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(CNN) -- Provocative flight attendants' uniforms used to raise eyebrows in the 1970s "Fly Me" era of aviation, but these days it's the passengers who are under scrutiny for their attire.

Saggy pants, exposed underwear and flashes of skin are getting some fliers in trouble and prompting questions about what's acceptable to wear when you're stuck in a metal tube with hundreds of strangers.

Consider these recent examples.

On September 1, Green Day lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong tweeted, "Just got kicked off a Southwest flight because my pants sagged too low!"

A local television producer who was on the same flight from Oakland, California, to Burbank, California, said a flight attendant approached Armstrong as he was trying to find his seat and asked him to pull his pants up. When he dismissed the request, she repeated it, the witness said. Armstrong was then removed from the flight.

Southwest Airlines said it was sorry about the incident.

"As soon as we became aware of what had happened, we reached out to apologize for this customer's experience," said spokesman Chris Mainz in a statement.

"He elected to take the next flight. We followed up with this customer and involved employees to get more details and, in our latest conversations, understand from the customer the situation was resolved to his satisfaction."

Oprah.com: What not to wear to airports

A tale of two incidents

In June, Deshon Marman -- a football player at the University of New Mexico -- was arrested on board a US Airways flight at San Francisco International Airport following an incident that started at the gate, when agents asked Marman to pull up his pants to cover his underwear, police said.

After repeated refusals from Marman, the crew alerted the captain to the disruption and police were called in to assist, authorities said.

The San Mateo County District Attorney's Office declined to file charges against Marman in the case.

US Airways did not reply to requests for an interview for this story, but spokeswoman Valerie Wunder said at the time that although the carrier does not have a specific dress code, it asks "passengers to dress in an appropriate manner to ensure the safety and comfort of all our passengers."

But the airline came under fire when it was revealed that just days earlier, it allowed a man dressed only in blue women's underwear, black thigh-high stockings and a blue tank top covered by a see-through cardigan to fly from Florida to Arizona.]]> 1 Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:38:27 +0400 http://mskdip.ru/arts-and-culture/42-10-volunteer-opportunities-for-free-travel.html http://mskdip.ru/arts-and-culture/42-10-volunteer-opportunities-for-free-travel.html
(Matador Network) -- The chance to give something back, an opportunity to share your skills and knowledge, to meet other travelers or simply to meet the locals...

There are many reasons to volunteer while you're traveling and there are literally thousands of charities and organizations that look for help from passing travelers.

Matador Network: How to travel for free

Many ask for donations or fees to cover costs and others operate as for-profit businesses, but the list below includes only those that cost little or nothing to get involved with and help out:

1. WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms)

Board and lodging is offered in exchange for a day's work on the farm. Stays available from one week to many years, and with thousands of hosts available in 53 countries there's an opportunity suitable for everyone.

For more information, check out A First-Timer's Guide to WWOOF-ing.

Matador Network: Four questions to ask before WWOOF-ing

2. Turtle Teams, Worldwide

A generic name for the thousands of small groups that help threatened sea turtles. Most groups are based at one or two nesting beaches — which are typically at risk from over-exploitation — and appreciate help for even just one night.

Search for groups at the local tourist office close to any tropical beach and help a species come off the endangered list. More information can be found at these larger organizations: www.seaturtles.org and www.cccturtle.org.

3. Conservation Volunteers, Australia and New Zealand

Through various short-term projects in Australia, New Zealand, and a few international locations, you'll work in teams to protect habitats and promote ecotourism.

A small fee (usually around AUS$100 for a week) is usually required to participate, but covers all food and lodging. UK-based BTCV (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers) has similar opportunities.

4. Sudan Volunteer Programme, Sudan

Teach English in one of the world's most impoverished countries. Placements are at schools or universities, but many volunteers help with community projects in additional to their teaching.]]> 1 Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:37:11 +0400 http://mskdip.ru/arts-and-culture/41-discover-icelands-fire-and-ice.html http://mskdip.ru/arts-and-culture/41-discover-icelands-fire-and-ice.html
Breathtaking waterfalls, fjords, volcanoes, mountains and glaciers dot the map as landmarks on this seemingly small island. But adventuring across Iceland, you'll find that it is full of natural wonder and miles of undiscovered whimsy.

"Once you've been there, you'll find there is something about Iceland that just digs in deep and keeps you wanting more," iReporter Mallory Swanson said. "Each time you think you've seen the most beautiful sight in the world, you'll drive around the next corner and have to update your top 10 list."

Ring around the country: Nine days in Iceland

Adventure awaits around each corner, brimming with history and wonderment. Locals and visitors alike say the best way to experience Iceland is by planning on taking a two-week trip. Otherwise, you might miss out on some spectacular facet of this glimmering jewel in the North Atlantic Ocean.

"I've traveled to around 30 countries, and I can say without any doubt that Iceland is the most beautiful place I've ever seen, not to mention the boundless warmth and humor of its people," iReporter Alan Patrick Watts said.

Icelandic scenery at its best

At times, you'll feel isolated amongst the hauntingly beautiful landscape. That's the joy of taking a trip to Iceland; it is a true escape from anything you've ever known.

"Get out of the city and visit the more remote locations, especially the South Coast, Snaefellsnes and the West Fjords," iReporter Amy Billing said. "Once you get out of Reykjavik, Iceland opens up into a vast, untouched natural landscape where you are likely to encounter few, if any other people."

Prepare to see myriad wonders, some that even roll right into one another. It depends on what part of Iceland you want to experience.

"Every few kilometers is another waterfall, some more spectacular than the last, but all different," iReporter Richard Wile said. "This lush lowland is constantly interrupted by evidence of Iceland's contrast of fire and ice; one minute you are in the lush lowlands and then a transition to black lava dust fields for miles, followed by vast moss-covered lava fields for hours at a stretch."

Eat like a Viking in Iceland

Take a tour

The sheer, wide open expanse of Iceland can be intimidating to first-time visitors and venerable travelers alike. Don't assume that taking a tour will make you more of a tourist -- it could very well be the best way to experience Iceland.

"Iceland is remote in many locations and can be somewhat difficult to navigate -- outside of Reykjavik and the Golden Circle -- on your own," Billing said. For the areas around Reykjavik, like the Glacial Lagoon and Snaefellsnes, she recommends taking a tour with Goecco.

"If I were going to do one thing in Iceland, it would be to take a tour with Goecco," she said. "The guides from this company take small groups out to extremely remote locations that are beautiful beyond imagination. The guides are charismatic and offer an extremely unique perspective on both life in Iceland and its natural landscape."

iReporter Marc Burba experienced Iceland while using a bus tour. "On our visits we used Reykjavik Excursions to tour parts of the country. We never felt crowded or rushed. The larger tour buses are roomy and comfortable, and the smaller tour vans are nice. We normally don't enjoy organized tours, but we've never gone wrong with them. They got us to remote waterfalls that we may not have found otherwise."

Getting around

"I rented a car and drove clockwise around the island and never looked back!" iReporter Bryce Anzelmo said.

Some visitors to Iceland swear by renting an off-road vehicle and exploring the country yourself, if you're feeling adventurous. But beware, these aren't like the traffic-clogged interstates you're used to. Farm animals and fresh gravel are the enemy here.

Wile recommends maintaining a full tank of gas before venturing off, as well as food -- outside of the main towns, gas stations are few and far between. And just because the road sign says that a location is 80 km away, don't assume it will take an hour. A network of skinny, gravel roads comprise much of Iceland's countryside.]]> 1 Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:36:12 +0400 http://mskdip.ru/arts-and-culture/40-f-16s-scrambled-in-two-flight-incidents.html http://mskdip.ru/arts-and-culture/40-f-16s-scrambled-in-two-flight-incidents.html
What happened on the flights has no nexus to terrorism, a federal law enforcement official said.

In the first incident, the Transportation Security Administration was notified of passengers allegedly behaving oddly on American Airlines Flight 34 from Los Angeles International Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, said TSA spokesman Greg Soule.

Out of an abundance of caution, authorities sent two F-16 jets to shadow the flight until it landed safely at JFK at approximately 4:10 p.m. ET, Soule said, adding law enforcement will interview passengers. J. Peter Donald of the the FBI in New York said the incident involved three passengers.

Tim Smith, a spokesman for American, told CNN that a passenger alerted the crew to a perceived security concern. The captain investigated and elected not to declare a security threat, and no one on board requested military or law enforcement assistance, Smith said.

The second incident involved Frontier Airlines Flight 623 from Denver International Airport to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.

Crew members noticed two men acting suspiciously. One spent about 20 minutes in a bathroom in the back of the plane, while the other waited in a forward galley before using the restroom, also for 20 minutes, said Frontier spokesman Peter Kowalchuk.


"The crew did not feel threatened," Kowalchuk said, but "maintained surveillance" of the men.

TSA spokeswoman Kristin Lee said the agency was notified at 3:15 p.m. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) ordered an unspecified number of F-16s to shadow the flight, Lee said.]]> 1 Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:35:20 +0400 http://mskdip.ru/arts-and-culture/39-keep-your-shoes-on-at-the-airport.html http://mskdip.ru/arts-and-culture/39-keep-your-shoes-on-at-the-airport.html

(CNN) -- There's been a lot of talk lately suggesting that the era of taking your shoes off when you pass through airport security may be coming to an end. That sounds great, but I wouldn't get too excited just yet.

This may be a ray of hope for those looking for a less burdensome air travel security experience, but it's really just a tiny piece of what needs to be fixed with security. If it happens, it will only have a very slight impact on the overall experience.

The buzz was started by Secretary Janet Napolitano of the Department of Homeland Security.

At an event recently, she said that when it comes to air travel screening, "one of the first things you will see over time is the ability to keep your shoes on."
Soon: Shoes stay on at airport security
Soon: Shoes stay on at airport security

So, will this be happening soon? I doubt it. Note the part that says "over time."

You'll remember that the rule requiring people to take their shoes off when they pass through security came after Richard Reid put explosives in his shoes and tried to light them in flight.

He wasn't successful at blowing up an airplane, but he was successful at making security screening more miserable. Traditional metal detectors couldn't catch the explosives, so people were forced to put their shoes on the X-ray belt like everything else.

Homeland Security gets mixed reviews ahead of 9/11 anniversary

Why is Napolitano now suggesting that this rule will end? The government has yet to find a technology it considers adequate for scanning shoes while they're still on people's feet.

Until that happens, I simply can't imagine any change happening. Maybe this means that a new technology is on the horizon, but we've seen that song and dance before. (Remember the puffer machines?)]]> 1 Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:34:13 +0400 http://mskdip.ru/entertainment/38-entourage-final-episode-review.html http://mskdip.ru/entertainment/38-entourage-final-episode-review.html
The saga of Vincent Chase, young actor on the make as a movie star, was never meant to be anything more than a lighter-than-air sitcom, with HBO freedom to show more of the skin available to a star like Vinnie and allow Ari Gold to scream more explicitly than he could on most other sitcoms. Early on in its life, Entourage did a pretty good job of making you care whether Vince could retain his sense of integrity while being the star of an Aquaman hit and the auteur of the flop Medellin. After a while, however, we came to realize that Vince had slowly, steadily lost any sense of the division between idealism and success. In this, the series mirrored what was going on in the pop culture, the politics, and the economy of America over the years in which Entourage existed.

Entourage remained one of HBO’s most popular shows, with a loyal fan base, not because it remained funny — sometimes whole seasons passed without a real laugh-out-loud moment — but because its audience had really bought into the brotherhood of Vince, Eric, Johnny, and Turtle. The real attraction of Entourage wasn’t its jokes or its guest-star cameos, but its suggestion that a group of buddies could come up from nothing and become little kings of their worlds. It was like Scarface, without the chainsaw and blood: Every week, we said hello to these leetle friends.

If fans identified with and fantasized through Vince and his pals, they vented vicariously through Ari, the venal, foul-mouthed agent who made millions for himself and others, and almost never let an enemy slip away without the mortal wounds of profane insults. The other actors had to remain likable; Jeremy Piven had the toughest job: He had to render Ari over-the-top cruel, realistically cynical, and likable. No wonder he’s the one who won the awards.

I’m guessing that if you remained a regular viewer of Entourage, there were probably very few surprises in the finale. You just knew these guys were going to remain loyal bros to the very end. You could have guessed the series would want to marry off Vince — what could complete the show’s fantasy of the man who had it all more than a beautiful blonde to whom he could give a $1.4 million dollar ring and fly off to marry in Paris? You just knew E was going to win over Sloan. Really, the only person who experienced real change was Turtle, and that was only because Jerry Ferrara lost some weight.

One thing that kept Entourage from being a great show — aside from its highly uneven quality from season to season — was that it never really made up its mind who its central character was, Vince or Ari. Creator Doug Ellin, who wrote the final episode, settled that question once and for all on Sunday night, by giving the final scene to Ari.]]> 1 Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:31:54 +0400 http://mskdip.ru/expert-opinions/37-pay-attention-to-terror-threats.html http://mskdip.ru/expert-opinions/37-pay-attention-to-terror-threats.html
(CNN) -- There are many lessons to be learned from our experiences before and after 9/11. One lesson is that when you get a wake-up call...Wake Up! We received many wake-up calls from Osama bin Laden before 9/11.

February 1993: The first World Trade Center attack by Ramzi Yousef, Omar Abdul Rahman (the blind Sheikh) and its financier, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad. Six people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured.

June 1993: Rahman and others were charged in a plot to bomb New York landmarks including the Lincoln Tunnel, George Washington Bridge and the FBI's New York office.

October 1993: Al Qaeda-trained followers kill 18 and wound 73 U.S. military officers in Mogadishu, Somalia, now known as "Black Hawk Down."

Thomas Fuentes

August 1998: The bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania leave 12 Americans and hundreds of others dead. The FBI places bin Laden on its Ten Most Wanted list.
9/11 anniversary terror threat
9/11 anniversary terror threat

October 2000: The bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen kills 17 sailors.

September 11, 2001: The coordinated attack included four hijacked planes, two of which were flown into each World Trade Center tower and a third into the Pentagon. The fourth crashed in a Pennsylvania field when passengers heroically stormed the cockpit.

In the summer of 2001, the declared priorities of the Department of Justice were guns and gangs. An FBI request for hundreds of additional agents, analysts and linguists for its counterterrorism program was rejected and returned on September 10.

Since 9/11, we have spent trillions of dollars fighting two wars and reorganizing the federal law enforcement and intelligence community. Significant enhancements were made to existing agencies, and the Department of Homeland Security, including the TSA, was created.

Are we safer today? I agree with experts who believe that a large sophisticated and coordinated attack such as 9/11 is extremely unlikely. The decimation of al Qaeda, the killing of bin Laden, the monitoring of the global financial network and international communications among terrorists, greater international sharing of information and public awareness make it nearly impossible to duplicate the scale and scope of the 9/11 plan.

The United States has now received "specific, credible but unconfirmed" information that one or more vehicles containing explosives may be used for an attack in New York and/or Washington this weekend. This reporting makes no mention of a large scale attack using aircraft. It is considered credible because accurate information has been previously obtained from this source. However, it is unconfirmed because the terrorists have not been identified and the actual attack plan has not been verified.]]> 1 Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:54:44 +0400 http://mskdip.ru/expert-opinions/36-eroded-our-shared-faith-and-american-identity.html http://mskdip.ru/expert-opinions/36-eroded-our-shared-faith-and-american-identity.html

My family was the embodiment of the American Dream: An immigrant father and first generation mother of differing ethnicities and faiths, who did more than just co-exist: They flourished.


Our mini "melting pot" succeeded because we focused on the commonalities between Islam and Christianity, the most obvious being that we worship the same God. How could we not? After all, we share almost identical prophets such as Moses, Abraham and Jesus.


My Muslim cousins would even celebrate Christmas with us every year - -not only to be social, but because there's a religious basis. To Muslims, Jesus is a prophet referred to in the Quran as "The Messiah," born of the Virgin Mary, who was herself born of immaculate conception.


Growing up in North Jersey in the 1980s, no one expressed any issues with our heritage or faith. In fact, in third grade my teacher asked me to bring my father to school for "show and tell" so the students could meet an Arab Muslim man. I can only imagine if this event was replicated today, some would protest, claiming my father was there trying to spread sharia law or convert the children to Islam.]]> 1 Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:52:58 +0400 http://mskdip.ru/expert-opinions/35-study-reveals-the-many-faces-of-terrorism.html http://mskdip.ru/expert-opinions/35-study-reveals-the-many-faces-of-terrorism.html
Yet our research indicates that al Qaeda and those motivated by its ideology are not the only sources of terrorism that the country faces and that terrorists across the ideological spectrum from those motivated by Osama bin Laden's ideology to neo-Nazis have managed to kill only 30 people in the United States since the attacks on Washington and New York a decade ago.

While each of those deaths is, or course, a tragedy, it is orders of magnitude smaller than the 15,000 Americans who are murdered every year.

Our study also found that Islamist terrorism has been no more deadly in the United States than other forms of domestic terrorism since September 11.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, one of the fears of ordinary citizens and terrorism experts alike was that a new wave of terrorists would strike, some of them armed with chemical, biological, radiological or even nuclear materials.

Ten years later, we have yet to see an Islamist terrorist incident involving such weapons in the United States, and no Islamist militant in this country has made a documented attempt to even acquire such devices.

Yet this is not the case for other terrorists. Indeed, the record of the past decade suggests that if a chemical, biological or radiological attack were to take place in the United States, it is more likely that it would come not from a Islamist terrorist but from a right-wing extremist or anarchist.

In partnership with Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Public Policy, the New America Foundation has conducted a survey of terrorism incidents and cases in the United States since September 11 motivated by political ideologies other than the violent Islamism advocated by bin Laden.

Those ideologies span the spectrum from neo-Nazism and militant Christian fundamentalism to anarchism and violent environmentalism. In the 114 cases we examined, we found five instances of the successful or attempted development or purchase of biological, chemical or radiological weapons by violent extremists motivated by ideologies that have no relation to al Qaeda:

William Krar, a right-wing militia activist, together with his common-law wife, Judith Bruey, had stored enough chemicals to produce a quantity of hydrogen cyanide gas that could kill thousands, along with more than 100 weapons, nearly 100,000 rounds of ammunition and more than 100 pounds of explosives. They were arrested in 2003. Krar was eventually sentenced to more than 11 years in prison, while Bruey received nearly five years.

Anarchist and self-proclaimed "Dr. Chaos" Joseph Konopka was stockpiling dangerous chemicals, including sodium cyanide, when he was arrested by Chicago police in 2002. He is currently serving a 13-year sentence.

Microbiologist Bruce Ivins, an FBI investigation concluded, sent waves of panic throughout the country and killed five people when he sent letters filled with anthrax to politicians and journalists during fall 2001. Ivins committed suicide in 2008. (Some reports have cast doubt on Ivins' responsibility for the attacks, but the FBI remains firm in its conclusion that Ivins was responsible, based on the scientific and other evidence.)

White supremacist Demetrius van Crocker was arrested in 2004 after trying to purchase sarin nerve gas and C-4 explosive from an undercover government agent. His efforts to obtain the weapons earned him a 30-year prison sentence.

Another white supremacist, James Cummings, managed to acquire a supply of radiological materials from scientific research companies and may have been planning to build a "dirty" radiological bomb when his wife killed him after years of domestic abuse in 2008.]]> 1 Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:51:59 +0400 http://mskdip.ru/expert-opinions/34-can-there-be-a-morning-after-in-a-war-without-end.html http://mskdip.ru/expert-opinions/34-can-there-be-a-morning-after-in-a-war-without-end.html
But 100 years from now, 150 years from now, when everyone who remembers is gone, what will the legacy of the terrible day have evolved into?


That is the essential question. The war on terror is unlike any other the United States has fought, and because of this there can be no genuine sense of closure, even after ceremonies as moving and heartfelt as the ones planned for Sunday will certainly be. The nation can express respect, and sorrow, and determined resolve on this 10th anniversary of the day. But closure -- bowing heads and praying one more time, and then moving on?

Not possible, with this war.

The morning after will arrive on schedule on Monday, but the nature of the war in which we are engaged almost guarantees a succession of mornings after without end.

I have a copy of a memo of sorts, a teletype, that was sent out in September 1945. Its author was not identified by name, but by title: Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. The recipients were his colleagues: the commanding general of the Eighth Army, the commanding general of the Tenth Army, the commander of the Third Fleet. . . .

I look at the memo from time to time because it is such a stark reminder of the way our current war will not conclude. The text, in that teletype style of those years, was all in capital letters:

"FORMAL SURRENDER OF THE JAPANESE IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT BY JAPANESE IMPERIAL GENERAL HEADQUARTERS AND ALL JAPANESE AND JAPANESE CONTROLLED ARMED FORCES WHEREVER LOCATED WAS SIGNED ON THE BATTLESHIP MISSOURI IN TOKYO BAY AT 0908 ON SEPTEMBER 2ND 1945."

And that was it: The Second World War was over.

We may be destined to have no day like that. As much death and devastation as there was during World War II, as many families who lost their young soldiers, at least the nightmare ended. It may have been difficult for Americans to believe for a while -- after the years of war, it may have seemed too good to be true: Peace had come.

But eventually Americans must have begun to awaken without the knots in their stomachs, without the fear for loved ones in their hearts. The danger had been defeated; the enemy was vanquished. The war was past tense.

Ours is not. The enemy, as we have been told from the start, wears no uniform, flies no flag. On Sunday we mourn and give renewed thanks for the bravery of those who were so valiant in trying to save lives 10 years ago. And Monday the sun will rise over a nation still wishing for true tranquillity.]]> 1 Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:50:56 +0400