It’s a well-known fact that many people working in an office job have to deal with some amount of boredom. What might be less well known is that this same boredom can be an asset for people looking for a way to distract themselves from their work for a little bit and get through the day a little more easily. There are plenty of pop culture references that have been helping bored office workers keep themselves entertained for decades, and here are five of them.
1. Webcomics
Webcomics are one of the best places to look when you want to take your mind off of your desk job and put it on something else. The beauty of webcomics is that they’re usually updated daily and made by one person, so if you find one you like there will probably be new content every day!
2. Television
What’s better than sitting back and reading a comic? Sitting back and watching one! Television has been an incredibly popular medium for decades now, but the last thirty or forty years have seen a huge rise in syndicated programming and now hundreds of different channels all over the world.
3. Movies
If webcomics or television aren’t doing it for you, why not try watching movies? They’re a much longer form of entertainment
In the event you could use a little help in the boredom department, here are five of our favorite pop culture sites that can give you a laugh or two while at work:
FAIL Blog. This site features all sorts of ways people have failed when attempting to do simple tasks. It is not only remarkable how many ways people can fail at such things as driving, doing yard work and jumping over stuff, but also how much we all enjoy watching their failures! The site is updated every day with new videos and photos.
I Can Has Cheezburger? This site features funny pictures of animals captioned with “lolspeak,” a language that uses grammatically incorrect phrases that have become popular with Internet users. (For example, a picture of a puppy might be captioned “I can haz cheezburger?”) The site has been around for years, and there are now several spin-offs devoted to other topics besides cute animals. Another similar site is Very Demotivational (http://verydemotivational.com/), which features funny posters on any number of subjects.
The Chive This site covers a wide range of topics including food, lifestyle, entertainment and sports. It has some funny lists and jokes mixed in with longer stories
It all started with a simple question: what are the best airlines in the world? We searched high and low, scoured the web, browsed thousands of articles and reviews and ranked each airline on performance, amenities, food and overall experience. And while many proclaim to offer the best service in the sky, most don’t live up to their own hype.
But there is one airline that takes it to another level. One airline that offers more than just a flight from point A to point B; one airline where even economy class feels like first class. And that airline is Emirates.
“Emirates flies to more countries than any other airline (140 and counting), offers more daily flights from a single airport than any other (1,700 from Dubai International) and transports more international passengers than any other,” says CNN Travel.
BOOM! There is no other airline in the world that can match this kind of data or provide this kind of experience to their customers.
With their low costs, many airlines are able to offer perks and bonuses that their competitors cannot. These benefits may include faster boarding, more leg room, free WiFi, and even complimentary meals. Despite the fact that most airlines have certain strengths and weaknesses, five of them stand out as being among the best in the world. They are Air New Zealand; All Nippon Airways; Emirates; Etihad Airways; and Qantas.
Air New Zealand has long been a leader in the airline industry and is consistently ranked as one of the best airlines on the planet. It’s also known for its creative marketing campaigns, including its latest flight safety video featuring Betty White and Bear Grylls. The company prides itself on its commitment to providing excellent customer service. This includes a fleet of modern aircrafts with spacious seating and inflight entertainment options. Passengers flying with Air New Zealand are also treated to complimentary meals, drinks and snacks during their flights.
All Nippon Airways is considered to be Japan’s largest airline and one of the most trusted companies in Asia. This company has been named as “Best Airline in Japan” every year since 2008 by Global Traveler magazine. All Nippon Airways was also rated highly by Skytrax for having excellent customer service
Airline seats may seem like a small matter, but they can make or break a journey. Comfort should be a given for such an expensive service, but as any traveler knows, that is not always the case – especially if you’re flying economy class.
Fortunately, there are airlines that get it right. To find out which carriers offer the best seats in economy class, we analyzed various aircraft used by major airlines to determine which features make the biggest difference in comfort.
We looked at seat pitch and width, legroom and recline along with other amenities that make a long-haul flight more bearable. For example, seat back entertainment systems can help reduce boredom while Wi-Fi access lets travelers stay connected while they’re on the go.
The economy class seats on our list are also arranged in a 3-3 or 2-4-2 configuration so passengers can enjoy maximum elbow room. Here’s what we found:
The airline industry is one of the few industries where the biggest, richest and most experienced companies are able to lose money in the long run. It is a unique business. Airlines have been historically very cyclical, with their performance closely tied to the economy, and they have some of the highest fixed costs of any industry, making them highly vulnerable to overcapacity.
The average airline company has also been less than adept at managing its capital structure efficiently. Most airlines are run by managers who don’t own significant stakes in their companies, which makes them insensitive to shareholder returns. Many airlines operate under antiquated labor agreements and government regulations that protect incumbents and unions at the expense of investors. They also face high taxes, for example on jet fuel, that add to their costs.
As a result, many airlines have gone bankrupt over time, including United Airlines and US Airways in 2002; Delta Air Lines in 2005; Northwest Airlines in 2005; Aloha Airlines and ATA Airlines in 2008; Midwest Airlines and Frontier Airlines in 2009; American Airlines in 2011; and Hawaiian Holdings (NASDAQ:HA) (parent company of Hawaiian Airlines) in 2014.