I have two theories on the Orange level

1) It's an attempt to soften up Americans by getting them used to unreasonable search and seizure and any other sorts of restrictions they will use the Orange level to justify

2) It's Al Queda having a hell of a time using known-insecure communications paths to "plan" events which ain't going to happen, precisely in order to get the US all jumpy around the holidays. I mean, why bother doing all that terrorism stuff when by talking about it you can send the infidel into a frenzy.

Paranoia aside 2 is much more likely than 1.

if I were a terrorist, I would wait for a nice green day to fuck shit up.

You know that REALLY pisses me off...

The fact that the "red" level is <BLINKING>. WTF?! Is this some sort of banner ad in the style of WINNNER!!!

Ugh so retarded....I'll go check out how badly my EQ char is stripped then submerge into my fantasy world for the next 2 years..

I'm going to stick with my Sycamore Alert System.

Am I the only one who finds George Carlin's You Are All Diseased set very disturbing to listen to in recent years? His talk on airport security and the economy that he made in 1999 are prophetic and a little creepy.

"And if you didn't take a weapon on board, relax. After you've been flying for about an hour, they're gonna bring you a knife and fork! They actually give you a fucking knife! It's only a table knife, but you could kill a pilot with a table knife. It might take a couple of minutes. Especially if he's hefty. But you could get the job done."

They don't bring you a useful knive and fork any more. But they DO provide (usually) and allow you to bring a very nice improvised edged weapon. Design a plastic holder for it and it's even better, but without that it's still plenty deadly. I refer, of course, to the Coke can.

This is the Permitted and Prohibited Items list from the TSA. Some of those items allowed in carry-on luggage could easily be used as weapons.

Another item not mentioned that could also be easily used as a weapon: the ball point pen.

what about a knife made out of kevlar or lexan or something?
Pencils are also very mean.

Today on the emergency room door:

"Due to the increased orange level, you may be required to produce identification" etc ... this was on the EMS personnel only door mind you.

I just bought a knife made out of "glassfilled polymer" (designed by Blackie Collins, in case anyone was curious). We tested it at work.

Makes it right through the metal detector. Only a physical search would pick it up.

Wed morning traffic stops about 4 miles west of the Tappan Zee Bridge in NY. 45 minutes to go 1 mile then traffic slowly picks up to all of 15 mph. When I finally get to the bridge there's no accident or construction but there's a lot of highway workers climbing into 3 dump trucks, a stakebody truck, a box truck and several pickups. The thing that caught my eye was the trucks and the yellow rainsuits the men were wearing. EVERTHING was brand new. Squeeky clean, brand new. I wonder if they were working for Uncle Tom?

the sycamore alert system..freakin' hilarious!!!

with the constant wave that the "terrorist alert system" or whatever is on, has pretty much made me lethargic to the whole ordeal. i haven't flown on a commercial airline since 9-11 but am going to have to here in about a month or so with my carry on consisting of my flight bag. (headset, maps etc..) i can only imagine the crap i'm going to have to go through. any pilots carry their stuff on board since 9-11?

I flew one-way to St. Louis from Baltimore in April. Fairly smooth process at BWI...got through the checkpoints in about 30 minutes. Only thing that was a pain was that I had to check my bags in at the ticket counter (probably b/c I was flying one-way), but as I was flying out on an early Saturday morning, that only took about 10-15 minutes.

Oh, and the SAS is currently at green. :)

Like the CIA letter opener?

Similar material, probably a bit more durable than the CIA letter opener and the executive ice scraper, but it's a folding knife, which is what I really liked about it.

http://www.lippman-enterprises.com/art/BCollins2.jpg