If you have to get stuck in an airport, try to make it one of Forbes Traveler’s best layover picks. While Singapore’s Changi still takes best in show, the U.S. has a few contenders, too, the best of which, they say, is Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport’s $1.4-billion Terminal D:

Serving an estimated 5.6 million international passengers, the state-of-the-art 28-gate terminal offers the requisite smattering of shops and a posh 298-room Grand Hyatt Hotel, Wi-Fi access and a security screening center with three walk-through explosives-detection machines capable of processing 2,800 passengers per hour.

I’ve learned to deal with the airport waiting game, but given my druthers, I’ll take a non-stop over a cushy layover any time.

This probably won’t be available for groups for a while, but check out NewsBreaker, a participatory game from MSNBC.com that movie audiences can play before the previews begin (I guess this would replace those idiotic movie trivia quizes). It’s simple in concept: Using a paddle, you clear lines by dropping news headlines from boxes (check link above for a computer version of the game—warning, can be addictive). But, according to BoingBoing:

the gameplay is the cool part: a motion sensor in the theater allows the entire audience to control the paddle by swaying in unison from side to side. Check out the video of the gameplay at a Spiderman 3 opening weekend screening in LA [see below]…These people are having insane fun

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While it sounds like it’s barely in its infancy in cinemas, I can foresee the day in the not-too-distant-future when we can start a keynote with a game like this, with the headlines being something to do with your organization, or the industry you serve, or something else related to the theme or topic of the meeting. How cool would that be??

Meeting planners are masters of doing a seemingly impossible trick, especially while on site: Keeping a close eye on the detail at hand, while simultaneously monitoring everything else going on around them. I thought I was pretty good at it, too, until I watched this video:

I found this video at Tom Asacker’s AClearEye blog, where he likens it to the myopic view of companies that, in putting all their energies into one thing, miss the big-picture changes that are going on around them. I’d like to think that planners, given this unique ability that is required by the nature of their jobs, would be particularly attuned to whether or not their organization is missing the forest for the trees. The question is, what can you do if it is?

As any meeting planner knows, the environment can make or break a meeting. And now, thanks to the Journal of Consumer Research, we’ll soon have a study to prove it, at least in terms of ceiling heights. If you have a lot of details to work on, a low-ceiling room will help keep people grounded, the study found. But if you want people to concentrate on the big picture, high ceilings will help their brains get in the right frame of mind (so to speak).

Thanks to the Church of the Customer blog for the pointer!

Actually, the company has given customers a place to reward acts of human kindness and just plain old good customer service by posting their experiences on its BeHospitable.com site. I just did some quick skipping around, and was glad to see that it’s not limited to good things about Hilton properties—they’re looking for any story about good interactions people have had with other people.

If you ever need a warm fuzzy, check it out. And be sure to leave your stories, too.

Remember the Million Dollar Home Page, Alex Tew’s brilliant idea for how to make a million bucks by selling ad space for a dollar a pixel, with a 10-pixel-by-10-pixel minimum, on a Web site? (If not, here’s one of the many stories that ran about it at the time.) Well, seeing as he succeeded in raising a boatload of money that way, lots of others have since gotten on the pixelated bandwagon.

And now we have one of our own: Jeffrey Brown of Tradeshow Life fame has set up the Tradeshow LifeWall. According to a press release:

The Tradeshow LifeWall is a Web-based “wall” of over one million pixels. Companies, organizations and even individuals can acquire “pixel property” and display an image of their choice with a “tool-tip” pop-up description and a back link to their own Website.

Pixel prices appear to vary depending on the real estate, but it’s all in the highly affordable range. Interesting idea, Jeff.

Put away that melatonin—according to this article in the New Scientist, research suggests that Viagra might be the new cure for jet lag. Seriously. Seems like it works, at least for hamsters, and at doses low enough that it shouldn’t cause, um, well, what Viagra is usually used for.

Another chapter in the book of “better living through chemistry”…

Last Friday the Department of Transportation approved Virgin America as a new low-fare U.S. airline, with plans to be in 10 cities within a year. True to his reputation, Richard Branson is having some fun naming the new U.S. fleet or, rather, having others name the planes for him. So far, they have a Unicorn Chaser, a Jefferson Airplane (named by band member Grace Slick), a Mach Daddy, a Chic Mobile, an Airplane Named Desire, and my own personal favorite, Contents Under Pressure. The first round is over, but you can get in on the next round of naming, once it opens up, at the airline’s NameOurPlanes site.

Who would have guessed? According to this survey, airlines are even lower in our collective esteem than the IRS.

The airlines’ score — down two points from last year — was the lowest for the industry since 2001 and reflects growing dissatisfaction with the travel industry.

Hotels scored 71, falling four points to the lowest level since 2002, according to the survey.

But not all is lost: As I mentioned yesterday, Southwest is still in our relatively good graces, as is Marriott on the hotel side.

This time, it’s a class-action suit filed against Starwood for not disclosing mandatory housekeeping and bell “gratuities” (IMHO, if it’s mandatory, it’s a fee, not a gratuity or tip—but I digress). Click here for the gory details.