Continental and United airplanes will be equipped with in-flight Wi-Fi, starting with 300 planes in mid-2012, with the rest of the fleet outfitted by 2015. United Continental Holdings announced that it has partnered with Panasonic Avionics Corporation to bring satellite-based Wi-Fi connectivity to its planes, according to a press release. "Panasonic's Ku-band satellite technology offers faster speed than air-to-ground technology (ATG) and will provide connectivity on flights worldwide," the press release stated. Consumer Reports
Submitted 1 years 195 days ago

Drought in the South and demand from China are driving up the cost of pecans for holiday pies and candies, reports The Associated Press. With the average retail price for a pound of pecans expected to be about $11 this year compared to $9 in 2010, and up from about $7 in 2008, Jeff Worn, vice president of South Georgia Pecan Co., is worried, as are others in the industry, that people will skip buying the nuts. Atlanta Business Chronicle
Submitted 1 years 195 days ago

Former Utah Governor and GOP presidential candidate Jon Hutsman told Meet The Press’ David Gregory this morning that state efforts to declare a fertilized human egg a legal person go “too far,” joining a growing chorus of anti-abortion Republicans, doctors, and religious leaders, in questioning the extremist “pesonhood” movement. At least half-dozen states are considering personhood amendments, with Mississippi slated to vote on the measure this coming Tuesday. The measure would essentially criminalize abortion, outlaw contraception like the birth control pill, and even prevent couples from having a child through in vitro fertilization. Think Progress
Submitted 1 years 195 days ago

Where will the Internet’s next greatest business be born? While most people immediately associate the phrase “start-up” with Silicon Valley, or New York, the fact is that there are millions of budding entrepreneurs outside of America’s existing technology centers. As broadband spreads into rural areas and small towns across the United States, economies are emerging in places that haven’t been considered viable markets by traditional investors and hardware manufacturers looking for areas to expand. That is about to change. Business Insider
Submitted 1 years 195 days ago

We wish no one chewed tobacco. It's a dangerous habit. But the United States is a free nation -- and that includes the freedom to make bad personal choices. So we're uneasy about a letter sent recently by four Democrat U.S. senators to the head of the union for major league baseball players. The letter said the union should agree to forbid players to chew tobacco at games and on camera, to avoid the negative influence it might have on children. We certainly agree that it would be an excellent idea for players not to chew tobacco. Chattanooga Times Free Press
Submitted 1 years 195 days ago

Whatever you do, don't squash it. That's the advice experts have for Georgia homeowners who encounter the brown marmorated stink bug as it scurries into cozy attics to wait out the winter. This stink bug is known to release a pungent odor that can be as foul as a skunk or spicy like cilantro. The pests have been spotted recently in the Peach State for the first time. Crawling through cracks and under siding, the bugs build nests and can cost homeowners hundreds of dollars to dislodge. Chattanooga Times Free Press
Submitted 1 years 195 days ago

“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” — Matthew 9:37 Good news. The jobs crisis is over. You read that correctly. There is plenty work available for downsized, furloughed and involuntarily separated laborers whose inability to land jobs in a rugged economy has driven the unemployment rate past 9 percent. You probably didn’t hear about it in your lamestream media, but the problem has indeed been solved — and it didn’t take some fancy pants economic stimulus package to get ‘er done, either. No, all that was needed was some old-fashioned American ingenuity. Miami Herald via The State
Submitted 1 years 195 days ago

Florida's former governor and senator, who co-chaired the National Commission on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, says a planned oil rig off the north coast of Cuba poses a risk to Florida. Particularly because the two nations don't have an agreement on how they'd cooperatively trouble-shoot an oil spill. Graham tells editorial writer Victor Schaffner that non-governmental delegations from the U.S. are meeting in Cuba, but, Graham says, "there's going to have to be some involvement by the U.S. government" to bring about an agreement. "Time is not your ally" after a spill, Graham says. An accident off Cuba could threaten the Keys and the entire east coast of Florida. And, he says, the Chinese-built, semisubmersible rig could be drilling for oil as soon as January. The Orlando Sentinel
Submitted 1 years 195 days ago

Lake Correctional Institution inmate Eric Harris has a beef with prison food. Harris, 34, serving a life sentence at the Clermont state prison for sexual battery on a child, wants a judge to stop Florida from feeding inmates soy-laden entrees labeled "Southern BBQ," "meat loaf" and "meaty macaroni," which contain a heaping helping of a low-cost vegetable protein intended to imitate the taste of beef. The Orlando Sentinel
Submitted 1 years 195 days ago

The debate over spending among Republicans in Congress has become so intense that one Senate Republican leader has started wearing a flak jacket to meetings. Public attention has focused on the deficit-reduction supercommittee’s secret deliberations on cutting mandatory spending, which includes Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. But intra-party arguments over discretionary spending have broken out in recent weeks as lawmakers turn to the task of passing government funding bills for next year. The arguments have gotten so pointed that Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) wore a flak jacket to a Republican lunch meeting a few weeks ago. The Hill
Submitted 1 years 195 days ago