Etc...

Hey, they're only concrete

There is modesty, and then there's what happened earlier this spring in Hartsville, Tenn. First, you have to envision a roadside place of business that sells classical statuary for display on lawns and in gardens. "Classical" in this case meaning - well - nude. At least that was the case until an anonymous caller complained of being offended. Oh, OK, members of the G&L Garden Center staff replied, covering the merchandise with strategically placed two-piece red velvet sarongs. Result: increased sales. Since that phone call, the shop has moved six of the statues - at $99.95 each.

"If you think we have problems with [flight] delay today, wait 'til you get to 2013," says Catherine Lang, the Federal Aviation Administration's deputy associate administrator for airports. By then, air travel in the US is projected to grow about 50 percent. Fueling that growth are the increasing popularity of leisure travel; the emergence of low-cost, no-frills carriers; and a larger population. In its preliminary study of 300 metropolitan airports, the FAA classifies five as already overcrowded: Atlanta (Hartsfield-Jackson), New York (La Guardia, Chicago (O'Hare), Newark, N.J., and Philadelphia (International). Airports that the FAA says it expects to reach their capacity by 2013, unless they're expanded:

Albuquerque (N.M.) International Sunport
Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena (Calif.) Airport
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood (Fla.) International
Houston Hobby Airport
New York/JFK International
Orange County, Calif., John Wayne Airport
Long Beach (Calif.) Daugherty Field
Oakland (Calif.) International
Palm Beach (Fla.) International
San Antonio International
San Francisco International
Tucson (Ariz.) International
- Associated Press