Shot of the day

Yours truly is currently on a cross-country road trip with MINI Takes The States. In the meantime, here's a sight that's becoming less and less common at LAX: Two passenger B747s together.

More Eurowhite

After my post from earlier this month, one might suppose that I don't like the current trend of airline liveries. But as always, there's the exception that proves the rule, and this is it. Above and immediately below are Iberia's new colors on an A340-600. I apologize for the poor photos, but you get the idea.

And now, take a look at the livery that is being replaced by what you've seen above:

A definite improvement, wouldn't you say? Meanwhile, from the department of Just Because, another shot of the new Air New Zealand livery, this time modeled on a B777-200, which we don't see very often at LAX in New Zealand colors:

Home sick

This post is brought to you by the Life isn't Fair Dept. 

It's my one day off, and I'm home sick. Just like when I was a kid and got sick during summer vacation, I feel cheated. Why can't I be sick on a work day, when I could take sick leave? Of course, it's a shame to use sick leave when you're actually not feeling well (so I'm told). So, instead of the thousand other things I ought (and was planning, I promise!) to do, I got to while away some time in the interwebs. Here are some of my favorites. They're not in any particular order, but I'm pretty sure that they're all safe for work. Those of you who tune in exclusively for aviation-related content are going to be pretty disappointed with the first half.


First up, a theme song for those of us who grew up in homes with no TV, but thousands of books (not to mention walking distance to the library!):

For more grammar help, check out The Oatmeal:

The Oatmeal Grammar comics

Next, I'm (obviously) a plane geek. But nerds come in a wide variety of flavors:

As I've mentioned occasionally, I do time at the Long Beach Shakespeare Company. This isn't our production, but they've got a great (and slightly gross) trailer:

I was R2 before anyone ever heard of Star Wars, but I can't do this:

My sister (the smart sibbling) is a vet. The link is not her blog, but it is something she wants you know:

Six things about your vet

Warning: This Huffington Post piece is a tear-jerker. Have your Kleenex ready.

Robyn Arouty Photography

A dog's last day: A story in pictures

Segue time. Here's an LA Times article that combines animals and aviation:

 Giant african snails seized at LAX

For those of you who wonder where I get some of my LAX-related news, check out Eye on L.A. Aviation:

This link L.A. Aviation archive will take you to the archive page. Select any of the dates to see that day's update, which has links to the stories. If you really like it, there's a subscribe link down at the bottom of the daily update.

For those of us annoyed by the TSA's screening procedures, take a look at this Wired article: TSA instagram

If all of that isn't enough, here are some other places I frequent on the web:

This blog is assembled and edited on a fleet of old and ancient Macs. This is my favorite reference for old Mac stuff:

Low End Mac

I have a MINI; this is a podcast about MINIs:

whiteroofradio

A webcomic that features Minis:

 Ydrolina

Another comic, this one drawn by a teacher that features a Mini and a MINI (bonus points if you know the difference!). Oh, and there's a monkey:

My Geek Odyssey

One more MINI-related site, about a little girl and the travels of her MINI:

Ryan's MINI Adventure

Where my avgas dollars go:

Pilots N Paws

As well as here:

Angel Flight

And here:

Angel Flight West

There are plenty of other aviation blogs out there. Here are my favorites:

Taking Wing

Decision Height

Cockpit Conversation

If you've made it this far, thanks for playing. Stay tuned for regular aviation content.

Shots of the day: New New Zealand

As hard as it is for me to believe, we're already a week into July. Once again, I find myself overdue for a post. Taking photos at this time of year can be challenging: In the mornings and evenings when the light is best, we're often beset by the marine layer that turns everything gray. When the marine layer burns off in the middle of the day, the summer sun gives a harsh light that glares. Shooting through the tower windows helps a bit, but as several of you have noted, also gives a greenish tint to everything. No doubt all of that can be fixed with enough tweaking in Photoshop, but I don't have that kind of time available -- sorry.

But enough of that. Air New Zealand has been doing some interesting things with their paint schemes recently: There's the All Blacks livery, all black with the white fern; the first and now second of the Hobbit airplanes (and looking forward to the third); and now New Zealand has showed up with a new version of their livery. While new, this is perhaps not as interesting as the previous developments, as it appears New Zealand has chosen to remain a member of the Eurowhite contingent. 

For those not familiar, Eurowhite is the term for the currently popular trend among airlines to have solid white airplanes with just their name on the side and their logo on the tail. It's a very clean look, and practical to boot. However, now that everyone is doing it, it's becoming boring. The trend may have started in Europe, but it's caught on around the world:

Ok, rant over. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Thanks to OJ and TB for helping with the New Zealand shots.