Alaska Airlines is about to catch some abuse: WorldNetDaily is reporting that the airline is offering a 10 percent discount on some fares for those who book through the airline's 'gay' page. WND recorded this image when they visited the site:.jpg)
While the page has now been changed, it still carries the title 'Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air Gay Travel.'
The truth is 'worse' than that. Although it's not reported by WND, the airline has a homepage for 'Gay Travel' here, and offers discounts for flights to many LGBT events. They even include a shortcut to the 'Avis Pride' site (motto: 'we try harder.').
I'd be surprised if there's anything unusual about this. Many companies offer discounts and niche marketing to certain groups. As a commenter at Fark points out, Alaska Airlines also offers discounts for Catholics traveling to certain events. I see no indication that the offers on the Alaska Airlines site are in any way limited to gay customers; it's simply the way they're marketed. I suspect you'll find the same thing if you search the websites of many large companies.
Hopefully the approach isn't quite so ham-handed, though. Isn't 'gay travel' just a little over the top?
Friday, November 30, 2007
Not That There's Anything Wrong With That...
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Meet the Joker
Gotta see the Dark Knight. I'm not a fan of Heath Ledger, but he looks like he'll make a good Joker:
And if you want to see what Indiana Jones looks like 20 years later, check over here.
Wednesday Funny
The greatest link I've seen in a while: a compendium of 150 Monty Python sketches. You know you want to click. Here's one sample:
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Political Correctness Reaches Its Logical Conclusion
Employees of the City of Denver are offended by a diversity training video -- which portrays a white male as the only offender against societal norms:
A diversity training video has drawn a complaint from a Denver city employee who claims its unfavorable portrayal of whites amounts to "institutional racism."
The video titled, "Laughing Matters -- Think About It," features a white, blue-collar worker named Billy who's portrayed as racist, sexist, and clueless while illustrating inappropriate humor.
"Diversity, to me, doesn't mean hammer the white guy," said Dennis Supple, a heating, ventilation and air conditioning mechanic who said he's considering filing a lawsuit. "Diversity means you have respect for everyone, regardless of their race, their gender, their religion, their sexual orientation."
City Councilman Charlie Brown said he's also offended by the video and has written a letter to Mayor John Hickenlooper questioning the use of the video.
How bad is it? Judge for yourself. It's certainly insulting to white males, but not any more (it seems to me) than other portrayals of insensitive white males in modern culture.
Sean Taylor
Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor has passed away. As Victor points out, it feels like this is something other than a simple 'smash and grab.'
Until recently, Taylor was one of those who always seemed to find trouble -- most notably in an instance where Taylor's car was apparently shot up by someone Taylor had accused of stealing his ATVs. More recently, Taylor had reportedly cleaned up his act. A week ago however, someone broke into Taylor's Miami home when no one was there, and left a knife on the bed. When Taylor was shot the other night, the burglar(s) cut the phone line to his house and then headed straight to the master bedroom after breaking in. It feels like another shoe is yet to drop in this story.
In searching for news about Taylor, I came across this fan video. In light of Taylor's passing, the choice of sound effect is kind of chilling:
A Great Christmas Idea -- and It's NASA Endorsed!
I wonder how much the inventor of the Pet Rock made. Probably not as much as the lady who pioneered the sale of tumbleweeds online:
Order your own tumbleweed here. I hear they make great gifts.
I wonder how they grow these world-class tumbleweeds? The land doesn't look all that fertile:
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