Expedia.com just reviewed and updated their affiliate program.

Beginning on Tuesday 9/26/2006 travelers may be allowed to carry on liquids and other items that have been prohibited since the british police foiled an attempt to smuggle explosive materials onto flights disguised as ordinary liquids.

For a complete list of items that will be allowed, please visit the TSA website. According to a publication recently released, passengers will be allowed to carry travel-sized toiletries through security checkpoints as long as everything fits inside a quart sized clear plastic zip top bag.

It has been 5 years to the day and I can still remember it like it was yesterday. The images. The thoughts in my head. The sounds and even the silence around me. It was unlike anything I have ever experienced in my life. I hope and pray that it will be the last as well.

The world was forever changed on September 11, 2001. Our nation became united unlike any other time in its history. Total strangers found bonds in humanity with their fellow man. Families who had strayed apart found themselves again.

The best forensic science in the world could not save those who died, nor could it help bring closure to the thousands of family members who never had a single identifiable piece of their loved ones found.

September 11, 2001 will never be forgotten.

Google, the name that has become synonamous with Search engines, or even looking something up, is peering its massive head into the online payments market.

The Online payment market has long been dominated by Paypal and other online giants looking to process merchant bankcards and process online checks. But watch out world. Google is has arrived.

Google checkout is making a serious push to gather new merchants. How serious? Just checkout this bullet point from the signup page:

For every $1 you spend on AdWords, you can process $10 in sales for free. For sales that exceed this amount or if you don't use AdWords, you can process them at a low 2% and $0.20 per transaction.

For those of you who haven't heard, British and other international police forces disclosed a major sting operation in the fight against terrorism.

So far of 20 arrests have been made in Britain, another 40 in italy, and several more in Pakistan. There are also rumors of some Egyptians who are under arrest as well, although it is unclear if that is related to the global operation or not.

The terrorist plot apparently in the final stages of preparations, called for the used of an explosive liquid formula mixed in with sport drinks, toothpaste, and other common carry-on items to disguise their true contents. These items would be carried on to 6-10 commericial planes bound for the United States all leaving at relatively the same time.

This massively coordinated effort shows the world that Al Queda is still planning relentless attacks on the United States and others in an attempt to disrupt our way of life.

Within only a few hours notice all TSA personnel were directed to confiscate any and all liquids from carry on baggage including; lotion, hair spray, perfume, mouthwash, coffee, bottled water, and many more. Passengers were forced to discard these items, sometimes costing them hundreds of dollars. It is unclear if these carry on restrictions will stay in effort permanently or not. It is still permissible to store these items in checked baggage, which goes through a more intensive screening for bombs and other hazardous materials.

These new polices caused massive delays around the globe as passengers were caught unaware of the new guidelines. Some airlines issues warnings stating that passengers should show up 3-4 hours before their flights to clear through the security screenings.

Only time will tell if Carry-On baggage will be the next item to be on the TSA banned list.

Website Templates

Many companies and even casual home web users who want to take advantage of that wonderful free 100MB of space provided by thier ISP struggle with how to create a great looking page with the least amount of effort.

Luckily there are programs out there like frontpage, or dreamweaver that allow non technical users create and publish websites just like they are typing a note to their grandmother. But there comes a point where these design tools are more of a hinderance than a help. They often create sloppy and unreadable HTML code that is horribly inefficient.

On the opposite end of the spectrum you have the "graphic designer". These talented artists spend hours tweaking and retweaking the color schemes and layouts to be their own personal masterpieces.

One problem that I often find with graphic designers though is that the final product, while it maybe visually very attactive, it often is not very functional for use in a website template. Often designers are hired to create a look for a website that may have four or five different sections. Lets say, a home page, contact us, maybe a product page, and a short bio of the company or owner. But what happens when the company comes out with a second product line, or now wants to add an online calendar, or 100 other things that just don't fit into the traditional 5 button look that was originally created.

Now most designers will jump all over that and say "well I can just create you a totally new look for the 4 other items you want to add". But any good usability expert will tell you that if you have a site with loyal users who already know where to find the information they want, be very very careful in making sweeping design changes. People are creatures of habit. We like knowing where the lightswitch to the bathroom is in the dark. If you take it away or move it to the other end of the room, you will be lost in the dark and maybe not come back....