Traveling Tip For Lost Baggage

Having experienced the HELL of being on a business trip for Star Trek new Voyages and having the airline lose my baggage and my prescription meds for THREE DAYS, I wish I had known this at the time.

I'm reposting this on my blog so that I have unfettered access to it, should someday I (or anyone) has the same problem:

A directive from the U.S. D.O.T. to all airlines. This notice, issued last October, informs airlines that they cannot place arbitrary limits on compensation, not only when bags are lost, but even if they are merely "delayed." Read the directive in full.

As a result, airlines have been fined and some have changed the language on their websites dealing with delayed bags. For example, I found this on Delta.com:

"Delta requires that receipts be presented for all reasonable expense reimbursements incurred due to the delay of a passenger's bag. Reasonable expenses generally are $50 for the first 24hrs and $25 per day for the next 4 days the bag is delayed. The guidelines for reasonable expenses are NOT daily limits or a cap and additional expenses may be incurred and should be handled on an individual basis up to the limit of liability [emphasis added, which, by the way, Delta doesn't specify--more on that below]. Any disbursements will be deducted from the final settlement if the bag is not located."

Clearly, $25 or $50 per day is not enough to salvage a wedding, a ski trip, or an important business presentation. And the D.O.T. has made it clear that there are circumstances where passengers are entitled to dress appropriately at their destination, and replace needed sports and equipment and supplies.

The U.S. D.O.T. directive refers to the maximum $3,300 in liability that airlines face for wholly domestic U.S. trips. A lower level of compensation applies to international trips, usually governed by the Montreal Convention, which is currently 1,131 "Special Drawing Rights." (The value of an SDR is calculated daily, but as of this writing one SDR is equivalent to $1.55). But the D.O.T. is going after foreign airlines as well.

In January, for example, the D.O.T. fined Alitalia $80,000 for "violations...of Article 19 of the Montreal Convention and the statutory prohibition against unfair and deceptive trade practices, 49 U.S.C. § 41712, in connection with monetary claims resulting from delay [emphasis added by me] of checked baggage on Alitalia flights to or from the United States. It directs Alitalia to cease and desist from future similar violations of Article 19 and section 41712. The consent decree continues, "Article 22 of the Convention currently sets the liability limit for damages associated with lost, damaged, or delayed baggage at 1,131 Special Drawing Rights for each passenger.1 Article 19 provides that a carrier is liable for damage caused by delay in the carriage of baggage, except to the extent that the carrier proves that it took all reasonable measures to prevent the damage or that it was impossible to take such measures. Further, Article 26 states that any contractual provision tending to relieve a carrier of liability or to fix a lower limit than that which is laid down in the Convention is null and void."

So bookmark (and tweet and share) this page. And the next time your checked bag is delayed, don't settle for showing up at the wedding in your gym clothes.

Hollywood and Hidden Creativity

Update 10/11/11: In a timely piece of related information. Disney get's sued for patent infringement in regards to a way to create animation.

http://www.law360.com/media/articles/276533/disney-faces-software-ip-suit-over-hit-animated-films-

This is an article I wrote detailing the lack of Intellectual Property creativity in the film industry.

Discovering Intellectual Property Behind the Camera

The film industry is a business sector that is well acquainted with protection of intellectual property (IP). Unfortunately, that protection has historically focused on digital media rights, trademarks, and copyright and has overlooked the numerous other aspects of IP that offer potentially lucrative outcomes.

Having worked on several movies and seen firsthand the inventive and creative processes of not only the actors, but the crew on the set, I can say with some authority that there are inventions, trade secrets, and processes that are passing in and out of the soundstage door on every movie being made.

Even months before the first frames of “film” are shot (very few studios actually use real film these days; most film digitally), as well as throughout shooting, dozens of people are working in the background setting up the soundstage or location shots. In addition, there are people creating storyboards, costumes, and music. All of these skilled craftspeople, regardless of their title (be it Camera Operator, Construction Coordinator, Gaffer, or Costume Designer) are presented with unique challenges to meet the needs of the movie and the director’s vision of the script.

As the old adage goes, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” And given some of the challenges presented by creating an entertaining film, there is a great deal of need for invention in this process. While there are tried and true methods of filmcraft, as any industry, the unique challenges presented by making the words on a page come to life are unlike those of any other job. Let’s pretend for a moment you are given this piece of script:

1 Exterior Overhead Shot – Old Western City

A non-descript city circa 1845. We can see activity in the streets. Horses and people move about. The sunlight is not like anything on Earth.

Suddenly an explosion destroys one of the buildings; a chunk of iron flies towards the camera.

The task before you is daunting: Do you shoot this as a full city-sized mock-up, as a miniature model, or perhaps all as computer graphics? How do you get the metal to fly at the camera? How do you protect the camera? What sort of chemical mixture will you use for the explosion? What kind of lens filter should be used to create the sunlight?

Through that process of identifying and executing your task, comes invention. Perhaps you shoot the scene in miniature and insert the horses and people using computer graphics - all standard movie-making stuff. But perhaps you take a different approach to create the filter for the sunlight. Perhaps you go into your kitchen, grab some plastic wrap, color it with your kids’ finger paint, smear some oil on it, hang it from a bent coat hanger, and make sure the distance is exactly 4.5 inches from the camera lens. You very well may have just created a new type of lens filter and a new process for using such a filter; something you could recreate, sell, or license, and if the movie performed poorly at the box office, perhaps actually make more money from this lens filter invention than from the movie itself.

Sadly, such inventions are created all the time on movie sets, but given the massive time constraints on a film set and the crew’s lack of understanding of the invention process, such inventions are usually discarded after one use, or kept solely by the creator and never brought to market.

Movie studios, and even more specifically executive producers, need to be aware of the income potential from inventions being created by the crew on their film shoots. Creating a patent portfolio of techniques, structures, compositions, and devices could create a completely new stream of income to the studio through sale and/or licensing of IP.

There needs to be a way to capture on-set innovations created on the fly and bring them to the attention of someone specifically tasked with gathering and protecting these unique ideas. Even a basic one-paragraph description of the invention accompanied by some photographs (there should be plenty of cameras around…) should be sufficient for said person to bring to the studio in order to expand on the inventions and have proper invention disclosures created, or have any new trade secrets documented.

An Intellectual Property consulting company such as ipCapital Group (www.ipcg.com) , based in Williston Vermont, can be an exceptional asset to this process, whether through on-set participation as the point person for IP “harvesting,” or by helping to sort through the copious amounts of data being generated. ipCG has done this in other “IP-naïve” industries and can help anyone through the process.

I imagine once this neglected revenue stream is focused upon by one studio, then, just like other forms of IP already used in the industry (e.g. copyrights), all the studios will aggressively put in place processes for harvesting IP. The first studio to embrace the new culture of “IP on set, all the time” will be in a much stronger position within the entertainment industry than its competitors.

Thorium Nuclear Reactors

I had a nice lunch time discussion today regarding some of the needs for the State of Vermont. One item that came up was the need for reliable cheap power and that it was agreed that Thorium nuclear power plants (as I mentioned in my Shadow State of the Union speech) are a spot on solution for the state of Vermont.

One of these plants could be built in Newport and one of them could be be built where the existing Vermont Yankee plant is.

Below is a link to a great graphic detailing why these nuclear plants can be the future of America's energy needs.

THORIUM NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS GRAPHIC

Also here is a nice story from The Telegraph talking about Thorium Nuclear Power:

Thorium by the Telegraph

The Budget Compromise...A Total Crock of &$#@!

It's been a long time since I've blogged to you all, but something is happening that you really need to be aware of, and that's the continued hoodwinking over the Federal budget. You see our "leaders" clapping themselves on the back for cutting $38 Billion off the budget with the latest extension. This is NOTHING on a $4 trillion dollar budget.

Philip Greenspun a political blogger explains it oh so eloquently below.

News accounts on the latest federal budget deal gave the numbers in a vacuum, e.g., “The deal cuts $38 billion from last year’s budget. It’s being called the largest domestic spending cut in U.S. history” (source). How can an individual voter make sense of quantities that are ordinarily written in scientific notation? I think the easiest way is to divide everything by 100,000,000 (10^8).

Let’s start with federal spending. The FY 2011 federal budget is approximately $3.82 trillion (3.82×10^12). Of that, approximately $2.17 trillion will be paid for by taxes collected and the remaining $1.65 trillion will be borrowed from our grandchildren. If we divide everything by 100 million, the numbers begin to make more sense.

We have a family that is spending $38,200 per year. The family’s income is $21,700 per year. The family adds $16,500 in credit card debt every year in order to pay its bills. After a long and difficult debate among family members, keeping in mind that it was not going to be possible to borrow $16,500 every year forever, the parents and children agreed that a $380/year premium cable subscription could be terminated. So now the family will have to borrow only $16,120 per year.

MY State of the Union Speech

Charles Root State of the Union Address

So Obama’s 2011 State of the Union Address was an hour of my life I can’t get back. So filled with lies it was, peppered with flip flop statements, stunning ignorance, and patriotism he obviously doesn’t believe in. In response I feel compelled to write my own address and tell you how, if we are to get this country back on track to prosperity and individual freedom, what needs to be done.

**********************************************************************************

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Congress, Our Military Leaders, Mr. Vice President, Distinguished guest, the state of our union is, precarious.

We as a nation are facing a mounting fiscal debt that is non repayable! We have created an entire class of people with an entitlement mentality. We have stretch our military forces to the breaking point, and we have lost our ability to create consumables domestically.

In order to repair our country I am going to take the following immediate actions, and direct congress to facilitate the changes where their authority is required.

First I am eliminating several government agencies that have no constitutional right to exist and handle matters that should be decided by the states or are better handled by private industry. The EPA, The Department of Energy, The Department of Education, and NASA are but a few, the list will be scores long and fully disclosed tomorrow.

Second, we can no longer act as the policemen of the world. Effective immediately I will be recalling all soldiers, sailors and marines to American soil, and will begin the shutdown of all American military bases on foreign soil worldwide, this is to be completed within the next 180 days, with sale or return of foreign lands to their respective countries.

Third, Illegal immigration is a threat to our sovereignty. I will be mobilizing national guard forces to militarize the border between the United States and Mexico immediately. If need be after review we will also militarize the US – Canadian border. If you want to come to this country you will do so legally through a legal entry point. As for immigrants currently here illegally, we will be stepping up immigration enforcement, if you are here illegally and caught, you will be deported, including dependent children regardless of citizenship.

Forth, there will be a completely overhaul of the tax system. We will be going to a flat tax for all peoples and corporations. The first $45000 you make is yours to keep tax free. For every dollar afterward it will be taxed at 12%. There will be no deductions. In addition there will be a 1% sales tax initiated nationwide. Currently the US has the highest corporate tax in the world, this will make the US the 8^th lowest. This will allow for substantial business growth, and job creation.

Fifth, we will be imposing tariffs on all imported goods, that are made in countries that do not allow their currency to fluctuate with the market, or do not have a minimum wage equal to that of the lowest state mandated wage. Currently Kansas at $7.25 an hour.

Sixth, If you receive government assistance but are able to work you will be given a list of available jobs nationwide. It will be your responsibility to acquire one of those jobs. If you need to move to another state, then you will need to do so. You will receive your salary plus government assistance equal to $45,000, but you will work a minimum of 30 hours a week.

Seventh, We are going remove the authority of the Central Bank and Reserve from setting any monetary policy, and over the next 12 months recouple our currency to physical metals.

Eighth, I will be making a list of items that are not in the preview of the Federal Government, and are entirely the responsibility of the states, for example universal healthcare, gun control, and abortion. Federal laws pertaining to these subjects will be put before congress for immediate repeal.

Ninth, We can no longer be dependent on foreign oil for our energy. We will undertake a substantial infrastructure creation of Thorium nuclear power plants and interior oil drilling.

Tenth, I will be directing the Interior Department to begin the sale of unused government lands to private citizens starting immediately.

I understand that these measures will be difficult. I understand that many government workers will be losing their jobs, but the number of jobs gained by these measures in the private sector will offset these loses. I know families may be ripped apart, but if you are a criminal you need to make things right. I know that other countries that have lived off our largess for decades will now need to fend for themselves. This is not our concern, but we are your friends and will be happy to advise you over these difficult transitions.

These ten points are only the beginning, in six months I will give another State of the Union speech outlining more measures, more government reduction, more repeal of federal laws.

We must never again allow our federal government to grow so large. To quote Ronald Reagan, government is not the solution to the problem, it is the problem. If we don't turn our backs on omnipotent government we risk returning to the same servitude that our forefathers fought to free us from 235 years ago.

My fellow Americans good night and God Bless.

Buck Rogers Begins Fund Raiser KickOff

As most of you know, I'm the Co-Executive Producer of the new series Buck Rogers Begins. We've launched a KickStarter site to request donations for us to be able to move the project along.

Check it out here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1796708800/buck-rogers-begins

Obama a Failure on all fronts

I rarely repost in my blog, as I like the stream of consciousness to be my own. But Michael Goodwin
absolutely NAILS the Obama failure today in the NY Post.

Bam's daze of the weak - NYPOST.com

Commander Scott Get's Mad

Here's a little teaser shot from the upcoming Star Trek Phase 2 episode "Kitumba". It's a first look at a recently promoted Mr. Scott to full Commander and apparently he's pretty upset about something. You'll have to wait till the episode to find out. You'll also get a chance to learn all about Mr. Scott's promotion in an upcoming Phase 2 E-mag!

Vermont 3rd Highest Taxed State in the Union

Nice little piece in Forbes today about the highest taxed states. Guess what, Vermont made the top 3! Only Connecticut and Hawaii are taxed higher then we are! Even Massachusetts, that every Vermonter jokes is called TAXachusetts, doesn't come close to us.

If there's any lawmakers out there reading this blog, I'm just curious, how does that make you feel? What's it like knowing that YOUR decisions are crushing the family's and businesses of this state?

I can tell you this, we're at a breaking point in this state, we can't have any more liberalism, we just can't. Everyone in Montpelier needs to be voted out and soon!

An Old Engineer & A Young Cadet

Figured that Facebook shouldn't get all the cool shots (plus I'm trying to revive my blog LOL) A nice shot of me and Matt Ewald in the Green Room of Retro Film Studios.

Why Target Won't Build In Vermont

UPDATE 9/2011: Finally after years of work, TARGET is finally coming to Vermont! They are building in Williston



For all the Burlington Free Press readers looking for this letter, here ya go!

Global Warming Supporters in CYA Mode

This is a repost from a facebook discussion that I felt was worthy of further propagation:

I think you will see the Global Warming defenders in the coming months get even more fanatic and desperate as reality clashes with their fantasy data and theory. Reason? Very simple, human vanity. Imagine, take any topic, that for whatever reason you believe in with all your soul, and then you pour years of your money, time, and thoughts in to. Hell even completely change your lifestyle for, and then it's proven false. The embarrassment of your adherence to fallacy would be exceptional, would it not? The veracity of Global Warming Hoax Adherents, is now completely tied to personal vanity and efforts to save personal credibility. Honestly will we ever be able to take anything any supporter of Global Warming says seriously ever again? Unfortunately by blind faith in a false theory they have branded themselves unwittingly as liars. It will be a long road for them to recover any level of trust.

The NY Times Proves Itself The Liberal Rag I Know It To Be

So unless you've been locked up in a tree house somewhere by now you've heard the news story of the hacker (nay Hero!) that broke into the servers at the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, in the UK and discovered a trove of data and e-mails that showed a massive cover up of data by scientist showing that Global Warming is indeed NOT happening to the planet, and in fact the Earth has cooled in the last 15 years. Do a Google search for more information on this fantastic story of scientific subterfuge.

Where you WON'T find any results in your Google search is from the liberal rag known as the New York Times. Once the agency of record, the mighty "Gray Lady" is but a former ghost of itself, and like a star that is dying it occasionally flares bright, but unfortunately these flares aren't of journalistic brilliance and integrity, but they are unfortunately the purest forms of it's core liberalism put vibrantly on display.

Let us take the Global Warming Coverup story as shining example of the NY Times leftwing cognitive dissonance. On Friday NY Times reporter Andrew C. Revkin said of the hacked information "The documents appear to have been acquired illegally and contain all manner of private information and statements that were never intended for the public eye, so they won’t be posted here."

Wow how utterly upstanding of you Mr. Revkin, to bad that stellar example of journalistic integrity doesn't extend to national security data breeches, when during the Vietnam War, The NY Times happily, in fact, eagerly printed the Pentagon Papers. Indeed as recently as 2006 New York Times executive editor Bill Keller wrote an extensive piece disclosing the previously confidential details of the SWIFT program, which was designed to trace terrorists’ financial assets. Then joyful bragged on CBS face the nation "One man's breech of security is another man's public relations". We won't even get in to the example of all the information the NY Times printed in their hallowed pages of Sarah Palin's hacked e-mail account last fall. Nope no problems or ethical dilemmas printing information that doesn't require them to save the public face of their fellow liberals. Disgusting!

One must stand up and cheer though at the comment Michael Goldfarb of the Weekly Standard opined regarding the shameful collusion of the NY Times and the Liberal Agenda , “As a journalist, there is no greater glory than publishing materials that were not meant to be published If I could, I would only publish emails and documents that were never meant to see the light of day — though, unlike the New York Times, I draw the line at jeopardizing the lives of American troops rather than jeopardizing the contrived “consensus” on global warming."

So while liberals unendingly and incorrectly bash Fox News, yet remain blinded to the copious sources of real journalistic bias, highlighted by filth such as the NY Times. You can point them to this blog entry and hopefully their stupidity won't be so stellar anymore.

Health Care Reform That Trumps Obamacare

This is a plan presented by the CEO of Whole Foods Markets that actually makes sense and enables personal responsibility at a reasonable cost.

Thank you my pal Al Hartman for pointing me to this article:

HEALTH CARE REFORM ARTICLE LINK

An Argument AGAINST Goverment Health Insurance

How to Reform American Health Care

As the Obama administration attempts an almost fascist takeover of your life by orchestrating universal health care, which will morph in to a single payer system, and then enable the Government to control just about anything you do or ingest in the name of “saving money”. I have put some thought in to this and created a simple outline on how as a country we could dramatically reduce health insurance cost.

FIRST – We require massive tort reform. Medical malpractice lawsuits that are like lottery tickets for the plaintiffs cause significant inflation of medical cost. Requiring doctors to buy malpractice insurance that can cost $12000 a month! It’s time to stop the silver tongued lawyers (a’ la John Edwards) who become fabulously wealthy by suing doctors. Medical malpractice issues should not be decided by a jury of 12 class envy layman swayed by an eloquent lawyer’s speech. They need to be decided by a panel of 12 doctors. Doctors that can objectively and knowledgably determine if there was flagrant negligence during a procedure. The awards then need to be capped at a reasonable amount.

This would:

A) Lower the cost of insurance

B) Remove the “get rich quick” aspect of frivolous lawsuits.

C) Bring more and keep more people in to the medical profession, creating competition, thus lowering prices

SECOND – Allow insurance to be sold across State lines. Allow any company that sells insurance to sell it in any State. For example right now in Vermont there are only 3 choices of health insurance companies because Vermont doesn’t allow its citizens the freedom to buy insurance out-of-state.

THIRD- Allow for variable plans. Right now we all pay the same rate regardless if you’re an overweight, 3 pack a day smoker, that drinks 8 Budweiser’s every night and likes to snort coke on the weekends, and I’m a granola eating, mountain biking health nut. This is ludicrous! I mean if you’ve got 4 DUI, 2 speeding tickets and 3 accidents on your record, you pay a MUCH higher car insurance rate then I, with a clean driving record does. Healthy choice people pay less, simple as that. You want to pay less? Drop the Big Mac.

FORTH – Require a clear menu and statement of cost for all procedures at a medical facility so that patients can easily price compared. Right now it’s like a secret when you go get something done at a doctor’s office. Procedures need to be uniformly labeled and prices easily accessed. This will create massive competition, driving down prices.

FINALLY – Allow the young to buy only catastrophic policies if they so choose with $10,000 deductibles.

All Americans should be mad as hell and scared as hell that the Government wants to take over health care in this country. Don’t give up your freedom of choice in the name of financial expediency, and don’t let the Government convince you they are the solution, they never are.

American Economic Might

Haven't posted in a while, been mainly hanging out on Facebook, but didn't want my blog to go in to a world over neglect, so I'm popping in with this quick post.

With all the doom and gloom about the American Economy and honestly folks it's not as bad as the media makes it out to be, I think it's important to remember just what a heavyweight the USA is, so let's take a quick peek at some comparative GDP's. Guaranteed to warm your heart:

I'm on Facebook

Yawn... I joined Facebook like many of the other nameless WWW hoards! So if you are inclined you can check me out over there.

License Secured for Buck Rogers

I am very happy to announce that the company I helped found Retro Film Studios and cooperation with Cawley Entertainment Company have secured the exclusive world wide license to create new webisodes of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

I will be a Co-Executive Producer of the show along with James Cawley, Flint Dille and Gary Evans.

This will be a very "retro" Buck harking back to his days in the comic strips of the 20's and 30's

You can visit our website at www.buckrogersbegins.com

Promoting A Friends Blog

My friend Doug Drexler (ahem! Name drop, Oscar Award winning friend Doug Drexler ) has started a new blog it is over at: http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/

Some super inside information on Star Trek and some of the other movies he's worked on, along with industry updates.

Check it out!

Disney's "The Black Hole" Remake

In this age of Science Fiction remakes (ala Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek) there is a movie that has NEVER gotten the appreciation that it deserves and is ripe for a remake, Disney's 1978 masterpiece "The Black Hole"

The work that went in to producing this film is simply stunning. The SFX you need to remember are long before CGI fest stuff. All of the stuff you see is hand drawn animation on top of models. Some of the most detailed models ever made for any movie.

The film would be killer as a remake. Hmmm maybe it's time for my movie studio Retro Films to go a calling to Disney??