Gadling

My fellow bloggers have a been on a Photo of the Day nature kick this past week, so I figured I would keep up the theme. This Sunday's nature shot comes to us from Flickr user ben.rulesalot, who noticed these two serene specimens on his trip to the Georgia Aquarium.

As much as any photographer might be tempted to crowd the frame of their shot with as much detail as possible, I happen to like Ben's approach here. Sometimes, "simple is better." And even though there are no humans in this photo, there's definitely an interesting "interaction" occurring between these two jellyfish that creates a story for the viewer to decipher. Jellyfish in love? Jellyfish protecting their turf? I'll leave it to you to decide...

Have any jellyfish photos you want to share with our readers? Or maybe some tasty seafood jambalaya? Why not add them to our Gadling pool on Flickr? We might just pick it as our Photo of the Day.

Reaching the upper tiers of any travel related rewards program almost always takes money, time, effort, money and money -- the rewards reaped should only be for the profitable consumer, right?

Occasionally, however, programs release shortcuts -- ways that guaranteed high-dollar users can skip up a tier and enjoy the benefits -- so that they can lock in a particular demographic or company. And when those shortcuts get published? That's when people like you and I can sneak in from the back door.

Apparently, Canadian Aeroplan members were offered just this for the Hilton Honors program. From what I hear, by going to this link at the HHonors website, they could plug in code "CTHC", sign up for an account and be catapulted all of the way up to Gold status. What a great shortcut. Not that I've tried it. But I hear it works great.

In case you're wondering what the benefits of Gold status are at the Hilton family of hotels, membership gets a few nice small perks at checkin. Among the goodies are two of my favorites: access to the concierge level (where available), its free snacks and drinks, or free wireless internet among the network of hotels. Those alone are worth trying to get Gold status.

Is Dubai getting a little too predictable in its quest to be city with the most bragging rights?

Jaunted thinks so. It greets Dubai's latest accomplishment with a big yawn.

Dubai recently announced that it is building the world's biggest LED screen, which is being designed to cover one side of a 33-story building. No word, however, on when it will be unveiled or how much this pointless undertaking is going to cost.

A firm named Dactronics is behind the screen, and is reportedly designing it so that light will still be able to penetrate that side of the building.

So, the screen will take its place in Dubai next to the world's tallest building (whenever that is completed), the world's most expensive hotel, the world's only man-made archipelago, the world's...

I know the credit crisis seems to be fueling fear by the day, but enough to send a millionaire looking to escape to space?

Well, that's just what 47-year-old Richard Garriott has done, blasting off in Kazakhstan this weekend, along with another American and a Russian, bound for the international space station.

OK., Garriott's space adventure has nothing to do with the credit crisis.

Still, it's an interesting image: The wealthy tycoon spending a reported $30 million to fly to space during the worst financial crisis of the last 20 years, if not since the Great Depression. A lot of people are worrying about their fortunes, large and small, and savings, large and small. Here's one guy who clearly isn't.

Call me grumpy on this fine Sunday, but I wonder whether something like this sits well among ordinary Americans who have the perception that we're in the mess we're in these days because of corporate extravagance, or put another way, over extravagance by the wealthy. (Of course, it's not even close to being that simple, but it's still the perception of a great many people.)

Whatever. Garriott's living a dream he's had since he was a kid. His father was an astronaut who went to space in 1973, and Garriott had hoped to follow suit, only to have NASA tell him his eyesight was too poor.

Garriott made his fortune designing computer fantasy games.

He'll reach the space station on Tuesday, and return to Earth on Oct. 24. While up there, he'll be conducting "experiments." About what, I have no idea. He'll also be snapping some pictures of Earth to see what has changed since his father took pictures in orbit 35 years ago.

I haven't been to the Hong Kong bird market, but I've been to bird markets in Taiwan-- and the bird market in Singapore.

When Taj Reid over at www.wejetset.com sent us a link to this lush post on song bird love in Hong Kong, and the delights to be found at the bird market, I was reminded of my own pleasures when I sat in a courtyard sipping on coffee, listening to birds sing on a Sunday morning.

Owning song birds is just not a matter of heading to the local pet store and picking up a canary, you see. In Hong Kong, as with my experience in Taiwan and Singapore, picking out the right bird and the right cage is an art that depends on personal taste.

Maybe it's because I work for an adventure travel magazine, but I am always drawn to outdoor shots. Taking nature photos can be difficult because the scope is so large, but in this one carlhancock draws us in with the mountain's reflection. Then again, it's probably hard not to take a good picture in Rocky Mountain National Park, but this one manages to be a truly excellent one.

Think you have a great travel shot? Submit it here to be considered for Photo of the Day.

My daily deal for this sunny Saturday, is for a big clearance of MP3 players over at Amazon.com.

You won't find any iPods on sale, but there are some other very interesting deals, like 50% off the previous generation Slacker wireless music players.

There are also several players under $10, which would make great stocking stuffers, if you are one of those shoppers that likes to stock up on deals well before the seasonal madness begins.

Be sure to read the reviews of a player before clicking the "buy it now" button, because not all the products on sale are, how do I say this, "decent"....

As always with Amazon, products shipped directly from the Amazon warehouse ship for free on purchases over $25, and members who subscribe to Amazon Prime will get free 2 day shipping.

The TSA wants to expand its reach to include the 15,000 private and corporate jets and 300+ small airports that are currently outside its jurisdiction. The security agency claims that many of the jets are the same size as small commercial planes and could be used to commit acts of terrorism. They want all private jet passengers and crews to pass a background check before boarding their planes. Private plane owners, pilots and corporate fliers are crying foul. Most call the proposed plan an invasion of privacy and a waste of money.

But whose money would it be wasting? According to the TSA, 85% of the $200 million per year it would take to fund the screening will come from fees charged to the jets' owners and operators. The proposal does not include physical screening. Passengers and crews would have to provide ID and give their name and birth date. The TSA will most likely subcontract out the work to security firms that specialize in background checks. The proposal, which is more than 200 pages long, states that frequent fliers will only have to pass the background check once.

Source

The photo you see above, is the first shot taken by the new GeoEye-1 satellite. The image is of the university campus in Kutztown, PA. The reason this is so interesting? GeoEye has sold all the rights of their commercial images taken on this new satellite, to Google.

Google laid down some serious cash to get sole access to these images, and I'm sure we'll be seeing the results of this contract pretty soon in Google Maps and Earth.

The satellite can photograph objects in a resolution higher than anything available to civilian users, and the photographs will be so clear that you'll be able to identify objects as small as 41 centimeters across.

I've always found satellite image sites to be a fantastic way of seeing the world from above, but as these things get closer and closer, I'm sure we'll think twice before stepping out on the balcony for some naked sunbathing.