Thumbs Up – Free WiFi for the Holidays

Google announced yesterday that they will be offering free wireless at 47 airports across the United States between November 10 and January 15, 2010.  The only catch is that when you log on to the internet, you are asked if you want to try some of Google’s services or donate to a charity.  What a small price to pay for Internet!  Oftentimes when I fly, I wish I could get WiFi at the airport to check my email and such, but it is almost never worth the cost, oftentimes in the $10 range, for a short period of time.

Other Internet movers and shakers will also be giving away free WiFi during the holiday season.  Ebay will be offering free WiFi on Delta flights (the first page users see when they log on is the Ebay site – so they can do their holiday shopping while flying).  Bing is offering free WiFi in certain airports and hotels, although they haven’t announced which ones specifically (as long as the user performs one search in Microsoft’s search engine).  And Yahoo is giving away WiFi in New York’s  Times Square for the next year.

Even though some cynics might bring up that these Internet giants are using free WiFi only to get more customers to use their services (and they are most definitely correct), it is hard for most people to be upset with free WiFi!

Below is a list of the airports where travelers can receive free WiFi from Google:

Austin (AUS)
Baltimore (BWI)
Billings (BIL)
Boston (BOS)
Bozeman (BZN)
Buffalo (BUF)
Burbank (BUR)
Central Wisconsin (CWA)
Charlotte (CLT)
Des Moines (DSM)
El Paso (ELP)
Fort Lauderdale (FLL)
Fort Myers/SW (RSW)
Greensboro (GSO)
Houston (HOU)
Houston Bush (IAH)
Indianapolis (IND)
Jacksonville (JIA)
Kalamazoo (AZO)
Las Vegas (LAS)
Louisville (SDF)
Madison (MSN)
Memphis (MEM)
Miami (MIA)
Milwaukee (MKE)
Monterey (MRY)
Nashville (BNA)
Newport News (PHF)
Norfolk (ORF)
Oklahoma City (OKC)
Omaha (OMA)
Orlando (MCO)
Panama City (PFN)
Pittsburgh (PIT)
Portland (PWM)
Sacramento (SMF)
San Antonio (SAT)
San Diego (SAN)
San Jose (SJC)
Seattle (SEA)
South Bend (SBN)
Spokane (GEG)
St. Louis (STL)
State College (SCE)
Toledo (TOL)
Traverse City (TVC)
West Palm Beach (PBI)

Thumbs Down – Murders in New York

Apparently, summer isn’t the best time to be in New York City. According to this New York Times article, murder rates rise in the 5 boroughs during the summer months. This bit of data comes from analysis by the Times using police reports to create a database of murders based on a number of factors including location, date, and information about the victim and perpetrator. All the data can be seen on a map of the city and sorted by all the various factors.

Even more interesting than the data itself, is the comparisons to past studies. Steven F. Messner, a criminology professor at SUNY Albany, put together a similar study in 1981 and found a similar pattern of murder rates increasing during the summer months.  His theory behind the increase revolves around changes in people’s routines and increased social interactions in the summer.  At the same time, there are some differences between the two studies.  In 1981, 29% of murders occured between the hours of midnight and 8 a.m., as compared with 39% of all murders from 2006 to 2008.  Weekends are somewhat more dangerous than the rest of the week, with 36% of murders occuring on Saturday or Sunday.  So the next time you’re in New York, stay away from the 77th Precinct (the “bloodiest block in Brooklyn”) at 3 a.m. on a Saturday night.

Shoes – Thumbs Down

Thumbs Down: I’ve got some bad news for you: you walk wrong. According to researchers at University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, shoes have been ruining the health of our feet.

The researchers are not just talking about high heels or flip-flops. They claim that all shoes have been “warping” the natural way the foot interacts with the ground while walking. Shoes disrupt the natural way of walking which was developed over millions of years of evolution.

Here’s an example from an article by Adam Sternbergh of how shoes change the way the foot interacts with the ground: “Try this test: Take off your shoe, and put it on a tabletop. Chances are the toe tip on your shoes will bend slightly upward, so that it doesn’t touch the table’s surface. This is known as “toe spring,” and it’s a design feature built into nearly every shoe. Of course, your bare toes don’t curl upward; in fact, they’re built to grip the earth and help you balance. The purpose of toe spring, then, is to create a subtle rocker effect that allows your foot to roll into the next step. This is necessary because the shoe, by its nature, won’t allow your foot to work in the way it wants to. Normally your foot would roll very flexibly through each step, from the heel through the outside of your foot, then through the arch, before your toes give you a powerful propulsive push forward into the next step. But shoes aren’t designed to be very flexible. Sure, you can take a typical shoe in your hands and bend it in the middle, but that bend doesn’t fall where your foot wants to bend; in fact, if you bent your foot in that same place, your foot would snap in half. So to compensate for this lack of flexibility, shoes are built with toe springs to help rock you forward. You only need this help, of course, because you’re wearing shoes.”

If you’re interested in learning more about the subject or want some tips about how to walk better, check out Sternbergh’s article from New York Magazine here