weekend boredom

My roommate went cross country, to Key West no less, I have already cleaned the house and I'm putting off going for a run, so here's how I'm procrastinating...

Airlines are warning their investors to hold back despite lower fuel prices. I am glad to see American should be back in the black, as they employ my father. Source.

Heimlich cautions that fuel prices are probably not in a long-term downward spiral. Oil for February delivery has dropped to $51.88 a barrel -- the lowest level since May 2005 -- and a dip into the 40s is predicted by many analysts. But Heimlich notes that most experts predict higher prices in the second half of this year. Overall, ATA projects a $60/barrel oil price for 2007, with the average jet fuel price down slightly from last year to about $1.80 per gallon.

I have been very interested in how the new U.N. Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, has not been entirely loyal to the standard U.N. talking points. John Bolton has an interesting article in today's Washington Post Online. There are definatly some encouraging developments. Secretary Ban defended member states right to have the death penalty, created a public financial disclosure report, called for the resignation of 60 senoir secretariat officials, but he parroted U.N. policy concerning Isreal and Palestine. Still, I am encouraged by what I am hearing, and apparently so is Mr. Bolton.

No one of these four incidents, nor all of them together, tell the complete story of Ban Ki-moon. Where he has followed his instincts -- deferring to member governments, supporting U.N. reform and demonstrating personal integrity -- he has done well. When he has followed the conventional wisdom inside the U.N. bubble on First Avenue in New York -- on matters of U.N. theology such as the death penalty and the Middle East -- he has not. In Washington this week, the president and others will again have the chance to take his measure.

Based on what we have seen so far, I hope they encourage him to let Ban be Ban.

And soon you could be through airport security in a flash. A program is already in existance in Orlando, soon to expand to Indianapolis, Cincinnati, San Jose, and New York's JFK. The shoe scanner gets those that pay $100 per year through security in an average of 4 seconds. Hattip Dennis Collins at the Daliy Aviator.