Gadling

Google is taking Iraq's national museum global. Company CEO, Eric Schmidt, said Tuesday that Google is going to document what's in the museum and will share photographs of the war-torn countries museum holdings with the world. The museum, which reopened this year, was torn apart after Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled in April 2003.

At a ceremony with Iraqi officials, Schmidt said, "The history of the beginning of - literally - civilization is made right here and is preserved here in this museum." He continued, "I can think of no better use of our time and our resources than to make the images and ideas from your civilization, from the very beginnings of time, available to billions of people worldwide."

Already, Google has shot around 14,000 photos of the museum and its contents. They'll be up on the web for all to see early next year. As artifacts from the museum's vaults and from others across Iraq become available, they will be brought into the program. Some of these items date back to the Stone Age, as well as the Babylonian, Assyrian and Islamic periods.

[Photo thanks to Brian Sayler]

Three airlines just scored a first with the U.S. government: they were fined for leaving passengers in the lurch. Continental Airlines, ExpressJet (a Continental affiliate) and Mesaba (part of Delta) racked up a total punishment of $175,000 when their combined efforts left fliers on a plane in Minnesota for six hours.

Continental and ExpressJet were slapped with a fine of $100,000, while Mesaba was nailed for $75,000, according to the Department of Transportation.

With the busiest travel day of the year right around the corner, the timing couldn't have been better. Airlines that let their guards down could face stiff fines. And, let's face it: these airlines can't afford peanuts, let alone five- and six-figure fines.

On August 8, 2009, 47 passengers were stuck on a Continental Express plane, which was diverted to Rochester, Minnesota (the original plan was Houston to Minneapolis), where they were forced to spend the night. ExpressJet operated the flight, while Mesaba, the only airline working the airport, refused to let passengers leave the plane.

"Corporate," "database" and "morale" usually don't show up in the same sentence – at least not without some sort of negative word nestled in there. Images of tedious data entry are conjured, which does nothing for your state of mind while on the road. Yet, these words can be joined, and the resulting concept can be a gold mine for any company with legions of road warriors. Every employee accumulates knowledge while traveling. They learn which restaurants are best (and worst) in a particular city, and they develop coping strategies that their colleagues may find useful.

The curse of a travel-heavy company, of course, is that the employees don't see each other often enough. When they do, talk turns to business first, and many of these tips remain hidden. A single place where the collective wisdom can be stored and shared can make business travel much more enjoyable tolerable while fostering communication where it might not exist otherwise.

I'm still stunned by the fact that I only saw the corporate travel database in action once during close to a decade of frequent business travel (frequent = around 40 weeks a year). It was pure genius, worked well and was used regularly. With the social media tools now available, it's even easier than it was back then to implement the concept. Rather than a "database" in the traditional sense, a company could use a Facebook page, LinkedIn account or even a simple message board to share ideas, experiences and advice with coworkers.

So, how do you get a corporate travel database off the ground?

Imagine what would be pretty much a perfect world, at least for airline CEOs. You're running a reasonable profit – let's say 10 percent, enough to keep the shareholders off their backs. And, they're growing annually at a low double-digit rate, as well. Again, the shareholders are seeing an upside, so there's no pressure on the airline's management. Since the numbers being posted are healthy, the need for cutthroat competition evaporates, and passengers make their choices by destination and service, the latter playing a minor role, because in this perfect world, service is pretty much consistent (and high) from one airline to the next.

Blissful, right? Well, it's just about impossible.

What shatters this fantasy, in which Santa's the pilot and the tooth fairy is pushing the drink cart, is the concept of price. The travel market – like any market – doesn't carve itself up neatly into the best possible outcomes for all involved. Some people make fantastic decisions, while others behave like morons. The leaders of each company think they can find an edge. Even in the perfect world described above, the mere possibility of an advantage can send the whole system into mayhem, but we'll get to that in a moment.

It's been a tough month year decade for the airline industry. In the United States, it's lost $58.5 billion and cut 158,000 jobs. There never seems to be an answer, and news of an industry in jeopardy has become routine. So, .

But, it will be different this time. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says it will not be "just another advisory committee."

On his Department of Transportation blog, LaHood writes, "I am not commissioning some report to fill space on my bookshelf. This committee will make a difference."

He continues:

"Look, without a financially strong aviation industry, we will be unable to compete in domestic and international commerce. We could also fall behind in addressing our own infrastructure needs. So we must begin this important conversation in order to ensure a viable, competitive U.S. aviation industry."

But, he has his work cut out for him, as does the advisory committee. The estimated price tag to fix the most vexing problems the industry faces is $20 billion. And, many of the recommendations from the last two panels were never implemented.

Contract negotiations between American Airlines and its flight attendants have stalled. So, the flight attendants kicked off a fake strike on Wednesday. At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, they picketed, handed out leaflets and wore red badges, showing flights they feel couldn't run without them. So, just think of how strong a real strike would have been! Similar protests were held at 12 other airports, as well.

Because of federal laws that intentionally make it difficult for airline industry employees to strike, the fake alternative was the best that could be summoned, at least on short notice. USA Today reports that gauging public support for a flight attendant strike is difficult, but union officials seem unwilling to roll the dice by disrupting flights, especially with the holiday season coming. Smart move: if fliers have demonstrated anything this year, it's that they don't give a shit about the airlines. They just want to get from Point A to Point B for as low a fare as possible.

And, public sentiment aside, it's hard to draw blood from a stone. In less than two years, American's parent company, AMR, has lost $3.2 billion, and revenue has taken a dive. So, what's left for the flight attendants to demand?

U.S. airline passenger revenue fell in October, completing a full year of dismal monthly performances. From October 2008 to October 2008, passenger revenue dropped 15 percent, according to calculations by the Air Transport Association. The study was based on a sample group of more than 24 air carriers. Falling ticket prices are said to be the problem ... which means we can trace it back to household finances, throwing the job market into the mix.

With unemployment now above 10 percent, consumers are being careful with their extra cash (if they have any), and dropping cash on plane tickets is pretty difficult. Hey, that's why more people are driving this year than in the past.

In October, the number of people flying on U.S. airlines fell 3 percent, and the average price to fly one mile dropped 13.5 percent. Basically, the number of people flying hasn't fallen much, but they're demanding much better pricing for their business. Airlines have to take it on the chin in order to bring any revenue in the door at all.

Maybe the flight attendants should start talking to the cockpit, too. When a plane overshot Minneapolis last month because the crew was playing around with personal laptops, national attention turned to what actually goes on in the front of the plane. Congress is kicking around the idea of a new bill that would kick personal electronic devices from the cockpit.

Unsurprisingly, the pilots and airlines aren't crazy about the idea. They say that the measure would impede progress by making innovation less accessible. Scott Schleiffer, a cargo pilot who's also thrown some brain time at safety issues for the Air Line Pilots Association, told USA Today, "We would like to have access to tools, and as tools evolve, we would like to have better tools."

FAA chief Randy Babbit agrees, saying, "We need to be very careful," in regards to the prohibition of personal devices in the cockpit.

Airlines are starting to bring new technology into the cockpit, with laptops and other devices used to improved weather and safety information. The devices aren't all that different from what distracted the Northwest pilots who missed Minneapolis. JetBlue has issued laptops to pilots, which are used to push through calculations during takeoff and landing. But, the airline doesn't allow personal use of them.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and we're all dreading the thought of stepping on the scale the next day ... and making all kinds of empty promises about jogging and losing weight and not eating like that again next year. Some of us we'll even unleash a stream of profanities and accuse the device of lying. Out in Queens, however, a few scales have been tested, and they won't be fooling anyone at turkey-time.

Inspectors from the Department of Consumer Affairs have verified that the 741 luggage scales at New York's JFK and LaGuardia airports. On the first run, 92 percent were found to be in compliance, and following repairs, a re-inspection showed a 98 percent success rate. The remaining 2 percent? Don't worry: they won't be used until they've been repaired.

With the extra fees that can be triggered by hefty bags, this is a pretty serious issues, especially in a market where airlines are trying to pick up a little extra revenue and consumers have become sensitive to additional charges.

The government doesn't want to make you miserable! Seriously. The Department of Homeland Security wants faster airport screening just as much as you do. That's why it supports a program for screening approved, low-risk travelers coming to the United States to most international airports. The new approach has been tested for more than a year at seven airports, and screening time dropped from 10 minutes to only three.

To participate in this program, you need to be either a U.S. citizen or permanent resident -- and more than 14 years old. There's a $100 fee (which is probably worth it), and you have to submit to a background check. If you're accepted, the customs process when you get back to the United States won't be so bad. If all goes well, the program will eventually be open to foreigners who come from countries that have a sufficiently solid screening process.

Now, DHS, is there anything you can do to speed up all those logjams at domestic security checkpoints!