Travel

Uber Now Has Helicopter Service

Written by adminOctober 7, 2019

Uber’s goal from the beginning has been to help people get from one place to another. They’ve already worked on improving driver experience, and offered scooters and bikes. Now, if you have the money to spend, you can get from Point A to Point B in an Uber helicopter. Currently, this option is only being offered in New York City, a place that could benefit from such a service more than the average consumer. Yet, there are plans to expand across the country really soon.

One person who tried the service said it was more of the experience of flying than actually being convenient. Still, the patron said it took 15 minutes longer to get to JFK airport than if she would’ve just taken an Uber. It was also three times more money. The reviewer did state the ride happened during a time when the streets weren’t so busy. That means if you had a flight to get to during rush hour, the helicopter would probably be the best option.

Uber isn’t just looking to expand this new service in the city. They even want to see how it will fare from getting between one suburb to another. That’s right, if you have a long commute across town, you will soon be able to take an Uber-copter. They want to make it more of an option for the high rollers and customers with money to spend.

So far, the cost of the ride through New York costs around $205. This price will vary depending on where you want to go. The reviewer stated the entire trip took about 55 minutes. That number includes the 19 minutes she spent in an Uber X car getting to and from the heliport. She found the experience to be just as much of a headache as driving and it didn’t even save her time. It wasn’t worth the $205 she spent.

Uber Trying to Turn Things Around

It hasn’t been a good few years for the ride-sharing company. They’ve experienced a record loss of profits and had to layoff drivers. That comes amid much scrutiny over Uber’s lack of security of drivers and passengers alike. Stock prices have dropped tremendously as well. That’s why Uber has been trying to update its methods and launch new products.

They’ve already extended the delivery scope by also adding food delivery to compete with DoorDash. They also launched a fleet of new cars, scooters, and bikes to give more variety. Still, Uber hopes that helicopter rides will be the first of many new flying adventures for the company. They want to one day replace the helicopters with flying cars without a driver.

“You can imagine Uber Copter is

[as]

kind of being the first version of that future product — that is fundamentally what we think of as multimodal,” Eric Allison, head of Uber Elevate, said at the TWA Hotel. “Copter is not just about the air ride, but the overall journey. [We] can weave together our network of cars on the ground with the air vehicles; and in this case, the helicopter, so you can seamlessly transition from a car to the helicopter to a car to get you to the final destination. It’s completely sequenced and figured out by our technology behind the scenes.”

Written by adminAugust 20, 2019

Travel

Greenland is the world’s largest island and last Sunday, Pres. Trump stated that he has been considering and discussing buying the island using it as a US territory. Currently, the ice capped island is owned by Denmark. This is the first time that the United States is tried to buy Greenland. We tried in both 1867 in 1946, both times obviously unsuccessful.

In 1946, the U.S. offered $100 million, or $1.3 billion if you look at it today. That’s a large chunk of change, there’s no doubt Greenland would be worth a lot more today. There are a lot of questions and concern about Trump’s interest in the island. Some say it’s a political stunt to distract from more pressing issues.

Officials in Greenland say that the island is up for sale. “We are open for business, but we’re not for sale,” Greenland’s foreign minister Ane Lone Bagger told Reuters. Still, we don’t expect Pres. Trump is going to back down when he really wants something. Greenland is in a very geostrategic position that can help American interests and provide invaluable defensive opportunities.

The U.S. In Greenland

Currently, the United States already has a military base on the northwestern coast. It’s called the Thule Air Base and it’s our military’s most northern base as it’s the only one we currently have above the Arctic Circle. Despite this, what would it cost the United States to acquire Greenland?

Rutgers University economist Jason Barr has looked at the cost. He states that the value would depend on a bunch of different factors, including why it’s being bought. There’s only about 20% of the island that’s not covered by an ice sheet, so what would be the plans for the remaining land?

A previous estimation looked at the value of buying Manhattan, which would cost $1.74 trillion simply due to the value of vacant land-parcels and their sale costs. Greenland would be a completely different value since it’s mostly consistent of ice and has very little people living on it. It’s nowhere near as developed as Manhattan.

“It’s easy for Manhattan, because Manhattan is real estate. There’s no gold beneath the streets unless somebody drops their ring,” Barr said. They will have to look at several factors, one of them being the size of the island and the natural resources one could find there.

Greenland’s Value

Greenland is as large as three states of Texas, but has a meager 57,691 people living there. The labor force is small and the population is declining because Greenland really isn’t somewhere you want to live, even if your ancestors were Vikings. But the great potential is there due to many rare-earth minerals, iron ore, and uranium. Greenland has a lot of fish and shrimp exports.

It’s unknown what the total costs would be, as that’s a deal the U.S. would have to strike with Denmark. Depending on how they viewed President Trump, if any offer was given, it would be a ridiculous price in the trillions of dollars.

Written by adminJune 21, 2019

Travel

If you’re one of the thousands of people who live life out on the road, you may find it’s quite difficult to keep up with your workout. You can’t necessarily take your equipment with you. Not to mention, traveling takes a lot out of a person, so it can be incredibly difficult to remain motivated on any workout regime.

There are several steps you can take to stay ahead of the game, even when stuck in your hotel room. All it takes is a little ingenuity and a will to succeed and you’ll be working out in no time! Jet Lag or no jetlag.

Step #1: Take Advantage of Hotel Amenities

Believe it or not, a lot of hotels, especially the larger chains, are prepared to take care of ALL their customer’s needs. They have pools, restaurants, bars, and even a fitness room! Many come with stationary bikes, treadmills, and everything else you need to stay in shape while away from home. It will pay to do your research ahead of time to find the hotels that can meet your needs.

Step #2: Gym Membership

If you have access to transportation, such as a rental car or are able to hail a cab, there are several gym memberships that allow you to visit ANY gym in their network. For example, Planet Fitness has a Black Card membership which lets you not only bring in friends to work out with you for free, but gets you in the door at every Planet Fitness in the world. So if you enjoy having a gym membership and find yourself traveling to the same areas, it wouldn’t hurt to look for a gym where you could work out at both places.

Step #3: Swimming Laps

Swimming is perhaps the greatest workout there is. You can work every muscle in your body and burn a tremendous amount of calories without stressing out your joints. Lucky for you, just about every hotel has a pool for your convenience. Even the less-than-desirable motels have pools. If you’re headed to a cold winter climate, be sure to check ahead of time for indoor pools that let you get your swim on.

Step #4: Going for a Walk

There’s no better workout substitution than going for a nice walk. You may not know the city or town you’re stuck in, but odds are, you’re in a hotel with long hallways and stairways. It’s safe and more than capable of pumping up your heart rate. If you don’t feel comfortable going for a walk in the hotel, perhaps there’s a mall or shopping center near where you’re staying. Those are great locations to burn off a big meal.

Step #5: Workout in Your Room

If you bring a computer with you on the road, do you have enough space in your bag to add a few workout DVDs? Space in your room may be limited, but that shouldn’t prevent you from being able to do some light workout or even strike a few Yoga poses. If the room doesn’t have a DVD player, you can buy a small portable one or just stick it in your computer to watch. Also, if you have internet access, you can watch free workout videos on YouTube.

Step #6: Lightweight Equipment

Unless you have ZERO room in your bag, there are a few small pieces of workout equipment you can take with you. But some take up virtually no space at all. For example, resistance bands. They are nothing more than a large rubber band that provide resistance equal to lifting weights and building muscle. If you do have the room, you can get arm and ankle weights. Every little bit helps.

Written by adminMay 21, 2019

Travel

It was on Vancouver Island that a principal of a tiny school in a small town discovered a huge secret. False Bay School, on Lasqueti Island, with only two classrooms and thirty students, was being run on solar power, even during the dark and rainy fall months. The town itself is completely off the electrical grid, which has forced all 450 residents to embrace the solar power revolution.

Previously run on fuel, the switch to solar energy has saved the school nearly $25,000 per year. And the principal, Reid Wilson, wholeheartedly believes that the technology will advance enough in the next decade that the school will be completely self-sustaining. He now realizes the opportunities alternative energy presents. His own home is powered mostly by a water turbine on his neighbor’s pond during the winter months and solar during the summer.

Teaching Students About Living Off the Grid

While some schools find going off the grid more convenient, others actually offer courses in it. The Mountain School in Vermont is one of them. They don’t just study living life away from the industrial complex, but allows high school students to live on an actual organic farm for a whole term. While keeping up with a normal course load, they must also learn the basics of organic survival.

From chopping wood and taking care of animals to growing their own food, these students are required to get down and dirty as they study forestry and agriculture. The students and teachers live in tiny houses on the property. Perhaps the most challenging part is the lack of internet access. Talk about getting a real taste living off the grid!

Serving a Greater Need

As amazing as it is for solar energy to save taxpayers thousands of dollars on a school’s energy costs, there’s an entirely different side to this story we don’t often think about. We are privileged enough to live in a society where we can take electricity use for granted. Saving a few extra bucks and cutting down on pollution is a great way to remain progressive, but there are still more than a billion people who live in non-electrified villages all over the world.

According to GivePower Foundation President Hayes Barnard, there are still 1.3 billion people who live without electricity. That translates to 291 million kids who go to schools without any form of electricity at all. In poor, impoverished countries like Haiti, Uganda, Nigeria, Mali, and Ghana, GivePower has claimed to have powered over 1500 schools with a simple solar panel stationed on the roof for every two classrooms.

Other companies, like GRID alternatives, has a program where they go into off-grid towns in places like Nepal to help power schools, clinics, homes, and farms to help drastically improve their quality of life.

Where it seems as if those in the western culture are looking for ways to get off the grid, solar technology in more disadvantaged parts of the world will help them catch up to the rest of us by providing badly needed resources, especially when it comes to education.

While the CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, works hard to connect the world by providing internet access to these same impoverished nations, combined with solar energy to power tools like computers, the opportunities for education and growth are endless. And according to Barnard, these opportunities are expanding rapidly.

“We’re growing our company by 500 employees every month and competing for talent against Google and other tech companies. Our employees would rather go to Nepal to be part of an earthquake relief effort or go to Malawi, Haiti or Ghana to install solar than go to a resort.”

Written by adminJanuary 15, 2016

Travel

We went down the lane, by the body of the man in black, sodden now from the overnight hail, and broke into the woods at the foot of the hill. We pushed through these towards the railway without meeting a soul.

The woods across the line were but the scarred and blackened ruins of woods.
For the most part the trees had fallen, but a certain proportion still stood, dismal grey stems, with dark brown foliage instead of green.
On our side the fire had done no more than scorch the nearer trees; it had failed to secure its footing.

In one place the woodmen had been at work on Saturday; trees, felled and freshly trimmed, lay in a clearing, with heaps of sawdust by the sawing-machine and its engine.

Written by adminJanuary 9, 2016

Travel

After partaking of my evening meal of cheese-like food and vegetable milk I sought out Sola, whom I found working by the light of a torch upon some of Tars Tarkas’ trappings. She looked up at my approach, her face lighting with pleasure and with welcome.
I am glad you came,” she said; “Dejah Thoris sleeps and I am lonely. Mine own people do not care for me, John Carter; I am too unlike them. It is a sad fate, since I must live my life amongst them, and I often wish that I were a true green Martian woman, without love and without hope; but I have known love and so I am lost. I promised to tell you my story, or rather the story of my parents. From what I have learned of you and the ways of your people I am sure that the tale will not seem strange to you, but among green Martians it has no parallel within the memory of the oldest living Thark, nor do our legends hold many similar tales.

Written by adminOctober 13, 2015

Travel

In a few minutes there was, so far as the soldier could see, not a living thing left upon the common, and every bush and tree upon it that was not already a blackened skeleton was burning. The hussars had been on the road beyond the curvature of the ground, and he saw nothing of them.

Later this shield staggered up on tripod legs and became the first of the fighting-machines I had seen. The gun he drove had been unlimbered near Horsell, in order to command the sand pits, and its arrival it was that had precipitated the action. As the limber gunners went to the rear, his horse trod in a rabbit hole and came down, throwing him into a depression of the ground. At the same moment the gun exploded behind him, the ammunition blew up, there was fire all about him, and he found himself lying under a heap of charred dead men and dead horses.

Written by adminOctober 5, 2015

Travel

He pays regular, was the rejoinder. But come, it’s getting dreadful late, you had better be turning flukesit’s a nice bed Sal and me slept in that ere bed the night we were spliced. There’s plenty of room for two to kick about in that bed; it’s an almighty big bed that.

Why, afore we give it up, Sal used to put our Sam and little Johnny in the foot of it.
But I got a dreaming and sprawling about one night, and somehow, Sam got pitched on the floor, and came near breaking his arm. Arter that, Sal said it wouldn’t do.
Come along here, I’ll give ye a glim in a jiffy;” and so saying he lighted a candle and held it towards me, offering to lead the way.
But I stood irresolute; when looking at a clock in the corner, he exclaimed..

I considered the matter a moment, and then up stairs we went, and I was ushered into a small room, cold as a clam, and furnished, sure enough, with a prodigious bed, almost big enough indeed for any four harpooneers to sleep abreast.

Pages: 1 2 3 4

Written by adminAugust 17, 2015

Travel

Then beyond the bend my brother stopped again. Miss Elphinstone was white and pale, and her sister-in-law sat weeping, too wretched even to call upon “George.” My brother was horrified and perplexed. So soon as they had retreated he realised how urgent and unavoidable it was to attempt this crossing. He turned to Miss Elphinstone, suddenly resolute. We must go that way,” he said, and led the pony round again.

For the second time that day this girl proved her quality. To force their way into the torrent of people, my brother plunged into the traffic and held back a cab horse, while she drove the pony across its head. A waggon locked wheels for a moment and ripped a long splinter from the chaise.

In another moment they were caught and swept forward by the stream. My brother, with the cabman’s whip marks red across his face and hands, scrambled into the chaise and took the reins from her. Point the revolver at the man behind,” he said, giving it to her, “if he presses us too hard. No!–point it at his horse.”

Uber Trying to Turn Things Around

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Categories

Become a member

Popular Posts