Packing light vs. the environment

[Ellsass]

Re: a person with an oxygen tank paying for its weight on a flight—in reality this might be covered by insurance. Which means that other people are (partially) paying for its weight on the airplane. The current situation is that other people pay the airline directly for part of its weight. Why add another middleman?

My point in all this still stands: whether you agree with charging by weight or not, it’s still very problematic in practice.

[backpack]

On some airlines, people of size whose gluteus maximus cannot fit in the seat, have the possibility to buy 2 seats.

It is always a disadvantage to women, who usually have wider gluteus maximus and thighs, than a person built like football player who fits into the seat but has very broad shoulders.


I always pack as light as possible, carry on only, TB luggage and bags, but being a plus size person, my clothes take more space than my medium size husband and especially my petite sizes, family members.

I also layer, in order to have optimal comfort, if a plane is taking off on a sunny midday, I will wear less and place more piece of clothing on the seat. I do that because once, I placed some of my layers in the bag under the seat and when we reached a certain altitude, I was freezing and had to fumble to re-layer everything.


Some people, especially in summer, wears tank tops and shorts and drag hard shells carry on wheelies, and check a big sized one. Do they carry more or less weight than I do on a plane?


I usually pack half of what I took in Europe, carry on only with TB luggage and bags. Both my carry on and personal item where under 14 kg around 30 pounds = 60 pounds. I had to stay under a certain weight by European airlines regulations, so I bought a scale.

Before that, I used a Cordura Brain Bag for domestic flights and it weighted around 45 pounds and my personal item a Large Cafe Bag in Cordura weighted around 15 pounds, so 65 pounds total. I run with both the whole length of Dulles' domestic terminal, because I misread the gate number, and found out only just in time to make the plane. It took me several minutes to be able to talk and loose my light pink face, but I could sure smile.

After that I made sure to check every gate letter and number very carefully but, it happened a second time during a very complicated multi stop vacation/families and friends visits.


After the European trip, I decided to not only pack light but bundle visits to friends and family, by geographic areas with direct flights and/or day long layovers.

Will cruising instead of flying, especially on ships that use multi modes of power, be better for the environment for long haul visits?

[haraya]

There was just an article about how FR systems have a long way to go with respect to accuracy.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/techn...use/?tid=sm_fb

"Asian and African American people were up to 100 times more likely to be misidentified than white men, depending on the particular algorithm and type of search. Native Americans had the highest false-positive rate of all ethnicities, according to the study, which found that systems varied widely in their accuracy.

Algorithms developed in the United States also showed high error rates for “one-to-one” searches of Asians, African Americans, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders. Such searches are critical to functions including cellphone sign-ons and airport boarding schemes, and errors could make it easier for impostors to gain access to those systems. [...]

Women were more likely to be falsely identified than men, and the elderly and children were more likely to be misidentified than those in other age groups, the study found. Middle-aged white men generally benefited from the highest accuracy rates. [...]

The study could fundamentally shake one of American law enforcement’s fastest-growing tools for identifying criminal suspects and witnesses, which privacy advocates have argued is ushering in a dangerous new wave of government surveillance tools.

The FBI alone has logged more than 390,000 facial-recognition searches of state driver’s license records and other federal and local databases since 2011, federal records show. Members of Congress this year have voiced anger over the technology’s lack of regulation and its potential for discrimination and abuse."

From my own experience: a couple of weeks ago I flew to Europe out of a major US airport. As we presented our boarding passes to get onto the plane, each passenger was asked to look into a camera. I found out later that this was supposed to be "voluntary", but at no point did I hear anyone say so, nor was there a sign indicating this (except further away - not at the gate but when one first entered the secure area). I watched as the two gentlemen (not traveling together) ahead of me waited patiently while the camera tried and failed repeatedly to capture their image - they were both quite dark-skinned. However, the woman ahead of them, who was of a fair complexion, had no such issues - her picture was captured in seconds and away she went.

All this to say - there are significant technological and legal issues still with FR/AI.

Bonus item. Now we have to weigh everyone going onto a plane and the privacy concerns. Best answer, maybe. With the precision of facial recognition from AI, I suspect algorithms exist to calculate body mass and weight from a video camera in any public space so an airport would be no different except it would have a stated objective. One step further, the TSA body scanner probably collect this visual data without physically weighing a person. In theory if you walked in public with a camera, AI may exist that not only your face is recognized, but also height, build, and bodyweight.

[Rei]

[...]bundle visits to friends and family, by geographic areas [...]

I like this wording: bundle visits

I just did that (road-traveled to Cambodia visiting my family, right after I spent some time with my friend in Lao)

[organicfarmer]

Will cruising instead of flying, especially on ships that use multi modes of power, be better for the environment for long haul visits?

Ocean freight is one of the most efficient modes of freight known and it doesn't have infrastructure needs between points A and B unlike railroads or highways. I read about a large shipping conglomerate adding sails to their container ships because it makes money. Ultimately though, the most carbon effective travel is to not go anywhere ever.

So on the packing light vs packing everything theme, it comes down pack as light as possible, travel the least required, and every compromise of those for purpose of human comfort and exploration comes at a ultimate cost of the planet's health via carbon emissions determined by that personal decision.

(Please don't mistake me for a flight shaming person or only eat organic to save the world person. My tractor cab time gives me an abundance of time to think about a lot of things. Things mentioned in this thread sparked several items I thought about. A frequent thought this year was formulating my story rationalizing my annual use of half a tanker load of fuel. That fuel translates into many semi-loads of food and fiber, but there is a cost via dollars and carbon emissions. It affects my triple bottom line and I can't get past the concept that the rationalization of being carbon emitting entity centers around a point of greed of being productive. My mental justification to make it feel okay that being a carbon emitter is acceptable because I feel good about the choices that lead to its use. end of rant)

[NYCWriter]

Being old, I never traveled with a water bottle or wipes or sporks and so I still don't. I only eat or drink when I'm at a restaurant, or I use the water fountain if I want a drink.

THANK YOU.

Outside of hiking, I have never understood this obsession among the under-50 crowd with always carrying around a bottle of water. I have never in my 30+ years of adult life had a "thirst emergency" that would have required a bottle of water on my person (and this includes frequent "day hiking" trips all over New York City).

In a similar vein, I have a young co-worker who walks around the office all day with this crazy large water bottle that she insists she needs for hydration. She is CONSTANTLY glugging water. And she is constantly suffering from fatigue, cramps, and headaches -- all symptoms of OVER-hydration and salt imbalance. I've gently tried to tell her this, but -- nobody listens to old farts like me anymore.