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Ryanair Asks Crews to Lose Weight to Cut Fuel Costs

Kevin Spak — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 12:23:05 CDT

With fuel costs on the rise, Ryanair is desperately trying everything it can think of to shave some weight off its planes—including slimming down its in-flight magazine, serving less ice, and even telling its flight crews to watch their weight, the Telegraph reports. "We cut costs wherever possible," a...

Why Leap Years Don't Happen Every 4 Years

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 09:37:43 CST

Why do we have leap years? Basically, to ensure that there's a better chance you'll see snow on Christmas than falling leaves. "If we didn't have leap years, our calendar would be totally scrambled," explains a worker at America's timekeeper, Washington DC's US Naval Observatory. Since the Earth doesn't take...

Friday the 13th to Occur 3 Times, 13 Weeks Apart

Matt Cantor — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:03:35 CST

It's not just the Mayan calendar that's raising 2012 worries—our own calendar is stoking fear, too. This year, there are three Friday the 13ths, compared to the usual two. That last happened in 2009. What's even stranger is that exactly 13 weeks pass between the first and second occurrence,...

No More Leap Years? Profs Suggest Calendar Overhaul

John Johnson — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:34:47 CST

Two Johns Hopkins professors say they've got a new calendar system that would simplify all our lives. Calendar dates would always fall on the same day of the week—so if your birthday is on a Tuesday this year, it would be that way forever—and leap years would disappear,...

Why Today Is Oddest Day of the Year

Luke Kelly-Clyne — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 11:51:09 CDT

Celebrate! Today's a holiday. Sort of. July 9, 2011, is one of only six dates this century that will form a string of consecutive odd numbers when written down numerically, AOL News notes. As in, 7/9/11. The previous ones were 1/3/05, 3/5/07, and 5/7/09. The two in the future will...

'Runt Month' February Gets No Respect

Matt Cantor — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:43:07 CST

February has consistently gotten the short shrift among calendar months: It was among the last months to be invented, in 700 BC, its mere 28 days sandwiched between months named for powerful gods—while it "commemorates a pagan fertility and purification festival celebrated by flogging women with animal skins," writes...

Think Tank Taps Bachmann as 'Miss November'

Nick McMaster — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:36:41 CDT

A conservative think tank's calendar of "Great American Conservative Women" features a relative newbie: Michele Bachmann. The Minnesota lawmaker, who was elected to Congress in 2006, appears in the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute's calendar as "Miss November." The calendar also features Carrie Prejean, Michelle Malkin, and Ann Coulter, the...

Mormon Hunks Have Church Up in Arms

Matt Cantor — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:09:01 CDT

An entrepreneur who says his aim was to improve the image of Mormons has been excommunicated by the church for publishing a calendar with photos of shirtless members of the faith. The “Men on a Mission” calendar doesn’t “tear down the beliefs of the church at all," Chad Hardy protests...

Ryanair Pin-Ups Don't Fly With Feminist Groups

Mary Papenfuss — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:15:24 CST

Feminist groups have slammed as sexist a pin-up calendar of stripped-down Ryanair flight attendants the budget airline has published to raise money for charity, reports Der Speigel . The calendar features employees in barely-there bikinis getting up close and personal with airplane parts. The Institute for Women in Spain, where the...