June 15, 2007

Another Security Article

Another excellent Bruce Schneier security article. Quoting the article:

The alleged plan, to blow up JFK's fuel tanks and a small segment of the 40-mile petroleum pipeline that supplies the airport, was ridiculous. The fuel tanks are thick-walled, making them hard to damage. The airport tanks are separated from the pipelines by cutoff valves, so even if a fire broke out at the tanks, it would not back up into the pipelines. And the pipeline couldn't blow up in any case, since there's no oxygen to aid combustion. Not that the terrorists ever got to the stage -- or demonstrated that they could get there -- where they actually obtained explosives. Or even a current map of the airport's infrastructure.

But read what Russell Defreitas, the lead terrorist, had to say: "Anytime you hit Kennedy, it is the most hurtful thing to the United States. To hit John F. Kennedy, wow.... They love JFK -- he's like the man. If you hit that, the whole country will be in mourning. It's like you can kill the man twice."

If these are the terrorists we're fighting, we've got a pretty incompetent enemy.

You couldn't tell that from the press reports, though. "The devastation that would be caused had this plot succeeded is just unthinkable," U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf said at a news conference, calling it "one of the most chilling plots imaginable." Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) added, "It had the potential to be another 9/11."

These people are just as deluded as Defreitas.

The only voice of reason out there seemed to be New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who said: "There are lots of threats to you in the world. There's the threat of a heart attack for genetic reasons. You can't sit there and worry about everything. Get a life.... You have a much greater danger of being hit by lightning than being struck by a terrorist."

Posted by aarondf at 11:48 AM | Links | Comments (1)

June 13, 2007

Photo Retrospective

Magnum 60 Years is photo retrospective and worth checking out.

Posted by aarondf at 12:20 PM | Links | Comments (1)

June 05, 2007

NY Jobs

Fascinating article in New York magazine on income/costs of various New York individuals and businesses. Found this comment from the Private Investigator quite interesting too:


Why Men Are Better Clients: They are nearly always wrong when they suspect a cheating spouse, but they often won’t believe it and will keep McKeever tailing. (Women are 90 percent correct when they suspect their husbands.)

Posted by aarondf at 06:20 PM | Links | Comments (0)