I was going to call this post, Surviving the Day After, because, yesterday was kind of a tough workday. I went to work on Wednesday and listened to all of the gloating Republicans and kept my mouth shut, pretty much. I’ve long since learned not to try to discuss politics with them. Not agreeing with them only tends to confuse and irritate them and really serves no constructive purpose in the workplace. Thankfully for Anne, she had Wednesday off. Although, getting sick isn’t really something to be all that thankful for. So folks, it is time to put Tuesday’s election behind us and start gearing up for the 2012 election, which is only two years away. Ha-ha-ha-ha! 👿
In between the barrage of political news on Wednesday morning, I spied an article about private drones. The CIA and the Air Force both have the Predator drone, with which they have been able to assassinate Al Qaeda terrorists with abandon. Now you too can own your very own flying robot-drone. The article went on and hypothesized that the likely site for the first application of these private drones would be in the greater LA area and their first use would be by Hollywood’s paparazzi. Lookout Brad and Angelina! The article referenced a website, DIY Drones, which features a schematic of a Predator in its header.
What was once referred to as radio-controlled model airplanes has morphed into private drone technology. If you liked/disliked those little helicopters that were sold last Christmas, DIY Drones offers those toys on steroids. The military already makes extensive use of micro-sized drones, but so far these tools are only deployed on the unit level. What this article supposed was that each soldier would have his own drone, watching his back. I wonder it future parents, say at their company picnic, and will monitor their children via their own flying drones?
Chris Morris’ upcoming film, Four Lions, tells the story of a group of jihadists who push their dreams of glory beyond the breaking point. It shows that-while terrorism is about ideology, it can also be about idiots. The film is a comedy. I heard Morris on NPR’s Fresh Air and the interview, as designed, intrigued me enough to want to go see this film. As part of this interview he elucidated (I got this word for only 3¢) an element of his research for this film. As part of their run up for their eventual bombing of the USS Cole, Al Qaeda had at least one failure. In this attempt the terrorist so overloaded their boat with explosives that is sank under its own weight not long after it had gotten underway.
In the run up before the election, much was made in the news of the two UPS/Fedex package bombs that were sent from Yemen. Whether they were destined to bomb Jewish synagogues in Chicago or simply blowup another airplane is still unknown. The news made much about the sophistication of these bombs. They were so cleverly hidden within electronic equipment that it wasn’t until their second search that the bombs were discovered. This threat hype only lends to the reputation of our security services. I however have a bone or two to pick about this security service’s victory over Al Qaeda.
On the day that the two bombs were shipped from Yemen, a total of 13 packages were shipped between UPS and Fedex. So on this day two out of thirteen packages were bombs. One of the bombs was hidden inside a printer. Why would anyone want to ship a printer from Yemen to Chicago? This case was broken by the Saudis; they even supplied the UPS/Fedex tracking numbers. I could have found the bombs if I had their tracking numbers. Even so, it still took two searches to find the bombs? Morris’ film sports fun at the terrorists, but at least they seem to learn from their mistakes. I am not so sure about our own security services, the TSA and its kabuki theater.