Click on the photo to enlarge it, then tell me — is this not the best airplane paint job ever? It’s brought to you by Kulula, South Africa’s low-cost airline. (Thanks to Chris Rawlinson!)

Andy Borowitz often cracks me up, but this one was just too good not to share: Full Body Scans to Double as Annual Checkups
Solution to Airport Security, Health Care Woes. I particularly liked this part: “The President added that instituting the body scan/checkup could ward off some terrorists right from the start, ‘because a lot of them will balk at the $25 co-pay.’”

Here’s to a happy and healthy holiday season and a fabulous new year, from me and our new puppy Mango:

The Washington Post has published its latest list of neologisms (new uses for old words), and there are some doozies (full list is here thanks to Pharma Gossip — can’t find it on the Post site for some reason). A few that meeting planners might enjoy:

1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs. (Get that hand sanitizer ready!)
2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained. (Happens to me after pretty much every industry meeting I’ve attended lately)
14. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms. (This reminds me of someone in the biz I know…)

Then there’s the contest The Post’s Style Invitational runs that asks readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

I wish these didn’t apply to meetings, but they all-too-often do:

1. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

and

12. Dopeler effect (n): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

Anyone feeling creative? I think we could add to this list…

Here’s hoping they still look to your conferences for the answers instead of Google. With that said, it can be useful to get a feel for what the world in general is looking to know more about by checking out the 2009 Year-End Google Zeitgeist. It is an analysis of what people have used Google to search for this year, which not suprisingly means Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, and acai berries.

You have to love New Orleans — where else would you expect to find a confluence of blood transfusion and cellular therapy professionals and vampire enthusiasts, just in time for Halloween? According to a press release, that’s what’s happening right as the 2009 American Association of Blood Banks Annual Meeting TXPO arrives in town at the same time as the 2009 Vampire Film Festival. Though it doesn’t sound like the two groups will be hanging out together much, you have to like this quote:

“‘This weekend New Orleans wants your blood!” said Vampire Film Festival director Asif Ahmed, ‘We are thrilled to be in America’s most gothic city here along with AABB. Our vampire filmmakers are arriving from around the world and are already intrigued with the many charms and haunts of this city. Remember once you invite a vampire in, it’s hard to get us to leave!’”

This video is so funny — thanks, I needed that, MeCo! Check it out: Real-life situations deserve real live meetings.

For the Twitterers among us, a hilarious flowchart from Wired: Ask a Flowchart: Should I Delete My Tweet?

I know I don’t need to tell you this, but while Indexed’s brilliant Jessica Hagy titled this one “Barefoot Dancing at the end of the wedding,” it could just as easily be called “What every new meeting planner needs to know”:

This just blew my mind completely. It’s well worth the eight minutes to watch:

Thanks, T, for the pointer!