Looking for Terrorists from Detroit to LAX
I am writing this while flying on Northwest Airlines from Detroit to LAX - the same flight that one woman experienced a large group of Middle Easterners acting suspicious on the flight – like they were doing a “dry run” for assembling a bomb:

Islamic militants have conducted dry runs of a devastating new style of bombing on aircraft flying to Europe, intelligence sources believe.

The tactics, which aim to evade aviation security systems by placing only components of explosive devices on passenger jets, allowing militants to assemble them in the air

I decided that I wasn’t going to be a victim. As I boarded early with my frequent flier card and got into my seat, I thought I would be vigilant and look for any suspicious looking Muslims that came on board. And sure enough, one came down and sat right next to me, but my boss, who is originally from Bangladesh, always looks suspicious. We had previously discussed his Muslim heritage, and as he quaffed a Sam Adams, he told me he tries to cut down on alcohol consumption, absolutely doesn’t eat pork, and prays for the quick death of the enemies of United States (Yes, he gets extra screening from time to time and doesn’t care – he actually finds it sort of amusing when it happens).

I told him about the article about the suspicious Detroit-LAX flight so he decided to use his Muslim radar to help me scope out the passengers as they came on the plane and point out anyone of interest. But his radar was on the wrong frequency or something since the only “persons of interest” he kept pointing out were the good looking women who were coming on board.

I got him refocused and after scoping out all the passengers, we decided there were only two guys, besides my boss, who fit the “profile”. I asked my boss if he wanted to go over and give these guys the secret Muslim handshake and find out what they were up to, but his radar detected they weren’t giving off any bad terrorist vibes, so would leave them be.

Being somewhat disappointed in not having a band of suspicious Muslims to cow, I decided to look for mystery bags from the other passengers to tear apart since I remember reading about them in the article:

But once we were in the air and the seatbelt sign was turned off, the unusual activity began. The man in the yellow T-shirt got out of his seat and went to the lavatory at the front of coach -- taking his full McDonald's bag with him.

Wow, that's pretty suspicious - fast food bags on planes - and at least two people came on board with fast-food bags. Did they have components for a bomb? But before I could go over there and rip these bags out of their hands they pulled out a burger and a sandwich, allowing me to train my vigilance on something else.

I decided to keep an eye on the restroom for anyone taking an inordinate amount of time, since this is where these bombs would be assembled, which is what worried the author of the original article.

Suddenly, seven of the men stood up -- in unison -- and walked to the front and back lavatories. One by one, they went into the two lavatories, each spending about four minutes inside

The steward was a little surprised there was someone by the restroom with a stop watch timing people’s bathroom breaks, so he came over and asked me to return to my seat before people became suspicious of my activities.

So I am back in my seat writing about my experiences. Hopefully I will make it to the end of the flight so I can post this.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 9:31 PM (Permalink)
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Flying Over Flyover Country
The jetsetter that I am, I'll be doing the LA-NY run and back, so blogging will be light (well, ligher than usual) to non existant until early next week.

I'll wave at all of you down in those beautiful, strongly-held, red Bush states as I go from one blue state to another.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 9:46 PM (Permalink)
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More Democratic Suppression of Free Speech
The thing that is somewhat humorous about democrats is their hypocrisy: free speech is okay as long as you agree with me, I am against discrimination unless it is for a cause I approve of, I am for increased taxes as long as it only hits people who make more than I do.

So this isn't exactly surprising: Hackers Take Aim at GOP

The goal is to take down the web sites, phones and faxes of the GOP convention. As long as you agree with them, they won't go after you.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 10:55 AM (Permalink)
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McGreevey is Tony Soproano's Governor
Hey, this story writes itself. I can imagine the writer's pitch:

Okay, you got the corrupt governor of New Jersey in Tony's pocket, see. He's about to be investigated for fraud, which is going to nail him. He decides to resign, but Tony doesn't want him to until after their "business" is concluded in November, which Tony scheduled that way in case his boy lost the election. So Tony puts pressure on the Gov to stay in office, figuring he can stay on until Tony can unwind the deal.

The Gov tells Tony he isn't sure he can dodge the charges until then, but does have a plan: announce to the world he is gay, which will create an uproar, allowing him to hold on until Tony and the Gov complete their business.

Now, when told of this plan, Tony laughs. "Yeah, tell the world you're gay, my friend, but who's going to believe it? You got a wife and kid for Christ's sake!"

"But Tony, I am gay"

The show will focus on Tony's conflicting "moral dilemma" of working with a homosexual who at the same time is bringing him payola, which obviously flies in the face of Mafia machismo. For the weekly dose of gratuitous nudity that we provide, we'll put in flashbacks at Bada Bing where Tony suddenly remembers that the Gov really didn't enjoy himself.

We'll have a session with Melfi where she explains that the Gov's condition isn't really his fault, encouraging Tony to support his friend, but in the end Tony will off the Gov due to his perverted sense of morals, plus the fact that we need to up our body count for our closing season.

Now this new gay story line will have to replace the developing gay story line from last season where Vito Spatafore was caught, uh, in a compromising position with a male security guard by Amber's fiance. But they probably couldn't pull off the new story line since a corrupt politician would be booted out of office no matter his sexual preferences, right?

posted by Director_Mitch @ 6:07 AM (Permalink)
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Why I Don't Have Earthquake Insurance

Look, if the earthquake is really small and only a little damage is done, then your policy is worthless. If the earthquake is really big, then the feds will come in handing out money to everyone in the area.

- Rorschach (the blogger, not the shrink)

The recent hurricane in Florida got me thinking about disasters that could hit me in my adopted state. As a native Texan I have first-hand experience of severe hurricane damage, but they aren't anything I have to worry about any more. Earthquakes are.

When I bought my house in 1999, one of the 50 pieces of paper that appeared in front of me for my signature was one asking if I wanted "Earthquake Insurance". Now, when I lived in Texas, there was no such thing as "Hurricane Insurance", but there was "Flood Insurance", which was in addition to homeowner's insurance and mandatory in many areas along the Gulf Coast when getting a mortgage. I knew this Earthquake Insurance wasn't mandatory, but I was throwing around so much cash at the time of closing that I thought "what the hell" and got the year-long policy thrown into the closing costs.

A year later my renewal notice came, which would take real money out of my pocket, so I sat down and a) really looked at the policy and b) thought about the consequences of having it versus not having it.

The first thing I noticed when reading the policy is that it was pretty worthless. It had huge deductibles and didn't cover much. Basically, it covered actual damage covered by "shaking". It did not cover the case of a gas main breaking, causing a fire that then burned down your home (in fact, fire was specifically precluded from the policy). From what I read, once you are outside the epicenter, most housing damage is from secondary effects of the earthquake (busted mains, gas lines, etc. that then cause property damage). The further I read the policy the less I liked it. So I thought, "what if I didn't get coverage?".

The quote at the top from Rorschach is what I came up with. Any major earthquake of consequence will have the feds giving money to all comers (I even know someone in LA that had minor chimney damage from the Northridge earthquake that got a government check and then didn't bother to get it repaired since it was so minor). But this is true of nearly all natural disasters: earthquakes, river flooding, hurricanes. If it causes any significant damage, the feds will come in with money, and this has set a precedent which has taught people, including myself, not to get extra insurance against natural disasters. Of course, additional coverage outside the homeowner's policy isn't available to many people in hurricane areas, so in these cases the government has to step in.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 3:24 PM (Permalink)
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My Fabulous New Back Yard Takes Shape
On Sunday, this is what the Fabulous New Backyard^TM looked like:



This was shot down the side of the house, which is on the left. You see the edges of the new sidewalk and patio, which is laid in sandstone. They came in with a big cement truck today and are currently pouring concrete, which goes in the middle of the walk and patio.




That somewhat large structure in the background in the first picture is the new BBQ area, which looked a little large since the bottom six inches of foundation was exposed and had some wood struts. Now it is looking a little more decent, with tile to start going on tomorrow.



And that's the hardest part about doing construction of any kind: envisioning the end-result when you are looking at the work-in-progress. Right now there is this cement-looking structure sitting in my back-yard that makes me want to go "eeewwww", but I need to envision the end result with tile, stucco, stainless steel BBQ, fridge and drawers. Not being able to picture the end result is what gives some contractors fits in dealing with customers since it results in a lot of hand-holding.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 8:22 AM (Permalink)
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