Gadling

Matt Coats wrote in his description about this picture that he took it from a "secret vantage point" in Guatemala. I'm reminded about the time I stood on a street corner in Hoi An, Vietnam taking pictures of people in various groupings as they passed by on bicycles or cyclos. It took several shots to get the few that were halfway decent.

I wonder where Coats was standing and how did he find his vantage point. Is he in a shed? There is a towel hanging in the shadows. The blues and the reds in this picture are what first caught my attention. The framing could not be more perfect.

If you've captured an image from a vantage point that served you well, send it our way at Gadling's Flickr Photo Pool. It could become a Photo of the Day.

Nice work team. Late last week we reported that United Airlines was going to charge for meals on overseas flights departing from Washington Dulles. Thanks to a great deal of outcry from United's passengers, bloggers and you readers, the embattled airline has now decided to rescind their decision.

A small victory in the face of many negative changes that have recently plagued the airline industry.

So with the price of oil sinking back to outrageous prices (down from take-a-second-mortgage-on-your-condo prices), are we going to start to see fewer ridiculous fees? Will fuel surcharges drop back down after taking a leap through the roof?

Don't count on it. In some ways, oil prices were an excuse for the airline industry to make back some of the inflationary ground that they haven't been pursuing over the last twenty years. At least this way some of our favorite carriers might be able to start operating consistently in the black rather than the cyclical merger-bankruptcy model that isn't working.

I'm dedicating my next soggy chicken and spinach airplane meal to you, Gadling readers. Keep up the good work.

When I lived overseas some friends of mine, who also lived overseas, complained that when they were in the U.S. on vacation, they couldn't relate to what excited people.

For example, one friend said that a friend of hers in the U.S. was excited about getting a new deck. My friend didn't think that getting a new deck was exciting news. Planning an adventure vacation was exciting, however--unless you are a person who enjoys staying home enjoying a party on your new deck.

I did point out that for people who live overseas, buying items like carpets and unusual furniture can also give one that new things rush and that people like to show off at their parties. She agreed.

Once we moved back to the U.S., I discovered that we were fresh meat when it came to people trying to sell us stuff for home improvement. Let's just say we have a whole house water improvement system that we have to feed salt, because we lived in two countries where we couldn't drink the water. I have become more savvy since that purchase. Still, there are always home improvements that loom while we are off traveling.

This is the time of year when, now that vacation fun is fading into the past, the need to nest before winter kicks in begins to build. Somehow, each fall, I'm hooked into some "Let's spruce up the place" endeavor. A friend who is a handy fellow is doing some plaster repair work today.

Because my friend who was less than impressed with decks has not moved back to the U.S., she is unaware that there are places to go dedicated to decks and other wonders of home improvement. Home and garden shows are a nesting bonanza. This month kicks off a flurry of fall activities geared towards getting people to focus on the place where they live.

My daily deal for today is for the Plantronics Voyager 510 Bluetooth headset.

This particular headset is one of the highest rated Bluetooth products on the market, and while it may not be the sexiest, it does have stunning sound quality (for both people on the call). The microphone boom also features a noise reducing microphone which can cancel out noise from wind and other sources of distraction.

The Voyager 510 has great battery life, and the manufacturer rates it for up to 6 hours of talk time and 100 hours on standby. The headset also features "multipoint", which allows you to connect to more than one device at the same time.

The Voyager 510 usually retails for around $60, but Amazon.com has it on sale for just $41.99. Since the item is over $25, Amazon will even ship it for free.

Some people are passionate about disliking Singapore. "It's boring!!!" Sure, parts of the city-state resemble a particularly sterile shopping mall, but there is a lot going on there these days. One of the biggest to-dos has to do with the world's greatest open-wheel racing series, Formula One. On September 28th, Ferrari, BMW, Mercedes, and the rest will race in the first ever F1 night race.

That's right, not only is Singapore the only place where you can get a ticket for spitting out your gum on the sidewalk, it is the only place to host a Formula One race under the lights.

Are there any motor sports fans in Singapore? Judging from the fact that only 5% of the tickets remain unsold, I'd have to say yes. F1 is a status symbol. Hosting a race puts you alongside the likes of Monaco. The street course in Singapore is no less spectacular, heading past Marina Square, St. Andrews Cathedral and City Hall. Some people will be lucky enough to be able to watch the race from their hotel window.

Singapore might be boring, depending on who you ask. But no one would argue that going 200 miles-per-hour at night on its streets isn't exciting.

Just last week a judge ruled that sunbathing in the nude at San Onofre State Beach in San Diego is still allowed.

Earlier this summer there was a brouhaha because the California Department of Parks and Recreation wanted to ban nude sunbathing, even though beaching it in the buff has been allowed here for decades.

The parks and recreation department said that some sunbathers were being lewd near Trail 6. Sunbathers who just sun themselves and frolic in their birthday suits felt that the ban was uncalled for since most behave themselves.

According to this article at San Diego 6 News, the judge has ruled that the people who will be cited for being without their clothes are only those that someone in the public complains about--otherwise, sans clothes is fine--for now.

Considering that there are many public beaches from which to choose in California, it seems that if people don't want to see people sunbathe in the nude, go somewhere else--or if you do go here, stay away from Trail 6.

As a pilot, every now and then you'll have a chance to catch a sight that just burns into your memory. The spire of the Empire State Building piercing a setting sun while approaching New York's JFK airport, or watching a satellite pass overhead while holding above a thick cloud layer of fog over Anchorage.

But nothing can top the scene witnessed by every airplane crossing the North Atlantic on July 22nd, at around 3 a.m. in whatever time zone we were crossing.

At first, we thought we noticed a faint glow of the northern lights. Pretty soon, the colors became so spectacular that we began calling the flight attendants up to the cockpit to check out the light show.

But these aurora borealis weren't moving or changing colors. And the colors that were starting to appear, didn't match the usual green glow I was used to.

It didn't take long for pilots on 123.45, a VHF channel that's normally used to report ride conditions and any weather deviations, to start a discussion about what we were seeing.

Hooters is all about saving fabric. The minimalistic uniforms and the comely staff members who fill them are aimed at drawing mostly male customers. As the Georgia-based restaurant chain goes global, one would probably expect more of the same. But, the Hooters in Beijing is not all about buxom waitresses hawking chicken wings and fries.

How can that be? The very name "Hooters" suggests nothing other than said buxom staff members, right?

The typical tank top and short shorts are still worn by the female staff, but the goal is not to fill them out in the same manner as at stateside Hooters. A server at Beijing's Hooters told a journalist from McClatchy (who was there ONLY for the chicken wings): "It's more sexy in the U. S. Here, it's more about being healthy, friendly, cute and having moral righteousness."

Hey, who says moral righteousness can't go with short shorts and chicken wings. By the way, Beijing's Hooters also features the occasional dance number, preformed by the staff to appropriately kitschy music. Perhaps the brand has lost something in translation.

An Australian version of "The Daring Book For Girls" has guidelines on how to play a didgeridoo. This has angered some Aborigines because the didgeridoo is considered a male ceremonial instrument, not to be played by women as it could possibly cause infertility, among other terrible things.

I would have pointed fingers at this Australian faux pas, especially since the book is published by Australians, in Australia! But I can't because I lived in Australia for 3 years, I have been to Darwin -- around where the Aborigines are situated, I have tried to play the didgeridoo, and I even own one; but I had no idea that if a girl plays the instrument she is believed to suffer bad consequences. Never was it even brought up in any conversation about the instrument with native Australians. That's quite sad and rather inexcusable.

The Aboriginal leaders have demanded the withdrawal of the book. Although Harper Collins have apologized for not being aware of this belief, they have refused to withdraw the book on grounds that there is a "divergence of views" amongst Aborigines. In other words, all of them are not offended.

Despite efforts at educating yourself about different cultures and trying to absorb and accept what you learn, it's amazing how you can still miss crucially important details.

This may just be the coolest bit of news you read all day...

While any news story involving North Korean scientists tends to be about nuclear proliferation, today's Big in Japan post is in fact a salute to these hard-working men and women.

In a failed state that does not produce enough food to feed its population, and is largely reliant on food aid provided by foreign donors, the invention of a super high-calorie noodle is indeed cause for celebration.

According to a recent article in the Choson Shinbo, a Japan-based, pro-Pyongyang newspaper, North Korean scientists have created a new type of noodle that has twice as much protein and fives times as much fat as ordinary ramen.

Made largely of corn and soybean, the new noodles are an engineering breakthrough in their ability to leave people feeling fuller, longer. The paper also reports that the new super high-calorie noodles are specially designed to delay feelings of hunger.

This culinary achievement is being hailed as further evidence of the mighty and divine power of Kim Il-sung, the deceased 'eternal ruler' of the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea (DPRK).

Keep reading for more on DPRK's new ramen revolution...