Things To Do In SW Florida

By Sally French | NerdWallet

Airlines devote a lot of energy and strategy to how passengers board an aircraft. Passengers are separated into different groups — like preboarding, priority boarding, family boarding, zones 1-7, A 1-60 and so on — and embark accordingly. Some airlines have up to 10 different boarding groups.

You’d think airlines would make the exit process more structured, too, but in reality, neither experts nor passengers can agree on the right way to do it.

Imagine this: Upon arrival, passengers in the middle of the plane are slow to stand up to signal a start to disembarking. In response, a plucky flyer from a row farther back whizzes up to the front to take their turn in the queue of exiters, thereby “cutting” the line.

Is this bad or selfish behavior? Etiquette experts think so.

“It’s common courtesy to allow others to go ahead of you,” etiquette expert Jo Hayes explained in an email. “Be patient, and allow them time to get into the aisle and grab their bag from overhead.” read more

Poonkulali Thangavelu | Bankrate.com (TNS)

By 2027, worldwide e-commerce sales are expected to reach $7.96 billion — an increase of about 61% over e-commerce sales since 2021, according to a 2024 report from eMarketer. As this trend of internet and phone shopping keeps growing, so-called “card-not-present” (CNP) shopping activity (which are transactions where you don’t physically swipe your credit card) continues to grow with it.

Although consumers are becoming more comfortable with these types of transactions, there are still various concerns to consider. For instance, whenever you make a credit card purchase online, certain types of data are stored. But is it safe to give your credit card number over the phone? While it may make it more difficult for a company to store your information, how is that information actually handled?

Phone sales are risky for merchants

Phone and internet sales present more risk for merchants than sales where a card can be physically swiped. In fact, eMarketer expected CNP transactions to account for 73% of all credit card fraud losses (totaling $9.49 billion) in 2023. That’s why merchants pay more in swipe fees to accept card-not-present transactions. read more

NASA officials gave an update Friday on the status of Boeing’s Starliner docked at the International Space Station and when astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams would get the OK to come home.

“I want to make it very clear that Butch and Suni are not stranded in space,” said NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich on a media call. “I want to make it real clear that we’re not in a rush to come home.”

Wilmore and Williams arrived to the space station on June 6, a day after launching atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. They were supposed to spend about a week on board the International Space Station on the Crew Flight Test mission for the spacecraft, which was making its first flight with humans onboard.

Issues with helium leaks and thrusters on the spacecraft’s attached propulsion module, though, showed up on the trip up to the ISS,. Those issues have continued to push back any planned a return date as NASA and Boeing pore over data and potential dangers before the flight home. read more

Chapter 11

Central Florida individuals and businesses that have filed for reorganization and protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code include:

Henao Contemporary Center LLC, 5601 Edgewater Drive, Orlando. Filed: June 14. Assets: $11,050. Liabilities: $87,200. Major creditors: U.S. Small Business Administration, Miami, $55,750; Amercol Triple J Inc., Orlando, $17,400; Ascend Construction & Restoration Inc., Ocoee, $5,000. Creditors meeting: July 15.

Golf Carts On Line Inc. doing business as St. Cloud Golf Carts, 1851 13th St., St. Cloud. Filed: June 16. Assets: $0-$50,000. Liabilities: $100,001-$500,000. Major creditors: Not available. Creditors meeting: July 15.

Abide Brands Inc., 508 Lake Cove Pointe Circle, Winter Garden. Filed: June 19. Assets: $0-$50,000. Liabilities: $1,000,001-$10 million. Major creditors: Inet Innovation, Inc., Zionsville, Ind., $1,500,000; Jeremy Sainlar, Oakland, $500,000; Mana Ventures Syndicate, Seattle, $476,675. Creditors meeting: July 29. read more

Disney Cruise Line has pulled from some of Disney’s oldest source material to inspire the venues coming to Disney Treasure when it debuts from Port Canaveral later this year. The latest addition comes from the 1970 animated feature “The Aristocats.”

The Scat Cat Lounge paying homage to one of the most iconic voice actors, Scatman Crothers, will be pounding out jazz just off the atrium with cat-themed adornments to what’s promised to be an old-school jazz club.

Images and details to the new venue were posted Thursday to the Disney Parks Blog touting the addition as bringing “the groovy penthouse performance of ‘Ev’rybody Wants to be a Cat’ into the real world for the first time.”

The piano, for instance, will sport paw prints from the wet paint scene from the movie while the carpeting will mirror ornate designs similar to those animated in the Parisian maison of Madame Adelaide Bonfamille, the owner of well-to-do Eva Gabor-voiced character Duchess and her kittens. Fans of the film will see their silhouettes at the entrance while the musical street feline Scat Cat’s signature horn will double as a door handle. Among the decorations will be  hidden images of a certain mouse. Nope, not Mickey, but Roquefort. read more