(토요모임) [Oct. 4, 2014]Saturday meeting topic

[Ray`]

A Bumpy Ride: Airplane Food Through The Decades

by April Fulton
September 25, 201411:32 AM ET

The good old days: A flight attendant serves coffee and sandwiches to a passenger on board an American Airlines flight, circa 1935.

Frederic Lewis/Archive Photos/Getty Images                            

People who fly coach on domestic carriers these days don't expect much from the in-flight service beyond watery soda and maybe a salty snack. Or if they're in the air for a few hours, they might get the option to buy a "meal" that looks like a cross between hospital food and school lunch. But that's not how it used to be.

Back in the 1920s, just a few adventurers took flight — think Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh — and they usually brought their own sandwiches, according to the History Channel blog, Hungry History.

As air travel attracted more pleasure passengers in the 1930s, i.e. the wealthy, flight attendants began serving elaborate multicourse meals on real china and with real silver. Airplanes hired teams of cooks and installed brand new heating elements.

"In a 1938 article detailing the food service program at Newark Airport, Mrs. G. Thomas French explained how she managed the kitchen program for the entire airport. She proudly noted that her kitchen 'does all our own baking – pies, tarts, pastries, cream roll desserts, breads and muffins.' She even knew individual passengers' likes and schedules, and wouldn't serve the same meal two consecutive Mondays if she knew that meant a specific traveler would have the same meal twice," writes Stephanie Butler of Hungry History.

Then, in the 1950s, more people started flying, and it got more expensive to feed all those new passengers. So the airlines started cutting the food budget.

"Between the '60s and the '80s, it just got worse and worse," says Jason Kessler, the editor and founder of Fly and Dine, a food blog for frequent fliers. It was like airlines began using "a weird outdated robot who was putting things down a conveyor belt with no thought or care," he tells The Salt. Think tin foil-topped packages of mushy mystery meat.

Add to that the oil crisis and airline deregulation, which further brought fares down and competition up, and the airlines didn't have as much cash to spend on customers. "Cost made good food go away," Kessler says.

That is, of course, unless you were traveling internationally.

If you are hungry to relive those polyester days of "five-star dinners and unlimited cocktails" on an international flight of the 1970s, head to Los Angeles. A film studio hosts a retro dinner on a stage set up to look like a Pan Am double-decker 747. Note: You'll have to shell out a couple hundred bucks and show up dressed to the nines in period garb.

Break out the polyester: For a price, you can go back in time on an L.A. sound set and enjoy a meal in the style of an international Pan Am flight in the 1970s, complete with linens and china.

Courtesy of Michael Kelley/Air Hollywood                            

By the go-go 1980s, airlines began looking for ways to distinguish themselves. One way to do that was to improve the food. "Determined to remove the stigma attached to airline food, in 1988 American became the first airline to enlist the expertise of prominent and well-respected chefs to help craft the direction of its in-flight food service," says an American Airlines press release from 2008.

Hungry? These peanuts and drink, served aboard a Delta flight in July, are about all you'll get on domestic flights these days.  Ron Cogswell/Flickr                           

Alas, only elite fliers got to enjoy the upgraded meals. The program, known as Chefs' Conclave, let first-class and business passengers sample meals — like chipotle BBQ short ribs and charred tomato and eggplant soup — designed by top regional chefs.

Chef's Conclave was discontinued in 2013, around the time American began its merger with US Airways.

"We actually no longer use celebrity chefs in our menu design process," Laura Nedbal, a spokeswoman for American, tells us via email. From now on, she writes, the airline will be turning to "internal talent" to create its passenger meals.

Still, amid the economic turmoil and terrorist threats of the past two decades, the quality and quantity of airline food has continued to decline, particularly in coach.

"The airlines run so lean that they have to cut costs wherever they can," says Kessler. "Instead of offering meals to everybody, you have to buy it on board or you don't get anything."

The Salt

Flying This Holiday? Here Are A Few Tips To Survive Airline Food

So what's a passenger in the cheap seats to do? Pack your own grub or grab something at the terminal, which isn't nearly as bleak-sounding as it used to be.

"Terminals have completely transformed," Kessler says.

For example, the newly rehabbed Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX boasts a handful of boutique restaurants developed by celebrity chefs. And many major terminals around the country now house upscale wine bars, full-service diners and grab-and-go fare — including salads, yogurt and other, more healthful options than in years past.

Technology is also helping to connect passengers with food beyond the confines of the airport.

If you're flying into Finland or Amsterdam, you can now shop online midflight and pick up your groceries at the airport in refrigerated lockers. Now that's an idea we'd like to see land on our side of the pond.

   Retrieve from http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/09/25/350822871/

a-bumpy-ride-airplane-food-through-the-decades]

1. Which airline's food service has been the best/ the worst in your life?
2. Have you ever flighted first or business class?
   How was it, food, seat, and service?
3. Do you usually drink while having flight?
   and other habits, reading, whatching movie?
4. I remember the moment that I bought sandwich when I flighted with American airline in the US.
   Do you have a same experience and what do you think of it?

Some iPhone 6 Plus Users Find An Unwanted Feature:

It Bends

by Tim Fitzsimons
September 24, 2014 2:47 PM ET 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znK652H6yQM

YouTube

The consumer technology industry generally follows a few rules when it comes to developing new products: faster, thinner and (often) bigger. But the push toward increasingly svelte devices has a clear end point: No device can become thinner forever before running into the obvious challenges posed by physics and daily use.

Earlier this month Apple wowed the world with its new line of iPhones, both of which are larger and thinner than the previous versions. And consumers can't get enough of them: 10 million phones were sold last weekend, breaking the previous record set last year by the iPhone 5S and 5C.

And SquareTrade, an electronics insurance company, found the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus to be sturdier than most phones both in drop tests and water resistance.

But some users of Apple's new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are finding that their superslim glass and aluminum devices aren't holding up well in a less harsh environment: their pockets. Under the combined stress of human weight and a pair of tight pants, the phones are bending, usually around the volume buttons where the aluminum casing is thinnest.

What is to blame? The fashion trend toward skinnier and skinnier pants? The technology trend toward slimmer and wider devices?

Ryan Richardson, an AT&T cable technician from Birmingham, Ala., says his iPhone 6 Plus bent even in his baggy work pants.

"I keep my phone in my front pocket all the time, all day, every day — have for the last nine years," Richardson explains. Earlier, he had been on the MacRumors.com forums defending the iPhone 6 Plus against those who criticized its design. But when he checked his own phone after about 48 hours of pocket time, he found it had warped.

"This whole thinness thing is really driving me insane," Richardson says. "I would rather have a thicker phone with a bigger battery, and not have a camera lens sticking out of it."

Richardson says he plans to wait to see if Apple addresses the issue before bringing the phone in for a replacement.

Twitter users around the world weighed in on the new Apple controversy under the hashtag #bendgate. Like previous controversies involving the tech giant, #bendgate is highlighting the divide between those who adore Apple products and those who think the hype is overblown.

And this isn't the first time the Apple Internet fan base has erupted in anger over a design flaw of an iPhone. Back in 2010, the antennas of the iPhone 4, which were the first to be fused into the frame of the phone, lost reception when touched a certain way. Independent tests confirmed what many on Twitter and across the Web reported.

 

That design flaw had real consequences for Apple: Public pressure forced an appearance by late-CEO Steve Jobs, a class-action lawsuit, and a free case program.

Jobs caused a stir when he suggested it was the fault of the user. In an email sent to a customer, he said: "Just avoid holding it in that way."

As for now, new iPhone users would be well-advised to sit carefully.

Update at 4:34 p.m. ET Thursday: Apple Responds

Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller said Thursday that iPhones are "designed, engineered and manufactured to be both beautiful and sturdy." She said just nine people have contacted Apple due to unexpected bending with the iPhone 6 Plus. Bending of the phones is "extremely rare" with normal use, Muller said.

Tim Fitzsimons is a reporter based in Washington, D.C. He writes about technology, business and the Middle East.

Retrieve from http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/09/24/351192506/

some-iphone-6-plus-users-find-an-unwanted-feature-it-bends

1. What do you think of the problem "Cell phone bending"?
2. Did you whatch other companies' reaction commercial about bending cell phone?
   and how did you feel?
3. Where do you usually put and carry your cell phone?
4. Decribe your cell phone and tell us your most favorite factor of your cell phone, please.
5. Which cell phone brand do you like best? and why?

[Scarlet]

Thanx for uploading ! and could you add some simple questions?
Thanx for your dedication to club as always !~

[Ray`]

Ma pleasure and I will make questions soon.
Just a little be patient ^^