…would there be for an airline that flew planes with only pigskin seats?
22 thoughts on “How Much Demand…?”
Hmm…the only problem I see is most of the terrorists we have seen so far don’t mind breaking a few of Allah’s laws (booze, women, etc) before they go off to paradise.
Issue everyone an oxygen mask, then replace the cabin air with pure nitrogen. Problem solved!
Or you could take a Mossad approach. Find everyone who helped this guy and kill him. You don’t see anyone trying to sneak a bomb aboard an El Al flight, do you? Even though fools can be found to do it, those who stay behind and supply the bombs and organization and pay for the airline tickets value their skins too much to risk the subsequent knock on the door by a short slim fellow who lets his Uzi do all the talking.
Would Jews have any issues with pigskin seats?
Orthodox might. Most Jews wouldn’t. Muslims are much more fanatical about it than Jews. For Jews, it’s just a dietary rule. Muslim extremists consider pigs unclean, and to be avoided at all costs.
Either way, I wouldn’t avoid flying an airline in which I didn’t share a plane with Orthodox Jews. I have nothing against them, but I don’t value diversity in my airplane rides.
Which brings up a random thought — how many Jews and Muslims play football?
Carl suggests: Issue everyone an oxygen mask, then replace the cabin air with pure nitrogen. Problem solved!
Do explosives require oxygen in the air around them? Don’t they have their own oxidizer built in? Or are you talking about the fuze only? Haven’t studied the chemistry of this stuff in a long time… :-/
You don’t see anyone trying to sneak a bomb aboard an El Al flight, do you?
The reason for that being that the Israelis not only profile, they professionally interview any prospective “bombers” before each flight. The US has always had this option, but for PC reasons has not yet adopted it. It will not be amusing to find out how many people have to die or be subjected to body cavity searches before the PC posturing ends.
Which brings up a random thought — how many Jews and Muslims play football?
I imagine that it’d be just the ones who realize footballs are really made from cowhide rather than pigskin… 🙂
How many dim, paranoid air travelers are there?
Do explosives require oxygen in the air around them?
No, actually, I believe most do not, so my suggestion is not to be taken seriously.
TNT, RDX and TATP simply decompose — no oxidation is involved or necessary. The IE used in OKC and I believe in Beirut in 1982, ammonium nitrate plus fuel oil, requires oxidizer but that’s just for the secondary combustion that keeps up the heat for the AN to keep decomposing.
In cases like this, maybe the trick is to find some way to set off the unstable compounds. Some funny combination of ultrasound and sound, maybe. Then you have everyone walk through the predetonator…so the bad guys predetonate…bang!… and you just have a clean-up in aisle 3 at the airport…
Good stuff rand and Carl.
I laughed.
Carl, I really like your idea of the pre-detonation chamber. I wonder if RDX, TATP, etc. molecules are polar enough to be subject to dielectric heating and what wavelength(s) would be involved. If the wavelength(s) were nice and convenient like 2.45 gHz for water in a microwave oven, I can envision a screening booth (pre-det chamber!) similar to a Mardex booth only with blast doors where the shaheed-to-be could meet his 72 raisins a tad early! Automatic wash-down after the kaboom, doors open, NEXT!
It would probably be a good idea to have a rapid dry cleaning service close by in order to remove all those brown stains.
We need to train some bomb sniffing pigs (the ones on 4 legs not 2) and have them sitting at the security checkpoint.
Having no (or little) oxygen in the cabin would keep people from lining up for the restrooms. There would need to be a mask in there as well. Probably not all that practical.
Issue diapers.
brilliant! And the meals are only bacon and egg sandwiches!
molecules are polar enough to be subject to dielectric heating and what wavelength(s)
Wouldn’t that make your zipper turn into a soldering iron?
wouldn’t that also affect certain. . . . piercings? whatever your oppinion on such choices for self mutilation, I don’t think that that displeasure should translate into enforced genital immolation.
The weakest link could actually be the virulent homophobia.
This leads to a variety of implausible ideas involving naked stewards.
Al?
It’s not my style but I could tolerate a swanging dangly as long as I get to flobbly jobblies.
How about hiring defensive tackles as air marshals?
As the earlier poster said many of the 9-11 crew spent the weekend before boozing and womanising it in Vegas. Under certain “readings” of the Koran apparently you’re allowed to use the instruments of the opposition against them blah blah blah… you’re looking for consistency from a bunch of medieval nuts?
The reality is, the probability of a successful attack remains low, there will probably be another successful one at some point in the future, there will be others on the ground too, and there will be a HELL of a lot more that get prevented.
As long as we want affordable, simple, mass market air-travel we need to live with the remote risk of a terror event as we do with the remote chance of a catastrophic aircraft failure.
As the earlier poster said many of the 9-11 crew spent the weekend before boozing and womanising it in Vegas. Under certain “readings” of the Koran apparently you’re allowed to use the instruments of the opposition against them blah blah blah… you’re looking for consistency from a bunch of medieval nuts?
But if all the Muslims who aren’t planning on blowing up your airplane refuse to fly with you, doesn’t it make the Muslims who are willing to fly, drink booze, etc. more conspicuous?
Hmm…the only problem I see is most of the terrorists we have seen so far don’t mind breaking a few of Allah’s laws (booze, women, etc) before they go off to paradise.
Issue everyone an oxygen mask, then replace the cabin air with pure nitrogen. Problem solved!
Or you could take a Mossad approach. Find everyone who helped this guy and kill him. You don’t see anyone trying to sneak a bomb aboard an El Al flight, do you? Even though fools can be found to do it, those who stay behind and supply the bombs and organization and pay for the airline tickets value their skins too much to risk the subsequent knock on the door by a short slim fellow who lets his Uzi do all the talking.
Would Jews have any issues with pigskin seats?
Orthodox might. Most Jews wouldn’t. Muslims are much more fanatical about it than Jews. For Jews, it’s just a dietary rule. Muslim extremists consider pigs unclean, and to be avoided at all costs.
Either way, I wouldn’t avoid flying an airline in which I didn’t share a plane with Orthodox Jews. I have nothing against them, but I don’t value diversity in my airplane rides.
Which brings up a random thought — how many Jews and Muslims play football?
Carl suggests: Issue everyone an oxygen mask, then replace the cabin air with pure nitrogen. Problem solved!
Do explosives require oxygen in the air around them? Don’t they have their own oxidizer built in? Or are you talking about the fuze only? Haven’t studied the chemistry of this stuff in a long time… :-/
You don’t see anyone trying to sneak a bomb aboard an El Al flight, do you?
The reason for that being that the Israelis not only profile, they professionally interview any prospective “bombers” before each flight. The US has always had this option, but for PC reasons has not yet adopted it. It will not be amusing to find out how many people have to die or be subjected to body cavity searches before the PC posturing ends.
I imagine that it’d be just the ones who realize footballs are really made from cowhide rather than pigskin… 🙂
How many dim, paranoid air travelers are there?
Do explosives require oxygen in the air around them?
No, actually, I believe most do not, so my suggestion is not to be taken seriously.
TNT, RDX and TATP simply decompose — no oxidation is involved or necessary. The IE used in OKC and I believe in Beirut in 1982, ammonium nitrate plus fuel oil, requires oxidizer but that’s just for the secondary combustion that keeps up the heat for the AN to keep decomposing.
In cases like this, maybe the trick is to find some way to set off the unstable compounds. Some funny combination of ultrasound and sound, maybe. Then you have everyone walk through the predetonator…so the bad guys predetonate…bang!… and you just have a clean-up in aisle 3 at the airport…
Good stuff rand and Carl.
I laughed.
Carl, I really like your idea of the pre-detonation chamber. I wonder if RDX, TATP, etc. molecules are polar enough to be subject to dielectric heating and what wavelength(s) would be involved. If the wavelength(s) were nice and convenient like 2.45 gHz for water in a microwave oven, I can envision a screening booth (pre-det chamber!) similar to a Mardex booth only with blast doors where the shaheed-to-be could meet his 72 raisins a tad early! Automatic wash-down after the kaboom, doors open, NEXT!
It would probably be a good idea to have a rapid dry cleaning service close by in order to remove all those brown stains.
We need to train some bomb sniffing pigs (the ones on 4 legs not 2) and have them sitting at the security checkpoint.
Having no (or little) oxygen in the cabin would keep people from lining up for the restrooms. There would need to be a mask in there as well. Probably not all that practical.
Issue diapers.
brilliant! And the meals are only bacon and egg sandwiches!
molecules are polar enough to be subject to dielectric heating and what wavelength(s)
Wouldn’t that make your zipper turn into a soldering iron?
wouldn’t that also affect certain. . . . piercings? whatever your oppinion on such choices for self mutilation, I don’t think that that displeasure should translate into enforced genital immolation.
The weakest link could actually be the virulent homophobia.
This leads to a variety of implausible ideas involving naked stewards.
Al?
It’s not my style but I could tolerate a swanging dangly as long as I get to flobbly jobblies.
How about hiring defensive tackles as air marshals?
As the earlier poster said many of the 9-11 crew spent the weekend before boozing and womanising it in Vegas. Under certain “readings” of the Koran apparently you’re allowed to use the instruments of the opposition against them blah blah blah… you’re looking for consistency from a bunch of medieval nuts?
The reality is, the probability of a successful attack remains low, there will probably be another successful one at some point in the future, there will be others on the ground too, and there will be a HELL of a lot more that get prevented.
As long as we want affordable, simple, mass market air-travel we need to live with the remote risk of a terror event as we do with the remote chance of a catastrophic aircraft failure.
As the earlier poster said many of the 9-11 crew spent the weekend before boozing and womanising it in Vegas. Under certain “readings” of the Koran apparently you’re allowed to use the instruments of the opposition against them blah blah blah… you’re looking for consistency from a bunch of medieval nuts?
But if all the Muslims who aren’t planning on blowing up your airplane refuse to fly with you, doesn’t it make the Muslims who are willing to fly, drink booze, etc. more conspicuous?
Yours,
Tom DeGisi