Aluminum Christmas Tree

For a fun holiday post I thought I would share a little about aluminum christmas trees. At my parents house we have had one of these trees for nearly 20 years and it is an original from the early 1960s that came from my grandparents. Here is a good general piece of information with a few pictures of the christmas tree. Here are a few videos of aluminum trees too, in the second video you can see the color wheel. .

Airports

It has been a while since I posted about myself so this will be about airports I have been to.

The smallest airport I have been is Chipata, Zambia. The "terminal" there was smaller than a single family house in the US. I have taken off and landed at smaller dirt landing strips but they are not airports.

The largest ariport I have been to is Denver International Airport as far as land mass goes. DIA is the third largest airport in the world by this metric. The largest airport building I have been in is not DIA even though the terminal there is very large, it is Terminal 1 at Chep Lap Kok airport in Hong Kong. This building is over 570000 sq. meters of floor space. Part of the check-in area is below. The busiest airport I have been to is Chicago O'Hare airport. though I have been to Atlanta's Hartfield-Jackson airport, when I was there it was #2 in the world and O'Hare was #1. They have since swapped this ranking and Atlanta is far in the lead for busiest airport in the world.

Based on 2009 statistics, I have been to 7 of the 10 busiest airports in the world - 12 of the top 20 - 16 of the top 30.

The airport I have been to by far the most is DIA as it was my home airport for most of my life.

Based on some of my one-way flights in Africa, I have several airports that I have been to the fewest number of times.

High Speed Pics

Yesterday I found a great page showing selected - awesome - high-speed photographs. Here is one to get you interested. You need to follow the link to see the rest!
Enjoy!

Hollywood Stars

So if you thought this post would be about the actors and actresses that have gained fame in Hollywood over the years based on the title, you would be wrong.

This is about the actual stars that get placed in the sidewalk in Hollywood and how those stars get there. Anyone want to guess how much it costs an actor to get a star? Keep reading and you will find out. The piece that I read as inspiration for this post was about how Reese Witherspoon is the newest addition to the walk of fame. I was surprised to learn how many stars there are - 2425! Even though not all of those are people - Mickey Mouse, Rin Tin Tin and several other animated and furry stars have received the honor.

Apparently the chamber of commerce charges $30,000 for someone to get a star, in addition to these three criteria: professional achievement, longevity of five years in the field of entertainment, and contributions to the community.

Here is more information about the Walk of Fame.

Panda Suits

I saw these pictures first and then followed a link to the article this morning and thought it was really cool. The researchers dress up as giant pandas when they work to release panda cubs to the wild in a preserve in China. Here is a picture but you can read the article and find more pics as well.

The Awesome Ant!