Airport
Airport Security
I arrived at the Las Vegas airport this morning, and
after using curbside check-in, I proceeded to the
very long pre-fast-pass-at-Disneyland line for the
security check-in. After waiting in the long tail of
the line for about 5 minutes, I then entered the
section of the line that snaked left, then right,
then left and so on no less than nine times. I
estimated the number of people in line for the C
gates to be around 300-400 people. And there was a
faster-moving line identical to mine for the D gates.
So there were approximately 600-800 people in this
very close area. And we haven't had our bags checked
yet.
So here's my thought for the day: what if terrorists don't care about actually taking over a plane now? What if they just want to kill people? Now we've created this huge labyrinthine line that collects unchecked people in an area where there's no escape. Some man (or woman. Terrorist groups are equal-opportunity employers) with dreams of a better afterlife and a whole lot of C4 strapped to his/her chest walks in and you can probably guess what could happen. Especially if these people coordinated these attacks on several congested airports on a Christian holiday weekend. Boom.
And I'm probably going to get SSSS (a code indicating that I'm a high-level security threat requiring extensive screening) on my boarding pass from now on just for writing this.
So here's my thought for the day: what if terrorists don't care about actually taking over a plane now? What if they just want to kill people? Now we've created this huge labyrinthine line that collects unchecked people in an area where there's no escape. Some man (or woman. Terrorist groups are equal-opportunity employers) with dreams of a better afterlife and a whole lot of C4 strapped to his/her chest walks in and you can probably guess what could happen. Especially if these people coordinated these attacks on several congested airports on a Christian holiday weekend. Boom.
And I'm probably going to get SSSS (a code indicating that I'm a high-level security threat requiring extensive screening) on my boarding pass from now on just for writing this.
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Links of the Week (Month, actually) - Part 2
Eclectic links for your reading pleasure below. And
with this post, I'm all caught up on the backlog!
Onward and upward from here on out!
Wheelchair-Bound Woman Dies After Being Shocked With Taser Ten Times - Yes, that's right. A 56-year-old woman. With a knife. In a wheelchair. What choice did the cops have but to Taser her ten times!
Federal Government: "We're winning the War on Drugs. Cocaine prices are higher!" Drug dealers: "It's because everyone's buying Meth now."
News Flash: War on Drugs futile.
Reactionary thinking is not the way to outsmart terrorists - From the article: "To understand what makes these measures so absurd, we first need to revisit the morning of September 11th, and grasp exactly what it was the 19 hijackers so easily took advantage of. Conventional wisdom says the terrorists exploited a weakness in airport security by smuggling aboard box-cutters. What they actually exploited was a weakness in our mindset — a set of presumptions based on the decades-long track record of hijackings.
In years past, a takeover meant hostage negotiations and standoffs; crews were trained in the concept of “passive resistance.” All of that changed forever the instant American Airlines Flight 11 collided with the north tower. What weapons the 19 men possessed mattered little; the success of their plan relied fundamentally on the element of surprise. And in this respect, their scheme was all but guaranteed not to fail."
George Orwell's original preface to Animal Farm
The world's single most comprehensive, detailed, updated, accurate, and complete source of amusement ride accident reports and related news.
Tug of War: World Champion Sumo Wrestler vs. Orangutan
Sample pages from new Intelligent Design textbook
You think using an unnecessary apostrophe is bad? You'll love these signs!
I don't know anything about the culture of cosplay (short for "costume play"), but these pics are hilarious!
Wheelchair-Bound Woman Dies After Being Shocked With Taser Ten Times - Yes, that's right. A 56-year-old woman. With a knife. In a wheelchair. What choice did the cops have but to Taser her ten times!
Federal Government: "We're winning the War on Drugs. Cocaine prices are higher!" Drug dealers: "It's because everyone's buying Meth now."
News Flash: War on Drugs futile.
Reactionary thinking is not the way to outsmart terrorists - From the article: "To understand what makes these measures so absurd, we first need to revisit the morning of September 11th, and grasp exactly what it was the 19 hijackers so easily took advantage of. Conventional wisdom says the terrorists exploited a weakness in airport security by smuggling aboard box-cutters. What they actually exploited was a weakness in our mindset — a set of presumptions based on the decades-long track record of hijackings.
In years past, a takeover meant hostage negotiations and standoffs; crews were trained in the concept of “passive resistance.” All of that changed forever the instant American Airlines Flight 11 collided with the north tower. What weapons the 19 men possessed mattered little; the success of their plan relied fundamentally on the element of surprise. And in this respect, their scheme was all but guaranteed not to fail."
George Orwell's original preface to Animal Farm
The world's single most comprehensive, detailed, updated, accurate, and complete source of amusement ride accident reports and related news.
Tug of War: World Champion Sumo Wrestler vs. Orangutan
Sample pages from new Intelligent Design textbook
You think using an unnecessary apostrophe is bad? You'll love these signs!
I don't know anything about the culture of cosplay (short for "costume play"), but these pics are hilarious!
New York, New York
Nov/06/07 15:44 Filed in: Travel