Today’s lunchtime news chum is more of a clearin’ o’ the links…
- Airlines and Finances. Fuel costs can have a lot of impact on airlines. Over at Delta, fuel costs combined with light passenger loads is resulting the loss of service for 24 smaller markets. The carrier says it is losing a total of $14 million a year on flights from places like Thief River Falls, a city of 8,600 in northwest Minnesota that fills only 12 percent of the seats, or Pierre, the capital of South Dakota, where Delta’s two daily flights are on average less than half full. This is due to the fuel costs for operating the regional jets people want; people no longer want to fly on the more fuel-efficient smaller turbo-prop aircrafts. Over at American, the news regards an order of 460 new aircraft from Boeing and Airbus. This is a major fleet replacement for American, and permits them to get rid of their old old gas-guzzling MD-80s. They will move from having one of the oldest fleets to one of the youngest. They are also talking about spinning off American Eagle.
- Monkey Bars. Bill Cosby used to have a routine about how parents designed playgrounds to kill kids. Today, of course, our playground are overly safe. An interesting NY Times articles asks the question whether they are too safe. Play is a time for children to explore: to conquer their fears, to learn, to challenge themselves. If everything is safe, children don’t learn to judge risk, they don’t learn that they can climb higher, they can take risks and survive. As I said, an interesting read.
- Oh, I’ve Got A Headache. Michele Bachmann is in the news again, primarily because she has migraines. Now, I’m not a Bachmann fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I feel for the woman in this case. I deal with migraines as well, and I know what a pain they can be… as well as how society stigmatizes those who suffer. She’s quoted as saying that they won’t affect her ability to serve; if so, I applaud her neurologist for getting them under control, for they are unpredictable. The article notes that about 30 million Americans — an estimated 6 percent of men and 18 percent of women — suffer from migraines, which can range in severity from mild to debilitating. If you’re on LJ, a good support group is migraines.
- Deja Vu. Back in 1973, I saw Florence Henderson in The Sound of Music at the LA Civic Light opera (I seem to recall also seeing Sally Anne Howe in the role). Turns out I’m going to be seeing it again. No, not Florence, but the sets. According to this really interesting interview with Lewis Wilkenfeld of Cabrillo, the set that Cabrillo will be using for their upcoming production of The Sound of Music is the same set that LACLO used for their 1973 production. It’s been bounced around a bit: It’s on loan from Music Theatre West in Long Beach. It was owned by San Bernardino Civic Light Opera for a time; they probably picked it up from Los Angeles CLO. When San Bernardino went under, they sold the scenery to Santa Barbara CLO, and they rented it out for many years and then it went to The Set Co. in Oxnard. Set Co. went under in 2006 and all these sets were given homes. Cabrillo bought some, including sets for The King and I and The Music Man. MTW bought others. Many came pretty trashed and without documentation. MTW decided to let Cabrillo rent it for a very affordable price and, in return, Cabrillo would refurbish it and provide current photos with its ‘face-lift.’ Nobody has used the Sound of Music set since at least 2006.
