There appears to be some squabbling for the Los Angeles -- Guatemala City (LAX-GUA) route today. Spirit, American Airlines, Taca and Mexicana all have been showing excellent fares between LA and the Latin capital, and I'm currently seeing a price of about 200$ on Taca starting this weekend through Q1 2008.

Usually, fares departing on such short notice are hard to come by. So if any of you left-coasters are free this weekend, surprise your significant other or mother with a trip down to Guatemala.

Don't even think about telling me that you think Guatemala is dangerous. I was there in March and got there and back just fine, even with a white girl in tow.

If you want to be super safe, the trick is to leave Guatemala City as soon as you touch down and head straight for Antigua, the old capital of Guatemala. Here you'll find an historic Central American village high in the mountains surrounded by volcanoes. Head out to see La Merced Church or stick around for a few weeks to attend spanish school.

There are a variety of activities in this safe, colonial town that will keep you busy for a long relaxing weekend without breaking the bank. And to put the safety issue in perspective, I ran into a guy from my home town, Ann Arbor as I was walking down the street one day; tourism is fairly common in Antigua.

If you get bored, you can pay a few pesos for a trip to Lake Atitlan or the top of one of the local volcanoes. I would recommend a tour in that case though, because things can get a little dicey outside of the Antigua bubble.

Use a flexible search engine such as Kayak to locate the best itineraries for your window. And as always, fare sales can disappear in the blink of an eye. If there's any question, book now and ask questions later.

Here's an interesting new twist to our favorite photo sharing site: Flickr.com has launched a section which compares cameras used by those who upload photos to the site.

The Camera Finder page reveals that the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT is the most commonly used camera overall while the Canon PowerShot SD600 is the most popular in the point-and-click category.

So what?

Well, if you are looking to buy a camera, you can click on any model featured on the page and Flickr will showcase user photos taken by that same model. It's a pretty cool function but there is no way to tell if some amateur has butchered a shot because he doesn't know how to use the camera, or if some crappy camera has produced a great shot thanks to someone who know how to work PhotoShop.

So, if you're in the market for a camera, pop on over to Flickr but be sure to take it all in with a grain of salt, as the saying goes.

While walking home from work the other night, I stumbled across this sign outside a rather posh Mexican restaurant around the corner from my apartment. Mind you, I live in the very snooty (albeit classy) neighborhood of Nakameguro, which is one of the most fashionable addresses you can have in Tokyo.

(Hey Mom - I'm moving up in the world!)

With that said, you can imagine my shock at discovering this crazy racist sign. Although it pretty much speaks for itself, I'll ere on the side of caution and add a bit of commentary.

Take a moment and draw your eyes to the caricature of the wildly drunken Mexican sporting a Looney Tunes-esque mustache and a bandito costume. Also note the fact that he swigging from a tequila bottle while firing his pistol madly into the air.

I guess political correctness never really caught on over here in Japan.

Gus Smithhisler carves pumpkins like nobody's business. I saw him at work this past Saturday at Jack Hanna's Fall Fest at the Columbus Zoo where Gus was turning the most enormous pumpkins into animal art. Being ever so on my toes, I grabbed his card and contact information.

Gus has emailed me back to let me know of his upcoming engagements. If you get a chance to see him at work, don't miss it. Since fall is officially here, consider this a fall festival kick off. Gus is appearing at a few festivals in addition to his Las Vegas gig. By the way, if you go to his Web site, you'll see his handy work. He started out a few years ago at the Indiana State Fair and his business keeps growing.

• Harvest Festival, North Market, Columbus, Oct. 6 (am)
• Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off, Chillicothe, Ohio, Oct. 6 (pm)
• Bellagio Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, Oct. 8-9 (This is the 2nd installation. The first is already completed)
• Ashtabula County Covered Bridge Festival, Ashtabula, Ohio, Oct. 13
• Circleville Pumpkin Show (tentative), Circleville, Ohio, Oct. 17-19
• Cincinnati Zoo (tentative) Cincinnati, Ohio, Oct. 20-21
• Bumpkin Pumpkin Festival, Oil City, Pennsylvania, Oct. 26-27
• Bellagio Hotel and Casino, November 5-6.

If you do see Gus, he may give you some pumpkin seeds so you can grow your own monsters at home. The photo is from last year's zoo event. Gus's daughter helps him from time to time.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I dislike wearing a money belt. I understand and respect their importance in keeping your documents safely nested near your crotch, but they're uncomfortable. Most trips I end up wearing it for a week or two before the nasty combination of laziness and a belt rash kicks into high gear and I end up scrapping the pouch in favor of nervously traveling around with one hand in my pocket at all times.

But, as a few of you might remember, I ran across a nifty little tutorial on sewing a hidden pocket into your pants. When I saw it, I knew had to try it out... so that's exactly what I did this past week. With the help of my lovely girlfriend (who did 100% of the sewing), I now have two pairs of pants with a built-in secret pocket. It's every little boy's dream.

We used a stretchy, breathable material and sewed it on the inside of the pocket. Check out the gallery below. It's definitely not the prettiest thing in the world, but who's going to be looking down my pants anyway, right?

The Japanese are an incredibly efficient people. They work harder, stronger and faster than their American and European counterparts, and seem almost allergic to the idea of taking sick days and holidays.

With that said, perhaps this is why I wasn't surprised to discover this sign outside a chic bar in Shibuya, advertising a 26:00 closing.

Now, although I've never been in the military, I'm fairly certain that after 24:00, the clock is supposed to roll back to 0:00 with the start of a new day.

I guess this brings about a simple question: if you had 26 hours in a day, what would you do with your extra time? Perhaps this is the real reason why the Japanese are so efficient.

There's no shortage of great 'Engrish' in Japan.

Take for instance 'Beaver,' the hottest new women's clothing store in the always hip and trendy shopping district of Shibuya in Tokyo.

Always imitated but never replicated, nothing fits as warm and as snug as a Beaver. And from what I'm told, men in Japan go absolutely hog-wild over a woman sporting Beaver. No wonder Beaver is this fall's hottest fashion accessory.

(I could go on all day, but I think you get the joke).

For more on the weird, wonderful and wacky world that is Japan, check out my feature column Big in Japan.

Let's start out with some comparisons, shall we?

In regards to total land area, Japan is approximately the size of the US State of Montana. However, unlike Montana which is home to less than one million people (and a whole bunch of cattle), the island nation of Japan tops out at over 127 million people.

To put things into perspective, consider the fact that California, which is home to no shortage of large American cities, is only home to 36 million people. The greater Tokyo metropolis alone tops out at 35 million people, and is considered by demographers to be the world's largest urban area.

So of course, this brings about a very simple question: where does all the poo go?

Fortunately for the island residents of Japan (myself included), Japan has one of the world's most advanced sewerage systems. Considering that Japanese cuisine can at times be heavy on the brown rice and cabbage, this is a good thing for all of us using the porcelain throne.

Korean Air is the proud new owner of the quad-engine, double-decked monstrosity that is the Airbus A380. This thing is so big, and so luxurious -- even the bathroom has a window! That's how you know when you're flying in the most technologically advanced airplane on the planet. A demonstration flight was conducted in Seoul, Korea, and Aving.net was there to capture the lavish innards. Check out the gallery below -- I wonder how much it'll cost to fly in this thing?

This isn't a regular Where on Earth? feature, but the concept is the same nonetheless. Gadling reader Brooke sent us an email this morning with a link to photo of an unknown cityscape. "We are having real trouble at work figuring out which city this is," she said. "Do you have anyone that can help us?"

So there it is, Gadling readers. You're quickly being known across the Internet as the Group That Can Identify Any Location, so don't let me down! The only difference here is I don't have the correct answer, so any supporting information (other pictures, maybe?) you have to prove your guess should be included!

Everything is bigger in Texas, and this monster spider web is no different.

Discovered by park rangers at Lake Tawakoni State Park in Texas, the football-field sized web is actually the result of millions of spiders working together. Strangely enough, spiders don't normally organize themselves in large social units, though so far their efforts have been incredibly successful.

Described as 'fairy-tale white' by the rangers who first arrived on the scene, the web is now a few shades darker as it is completely blanketed by ill-fated mosquitoes. The smorgasbord will likely continue until the autumn when the spiders short lives will come to an end.

Photo and article sourced from the BBC.

I wasn't sure if this picture had enough clues for anyone to get it, but you guys have definitely impressed me. Congratulation to Jim, who successfully guessed that this is a picture of Bow Lake, Alberta. I've visited this gorgeous spot several times in my life -- it's located along the picturesque Icefields Parkway, connecting Jasper to Lake Louise. If you're planning a visit to the Rockies, I highly recommend at least a photo-stop at Bow Lake, and if you have time, stay over at Num-Ti-Jah Lodge, a charmingly rustic inn on the shores of this emerald lake.

By the way, this may have been taken in June, but it's not always this snowy and miserable.When the sun's out, you can see that the lake is the most amazing shade of green.