Dave Carroll can't have his 15 minutes of fame and be done with it. United Airlines won't let him.

Carroll, a YouTube sensation when he wrote and performed "United Breaks Guitars" after baggage handlers busted his Taylor and United wouldn't pay for a new one, is in the news again.

According to this CBC report, United lost Carroll's luggage on a Sunday flight from Regina, Saskatchewan, to Denver. The singer-songwriter was hired by a technology company to deliver a keynote speech in Colorado Springs.

He was reunited with his bag on Wednesday after some reported miscommunication at the airport.

Carroll said the only direct Regina-Denver flight was on United.

If he keeps getting these corporate gigs, maybe Carroll can start flying in a private jet. Or maybe he'll keep flying United for more songwriting inspiration.

In Monday's "Late Show with David Letterman," the Top 10 list was "Northwest Airlines Pilot Excuses," referring to the pilots who overshot their destination, Minneapolis, by more than 100 miles.

A federal investigation revealed that the pilots were distracted by personal laptop use and conversations about scheduling. The pilots had their licenses revoked because of the incident. Not too funny. But the Top 10 list was.

The list had a few good one-liners, the best one being, "Tired of that show-off Sullenberger getting all the attention."

The Philadelphia Phillies arrived in New York on Monday night by train for Wednesday's first game of the World Series at Yankee Stadium, and Amtrak is not letting that go unnoticed.

Amtrak has launched a PR campaign coining the term "Amtrak Series." The rail operator is providing two cars dedicated for media only on Friday, when the players and media travel to Philadelphia for the Phillie home games.

Also, Amtrak was polling riders on Acela trains Tuesday, asking them who they want to win the World Series. Depending on their answer, Amtrak is giving riders a Yankee or Phillie T-shirt.

Either way, Met fans will have something to burn in their fireplace when they get home.

The U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism is celebrating the launch of the freshly minted USVI quarter by practically giving away a maximum of three room nights through Nov. 15 at the price of 25 cents per night.

On top of that, there's a $25-per-person dining credit and a $25 activities credit.

Hotels participating in the promotion include Bolongo Bay Beach Resort, Carambola Beach Resort & Spa, Hibiscus Beach Resort, Hotel Caravelle, Marriott Frenchman's Reef & Morning Star Beach Resort, Secret Harbour Beach Resort, The Palms at Pelican Cove, Windward Passage and Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort & Spa.

Of course, there are the small-print conditions: taxes and resort fees are not included and bookings must be air-hotel vacation packages. Reservations must be made through BookIt.com.

Still in all, such a deal.

The USVI quarter is imprinted with treasured official symbols the bananaquit bird, yellow cedar flower and tyre palm tree.

-- Gay Nagle Myers

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Internet slang is part of our lingo now, thanks to web forums and e-mail and cell-phone texting. LOL (laugh out loud) and BRB (be right back) are commonly used.

So is WTF, but we're not going to spell that one out. But we'll tell you WTF happened in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Tourism Federation, known as WTF until recently, was founded in 1979. The abbreviation was fairly innocuous. Now the abbreviation and its meaning are not something that tourism folks want associated with Wisconsin.

That point was reinforced when a blog called Your Logo Makes Me Barf pointed out the crude translation, and the message was picked up on other blogs.

The Wisconsin Tourism Federation, a coalition of trade associations and organizations, changed its name to the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin, so its initials are now TFW.

WTF is causing headaches elsewhere. In North Carolina, the state offered to replace for free the license plates of 10,000 vehicle owners whose plates contain the combo of letters.

Meanwhile, the World Taekwondo Federation has made no move to change its name or abbreviation.

 -- Gay Nagle Myers

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