I know the site has been up and down lately, sorry about that. A big part of it is out of my control but I’ve tried to work some hacks here and there to get things working a bit better. Things should improve over the next few days.
-Aop
Google now lets you personalized your homepage with themes. The bus stop theme (shown above) gives the option of entering in a zip code to anywhere in the US. The weather, background, and dress of the characters in the theme will change to reflect the weather to the location you choose. A nice way to keep up with that “daggon rain” grandma keeps talking about no matter where in the world you are.
Of course foXnoMad can be added to Google pages (and Yahoo, AOL, and Bloglines) pages too. Google also comes in hand for some nifty vacation hacking, traffic reports, and even resumes.
Thinking is a relative term but research shows that doing imaginary exercise actually strengthens real muscles.
A team of 30 healthy young adults imagined either using the muscle of their little finger or of their elbow flexor. Compared to a control group ? that did no imaginary exercises and showed no strength gains ? the little-finger group increased their pinky muscle strength by 35%. The other group increased elbow strength by 13.4%.
It is easier than actually doing curls next to the crying baby in the back of an airplane to Hong Kong. Combined with 20 second abs you can become the next governor of California in trans-Atlantic flight.
There are no more H1-b visas left for 2007 after 150,000 applications were received by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services this week.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said Tuesday that it had received 150,000 applications as of Monday afternoon for the controversial work permits, which allow foreigners with a bachelor’s degree in their area of specialty to be employed in the United States for up to six years.
That’s more than enough applications to meet the cap for the fiscal year 2008 crop of visas, which is currently 65,000, so USCIS said it would be accepting no more petitions.
Difficulty in getting visas has slowed down tourist arrivals to the US as well.
Finding a safe place to sleep on a road trip can be challenging, especially overseas. If you are in this situation plan your trip so that you come across a larger city towards nightfall. Most mid-to-large cities have airports (even in the third world) and you can park your car and sleep in the lobby.
Airports are easy to find, almost always open 24 hours, and provide you with relatively reliable security. Free (and clean) restrooms, clocks, some places to eat and coffee as well. Finally, you are guaranteed at least a few other people around so you don’t have to sleep alone.
Flyers, find the best places to sleep by your gate.
Andy suggested in the comments aother good way to find an unlikely place to visit.
PassportStamp.com lets users create personalized maps of countries they’ve been to (requires free registration, TravBuddy doesn’t). The result is a world map that shows the collective popularity of each nation based on about 2,300 travelers. PassportStamp’s blog also has a few useful travel tools.
Europe, North America, and Australia seem to be the hot spots while Africa and the Middle East are a bit negleced but hopefully won’t be in 10 years if our predictions hold true.
Hi, I'm Anil. foXnoMad is where I combine travel and tech to help you travel smarter. I'm on a journey to every country in the world and you're invited to join the adventure! Read More 
