I just found a neat little URL you can use to check whether or not your airport has one of those backscatter scanners and, if it does, if it is in use. I can’t vouch for its veracity, but it’s a pretty cool idea.

Thanks, Mental Floss, for the pointer.

Brought to you courtesy of the New York Times: apps to make parking, flight-tracking, airport navigation, and other aspects of travel a little easier.

I’m not sure how I feel about Planely, a service I recently read about on TechCrunch that lets people enter their flights into Facebook to find out who else will be on their plane or at their departure or arrival airport at the same time. It sounds like a great application for meetings on one hand (and the item says Le Web 2010 used it) because it could enable more connections and conversations from the (literal) get-go. On the other hand, I have some hesitation around using anything that announces I’m not home, so c’mon down, robbers and thieves.

I don’t know — do you think something like this could catch on?

It just keeps coming, and I can’t stop myself from reading/watching/being bemused by all the anti-TSA bits floating around. I started to put together some of my favorites, then ran across two people who have already done an infinitely more thorough job than I would ever want to:

TSA Backscatter X-ray Backlash: Bruce Schneier’s collection of links and commentary

TSA Myth or Fact: Leaked Images, Handcuffed Hosts, Religious Garb, and More! TSA’s Blogger Bob gives the official response to some of the TSA-related rumors flashing around the Internet.

If you need any more reasons to make sure you’re providing adequate bandwidth for your attendees, here they come. According to a study conducted by StudyLogic for Sheraton, a full 60 percent of the 4,204 people surveyed in the U.S., U.K., and China use social media, not the phone or e-mail, to keep in touch with loved ones while on the road. About 80 percent access social media sites throughout the day (about a fifth log in to an SM site multiple times each hour when traveling), and 39% said they “could not live without” social media sites (hmm, and about half said they used SM to arrange a tryst while on the road, which seems awfully indiscreet, among other things).

More than half also do a quick check of a new contact’s SM profile before a meeting, and 56 percent also said it was important to do business with people active in social media; 55 percent use online social networking to meet new business contacts and maintain current ones. But take what you learn with a grain of salt, since almost 70 percent also said they were less than honest on social networking sites, and 20 percent said they flat-out lie.

Sheraton wanted to gauge SM to ensure its new Link@Sheraton service — which I haven’t seen yet but, according to a press release, sounds like a pretty nice version of a cyber cafe with free wi-fi and Internet-enabled computer stations — was in line with what people want. I like the idea, of course, but also want wi-fi in the meeting spaces and guest rooms as well. As Hoyt Harper, SVP and Global Brand Leader for Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, says in the release, it’s no longer a luxury; it’s a necessity.

Do you take the jet-laggedness (I know, not a word) of your meeting’s attendees into account when you’re scheduling sessions? If not, you should be. Not just to be nice and considerate of those who come from other time zones, but also to maximize their learning. And why might that be? Well, we’ve always thought it was the case, but now we know for sure that jet lag makes you stupid (at least, it does if you’re a hamster).

Despite calls for an airport scanner opt-out day and even a protest song, a CBS news poll finds that four out of five people support full-body airport scanners. From the article:

“Although some civil rights groups allege that they represent an unconstitutional invasion of privacy, Americans overwhelmingly agree that airports should use the digital x-ray machines to electronically screen passengers in airport security lines, according to the new poll. Eighty-one percent think airports should use these new machines — including a majority of both men and women, Americans of all age groups, and Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike. Fifteen percent said airports should not use them.”

Maybe only 15 percent of those surveyed are regular fliers? Or they thought the survey was asking about the old-style X-ray machines? Maybe they haven’t yet heard about Gizmodo’s publishing of 100 images of digitally stripped people saved on a full-body scanner at an Orlando, Fla., courthouse, despite claims by TSA that “Advanced imaging technology cannot store, print, transmit or save the image, and the image is automatically deleted from the system after it is cleared by the remotely located security officer”? (Update: TSA’s blogger Bob says the two situations don’t correlate and reiterates the above statement.)

Here it is — and it’s a wiki, so feel free to add any tips you have.

An anti-invasive airport scanner activist is calling for air travelers to just say no to the scans, and the gropey enhanced pat-downs, on November 24 as a protest against the increasingly unpopular security measure.

I’m guessing most folks will put getting to grandma’s higher on their priority list than making a statement, but we’ll see.

First it was the fake-cocaine prank, and now it’s the choice of wallpaper on a TSA computer monitor.

Oh boy, I can’t wait to fly again. And you?