Steven Slater without a reason for his slide to glory is really just a random weirdo with a salient dangerous streak. After all, any goodwill the flight attendant got from the public was based on the horrible working conditions he endured – including being assaulted by a passenger and getting a gash on his head in the process – and the fact that they drove him to his "take this job and shove it" moment. It's starting to look like this airline worker "hero" is a liar, according to the New York Post.

Investigators are "leaning toward" the notion that Slater's claims of being an assault victim are not true. Apparently, there's no evidence to support his version of how the bloody cut appeared on his forehead. Meanwhile:

"A significant number of people said he had the cut before he boarded the plane, and several other passengers said he was acting erratically on the flight," the source said.

As The Post reported, at least one customer claimed Slater had bloodshot eyes.

Slater, of course, has no comment, but he's probably searching like crazy for his Queen home's emergency slide. Don't worry: he'll stop by the fridge first to grab a few beer – Blue Moons, like the brews from the flight.

[Image: AP Foto/Louis Lanzano]

When most adventure travelers consider their options for mountain trekking in Africa, they invariably think about Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain on the continent at 19,340 feet. But for those looking for a completely different, and decidedly less crowded, experience, Mt. Kenya is a great option. The extinct volcano is the second tallest mountain in Africa, at 17,057 feet, and though lesser in stature than Kili, it still represents a considerable challenge.

The International Childcare Trust is organizing a climb of Mt. Kenya for early 2011 in an attempt to raise funds and awareness for their cause. The organization is dedicated to protecting the rights of children around the world, and has partnered with other groups in Asia and Africa to address poverty, sickness, and educational needs of young people on those continents. Earlier this year, the ICT conducted its first fund raising trek along the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal, successfully raising £65,000, or roughly $101,000.

Following up on the success of that trek, comes this Mt. Kenya expedition, that will run from March 11th through the 21st of next year. While on the trek, the travelers will pass through rainforests, moorlands, alpine deserts, and across a glacier. Few places on Earth offer that kind of diversity in landscapes over a relatively short distance. The mountain has a distinct profile, offering three main peaks, and while it is a daunting physical challenge, it is possible for anyone to reach the top, provided they are in good physical condition and have an adventurous spirit.

After the climb is finished, the climbers will also make a visit to an ICT project village so they can see the work that the organization does first hand. Those who join this charity trek will be raising funds for the Trust, and this will give them a chance to see exactly how those funds are put to use while observing the impact of the ICT on the daily lives of children in Kenya.

For more information on this trek and to find out how you can take part, visit Trek-Mount-Kenya.com.

[Photo credit: Chris 73 via WikiMedia]

Murph's of Morrisville is located (unsurprisingly) in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, and serves a wide variety of staple and specialty sandwiches for breakfast and lunch.

If you're unfamiliar with Morrisville then you're no doubt unaware that it's full of delightful places to eat. Directly across the Delaware River from Trenton, New Jersey, Morrisville is a frequent lunch destination, and while it has a wealth of local eateries serving sandwiches (several of which are quite exceptional) Murph's has some stand-out menu selections that make it worth special note.

When examining the menu, make sure to pay extra attention to the roast beef and roast pork sandwiches. The intense flavor resulting from Murph's treatment of their meats makes even seemingly simple signature sandwiches like their "Roast Pork Italiano" burst with flavor. If you're looking for breakfast, try the salami or Italian sausage and egg sandwiches, as they are among the most unique options on the menu.

Located in a shopping center at 1 East Trenton Avenue (Store 3A, near the rear of the shopping center), Murph's is just down the road from Route 1, making it easy for anyone to find, even those stopping along their way to another destination. Definitely a hidden gem, Murph's of Morrisville is worth driving a few extra blocks for a lot of added flavor.

John M. Warenda is Seed.com contributor.

After the rest of the country, the large New York area airports are next in line to receive the infamous whole body imaging scanners. The Port Authority announced that La Guardia, JFK and Newark will receive 39 of the machines (24 for JFK, 14 for Newark and 1 for LaGuardia).

As of right now, the machines are still voluntary, and are only used when you have been selected for secondary screening. You are allowed to opt-out and request an old fashioned pat-down, but TSA agents often "forget" to point this out, as a manual screening takes more time.

The machines themselves are still quite controversial, and not without their problems - just ask Rolando Negrin, who beat up his supervisor after he was mocked for his "small manhood" during a TSA training session. Jo Margetson is probably not a big fan either, after a checkpoint operator complimented her on her "gigantic tits". But more importantly, the safety aspects of these machines have not been fully tested.

The first batch of machines will be installed in New York next month.

[Photo from Getty Images]

We've been covering the proposed "travel promotion fee" since last year - and what originally started as a silly idea, has now become reality.

Starting September 8, visitors to the United States will be required to pay $14 to cover the costs of the ESTA travel authorization system ($4) and to fund the 2009 Travel Promotion Act ($10).

The fee is valid for unlimited entries during a two year period. Only tourists that enter the United States under the Visa Waiver Program will be asked to pay.

Ever since it was first announced, I've found the whole concept of charging tourists a fee to help promote tourism to be moronic - people visiting the United States should not be the ones that have to pay to promote tourism, they have already picked the U.S. as their destination.

According to the U.S. Travel Association, the Travel Promotion Act will generate $4 Billion and 40,000 jobs, while reducing the deficit by $425 million over a ten year period.

If the supporters of this bill really believe a relatively minor investment in overseas travel promotion could generate $4 billion, then the funds should come from tax payers, not from tourists. In the end, every dollar these tourists have to spend on getting their ESTA travel authorization will mean fewer dollars spent in shops, restaurants and hotels. To think people will just pay the fee without feeling ripped off is plain stupid. Since the fee has to be paid for each family member, a family of five will spend $70 before they even leave their country.

Tourists will need to apply for the ESTA authorization before traveling to the United States. They will need online access and a credit/debit card, which also means some tourists may simply pick a destination that does not make them jump through hoops.

To learn more about the new ESTA fee and the Travel Promotion Act, check out the Homeland Security site on the fee rule.

Here are the hottest gear deals for today, Sunday August 15, 2010. Remember, these deals are often valid for just one day, so act fast before they are gone.

Today's first deal is for a plug-in hands free Bluetooth car kit. This car kit features a built in microphone, as well as a more permanent external mic. On sale for just $6.99 at Geeks.com.

Next up is a good deal on a one year subscription to Popular Photography. For just $5, you'll get 12 issues, just be sure to turn off auto-renew or you may end up getting another year for the full price. Click here for this deal.

Today's third deal is for discounts on the Kodak Zi8 and Playsport HD video cameras. These now start just under $125 - and come with a free battery pack, worth $20. Click here for this deal.

And finally in today's lineup is a 3-in-1 camping survival tool kit. For $7.99, you get a fork/knife/spoon tool, a multi-tool and a carrying pouch. Tools obviously won't get past security at the airport unless you put them in a checked bag. Click here for this deal.

The Kalahari Desert is a wild and untamed place stretching across 350,000 square miles of southern Africa. The arid expanse of land crosses through parts of Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa, and while it is an incredibly dry place, it is still home to a diverse amount of plant and animal life, including giraffes, elephants, hyenas, lions and more. It is a challenging place for any human being to survive in, but that isn't stopping three adventurous endurance athletes from attempting to cross it on foot none the less.

Dubbed the Trans-Kalahari Run, this expedition will send three friends, Jukka Viljanen and Kirsi Montonen, both from Finland, along with Greg Maud, of South Africa, along a 1000km (620 mile) route that stretches west to east across some of the most wild parts of Botswana. The trio hopes to cover approximately 50km (31 miles) per day, for 20 straight days, in hopes of completing their quest. That's the equivalent of running more than a marathon, plus five miles, every day for nearly three weeks, through some of the most demanding terrain on the planet.

While this will be an amazing adventure, and a great test of endurance for these long distance runners, they aren't doing it just for the experience. This adventurous threesome is also hoping to raise awareness and funds for Cheetah Conservation Botswana, an organization that works tirelessly to preserve the population of those speedy felines in Africa, and obviously most specifically in Botswana. Cheetahs have a difficult time competing against other predators in the game preserves, so they are often forced to live in the more marginal border regions where they are hunted and killed by the indigenous people there who see them as a threat to their livestock. CCB is hoping to protect these big cats through community outreach and education with those rural communities, teaching them how to coexist with the Cheetahs.

Jukka, Kirsi, and Greg began their run yesterday, and they are promising daily updates to their blog, so we can all follow along with their progress. They got off to a good start, with a warm-up run of 26km (16 miles), but the real challenges, and adventure lie ahead.

[Photo credit: Elmar Thiel via WikiMedia]

The above video comes from NBC New York, which claims the exclusive on it. Seventeen seconds in, you can see the emergency slide pop out from the right side of the plane (which is actually on your left). It happens in the center of the screen, but you need to look carefully, because the view is partially obstructed. The slide pops out toward the front of the plane. At 26 seconds, you can see disgruntled flight attendant Steven Slater step out of the plane and start to slide down, though this was shot from a distance, so it's easy to miss.

What you don't have to look carefully to notice is that there is activity around the plane. There are people outside guilty of nothing but doing their jobs, making it clear that he risk associated with Slater's activating the slide very real. It isn't hard to see why an internal JetBlue memo likened it to a gun.

Click here for five interesting post-meltdown jobs for Steven Slater >>

Gadling Labs is on the road this steamy August weekend, bouncing from O'Hare to Houston to Seattle and to Anchorage. It's a good day for flying – there are unusually few thunderstorms barreling through the Midwest, our hangovers are light and the red vinaigrette in first class is a bit punchier than normal. Perhaps its the humidity on this Canadian Regional Jet of yore.

Following up on our post last week on the questionable efficacy of mobile boarding passes, we decided to take a pair of American Airlines and Continental Airlines passes out for a spin today.

Passing the TSA officer outside of the K/H wing in O'Hare, we fired up our handy iPhone 3GS and downloaded the boarding pass on the fly. Asked about the failure rate of mobile passes at this station, the friendly officer replied "About one in a thousand here." That's a pretty good hit rate, and it's too bad that we've been one of those out of a thousand in the past.

Slipping through security (digression: when timed, we found that the new backscatter scanners process passengers at almost half the rate as the traditional magnetometers) and ambling over to the H5, it was far too early for boarding, so a little bit of browsing on our not-so-reliable Clear hotspot helped us pass a half hour.

And when boarding began? We were the second in line. Problem was, the iPhone tried to reload the Safari webpage when we opened up the browser, and now that our session was stale the boarding pass had disappeared. We were left with the image above, no boarding pass and a line of stuffy passengers starting to grow impatient.

Lesson learned! Always carry a paper boarding pass. And when downloading the mobile pass? Make sure to cache a local copy on your phone for later use – many sites offer the option to "save a copy" when the pass initially opens and this could save a lot of time and effort while in transit.

Next up? Trials with the Continental Airlines boarding passes!