What does a Flight Attendant do with a Passenger that says "go f--k yourself?"

A flight attendant ran out of patience on a plane that just landed at JFK on Monday afternoon, so he allegedly cursed a blue streak over the p.a. system, grabbed some beers, pulled the emergency chute, slid down and ran from the plane, sources said.

Jet Blue employee Steven Slater, 38, was working on Flight 1052 from Pittsburgh to Kennedy Airport, which landed at around 12 p.m., when he got into a verbal altercation with a passenger, law-enforcement sources said.

Following a heated exchange, the flight attendant told off the entire plane on the public address system, activated an emergency chute near the back of the plane and jumped down the evacuation slide and ran for it.

The argument began when one of the 100 passengers on the flight, got up early to get her luggage from an overhead compartment, according to sources. Slater told the passenger to sit back down -- but, as he approached, the woman continued to pull her belongings down and struck him in the head with her bag, authorities said.

Slater asked for an apology but the woman cursed him out, saying in effect "go f--k yourself" and calling him a "mo-fo," according to law enforcement sources who are still sorting out the specifics. Then Slater got on the flight's announcement system and allegedly cursed out everyone on the plane -- especially the person who mouthed off to him, according to law enforcement sources.

When his tirade was through, he then took a some beers from the galley and pulled the emergency chute and slid off the Embraer 190 plane. According to police sources, he threw his luggage down first and said something to the effect of "there goes 28 years," before he took the plunge.
After getting down the slide, Slater took off into the terminal, law-enforcement sources said.

Slater was later arrested at his home in Belle Harbor, Queens by Port Authority officials. He was found by police in a sexual embrace with his partner, sources said.

The steward was "having a bad day," sources said.

He is being charged with 2nd-and 4th-degree criminal mischief, 1st- and 2nd-degree reckless endangerment and criminal trespass in the 3rd degree, according to a spokeswoman for Queens DA Richard Brown. Slater faces up to 7 years in prison if convicted.

No one was injured in the incident. JetBlue, in a statement, added, "At no time was the security or safety of our customers or crewmembers at risk."

Elevator Speech

So there you are...at a conference. It's all about networking. Remember the earlier A.B.C. blog (A = Always B = Be C = Closing)? Someone initiates conversation (isn't that nice for once?!), noticed your name tag and asks, "What do you guys do?"

What's your answer? You better come back with something special or ABC is out the window.

For most business owners, getting to the crux of what they really do is the hardest, yet potentially most rewarding, one-minute conversation they will ever have. In that shortest of time spans, potential customers, vendors, and employees will make a complete assessment, deciding then and there if your company, products or services are worth pursuing.

Why? Because it's all the time they have to open windows and doors of opportunity. Make it count and avoid the traps. Here's a couple to avoid:

Trap #1 The Sweeping Generality

A typical sweeping generality goes something likes this... "We're into enterprise management consulting". The response? (pick one):

-Unintentional fainting.
-Look down at watch.
-Leave with a nice 'don't call me' parting of the ways.

Solution: Add some ummmph! While coordinating a business conference in Dubai a few years back, I heard an ABC expert describe her work in the philanthropic field, setting up foundations and putting together partnerships. When I asked her specifically what she did, she simply smiled and replied "I make miracles happen."

Bottom line? I love miracles!

You can bet I followed up and keep in touch with her as she worked toward making a difference in the world. Her work was varied, but her moniker was consistent...MIRACLES.

Trap #2: The Kitchen Sink

The most common trap is to try and list everything you do. The proverbial kitchen sink..."We sell, service and maintain new and used mechanical parts and fittings for the plant automation industry."

The reply? "Thank you...nice to meet you!"

Solution: Like everything else in branding, your elevator speech should convey the essence of what you do, not just a descriptive phrase. It should stress the benefits of what you do, not the features, i.e., "selling the sizzle, not the steak".

In short, look for the solution or benefits your products and services provide. A great elevator speech might have gone something like "we keep the world's factories running efficiently." Once you get the "how do you do that?", you can roll forward with a condensed kitchen sink conversation.

Moving Forward

Make it a goal this week to develop a one to two sentence statement that sums up the benefits of what you offer. Avoid dry, purely descriptive statements and go for the "Wow!" factor.

Or just call me at and I can help.

Media Portraits: The Messenger

Mandy Rusillo

For Mandy Rusillo, the pulsating traffic delivers prospect. The shadow of a pedestrian often means danger. And the snap of a car door opening in front of her can mean suicide.

Rusillo, who works as a Chicagoland messenger, is one of the thousands of bicycle messengers in Chicago who navigate the labyrinth of vehicles and businesspeople who create the maze she conquers everyday.

''When you see me swerving and ducking, it's got nothing to do with being fancy or showing off,'' she said. ''I’m the fastest there is and a lot nicer than those ‘joes’ in Manhattan.''

World Portraits: Sultanate of Oman

Here I am, rocked you like a hurricane
Here I am, rocked you like a hurricane

My body is burning
It starts to shout
Desire is coming
It breaks out loud
Lust is in cages
Till storm breaks loose
Just have to make it
With someone I choose
The night is calling
I have to go
The wolf is hungry
He runs the show
He’s licking his lips
He’s ready to win
On the hunt tonight
For love at first sting

Airline food horror: roaches, flies, bacteria found in catering kitchens that make most plane meals

If you thought airline food was bad, prepare yourself: it just got a whole lot worse.

Inspectors for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discovered live roaches, dead roach carcasses "too numerous to count", ants, flies, debris, bacteria, and employees preparing food with their bare hands in numerous catering facilities responsible for preparing a huge chunk of the country's airline meals, USA Today reported.

The stomach-turning inspections were conducted over the last two years at the U.S. facilities of two of the world's biggest airline caterers, LSG Sky Chefs and Gate Gourmet, and another large caterer, Flying Food Group.

Combined, the three companies provide more than 100 million meals every year at U.S. airports, serving major carriers like Delta, American, United, US Airways and Continental.

Sickening details from the reports, obtained by USA Today through the Freedom of Information Act, include countless occasions when food prepared for airline meals was exposed to contamination.

In a 2009 inspection of an LSG Sky Chefs' facility in Minneapolis, an FDA inspector "spotted a mouse, rodent nesting materials and rodent feces under a pallet of food and in other areas."

A Connecticut facility of LSG Sky Chef's was issued a warning letter for fish meals "prepared, packed or held under insanitary conditions" that may be "injurious to health." The FDA cited concerns that the food could cause botulism, caused by extremely poisonous toxins.

Gate Gourmet was slapped with a warning letter in April 2005 when FDA inspectors found cockroaches and fruit flies in its Honolulu facility, food stored at the wrong temperatures, mold in a refrigerator and "a pink, slimy substance" dripping on kitchen machinery.

Prior to the warning, between 47 and 116 passengers had fallen ill after eating food on 12 flights from Hawaii catered by Gate Gourmet, according to the Hawaii State Department of Health.

Gate Gourmet Vice President Norbert van den Berg says the company has an excellent system to ensure safe food, and that his company's food-safety standards are better than any restaurant. "We can guarantee the safest product out there," he told USA Today.

Glenn Caulkins of Flying Food Group said his company also used an independent auditor to monitor its facilities, and a spokeswoman for LSG Sky Chefs told USA Today that it employs "comprehensive and multilayered quality-control standards...to ensure our customers receive safe, healthy and high-quality food."

(from Meena Hartenstein of the New York Daily News)

World Travels: The Inner Peace of Egypt

People from all walks of life are finding that "mental days" in Egypt are just the passport in improving life perspectives.

For some, the search for inner wellness starts in Giza.

The chants resonated from deep within the Pharaoh’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid of Giza: aaaaaa (a as in ah), eeeeeee (e as in eat), ooooooo (o as in oh), uuuuuuu (u as in blue), mmmmmmm (m as in room).

These eerie sounds alternately invited me and haunted me. They made me pensive, but at the same time I felt a strange desire to giggle. All the while they urged me forward, releasing my curiosity and untapped energy, so this chanting would not be wasted. The trip up to the innermost part of the pyramid was not like anything I had ever personally experienced. Mysterious. Dark. Laborious. The oxygen was sparse, or at least seemed that way, and the humidity was abnormally high. I stopped frequently to catch my breath.

            aaaaaaaa, eeeeeee, ooooooo, uuuuuuu, mmmmmmm.

Still ever present, the chants kept pulling me toward them.

After reaching the top and crawling through the two cramped passages, you reach the chamber built for the Pharaoh Khufu (2,589-2,566 B.C., of the 4th Dynasty).

From the sounds that came from there, I expected to find something like a hippie sit-in, protesting some government gaff, but I found something entirely different. A well dressed, raven-haired woman had positioned herself directly in the Pharaoh’s pitted granite sarcophagus, legs folded Indian-style, totally absorbed in her spiritual path. Flanking her were a half dozen or so spiritual companions locked into similar behavior in the musty, high energy room.

I would come to learn that the raven-haired beauty is Susan Parmet, on a personal mission to find inner peace. Her journey this year brought her to Egypt in a quest to connect with the teachings and training of the priests in Pharaonic Egypt. Each year she picks a new destination. “Mental days” is what she calls her trek for self-enlightenment. The year 2008 called her to arrive at the pyramids to bond with the spiritual energy that many Western visitors to Egypt believe is exclusive to this region.

Parmet is a fascinating example of the soul’s search for a positive path. In between chants, there had been pauses of silence. “Abiding in silence is the key to altering the consciousness and energy of body and mind and to move them inward and upward,” she later explained in the hazy light of day outside the pyramid. “The silence allows the endorphins released by the chant to let you feel the strange but wonderful yang-yin relationship of the sounding (yang) and the silence (yin).

“As you move the sound with your imagination or mind’s eye, you move the energy of the body up with it until your brain is greatly stimulated and the frontal lobe and forehead are tingling. Feel this happening. See it. Imagine it. Know it is happening,” she said.

Pretty high tech soul searching, but one gaining recognition and support for those in need of mental days to improve life perspectives.

Many celebrities are traveling down this New Age path these days. Last year, Grammy winning singer Alicia Keys dropped everything to get to Egypt to find musical inspiration while she was struggling with her new album. Traveling alone through Egypt, she found her motivation at the Great Pyramid.  “I’m thinking here is this structure that’s been standing for thousands of years, no magic tricks, no cranes, just mind, will and hands. I had a profound realization that with my mind and my hands I could create something that could last forever.”

Filled with enthusiasm, she fast tracked back to the studio and completed her album, which is already being hailed as her best work since her debut.

That thinking works fine for the celebrities known for unorthodox antics and spur of the moment action, but what of someone like Parmet, a respected Dallas attorney who never took a sick day or a vacation day for 10 years before 2006. “Life is stressful,” she says. “You have to find your place in the world. Some people go to church or a mosque. Others go to Las Vegas and gamble. I travel the world in search of the magical connection. Whether I make that connection or not, I’ve rewarded myself with incredible memories and time away for a life well done.”

To an outsider, the travelers in search of inner peace look like any other tourists who would come from around the world to see one of the last great wonders of the ancients. A camera and comfortable shoes don’t begin to reveal the depths of their thinking and why they feel their global awakening begins—and ends—here in Giza. According to Parmet, the accumulated knowledge of Atlantis, Egypt, the Phoenicians and other ancients was said to have been placed on the site of the Great Pyramid.

Breaking from her chants, Parmet moved to readings from Thoth, the Egyptian god of the moon, magic and writing. Her voice became transformed as she read from Thoth’s “Emerald Tablets” and seemed to harness the energies needed not only to sum up her inner peace, but to enlighten all who might be listening:

List ye, O man, hear ye my voice,

teaching of Wisdom and Light in this cycle;

teaching ye how to banish the darkness,

teaching ye how to bring Light in thy life.

Seek ye, O man, to find the great pathway

that leads to eternal life as a sun.

Draw ye away from the veil of the darkness.

Seek to become a Light in the world.

Make of thyself a vessel for Light,

a focus for the Sun of this space.

Lift thou thine eyes to the Cosmos.

Lift thou thine eyes to the Light.

Speak in the words of the Dweller,

the chant that calls down the Light.

Sing thou the song of Freedom.

Sing thou the song of the Soul.

Create the high vibration that will

make thee one with the Whole.

Blend all thyself with the Cosmos.

Grow into One with the Light.

Be thou a channel of order,

a pathway of Law to the world.

I am told that reading these passages balances your breath, causing an altered state of consciousness. The goal is not chanting, but deep, stimulating oratory in which your body, mind and spirit feel high and receptive to new thinking and healings of the soul. Judging by those who were in the moment, it seemed to work quite well.

This was a far cry from the cult-like chant fest I had expected when I first heard those strange sounds in the pyramid. Instead, here was a group of new thinkers, open to augmented spirituality. One that would not override or infringe on their long practiced faiths. And these were not gullible fools, but people in their prime, like so many well educated members of spiritual tours, who tend to be doctors, engineers, business consultants or have other respected professions.

“Sure I get chuckles and finger pointing,” says Parmet. “That’s not a concern of mine. I am here on a different kind of adventure travel. Some people find their peace by climbing mountains and looking at the world below them or going to the spa and pampering themselves for a day. I climb inside pyramids and elevate my mind to improve myself.”

New Age tours are big business these days. Emad Al-Aziz, of Summit Tours in Egypt, reports that his trips for furthering understanding of spirituality and metaphysics have grown 70 percent in the past three years. His tours cover such marvels as Citadel, Al Abaster Mosque, Hanging Church, Bab Zuwela, Khan El Kalili bazaars, Giza Pyramids, Khufu Pyramid, Khafra Pyramid and the Great Sphinx.

The cosmological ideas of Egypt were long told through a series of myths and symbols which easily translate into metaphysical concepts,” Al-Aziz says. “Based on the interest in these kinds of trips and the fulfillment of our clients, we can only expect more growth in this type of travel around Egypt and the entire Middle East.”

There is a great belief among spiritual travelers that they derive much spirituality from great places on earth that were built for specific reasons known only to the most powerful people of their eras. As Parmet explains, “We know that the most intelligent engineers of the world built their great creations—the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, Stonehenge—on the points where the most powerful energies existed. But we are taught that the pyramid is the ideal shape for this type of energy and power.”

The idea that a simple geometric shape or drawing could generate an energy field seems absurd at first. The nineteenth-century Scottish mathematician and physicist James Clerk Maxwell’s famed mathematical studies showed that luminiferous ether flowing into mass is the cause of gravity, magnetism, inertia and other fundamental forces, and if such, then it is deduced that certain geometry could disrupt the flow slightly to generate an energy field. The energies produced by the cone of the pyramid proved the cone to be the best collector of energy because that shape interacts better with ether.

As we spoke of energies and inertias, Parmet was eager to demonstrate how luminous and palpable they could be. She whipped out her camera and produced her evidence: pictures with brilliant loops of illumination, even though there wasn’t enough light in the chamber, which to her was proof positive that orb spirits were dancing in celebration to the chanting and the readings of Thoth.

“Living in Dallas pushes me so far from the center of New Age culture that I need to reconnect once a year,” she goes on. “It helps me escape the misery of seeing criminals parade in front of our justice system day after day. I sometimes imagine that if these wayward people could have found a way to connect with their inner world better, they would not have strayed from a balanced, focused and good life.”

Journey to the Center of the Pyramid
(Click image to enlarge)

The journey to the King’s Chamber (aka Pharaoh’s Chamber) is a claustrophobic one. Walking bent over through a long, 45-degree crawl space no more than four feet high and wide is no easy task.

An opening in the grand gallery allows you to stand and ascend carefully up a sharply inclined path lined with long wood planks.

After reaching the top of the grand gallery, you go on your knees through two three-foot-high passages to reach the Pharaoh’s Chamber at the center of the Great Pyramid.

Originally published in ALO magazine. Photographs and article by the Media Guy, that's me(!), Michael Lloyd.

World Travels: England and their Enchanting Nights

Friends on the search for an eatery to rest at after a day of full-on sightseeing

Arabian nights, culinary delights and good home cooking surround your taste buds in London.

Rain is usually the fastest way to mess up a vacation. In London it’s a way of life. Even in a downpour the locals walk in shorts and t-shirts and simply whip out a compact umbrella to hide from the rain—or not. Today, it’s a modest 73 degrees, and no rain can stop the search for authentic Middle Eastern fare, especially with a culinary tip in hand: Edgware Road.

As you find a chair in one of the dozens of restaurants on the southern stretch of the Edgware Road, you’re instantly shuttled away from the double decker buses and pomp and circumstance of London to the homey enclave of the Middle East. LBC (Lebanese Broadcasting Company) and Al-Jazeera argue via satellite on dueling televisions, mint tea replaces Earl Grey on the tables and the conversation is decidedly political. The covered waitress takes my falafel order (the menu is partly written in Arabic, partly in broken English), and a man at the next table starts a conversation with me through a thick cloud of smoke from his hookah. You want to check outside to make sure you are still in jolly ol’ England.

When the waitress tells me to keep the news of hookah smoking under wraps due to the impending smoking ban, I remember, of course, I am still in London. Still, something about Al Tanoor—a makeshift sidewalk café—is so very like those in Cairo or Beirut that it tricks the mind and the spirit.

Before arriving in London, I had heard about this city’s Middle Eastern London quarter. Some called it “Little Lebanon,” and others “Awesome Arabia.” And it does have a little of everything for those seeking Arabia—lots of traffic, eateries and even a barber for “Authentic Arabian Shaves.”

Edgware is definitely a melting pot, with customers and vendors hailing from all corners of the world, including Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and even the United States and Canada. One look around, and the diversity is astounding. Conversations are something out of a Saturday afternoon B-movie, where you step through a Utopian black hole to discover an alternate world of peaceful coexistence that Martin Luther King, Jr., or Beth Mahmoud-Howell, a founder of the Middle East Peace Camp, might have promised in speeches long passed.

Rivalries between different countries are put aside—they are people, first and foremost, and the rest of the junk takes a backseat to food and living for today. London businessmen mix at ease with housewives, wayward youth, hejab-covered women, trendy half-clothed twenty-somethings and the American or European tourist here to taste the delights of the road.

At Green Valley, the largest supermarket for miles, the Moroccan butcher shows off his wonderful kafta kabob skewers. “Ideal for barbecue,” he says. When I tell him I’m over at the 51 Buckingham Gate apartments for a few days on vacation, his hospitality compels him to offer some Saudi dates and finds something more suitable for kitchen cooking. “You picked the right street to shop. Here everyone just finds what they want without a problem,” he says.

“So why here and not other places around London or the world?” I ask.

“Britain used to own the whole world. In the process they brought a little from everywhere back with them. On Edgware Road it just all blends together like a great story.”

But that’s only the beginning at Green Valley and on Edgware Road. Choosing baklava—those delicious sticky pastries—is another Middle Eastern ritual, and in this part of London, you’ll be spoiled, since it easily sells the biggest range this side of Beirut. Try the cream-filled ­specials displayed alongside blocks of top-grade nougat and Turkish delights dusted with powdered sugar. Unusual produce includes fresh pistachios, yellow dates from Jordan and ridged tomatoes from the mountains of Lebanon. Past the long shelves of tins and barrels of olives, the dairy counter sells wonderful cheeses, while bakers lift fresh manakish (Middle Eastern pizzas) from the wood-fired oven.

“It is great to have such a thriving cafe culture here in London,” says Maysoon Qitab. Many of my friends have grown up here in the UK. But to us newcomers, areas like Edgware are amongst our favorite places to meet, as it reminds us of our heritage. Summer is the best time to fully enjoy the atmosphere; you could easily think you were in Amman or Dubai.”

For coffee, head to Markus Coffee Company, where they have carefully roasted 26 varieties in their vintage German roasting machine since 1957. Regulars promise that a mix of Negresco and Regent is the real deal. The Odeon cinema, once the location of the biggest screen in London, often shows films in Arabic, while the Green Man pub offers inexpensive kabobs, fish and chips, a huge range of beers and European and Asian football matches on flat screen televisions.

A chef at Ishbilia prepares Lebanese-style gyros

Stepping outside Edgware is equally tantalizing. This summer, Ishbilia was the name on everyone’s lips at the Buckingham Gate. From the concierge to the lady in the next spa chair, everyone agreed that for a whiff of South Lebanon in both hospitality and flavor, this is the place to be. A £30 taxi ride (at least $60!) from the hotel brought me to Harrods, a department store so large that they hand out maps when you enter. Inside is Ishbilia, and the line, I hear, can be endless. But not today. The handsome Mohammed greets all of the customers and is in command of everything from the menus to the fact that table 24 needs more flat water and Jordanian olives.

The lunchtime crowd is something out of the United Nations, with almost every conceivable country seemingly represented. In a flash, the mezza filled the table with hummus (garbanzo dip), tabouleh (chopped parsley salad with cucumber, tomato, mint, bulgur etc.) moutabel (eggplant dip), baked eggplant with sesame oil and lemon juice, grilled halloumi cheese on Lebanese bread, minced lamb served with toasted bread, yogurt and pine nuts. The vibrant atmosphere in Ishbilia is more than you would expect in a department store eatery. It’s something you would expect in rural Lebanon or Syria. The chefs cheerfully invite you and will even give you a quick cooking lesson, while the waiters joke with you without neglecting their work. It’s safe to say that there’s nothing ordinary about Harrods or Ishbilia. The challenge remains on how to tackle the shopping once your stomach is satisfied.

Gossip about where to eat is the best way to find your way around in London. I heard many people saying, “If Beirut parties the way they do at Maroush, then we’re on the next plane out of town.” This super-stylish restaurant did not disappoint. At Maroush 5 (the 5 being very important, since there are so many Maroushes scattered about London), the wonderfully intimate bar and entertainment area downstairs have an infectious charm that keeps you coming back every Saturday night.

It’s cozy and convenient with its “club” cellar and provides a trendy, cultural trip for the young and young at heart. While the food was traditional mezza and araks (a licorice tasting cocktail), it was the nightlife that sealed the deal. Once the music started, it, happily, drowned out the mobile phones and filled the air with Greek and Arabic favorites. The night absolutely rocked!

With belly dancing and live performances spaced throughout the evening, it was a night to remember on our 3 a.m. stroll, looking for a £30 ride back to the Buckingham.

The fountains at 51 Buckingham Gate are a welcome sight after a long day of sightseeing.

The finest doormen in the UK await you at the Mandarin Oriental.