Travel

From the time Sasha Colby first took the stage in the latest season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” her eventual victory appeared almost inevitable. The 38-year-old — whose tagline is “Your favorite drag queen’s favorite drag queen” — brought her work ethic and two decades of experience to every revealing-yet-revelatory costume, heartfelt lip-sync routine and comically timed neck crack.On the national stage, her rise to mainstream stardom, as a transgender woman and a Native Hawaiian, could also be seen as an act of defiance as a wave of anti-trans laws sweeps the nation and conservatives target drag shows in several states.Ms. Colby spoke to The New York Times from Oklahoma City, where she had just landed. This interview has been edited and condensed.First, congratulations on your win on “Drag ...

Great Western Railway is trialling technology aimed at providing its customers with real-time service information on trains and at stations. The four-month trial with rail tech provider Whoosh allows passengers to scan at-seat or in-station QR codes to receive information relevant to their journey, including station details, onward journey planning and Welsh language options. The trial is initially being carried out on three GWR trains, as well as at Patchway and Newton Abbot stations. The technology also allows passengers and staff to input “contextualised fault reporting”. The service is expected to be of particular use at stations without customer information screens – which are also typically unmanaged. Edmund Caldecott, founder and CEO of Whoosh said that the technology “allows us t...

Mountaineers have long climbed atop Mount Everest, and scientists in submersibles have descended into the Antarctic Ocean. In recent decades, travelers with deep pockets and little expertise have joined these explorers or even ventured further, paying to visit the bottom of the ocean or the edge of space, touching the literal bounds of Earth. But as the deaths of five people aboard the Titan submersible make evident, there are no clear safeguards in place when something goes wrong.The tragedy this week spotlighted the issues around rescue operations and government oversight in this new world of extreme travel — who is responsible for search and rescue, and who pays for it? Is it even possible to purchase insurance against catastrophe? It also raises questions about when risk is too great ...

Dublin airport has completed the replacement of its baggage handling system, work on which was started during the Covid-19 pandemic. The €200 million project has seen 95 per cent of previous equipment replaced, with the overall length of the conveyor belt increasing from nine to 14 km, covering an area of seven Gaelic Athletic Association pitches. Operator daa said the system had been upgraded in line with European civil aviation standards, and included new and improved screening and detection technology, with “more tracking sensors and cameras to enable the early-spotting and removal of bag jams, which previously had the potential to slow down operations”. The chief executive of the daa Kenny Jacobs said that over the last six weeks the average time taken for bags to get from stand to t...

Before the restoration, the Lefferts house catered mostly to families; children could plant potatoes, harvest flax, play with reproduced artifacts and see how linen was woven. Although, more than 20 years ago, the museum began to acknowledge that the Leffertses owned slaves, it did not identify who, for instance, might have stitched the fine linen garments the family wore. (A reproduction of a man’s shirt from the early 19th century is in the house.)“The viewpoint now,” Carrasco said, speaking of future exhibits and visitor information, “is this is a person that was owned by the Leffertses, that lived here in Brooklyn and who’s probably buried at the Flatbush African Burial Ground.”ReImagine Lefferts and its partners, including the Flatbush African Burial Ground Coalition and the Weeksvil...