In Australia, muggers chased a man into an alley to mug him … only to be ambushed by ninjas.

(via Sober in a Nightclub)

Airlines continue to compete to see who can provide the worst possible service to their customers. Lowering the bar this week is Southwest Airlines, which now classifies the mechanical breakdown of their fleet as an Act of God, meaning that they classify it in the same category as the weather and wars … things they cannot control and refuse to be liable for.

Finally, if you like both dead animals and beer, then you probably need one of these beer bottles.

Following yesterday’s article regarding the new TSA security measures, we here on the Big Bad Blog got to thinking — how many terrorist attacks have been caught due to increased security measures?

With the high publicity surrounding security measures at airports, and the incentive the government has to show that their efforts to fight terrorism are successful, one would expect there to be occasional stories of terrorists being caught at airports and arrested.

This is not the case.

Instead, we have terrorists who manage to get explosives onto planes, like in this most recent example.

We also have plots that are foiled before the terrorists arrive at the airport, such as the terrorists who planned to smuggle innocuous-looking liquids onto a plane.

Try as we might, we here at the Big Bad Blog cannot remember such an instance. This would seem to indicate that the searches done at airports — particularly the extra measures we are now subject to — do little to prevent these attacks. The real work is done ahead of time, in stopping plots before they can be carried out and identifying those who require extra attention from security.

The inconveniences and intrusions we are subject to do not appear to make us more secure.

Can anybody out there in the world wide web provide an example to the contrary?

These are hard times in which to be a frequent flyer — it seems that everybody is trying to make the experience as difficult as possible. On one side are the airlines, who are busy cutting costs and coming up with brilliant ideas like forcing people to pay to side beside one another, or charging to use the toilet.

The other side seemingly at war with customers are those in charge of their safety — taking as intrusive an approach as possible to ensuring security on board the aircraft. People have decided to blow up planes using liquids, so you are not allowed to bring a bottle of water (or mouthwash) on the plane with you. People have attempted to blow up an airplane using their shoes, so you must now remove your shoes for a scan prior to boarding.

And so it goes. The terrorists come up with a new idea, passengers are hit with a new hurdle they must cross before boarding an airplane.

So it comes as new surprise that following this latest attempt, there are new rules that must be followed. Before we get to those, however, let’s recap:

1. On Christmas day, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Nigeria attempted to blow up a plane just prior to landing in Detroit, Michigan.
2. Some time before that, Mr. Abdulmutallab’s father warned the U.S. government that his son might do some terrorism. Blow up a plane, or something.
3. Mr. Abdulmutallab’s attempt involved the lighting of explosives that he had (it is believed) moulded to his body and hidden in his underpants.
4. Prior to his attempt, Mr. Abdulmutallab used the toilet.

Our (admittedly untrained) minds here at the Big Bad Blog have our attention drawn to points two and three. Specifically, why was the information provided by the young man’s father ignored? And how can we catch those smuggling aboard explosives in the manner described?

Points one and four are the sort of thing a nervous person would do prior to something big that is making them nervous. Emptying the bladder prior, and — as likely as anything else — procrastinating until the last possible moment before carrying out the plan. Given that it seems natural that blowing one’s self up would be cause for nerves, and passenger reports make him sound nervous, this seems more likely than attributing the timing of the attempt (and bathroom trip) to being part of Mr. Abdulmutallab’s nefarious scheme.

The Transport Security Agency (TSA) of the United States’ (admitted highly trained) minds look at points one and four. Specifically that the attempt was at the end of the flight, and the man used the toilet first.

Air Canada has reported (and BoingBoing confirmed in a first-hand account) that new security requirements have passengers confined to their seats for the final hour of the flight, during which they are not permitted to access their carry-on luggage or have anything in their laps. Neither of which, it is noted, would have stopped this most recent terrorist — even if he did something in the bathroom, he would just have to have done it a few minutes earlier.

Even if we take it as given that Mr. Abdulmutallab waited until the plane was in United States airspace, and then checked his explosive device before attempting to detonate it, neither of these facts — nor the reaction to them — are terribly pertinent to the preventative measures that are aimed to prevent the repetition of these events. Double-checking can be done at any point throughout the flight, and Mr. Abdulmutallab did not need access to his carry-on luggage in order to carry out his attack.

All in all, the (admittedly highly trained) anti-terrorist minds at the TSA have decided that the problem is customer access to the bathroom (still available during the rest of the flight), and the presence of magazines in passenger’s laps. In short, they are using this attempt as nothing but a pretense to slap extra restrictions on passengers, without any apparent benefit.

The correct course of action for the TSA should be invisible from the passenger’s viewpoint. Maybe a few more pat-downs (which may or may not have helped find moulded-to-the-body, sewn-in-the-underwear explosives), and certainly a more in depth look at those few people whose parents have called the United States government and said “my son’s a terrorist.”

In fact, we at the Big Bad Blog think that not allowing such people on an airplane without full scrutiny (and a complete search) is the irresponsible behaviour which resulted in this incident. Extra restrictions do not help. Listening to warnings and behaving with appropriate caution might.

Sources:
Air Canada
BBC (2) (3)
Boing Boing
Classically Liberal (from which the photograph used in this article was taken)
Mashable

Hello, Kitty indeed! Mrowr! When I first looked at the photos behind that link, it made me think that somebody was starting up a Hello Kitty themed airline with fetish/Hello Kitty stewardesses. Yes. My mind thinks strange things sometimes. That is also why you either should, or should not, click on the link.

(by Mario Armas)

Care to skydive without a parachute? Apparently it’s a thing.

Were people ever really this insane when it came to Dungeons and Dragons? (Or, as described in the video “The D&D phenomenon”.) Today, D&D and its ilk is associated with intelligent people socializing awkwardly — which is not too far wrong, to be honest. But a fount of evil in our schools, corrupting the young? Really?