Gadling

After a few hectic days of family, traveling and lots of eating, I thought many of us would enjoy a calming photo such as this one. Taken in Brecon Beacons, Wales by Theodore Scott this photo captures the peacefulness of the rolling hills and clouds, giving us a very relaxing image. I also like the rock wall that draws our eye in and pulls it back into the distance, far down the fields; great perspective!

Do you have an excellent travel shot? Submit it to our Gadling Flickr pool to be considered for Photo of the Day.

I think this photo of Manarola, one of the five cillages of Cinque Terre, taken by stellarviewer, is very striking because of the dark clouds in the sky. What's even more interesting is that the photo was composed using five different images, which may be why we get such an intense sky.

Have your own great travel shot you think would make for a great Photo of the Day? Submit it to the Gadling Flickr pool for consideration.

Obesity on airlines is becoming a big issue. Just a couple weeks ago a flight attendant was ruled too fat to fly, and of course the overweight passenger debate is always one that flares up people's opinions. There are two schools of thought. The first is from the view of the passenger stuck next to an overweight one who takes up more than their fair share of space; a lot of people believe that they should have to pay for a second seat. But the second opinion comes from overweight passengers themselves, who believe that they have a right to more space.

According to Reuters, today the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the direction of the latter, declaring that obese people have the right to two seats for the price of one on flights within Canada. The original decision had been made by the Canadian Transportation Authority, who claimed that people that are "functionally disabled by obesity" deserve to have two seats for one fare. The Canadian airlines went to appeal, but the high court declined to hear it, meaning that the decision now stands.

Do you think the official decision is a fair one?

One of the best ways to travel without leaving your home is through photography. Pictures have the ability to draw us into new cities, cultures, and traditions, allowing us to discover worlds that were once unbeknown to our eyes. And now thanks to Google we have a new way of traveling not only around the world, but through time as well.

On Tuesday the Google blog announced that the internet company is making a LIFE photo archive available on Google image search. LIFE made a name for itself in the history of photojournalism, capturing many of the world's most important moments on film, but the really cool thing about this archive is that many of these images have never been published, meaning that we're getting to discover ones that have, until now, been sitting in old archives in the form of slides, negatives, etchings and prints.Twenty percent of the collection is currently online, and when they're done, there will be over 10 million images to search through.

What are some of the highlights of the collection? The Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination; The Mansell Collection from London; Dahlstrom glass plates of New York and environs from the 1880s; and the entire works left to the collection from LIFE photographers Alfred Eisenstaedt, Gjon Mili, and Nina Leen. There are so many amazing pieces by some of the most influential photographers, it will be easy to spend hours searching the archive. And when you find one that really strikes your eye, you can even order a high-quality framed print of it.

You can access the collection here.

For me to get home for Thanksgiving, I'm lucky enough to only have to take Amtrak. Even though train stations are popping at the seams with travelers during the November holiday weekend, airports are even worse. And this year is no different.

As a matter of fact, during this year's Thanksgiving and Christmas travel periods, airlines will operate about 2,500 to 3,000 fewer domestic flights than compared with the same periods in previous years. That means that one way or another, you're probably going to be affected. To visualize just how your travel plans might be impacted, USA Today's travel blog Today in the Sky has put together an interactive graphic to show how flight cutbacks by airlines could affect your travel choices.

The graphic can be used to find flight changes for select days from every domestic airport with flights to the following seven hubs: Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Houston (Bush) and Minneapolis-St. Paul. The map is dotted with red and green squares to signify fewer or more flights to the hub, making it pretty simple to see what routes are going to be more problematic. But if you're lucky, you'll find that your particular route has that great green box, meaning that you'll actually be able to take advantage of more flights to get you home for the holidays.

To check out the graphic for yourself, click here.

I picked this photo, because often some of the best photography is about making the mundane interesting. Although airports are full of people and constant activity, it's probably not on the top list of photography destinations. But in this photo, Tapeleg manages to find a creative angle to shoot a scene that travelers probably don't even give a second thought to. I think it's the use of lines in this view of the Denver International Airport, and the fact that there are no people in the foreground, giving the shot a very clean feel.

Do you have a shot that should be considered for Photo of the Day? Submit it to the Gadling Flickr pool.

Here at Gadling we'll be highlighting some of our favorite sounds from the road and giving you a sample of each -- maybe you'll find the same inspiration that we did, but at the very least, hopefully you'll think that they're good songs.

Got a favorite of your own? Leave it in the Comments and we'll post it at the end of the series.

France. This is a country known for its music. The stereotypical accordion tunes from atop Montmartre embodied in the soundtrack of Amélie, the ballads of Edith Piaf, and the intense lyrics of adopted icon Jacques Brel (he was actually Belgian, but the French like him so much they seem to forget). But beyond those symbolic melodies that scream French roots, there's another side to French music. One that is much more urban, cosmopolitan and chic. It's the smooth, electro-jazz, slightly funky sounds of contemporary bands like St. Germain.

We live in an era of global brands. McDonald's, Starbucks, H&M, Coca Cola, Australia... Wait, what???

You read correctly, Australia recently won the top spot of the 2008 Country Brand Index. Nation branding, as it's officially referred to, is the theory and practice of measuring and building the reputations of countries; basically applying standard commercial brand management that you'd find with commodities and using it to analyzing everywhere from Austria to Zimbabwe.

The 2008 study conducted by Future Brand, a global brand consulting firm, used rankings from 30 different categories to come up with the final index. Among the categories were History, Standard of Living, Friendly Locals and Environmentalism. It's like a beauty pageant for countries, with the most well-rounded coming out on top. Here are the top ten:

1. Australia
2. Canada
3. USA
4. Italy
5. Switzerland
6. France
7. New Zealand
8. United Kingdom
9. Japan
10. Sweden

When you look at that list, referring to countries as specific brands starts to make a little sense. Don't we all have pretty concrete associations with France for example? Wine, croissants and cheese. And what about Sweden? Meatballs, moose and blondes. Looks like what we once referred to as stereotypes has a new name.

No matter what your political leanings are, we're all going to remember where we were on November 4, 2008. The momentous election of an African American as US President was watched around the world. This photo by pirano of various foreign newspapers all featuring President-Elect Barack Obama gives us an idea of just how "global" the American election was. Where were you?

Want your shot considered for Photo of the Day? Submit it to Gadling's Flickr pool.

I'm in Glacier National Park this weekend, so this photo taken by Don&Colleen is fitting. I love the mountains in the background and their distinct outline against the sky and clouds. Fortunately, I chose this one before taking off, meaning that today I get to fully enjoy the beauty captured in the photo --without having to go online -- and maybe even take some of my own!

Want to have your own photo featured on Photo of the Day? Submit it to the Gadling Flickr pool for consideration.