to win?

Find out after the jump.]]> Jennifer Kester 2009-11-23T08:48:12-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/21/151918/25

Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon is probably my favorite travel book of all time, so I was pleased to see it resurface in the news last week, more than 30 years after its publication. CNN.com has an enjoyable interview with the author and a slide show of photographs from the route he took on his classic journey of discovery. For those who aren't familiar, in 1978, William Least Heat-Moon lost his teaching job and his wife left him, so he decided to outfit his van and start driving across the country, avoiding interstates and sticking to the lesser-traveled roads that were colored blue on the old Rand McNally maps. His three month tour produced a terrific book, and one that reveals many great insights into traveling and life in general. ]]> Victor Ozols 2009-11-21T15:19:18-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/21/14758/866

President Obama is most closely associated with the city of Chicago, but he spent five years in New York as a student and community organizer, and a local actor has created a walking tour that shines a light on what he calls Obama's "lost years" here. The AP introduces us to Jeremiah Miller, whose two-hour "Obama's New York" tour takes visitors to some of the places the 44th president spent time during his 1981-1985 stint in the city. ]]> Victor Ozols 2009-11-21T14:07:58-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/21/132554/94

I've never taken a pedicab in my life, but it seems I'm in the minority, as the number of the pedal-powered bicycle taxis has risen dramatically since their introduction to New York in 1995. Pedicabs have become so popular, in fact, that they're now regulated by the city, which requires vehicles to be insured, inspected, and fitted with seat belts, headlights, and hydraulic brakes. A story in The New York Times explains that the new regulations legitimize an industry that began as something of a fringe group, attracting actors, artists, and various downtown weirdos to a unique profession that could net them up to $1,000 a week and help them stay skinny and hot. ]]> Victor Ozols 2009-11-21T13:25:54-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/21/12217/029

Things travelers should put in a money belt: Passport, tickets, cash, emergency contact information. Things travelers should not put in a money belt: lizards. It may seem rather obvious to most readers of this blog, but there's one guy in California who somehow never picked up this basic tenet of travel wisdom. As the LA Times points out, 40-year-old Michael Plank was arrested by U.S. Customs agents at Los Angeles International Airport this week when he was found to have 15 lizards stuffed in a money belt. Plank was on his way back from Australia and apparently decided to bring 11 skinks, two monitor lizards, and two geckos with him to his LA home, where they'd be worth around $8,500. ]]> Victor Ozols 2009-11-21T12:21:07-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/