We now take it for granted that we can fly almost anywhere in the world. Just find some good flight deals, book your flight, and away you go.

International flight started in the United States in the 1930s with the introduction of Pan American World Airways (also known as Pam Am). It was founded as a seaplane service in Florida and became known as an innovator of air flight. For almost 40 years, Pan Am ruled the air with two flights that originated in San Francisco (Pam Am 001 and 002). These flights took 46 hours and made stops in Honolulu, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kolkata, Delhi, Beirut, Istanbul, Frankfurt, London, and New York.

Due to rising operational costs, terrorists attacks and fuel costs, Pam Am was finally forced to declare bankruptcy in 1991. The assets of the airline were purchased by Delta as were some of the routes.

Of course, the most famous image of Pan Am is probably the arrival of the Beatles on one of Pan Am’s flights into New York!

This is the time of year when I ask my kids what they want to be for Halloween. I usually make all their Halloween costumes and Halloween invitations so I need plenty of time to prepare.

My 5 year old son wants to be Indiana Jones this year which will involve minimal sewing on my part. My 9 year old daughter wants to be something scary. I need to take her to look at patterns so that she can get an idea of what she wants to be. I love trying to find vintage patterns. I made my older daughter a Jane (Tarzan) costume from an old pattern I found on the web. If you are looking for something unique, try searching for Vintage Halloween Costumes on Google!

Skittle Bowl was one of those games that I wanted as a kid, but we never did get. The game consisted of a triangle piece of wood with 10 wooden pins. Attached was a pole with a “bowling ball” on a long metal chain. The object of the game was to use the ball to knock down the pins. You can buy the game on eBay now for about $10.00 to $15.00.

You’re never too old to commit fraud it seems. A couple of years ago, two elderly sisters, Golay (75) and Olga (73) were indicted on life insurance fraud. It seems that they would “help” homeless men get back on their feet, take out life insurance policies and then have them killed. The insurance policies were worth $2.3 million.

These women were no strangers to the court system. They had also filed over 40 civil lawsuits in the past 20 years.

Just when you thought that you would never see those styles again, there back! Vintage swimwear is making a big splash again. Not only the styles, but the colors and patterns as well.

You can purchase a Marilyn Monroe type suit:

Or, a polka-dot vintage 60s style suit:

All images from Pin Up Girl Clothing.

When the internet was first developed, wiring had to be made that would attach computers and networks to each other. The first category of cable was called Cat2 cabling which only worked with token ring networks. Next came Cat3 which could carry 10Mbit/s on ethernet networks.

Soon Cat3 wasn’t good enough and Cat5 was introduced. Cat5 could work at 100Mbit/s but could not handle gigabit networks and has been discontinued. The new version, Cat5e can handle gigabit as well and had performance up to 100MHz

The next generation is CAT6 which provides performance of up to 250 MHz, more than double category 5 and 5e. Soon you will see Cat6a which will handle 500MHz!

I don’t know why celebrities think they need to name their kids weird names, but they do. Here are a few of my favorites:

Audio Science (son of Shannyn Sossaman)
Apple (daughter of Gwyneth Paltrow)
Tu Simone Ayer Morrow (daughter of Rob Morrow) - Tu Morrow???
Hud and Spec Wildhorse (sons of John Mellencamp)
Ever Gabo (daughter of Milla Jovovich)
Moxie CrimeFighter (daughter of Penn Jillette)
Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily (daughter of Michael Hutchence)

If you want to see all the weird names, check it out here!

You may not have liked his kind of humor, but he was a very popular comedian! George Carlin passed away Sunday, June 22, 2008 in Los Angeles due to a heart attack. He was 71 years old.

Carlin was born May 12, 1937 in New York City. He attended high school in New York City and then joined the Air Force, training as a radar technician. He also began working as a disc jockey in Louisiana. Carlin was discharged from the Air Force in 1957. In 1959, he teamed up with Jack Burns to do a comedy routine in Texas.

In the 60s Carlin set out on his own and began appearing on TV variety shows. He was a frequent performer on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. His style in the 60s was short cut hair and suits. However, as the 70s dawned, Carlin changed his appearance. He started wearing faded jeans, grew his hair longer, sported a beard and an earring. This eventually lost him some television bookings but eventually gained him some fans.

During the 70s, Carlin came up with his most famous comedy piece - “The Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.” After performing in Milwaukee performing this routine, he was arrested under obscenity laws. The case was later dismissed.

Carlin was the first host of Saturday Night Live when the show premiered on October 11, 1975. In 1976, Carlin stopped performing regularly and it was during this five year period that Carlin suffered the first of three heart attacks.

Carlin was back in full force in the 80s and 90s performing at various locations and HBO specials. In 2001, Carlin was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 15th Annual American Comedy Awards. In 2004, Carlin was performing in Las Vegas and used some very dark material which did not go over well with the audience. After telling an audience member to “blow me” he was fired from the stint. He entered drug and alcohol rehab shortly thereafter. However, Carlin would go back to Las Vegas and perform there often.

In 2006, he told one audience that he had been recently in the hospital for heart failure. Four days before his death, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC announced that Carlin would be the 2008 honoree of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor to be awarded in November.

Carlin was married to Brenda Hosbrook in 1961. They had one daughter, Kelly, in 1963. Brenda died of liver cancer in 1997. He later married Sally Wade in 1998.

No doubt you have heard the term “drink the Kool-Aid” which refers to cult like devotion to a cause. I dug deep down into my flash memory to remember this incident. The term originated after Jim Jones, the leader of a religious cult named the People’s Temple ordered his follower’s to commit suicide. In 1978, they had recently moved the Guyana. Jones made a grape drink laced with cyanide and sedatives and commanded his people to drink it. Those who did not drink were shot. A total of 914 people died including 276 children.

Although it was probably not Kool-Aid that Jones concocted, the phrase originated from this incident and Kool-Aid is the most probably brand of easy to mix drink.

I have only spotted a celebrity a few times in my life. Once was at the John Wayne Airport in California. Bob Hope was in a limo and had his window rolled down for a few minutes. I also saw Muhammad Ali at the airport in Denver, Colorado. I stood next to Robert Redford in the ski line at Sundance in Utah. He was a lot shorter than I had imagined.

I did live in Colorado for a while, but never made it to Vail where you can do some serious celebrity spottings. Most of the time I was parked out in some Winter Park real estate which is not nearly as pricey as Vail.

I have even been to New York a number of times, but have never run into any celebrities. I don’t frequent the pricier side of town, however, so I guess my chances are very slim!