Awesome is (usually) Active

So I was thinking about the Awesome thing. One thing that came to mind is stuff that you remember more, and feel more glad to have done, are things where you actually DO something. Going to watch a movie can be Awesome, depending on the movie and the company and a lot of other things, but the part with the company is about what you do with them, the movie is usually just starting point for whatever. Now how much more Awesome would it be to have helped MAKE the movie? Reading a book or comic or seeing art can be Awesome, but how much more Awesome would it have been to make it? Watching people dance can be Awesome, but how much more Awesome is it to dance yourself? (If you can get over looking like an idiot, anyway) I think, in general, doing something is more Awesome than just looking at something. Or it's at least a longer-term kind of Awesome.

So, that Terrorist Threat?

Remember that plane that was diverted to Boston the other day? It was because a 59 year old lady had a tube of hand cream and a book of matches. BBC

And how about those guys who were going to blow up DOZENS OF PLANES, on a SCALE NEVER BEFORE SEEN? Well, they're still being held by the British. Most of them, anyway. A couple were let go without charges.

Of course, "Two top Pakistani intelligence agents said Wednesday that the would-be bombers wanted to carry out an al Qaeda-style attack to mark the fifth anniversary of the September 11 strikes but were too "inexperienced" to carry out the plot, AP reports.

The agents, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that if the terror cell members arrested in Pakistan and Britain had appropriate weapons and explosives training, they could have emulated attacks like the ones on September 11, 2001.

The detainees in Britain and Pakistan had not attended terror-training camps in Pakistan or Afghanistan and had relied on information gleaned from text books on how to make bombs, the officials said, according to AP."

And if I had the appropriate training and equipment, I could climb buildings like Spider-Man, or build a space ship.

Oh, and the British police had all of them under surveillance. For almost a year. But the pushed for early arrests. And, apparently, "In contrast to previous reports, one senior British official suggested an attack was not imminent, saying the suspects had not yet purchased any airline tickets. In fact, some did not even have passports."

And they hadn't even gotten all of the chemicals required for any potential bomb, or even tested it. With no tickets. Or passports. While they're under surveillance. So why arrest them now?

Partially, because of the testimony of a guy arrested in Pakistan. "Reports from Pakistan suggest that much of the intelligence that led to the raids came from that country and that some of it may have been obtained in ways entirely unacceptable here. In particular Rashid Rauf, a British citizen said to be a prime source of information leading to last week's arrests, has been held without access to full consular or legal assistance. Disturbing reports in Pakistani papers that he had "broken" under interrogation have been echoed by local human rights bodies."

Ah. So testimony from a guy who was probably tortured. About a group of guys who were nowhere near ready to blow up any planes, and were already under surveillance. That's why we got huge headlines about "TERRORIST PLOT FOILED! BAD GUYS WERE GOING TO BLOW UP PLANES WITH MILK BOTTLES OMG!!!!"

What kind of bullshit is this? Sweet fucking Christmas. THAT'S why we can't take carry on baggage onto airplanes any more? To quote Teresa Nielsen Hayden, I deeply resent the way this administration makes me feel like a nutbar conspiracy theorist."

I Am Not a Unique Snowflake

A lot of my insights, I think, aren't. Well, not exactly. They're just not unique, or surprising, or new. Even the lot of the stuff that seems surprising and Big and Important to me when I think of it. I suspect a lot of it's stuff almost everybody figures out, some time between when they're 16 and 30. And I think this is one of those same kinds of things.