Emanuel Derman dreams:
I had a fantasy in which the Fed and the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) switched roles.
If a bank failed at 9 a.m. one morning and shut its doors, the TSA would announce that all banks henceforth begin their business day at 10 a.m.
And, if a terrorist managed to get on board a plane between Stockholm and Washington, the Fed would increase the number of flights between the cities.
Via Felix Salmon
Photo by Flickr user caribbSo, because the most recent al-Qaeda dipshit tried to light a firecracker on a plane, we’re not forbidden to get up or hold anything on our laps during the last hour of a flight:
“Among other things,†the statement on Air Canada’s Web site read, “during the final hour of flight customers must remain seated, will not be allowed to access carry-on baggage, or have personal belongings or other items on their laps.â€
The suspect in the Friday attempt, identified as Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, tried to ignite his incendiary device in the final hour of the flight while the plane was descending into Detroit.
We all recognize that this is beyond stupid, right? We’re letting al-Qaeda write our flight security regulations by proxy. Whatever they do, we overreact: shoes, liquids, laps. At some point, will Americans get fed up and stop flying?
Bruce Schneier helps a writer for The Atlantic Punk the TSA (I’m sure you saw this over the last couple weeks if you read the internet at all). Airport security is, after all, so much ‘security theater’.
Head of the TSA, Kip Hawley, responds to article.
Schneier responds.
Hawley responds again.
While I admire Kip Hawley’s somewhat transparent (somewhat, because how transparent do you want a security chief to be?) approach to this dialogue I agree with Schneier’s dismissal of the answers. Again, though, it is refreshing for a Bush appointee to at least make an attempt at discussion. Most government appointees probably wouldn’t respond to this type of thing, even if Schneier is the preeminent security expert around.
Geek alert. I love my RSS feeds. Every blog needs a linky post and I’ve been charged with developing one for Unlikely Words. I promise the links contained in the semi-regular link posts were at one time interesting to me (and might be interesting to you) and I promise to post the link posts semi-regularly. (The previous sentence has already proven false as this post was started 3 weeks ago and I already have enough tabs for another post, let alone most of this stuff being outdated). Hopefully, most of these links will come from places other than Lifehacker, Boing Boing, and Kottke. I can’t promse that, but maybe I can take solace in the idea that I’ll read overpublishing blogs so you don’t have to.
