The popular resort city of Dubai, with its oil rich income and getting richer as gas prices soar, is planning an ambitious construction. Scheduled to open in 2014 is The Taj.

The plan is to make the resort complex a replica of the Taj Mahal, the world-famous monument in Agra, India. That palace was built in the 17th Century by a mourning emperor in memory of his late young wife. Plans are to make the new Taj at least four times the size of the original, with its flagship structure a five-star resort.

According to recent reports, the Taj will be part of a thousand-yard complex, called the Falconcity of Wonders Project. In addition to the resort hotel, there are to be upscale shops, athletic facilities, restaurants and condos.

The planners also say the site will include replicas of the Eiffel Tower, Great Pyramid, Tower of Pisa, a segment of the Great Wall of China and Italy’s Venice Harbor. They haven’t yet mentioned the Colossus of Rhodes, Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Battle of Waterloo. Just kidding.

For more information, go to falconcity.com

People have eaten deer meat since cavemen days, so this recent story shouldn’t be that shocking. However a city health department shut down a restaurant for serving it.

The reason was that employees found the deer as roadkill, not knowing how long it had been dead or if it had any diseases. Of course, that endangered the restaurant’s customers. But, hey, as schoolkids, didn’t we have to read the James Fenimore Cooper book, “The Deerslayer”, all about the guy named Natty Bumppo and his “Leatherstocking Tales”? We’re sure his hosiery  wasn’t made of nylon.

If you want to find out about the safe and legitimate use of deer meat (venison), and information on restaurants where it’s served when you’re traveling, go to venisonworld.com

In 1911, just eight years after the Wright Brothers flew the first aircraft at Kitty Hawk, the pop song inviting Josephine on the newfangled flying machine was already on the market.

A decade later, an in-flight silent movie,”Howdy Chicago”, was projected to passengers on a flight over the Chicago World's Fair. Regular in-flight movies didn’t start for another 40 years, when the now-gone TWA showed them in their first-class areas in 1961.

Since then, the advances have been rapid. Video games and small bulkhead TV sets emerged in 1975. Individual seat-back video started on some airlines in 1991, followed a decade later with live in-flight TV.

Many airlines now have seat-back multi-channel screens that beam out movies, games, live TV and advertising. Along with those airline-provided items, many passengers now carry their own private all-inclusive entertainment, with laptops, SmartPhones, E-readers and dozens of newfangled electronic miracles.

With airlines continuously seeking new ways to make extra bucks, passengers can expect more innovations in pay-per-view in-air entertainment in the near future.

No more coffee nor tea from this retiree, now that he’s 83! Ron Akana has finally hung up his United Airlines uniform for good. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser in his native state of Hawaii claims he holds the world record for long service as a flight attendant. 

Ron first got his United job in 1949 after he saw a newspaper want ad for an airline flight steward. He said he applied without knowing what that title meant back then. However, his excellent record over more than six decades proves he found out quickly, and proved to be one of the best ever in the air.