25-Jan-2010

Why can’t American airport security be run more like Israeli?

While North America’s airports groan under the weight of another sea-change in security protocols, one word keeps popping out of the mouths of experts: Israelification. That is, how can we make our airports more like Israel’s, which deal with far greater terror threats with far less inconvenience. “It is mind boggling for us Israelis to…

10-Jan-2010

Oklahoma City Memorial

In November, as part of our cross-country trip, I visited the Oklahoma City Memorial. It was early in the morning, Leah was exhausted and sick. I took some time and wandered the grounds for a while. I took a few photos. Visiting the memorial was like visiting a church. In the film No Maps for…

22-Oct-2007

Terrorism is an inverted lottery

From a recent interview: William Gibson Hates Futurists :: tyeebooks.ca On whether some new terrorist attack will make 9-11 look small “Eventually, I would say it’s almost inevitable. Not immediately, because there is no need. The last one is still working. In some strange way, [for terrorists] anything that was less than 9-11 won’t do….

15-Oct-2002

Catch Up Ball: Miscellany

Belated! I missed Matt Haughey’s Birthday. Happy Belated Birthday Matt! If you are a regular reader of this blog (hi Mom!) you can blame Matt for turning me onto blogs some long time ago. Is it Live? New Cold Fusion code snippet on my evolt space: Between Times Example in Cold Fusion. This Herman Goering…

11-Sep-2002

I have no wisdom today.

Last year Jenny and I woke up to her Mom leaving this strange message on our answering machine to stay out of government buildings. We turned on CNN and the news was trickling in. I’d like to say at this point that nostalgia is stupid. No television show can encompass terrorism. It is folly to…

27-Jul-2002

An Excellent Observation on Airlines

… in a Longer, Interesting Speech from Bruce Sterling. Worth a read. Really worth your valuable time. If you’ve been in airports recently, I believe you are seeing a pretty apt, early version of Terrorspace. At any random moment, you can have your possessions rifled through by strangers. Your shoes are scanned, and various small…

06-Dec-2001

I blogged about an image…

I blogged about an image whose subject was the airliner uprising on September 11th – and that I think it had emotional heft because that incident is something we don’t have pictures of. Looks like Neil Young has written a song about it called “Let’s Roll” — and I really want to listen to it….

21-Nov-2001

More evidence of the role propaganda has played in building and fostering terrorist groups…

His grasp of spin is chilling . . . This is a great propaganda film – the kind that you can’t get out of your head. Bin Laden’s story of Muslim subjugation turning to resistance is so effective that I barely need my transcripts. He uses the most sophisticated western film-making techniques: it’s as if…

10-Nov-2001

Item in the New York Times: As U…

Item in the New York Times: As U.N. Meets, bin Laden Tape Sets Off Alarms. This is a good note. Lots of news out there, but this one should raise some alarm bells. The take-home message for me is: Osama Bin Laden has read his Sun Tzu He is cultivating his friends and his enemies…

29-Oct-2001

I am dismayed that this hopeful post was somewhat unfounded…

I am dismayed that this hopeful post was somewhat unfounded. I was hopeful to see the US engaging in a smart PR/information war in the middle east is not succeeding as we might hope. I wish we were playing our cards better. We suffered a calamitous and vicious attack, at the hands of people who…