Comment Re:2nd tweet (Score 1) 928
I would have made a 2nd tweet that Southwest threatened police intervention due to the 1st tweet then asked for the city police (not the airport police)
In many airports the airport police IS the city police
I would have made a 2nd tweet that Southwest threatened police intervention due to the 1st tweet then asked for the city police (not the airport police)
In many airports the airport police IS the city police
kids in strollers
Most strollers are too big to take as carry on.
Strollers are always gate checked. You wheel the stroller down the jetway, take your kids out, and leave it by the door. After everyone has boarded, either the gate agent or the ramp gate crew will take the strollers and any carry-on bags that didn't fit in the overhead bins and stowes them in either the bulk bin(for widebody aircraft) or the front compartment (generally bin 1) in the belly of the plane (this bin is usually the last one filled up in an aircraft). When the aircraft lands that bin is the first one open and the gate crew takes the strollers and leaves them by the door of the plane. The gate checked bags end up at baggage claim or transferred to a connecting flight. But if you are flying with a stroller, you really don't need to bring your every day stroller that seats 4, has 6 cup holders, and has enough storage space you could live out of it for a month on your 5-day vacation to wherever. Those things are a bitch to try to lug up those stairs, especially when you have 4 of them. The small ones that fold up (some even have carrying bags with a shoulder strap) are so much easier and lighter. I have worked as a gate agent and on the ramp on gate crews at the busiest airport in the world, and my advice is this: make things as easy as you can for the crews, and your things are less likely to get damaged. Not out of malice, but because the amount of gate checks gets larger every year and right before departure is the busiest time for the gate crew.
But still, interpreted literally the new statement is far more factually correct and unbiased than what it replaced. Whoever shot down the plane, they were "soldiers" or fighters of some variety and almost certainly can be described as Ukrainian, given that everyone seems to agree that the fighters are actually eastern Ukrainians and at most Russia is supplying weapons to them.
Not exactly. There is a distinct difference between a soldier and a combatant. A soldier is trained and is a member of a standing military. The separatists can at best be described as "irregulars", or insurgents or rebels if you want to go with slightly more charged terminology. And who exactly is this "everyone" who are agreeing that they are all Eastern Ukranians? I have yet to see any reputable source make that claim. And Russia is not just supplying small arms to these groups. They are giving them tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery, and anti-air systems (both MANPADS and tracked systems). You don't just pick these systesms up and start using them. They are recieving training, either in Russia or locally from trainers that Russia has moved into Ukraine. And given the fact that the missiles were launched from inside territory controlled by the rebelsis a very important detail. Why would the Ukrainians have anti-air equipment deployed in an area they do not control, against an enemy with no air power? All evidence points to the missiles being fired by the separatists, which means Russia had a hand in at the very least training them on how to use the equipment if not providing that equipment as well as continuing to use their influence to keep the conflict going.
C'mon, be honest, don't tell me you don't duck when trying to avoid bullets flying over your head, or leaning to the side when trying to make that tight bend in GTA.
The other night I was playing Red Orchestra 2 and I was prone behind a fence and found myself craning my head to try and see under the fence a little bit better.
You can see the different attitudes people have. Watch some homeless guys for a while asking for money. Some people walk by, and give them money. Other people walk by and say, "someone should help them!"
Well, really just giving them money doesn't help them, as a significant number of homeless in American abuse either drugs or alcohol. If you do want to give them immediate help it is better to give them food or water.
Each bullet creates two more "terrorists",
Not quite. Getting blown in half by a
The best thing to do is provide aid from a distance, but otherwise don't get involved. No troops, no arming one side or the other, just food and medicine.
You have to do both: provide both the carrot and the stick. Show people that fighting will only earn them a useless, painful, and messy death while peaceful coexistence means prosperity, safety, and education. You are correct in that food and medicine are important (more important than money because they are harder for government, criminals, or elites to divert) but you need boots on the ground to provide stability and protection for those communities that have embraced peace. These boots on the ground also help by building/repairing roads, schools, and houses. When communities see that working with the goverment and denouncing extremism makes them prosper they are more likely to embrace it as well. Because let's face it: most of the people fighting in the world do so because they have greivances such as lack of educational, economical, or political opportunities. Given the choice, most people would choose those over fighting. You simply have to show them that choice actually exists.
Not exactly new, or even news. The (US) Marines' Hymn opens with the lines:
From the halls of Montezuma To the shores of Tripoli...
Referring, IIRC, in the case of the shores of Tripoli, to where the Barbary Pirates took refuge while raiding shipping in the Mediterranean.
The US Marine Corp went in to Tripoli to root out the pirates. That was in 1812.
The Marine Corps (it has an "s" in it-it isn't a business) isn't exactly known for arresting people. And in 1812 they were nothing more than naval infantry, which is why they went to the Barbary Coast. They were protecting American- and other states'- shipping. You know, kind of like what the US, France, Great Britain, and even Russia are doing right now off the Somali coast. The assertion you are trying to make is a very tenuous one.
Why do they need windows in the first place? I mean subs don't have any and they do just fine without them. There's arguably less things to hit flying than there are in a sub as well. OK there is the small matter of subs cruising at 32 MPH ( ~31 knots) and a plane cruising at 750 MPH (0.75 Mach) but really a pilot should be able to compensate for that...right?
Sure, in the open sea subs use instruments. Even the periscopes these days are simply cameras. But in harbors or waterways subs move on the surface with conning tower manned. And all they have to deal with are a few larger ships and a couple more smaller harbor craft. Now, take a plane's equivalent: ramp areas or taxiways. They have to deal with houndreds of ground service equipment, aircraft service equipment, cars, and trucks. Not to mention thousands of people. As someone who has worked on a ramp around wide-body aricraft, I'm not going anywhere near a plane where I cannot see the pilot.
I'm still waiting for the Teeth of the Tiger shopping-mall attacks. We saw what happened in Kenya recently. Just imagine that in several malls across the US.
After 9/11 we actually got pretty good at keeping terrorists from getting to the United States, so I don't think attacks like these are a particularly likely occurrence. First you've got to get enough committed people here to carry out the attacks, which means you have to find people that aren't already on the radar of American intelligence, then get them through the Visa process. Once they're here you've got to obtain all the weaponry you'll need, because you're sure as hell not bringing it here in your checked baggage, so now you've got to deal with the American criminal element (not exactly the most trustworthy lot) to get your hands on a cache of firearms and explosives, all while remaining off the radar of law enforcement. It's really not as easy as it sounds when you open those technothrillers....
Remember how they got over in the book: our southern border is very porous. And once inside the country guns are very easy to get, and even semi-automatic rifles purchased legally can be dangerous in the wrong hands. All you need is one convert or supporter here to buy the guns at a gun show, gun stores, or even privately over the internet.
"An organization dries up if you don't challenge it with growth." -- Mark Shepherd, former President and CEO of Texas Instruments