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Messing with Paradise; Martha’s Vineyard & Security


Well, I just got back from 6 days at my summer house on Martha’s Vineyard. In case you don’t know where that is, it’s an island – about 120 square miles in size – 12 miles off the coast of Massachusetts. I’ve been going there for about 25 years, 15 of which have been spent at my family’s summer house, which was built in 1985.

The best thing about Martha’s Vineyard (MV) is the relaxation and stress free life. It’s like a paradise; no crime and no worries. The largest thing you’ll have to “worry” about is finding a parking spot, or making your ferry to and from the island.

The last time I was there, it was September of 2003, two years after the 9/11 attacks in NYC and D.C. Even then, there wasn’t any real security at Woods Hole, which is where the auto ferry’s depart for MV.

Recently, on 7/7/05, there were attacks in London which prompted this country’s threat level to go from elevated to high. What this means in the grand scheme of things no one knows, but on a smaller scale, I found that it made traveling to MV from Woods Hole a lot more intrusive and a little more annoying.

I get to the terminal, which is basically a building with 3 docks and a parking lot. The area to board the boat is small. If the whole area is as big as a football field I’d be surprised. For the first time ever, in 20+ years of going to MV, my car was searched. I was asked to lower my windows and open my trunk, so the teenage and twenty-something summer work crowd (experts?) could sift through my luggage looking for God knows what. I hope they would find my dirty underwear, but that was no in the cards that day.

That was a quick check, and a little sticker was put on my car, which signaled to the rest of the workers that my suspicious vehicle – a 2004 Nissan Maxima – was checked, and declared bomb free. I didn’t have any chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. I did however lay a mean fart while waiting for my ferry, so that could have classified as a chemical weapon, I don’t know. Have to consult the Patriot Act for that one. Anywho, we board the ferry without trouble.

My girlfriend and I grab our seats, and it’s a beautiful day for a ferry. As the boat leaves, we are now flanked and escorted out of the harbor by two U.S. Coast Guard cutters, two machine guns on each and about 5 crew members on each boat.

There was almost an incident. A small boat – like a Boston Whaler, which seats about 4 people, came within about 50 yards from our boat as we left the dock. I could see a cooler, and a small family aboard. Very dangerous. 🙂 One of the Coast Guard ships got on their loudspeaker, and directed the boat to steer away from our ferry, as another crew member manned the machine gun turret. They literally watched that small boat for about 5 minutes, before they deemed it not a threat.

As soon as we left the harbor, Coast Guard turned around and we continued on the rest of the ~12 mile journey. To me, it makes more sense to not have that guard there, or have them escort the ship the whole way. I don’t quite see the point in escorting us just out of the harbor. If someone wants to do something, they’ll stay in open waters where there are less witnesses. Right?

So, we arrive at MV, spend 6 wonderful days there, and before I board the boat to go home, my car is once again searched. I’m questioning the logic in this, and I laugh when the ferry officer asks me to pop my hood. Yeah, my engine. She looked in my engine for about 5 seconds. If you own a 2004 Maxima or no someone that does, open the engine. Tell me where you can hide anything in there. Yeah, let me put something explosive or flammable next to something that gets hotter than hell.

Paradise lost? Absolutely not. Paradise annoyed? A little.

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Burn your Books, and Turn on Laptops says School


Article

Ok, well they aren’t burning them, they just aren’t going to use them. they are going to, instead, buy each child a $750 laptop and have them use that.

I know I still might be a little hungover from the 4th, but how does this make any practical sense? Don’t get me wrong — I think you can learn more with a laptop and an Internet connection then you can from any textbook. This being said, I’m an IT guy. I fix PCs for a living. Like an MD at a herpes convention, I see the same ailments time and time again. Spyware and Viruses. That’s all thats really wrong with peoples’ PCs today. Rarely does a component break, and when it does, it gets replaced.

How is the school going to maintain and upgrade the laptops?

What about when someone spills their CapriSun juice bag all over it? Or, it gets stolen. Hell, a kid in NYC was killed for is $200 iPod last week.

Not to mention the cost of a single textbook is about $50, compared with $750 of a laptop. A laptop might last 5 years, but it might last 5 minutes. A textbook will last many, many years.

Too bad high schools can’t be taught more like college classes. Textbooks do get dated, but they also arent easily damaged and people don’t kill each other over them.

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NASA relaxes some shuttle launch security – Why?


Article.

Check that link out, describing an AP story on how overall launch security at the July 13th scheduled launch of the Space Shuttle will be scaled-back to less strict standards then just after 9/11, despite recent events in London, England.

My question is, why?

The nation’s first – and no doubtedly most famous space Shuttle – broke apart over the westerm United states in February of 2003. From 9/11/01 through Feb 2003, launch security was a primary concern. SWAT teams, fighter jets and military choppers all protected the area and corresponding air space around the launch area in case terrorists got trigger happy.

When Columbia disintegrated over Texas in 2003, the answer was immediately evident, although not publically admitted until weeks after the incident. A suitcase-sized piece of foam used to insulte the SRB’s (Solid Rocket Boosters) broke loose, and smahsed into Columbia’s wing at a high speed, causing searing hot gas to enter Columbia’s wing as it approached on re-entry.

Two years have gone by since the U.S. launched a Shuttle, and with 4 remaining Shuttles (Atlantis, Discovery, Endeavor, and Enterprise*), meticulous care has been taken over the last 24+ months to ensure that better safety standards are in place. Basically, NASA took the way they were doing things, and completely changed them. There are new routines, new protocols. Basically, launching a Shuttle now has a changed format and new routines, all in the name of safety.

And what do they decide? No extra protection. In fact LESS protection for this shuttle flight than for any flight since the Summer of 2001. People, does that make any sense? If terrorists want to strike at a high profile event, the launching of the world’s best space vehicle is a great forum.

It makes no sense to me that after so much time and effort has been expelled to make these shuttles as safe as they can be, security will be lax at it’s launch. Let’s be PREACTIVE and not REACTIVE people.

* Enterprise was the first shuttle built in 1976, and it was mainly a test vehicle. To the best of my knowledge, it is used for spare parts these days, and in no reasonable amount of preparation time can it be flown into space.

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Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld


I came across this website the other day (http://www.coxar.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/), when remembering about some guy that created a website that mirrored a “page can not be found error” when searching for “weapons of mass destruction” in a Google search. Go ahead, try it. And then click on the first link, which is the above webpage.

Then, I remembered a funny quote from Rumsfeld at one of the press briefings. Below are some of the collected works of Donald Rumsfeld.

The Unknown

As we know, There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know There are known unknowns. That is to say We know there are some things We do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, The ones we don’t know We don’t know.

Feb. 12, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing

Glass Box You know, it’s the old glass box at the—At the gas station, Where you’re using those little things Trying to pick up the prize, And you can’t find it. It’s—And it’s all these arms are going down in there, And so you keep dropping it And picking it up again and moving it, But—Some of you are probably too young to remember those—Those glass boxes, But—But they used to have them At all the gas stations When I was a kid.

Dec. 6, 2001, Department of Defense news briefing- A Confession –

Once in a while,I’m standing here, doing something.And I think,”What in the world am I doing here?” It’s a big surprise.

May 16, 2001, interview with the New York Times- Happenings

You’re going to be told lots of things. You get told things every day that don’t happen. It doesn’t seem to bother people, they don’t—It’s printed in the press. The world thinks all these things happen. They never happened. Everyone’s so eager to get the story Before in fact the story’s there That the world is constantly being fed Things that haven’t happened. All I can tell you is, It hasn’t happened. It’s going to happen.

Feb. 28, 2003, Department of Defense briefing – The Digital Revolution

Oh my goodness gracious, What you can buy off the Internet In terms of overhead photography!A trained ape can know an awful lot Of what is going on in this world, Just by punching on his mouse For a relatively modest cost!

June 9, 2001, following European trip – The Situation –

Things will not be necessarily continuous. The fact that they are something other than perfectly continuous Ought not to be characterized as a pause. There will be some things that people will see. There will be some things that people won’t see. And life goes on.

Oct. 12, 2001, Department of Defense news briefing – Clarity

I think what you’ll find, I think what you’ll find is, Whatever it is we do substantively, There will be near-perfect clarity As to what it is. And it will be known, And it will be known to the Congress, And it will be known to you, Probably before we decide it, But it will be known.