So the hijackers incapacitate the flight crew (using blackjacks or just a "sock fulla quarters" -- apologies to Jay & Silent Bob), then they use those "alive and warm" fingers to take control. One thing Telek said is right: we can't stop a truly determined individual from attacking us. Sure, we can make it harder, but there is NO uncircumventable measure, short of physically separating the flight deck from the passenger cabin.
Actually, if I remember correctly this was a minor plot point in a Tom Clancy novel (Red Storm Rising, I believe). Is there documented proof of this actually happening, and if so, where would I find it?
Furthermore, you make it sound as though Germany is still the hotbed of cloak-and-dagger intrigue that it was in, say, the '60s and '70s. Since I rather doubt that the Soviets will be pouring through the Fulda Gap anytime soon, I should imagine that espionage activity has quelled somewhat. It certainly appeared that way to me, when I was stationed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany from '93-'95. Of course, perhaps our intelligence services were experiencing a bit of a nadir at the time.
Also, having dealt formally with the Polizei on several occasions, I feel rather safe in saying that your average polizist wouldn't babble anything, much less an apology. They're made of stern stuff, those polizisten.
Like most of us, I sometimes wonder if Katz's articles shouldn't just be modded "0, Troll" and ignored. The statement that George Bush "fled to various bunkers and seemed to shrink throughout the day" is rather disingenuous and short-sighted. Bush was evacuated by the Secret Service, doing exactly what they're trained to: get the President out of harm's way and into facilities where he can receive C4I (command, control, communications, computer, and intelligence) data and coordinate a response.
I live less than ten miles from Offutt Air Force Base here in Nebraska. None of us were surprised when it was announced that Mr. Bush was brought here after releasing his taped announcement at Barksdale AFB; the headquarters for US Strategic Command is here. Data from satellites, human intelligence assets, and news media could be easily collated and presented to the President by the staff in the "rabbit hole," the STRATCOM underground command post.
President Bush wasn't hiding or fleeing. He was doing his job: managing the country's business in the best possible manner. Just because the mayor of a city was brave and/or foolish enough to endanger his own life doesn't mean the President of a nation has that luxury. Losing so many thousands of individuals is terrible enough; having to attempt to manage that response and simultaneously transition power to a new President because the last one got himself killed is infinitely more so.
I didn't vote for President Bush, nor do I agree with all (or even a majority) of his other decisions. Nonetheless, to feel the need to criticize the man for doing his job is the mark of a small man indeed.
Re:it seems we could do more to help the effort.
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Oh, and don't forget -- when we discover that the grizzled caretaker of Old Man WTC's place is really Osama bin Laden, he'll say, "And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for you meddling h4x0rz and your bots!"
It's possible the date was chosen for a reason, though I doubt it has anything to do with "911," which is simply asinine.
Today is the anniversary of the Camp David accords, which were early overtures at Middle Eastern peace made by President Carter, Menachem Begin, and Anwar Sadat, if I remember correctly. I don't think it's coincidental that one of the aircraft was on the way to Camp David.
Of course, like in OKC, this may well turn out to be domestic sociopaths, although the preponderance of evidence tends toward religiously-motivated foreign sociopaths (note that ideologically-motivated terrorists don't as a rule get involved in suicide missions).
Now they've got the budget, and cowardly producers like Brannan and Braga (god help us all) who says they can't pull it back another generation?
Not to be overly critical, but you're referring to one producer, Brannon Braga, as two people. I assume you mean Berman and Braga, and what makes them cowardly? IMNSHO, some of the Holodeck episodes were surprisingly well written (e.g., the Moriarty episodes in TNG, and the
episode where the mob took over Vic Fontaine's lounge in DS9).
What made the Holodeck and Holosuites valuable was their ability to give the writers a chance to place familiar characters into unfamiliar milieus, and to explore possibilities that never were (or never could be). Remember Cpt. Sisko's anger about the unreality of the Holodeck, especially as it dealt with race relations in the early 1960's Vegas? Plus, it's better than having them time-travelling all over the place, isn't it?
That said, from everything I've heard, there will be no Holodeck on the new Enterprise. I'm happy with that, too, but mostly because I like the idea of a Trek series where everything isn't sanitary and pretty and works most of the time.
Casinos are already implementing this sort of technology. IIRC, The Learning Channel ran a special "behind the scenes" report on casinos in which they demonstrated face-recognition software. Again IIRC, it used spatial-relations criteria to identify known cheaters and thieves (even if they were disguised).
Get yourself a BERT (Bit Error Rate Tester). If you're in the U.S., you can probably find old Heikimian test sets from your nearest military base -- call the Defense Reutilization Maintenance Office (DRMO) or the base switchboard and ask to speak with their tech control facility. If you really want the "Full Military Experience"(TM), you can do a FOIA request for DD form 1443, the transmission test checklist. Slap a Heik down at each end of your line, follow the checklist, and voila! You now know the quality and speed of your lines. Offer void in Utah.
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So the hijackers incapacitate the flight crew (using blackjacks or just a "sock fulla quarters" -- apologies to Jay & Silent Bob), then they use those "alive and warm" fingers to take control. One thing Telek said is right: we can't stop a truly determined individual from attacking us. Sure, we can make it harder, but there is NO uncircumventable measure, short of physically separating the flight deck from the passenger cabin.
Actually, if I remember correctly this was a minor plot point in a Tom Clancy novel (Red Storm Rising, I believe). Is there documented proof of this actually happening, and if so, where would I find it?
Furthermore, you make it sound as though Germany is still the hotbed of cloak-and-dagger intrigue that it was in, say, the '60s and '70s. Since I rather doubt that the Soviets will be pouring through the Fulda Gap anytime soon, I should imagine that espionage activity has quelled somewhat. It certainly appeared that way to me, when I was stationed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany from '93-'95. Of course, perhaps our intelligence services were experiencing a bit of a nadir at the time.
Also, having dealt formally with the Polizei on several occasions, I feel rather safe in saying that your average polizist wouldn't babble anything, much less an apology. They're made of stern stuff, those polizisten.
Like most of us, I sometimes wonder if Katz's articles shouldn't just be modded "0, Troll" and ignored. The statement that George Bush "fled to various bunkers and seemed to shrink throughout the day" is rather disingenuous and short-sighted. Bush was evacuated by the Secret Service, doing exactly what they're trained to: get the President out of harm's way and into facilities where he can receive C4I (command, control, communications, computer, and intelligence) data and coordinate a response.
I live less than ten miles from Offutt Air Force Base here in Nebraska. None of us were surprised when it was announced that Mr. Bush was brought here after releasing his taped announcement at Barksdale AFB; the headquarters for US Strategic Command is here. Data from satellites, human intelligence assets, and news media could be easily collated and presented to the President by the staff in the "rabbit hole," the STRATCOM underground command post.
President Bush wasn't hiding or fleeing. He was doing his job: managing the country's business in the best possible manner. Just because the mayor of a city was brave and/or foolish enough to endanger his own life doesn't mean the President of a nation has that luxury. Losing so many thousands of individuals is terrible enough; having to attempt to manage that response and simultaneously transition power to a new President because the last one got himself killed is infinitely more so.
I didn't vote for President Bush, nor do I agree with all (or even a majority) of his other decisions. Nonetheless, to feel the need to criticize the man for doing his job is the mark of a small man indeed.
Oh, and don't forget -- when we discover that the grizzled caretaker of Old Man WTC's place is really Osama bin Laden, he'll say, "And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for you meddling h4x0rz and your bots!"
It's possible the date was chosen for a reason, though I doubt it has anything to do with "911," which is simply asinine.
Today is the anniversary of the Camp David accords, which were early overtures at Middle Eastern peace made by President Carter, Menachem Begin, and Anwar Sadat, if I remember correctly. I don't think it's coincidental that one of the aircraft was on the way to Camp David.
Of course, like in OKC, this may well turn out to be domestic sociopaths, although the preponderance of evidence tends toward religiously-motivated foreign sociopaths (note that ideologically-motivated terrorists don't as a rule get involved in suicide missions).
Now they've got the budget, and cowardly producers like Brannan and Braga (god help us all) who says they can't pull it back another generation?
Not to be overly critical, but you're referring to one producer, Brannon Braga, as two people. I assume you mean Berman and Braga, and what makes them cowardly? IMNSHO, some of the Holodeck episodes were surprisingly well written (e.g., the Moriarty episodes in TNG, and the episode where the mob took over Vic Fontaine's lounge in DS9).
What made the Holodeck and Holosuites valuable was their ability to give the writers a chance to place familiar characters into unfamiliar milieus, and to explore possibilities that never were (or never could be). Remember Cpt. Sisko's anger about the unreality of the Holodeck, especially as it dealt with race relations in the early 1960's Vegas? Plus, it's better than having them time-travelling all over the place, isn't it? That said, from everything I've heard, there will be no Holodeck on the new Enterprise. I'm happy with that, too, but mostly because I like the idea of a Trek series where everything isn't sanitary and pretty and works most of the time.
Casinos are already implementing this sort of technology. IIRC, The Learning Channel ran a special "behind the scenes" report on casinos in which they demonstrated face-recognition software. Again IIRC, it used spatial-relations criteria to identify known cheaters and thieves (even if they were disguised).
Get yourself a BERT (Bit Error Rate Tester). If you're in the U.S., you can probably find old Heikimian test sets from your nearest military base -- call the Defense Reutilization Maintenance Office (DRMO) or the base switchboard and ask to speak with their tech control facility. If you really want the "Full Military Experience"(TM), you can do a FOIA request for DD form 1443, the transmission test checklist. Slap a Heik down at each end of your line, follow the checklist, and voila! You now know the quality and speed of your lines. Offer void in Utah.