Bitey-Bitey, Pitcairn Island Superthread

[coolian2]

WTF.



Ha, it lists Mechanics Bay but not Paraparaumu when only the latter actually has commercial flights? That's hilarious.

Auckland at least has flights from an airline in the Skyteam alliance. Korean Air, but still.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

Memphis = their hub.

If it wasn't for that I knew about hubs, I'd love city pairings like Detroit-Paris/Amsterdam/London. Or Atlanta/Tokyo.

i love how flying to bwi means i have a layover in cities like detroit or denver. DENVER. (and this was pre-9/11 so things weren't so bad then)

 

[coolian2]

was it united? or qantas? i forget.

Must have been Qantas.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

I bet you were actually plotting a terrorist attack. I mean, why would anybody want to hang at the airport and go places that they now can't go?

i know

like my pop-pop. years ago i went to florida in august and he just happened to decide to visit then. he came wif my parents to see me off. he planted a bomb at the airport, you know.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

Must have been Qantas.

i'm too lazy to look.

 

[Reggo]

I live near a Delta Airlines hub!

 

[Axver]

Memphis = their hub.

If it wasn't for that I knew about hubs, I'd love city pairings like Detroit-Paris/Amsterdam/London. Or Atlanta/Tokyo.

Why is it that they have to fly to the hub, though? I mean, in terms of flying from Holland to the southern US, it strikes me that there's surely more traffic for a route between Amsterdam and a Florida airport.

 

[coolian2]

i love how flying to bwi means i have a layover in cities like detroit or denver. DENVER. (and this was pre-9/11 so things weren't so bad then)

Who the fuck do you fly with that you have to go through Denver?

At least with the merger you can have attractive choices like Atlanta and Cincinnati. Or Salt Lake City.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

Why is it that they have to fly to the hub, though? I mean, in terms of flying from Holland to the southern US, it strikes me that there's surely more traffic for a route between Amsterdam and a Florida airport.

either memphis wants to get more traffic, or...goddamnit what was my other thing going to be?

 

[Reggo]

either memphis wants to get more traffic, or...goddamnit what was my other thing going to be?

 

[DreamOutLoud13]

*late*

My own impression is that tightening airport security is pretty much useless after-the-fact pandering to paranoid people who want to see "something being done". The horse has already bolted, you fools! I think all this does is divert attention away from what terrorists might do to what they've already done, just making it easier for them to achieve what they might do. I think it speaks volumes about how few there are and their ineptitude that we have had so few attacks in the West. One of my tutors was a former CIA official, even participated in writing the daily briefs for Bush and Cheney, and from discussions with him - well, let's just say we're all fucking lucky that your average terrorist is not a bright person.

Like after there was a school shooting here (the first big one in the country, pre-Columbine), security in the schools was upped like crazy here. It did nothing more than make the parents feel safer, and the students feel annoyed. Lightning doesn't strike the same place twice. We had photo IDs, colour coded for grade and wing of the school you were meant to be in that had to be worn around our necks at all times. We had to carry clear backpacks. All visitors had to check in upon entering at the main entrance and get a visitor badge. All other doors were kept locked the entire day. No one was allowed outside unsupervised. If you tried to wander around the school during lunch (to go to the library or the bathroom or anything), you had a security guard interrogating you about where you were going. It was overkill, and after a few years, they let up on most of it.

But the thing is... these efforts, had they been in place prior to the shooting, would not have prevented it. It happened in the morning before school had even started, when students were freely loitering in the lobby, and wouldn't have even been wearing their badges yet (they were picked up and put on in homeroom). The clear backpacks we had to use were clever but not totally safe. Anyone could've still hidden weapons inside, between books where they wouldn't be visible. The shooter here had carried his in wrapped in a blanket, telling people it was a science project. Afterward, in such a situation, a security guard might've looked under the blanket. Might've.

 

[Axver]

hi manure heaps! my neighbour's chooks fucking stink. we've just had one of those annoying steamy sun showers, and the heat combined with a bit of moisture has made the chook poo smell rise up like a bilious gullet meeting a dinner of fried tomatoes.

Ah, the perils of living outside inner suburbia.

And hi Anna, you muddy bog.

 

[coolian2]

Why is it that they have to fly to the hub, though? I mean, in terms of flying from Holland to the southern US, it strikes me that there's surely more traffic for a route between Amsterdam and a Florida airport.

Fly KLM, or Air France. Or just have a stop in Memphis. The idea of hubbing flights is so interesting

 

[Angela Harlem]

Or Salt Lake City.

haa.

 

[Reggo]

Well, I'm going home for 15.5 hours. See you then.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

Who the fuck do you fly with that you have to go through Denver?

At least with the merger you can have attractive choices like Atlanta and Cincinnati. Or Salt Lake City.

i don't remember who we flew through then, it was the cheapest flight. it must've been in 1/00 because i was with my dad, so we must've been flying there for a funeral. which, oops, we flew into dulles that time. but same thing.

you can get nonstop flights to/from vegas, it leaves once a day at a decent time too. i found that out last year. and yeah, if i had to pick a place for a layover, i like atlanta. though i am partial to bwi only because i've been in that airport more than any other. second place is orlando international.

 

[coolian2]

i know

like my pop-pop. years ago i went to florida in august and he just happened to decide to visit then. he came wif my parents to see me off. he planted a bomb at the airport, you know.

I feel the same way about those dodgy bastards who take photos of planes at airports. Who knows what they're planning.

 

[Reggo]

Hey, goddamnit, I live in Salt Lake City and it's a lot fucking worse than you people make it out to be. Stop sugar-coating it.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

Fly KLM, or Air France. Or just have a stop in Memphis. The idea of hubbing flights is so interesting

goal for 09: every superthreader comes to visit me.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

I feel the same way about those dodgy bastards who take photos of planes at airports. Who knows what they're planning.

or trains. what FREAKS.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

Hey, goddamnit, I live in Salt Lake City and it's a lot fucking worse than you people make it out to be. Stop sugar-coating it.

 

[coolian2]

Hey, goddamnit, I live in Salt Lake City and it's a lot fucking worse than you people make it out to be. Stop sugar-coating it.

What? We weren't joking about how little we care about it.

 

[DreamOutLoud13]

Well, I'm going home for 15.5 hours. See you then.

Exactly 15.5 hours?


...*counts down*

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

see ya reggo

 

[Axver]

*late*


Like after there was a school shooting here (the first big one in the country, pre-Columbine), security in the schools was upped like crazy here. It did nothing more than make the parents feel safer, and the students feel annoyed. Lightning doesn't strike the same place twice. We had photo IDs, colour coded for grade and wing of the school you were meant to be in that had to be worn around our necks at all times. We had to carry clear backpacks. All visitors had to check in upon entering at the main entrance and get a visitor badge. All other doors were kept locked the entire day. No one was allowed outside unsupervised. If you tried to wander around the school during lunch (to go to the library or the bathroom or anything), you had a security guard interrogating you about where you were going. It was overkill, and after a few years, they let up on most of it.

But the thing is... these efforts, had they been in place prior to the shooting, would not have prevented it. It happened in the morning before school had even started, when students were freely loitering in the lobby, and wouldn't have even been wearing their badges yet (they were picked up and put on in homeroom). The clear backpacks we had to use were clever but not totally safe. Anyone could've still hidden weapons inside, between books where they wouldn't be visible. The shooter here had carried his in wrapped in a blanket, telling people it was a science project. Afterward, in such a situation, a security guard might've looked under the blanket. Might've.

Fucking hell, that's just nuts. I remember Kate mentioning that her school had metal detectors and its own armed security guard, and that struck me as complete fucking madness.

Here, I personally found it hilarious how we would have a lockdown drill, usually once a year, in the same way we'd have a firedrill. The best part was that our lockdown drills would've just made it EASIER for any prospective lunatic to cause maximum harm. Like in the library, we were all to hide in the seminar room. Great, instead of having everybody dispersed throughout the library, let's crowd them all into a small room with a few chairs and a couple of tables to hide behind. THAT'S REALLY SMART.

 

[Axver]

Hey, goddamnit, I live in Salt Lake City and it's a lot fucking worse than you people make it out to be. Stop sugar-coating it.

Have a good one, Reggo.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

the security in my school was pretty much non-existent. even after columbine, nothing changed. there was a rumour our principal was going to do away with german (because the shooters took german i guess?) but nothing came of it. we had no metal detectors. i think we had id badges, which were more for using as like a debit card for lunches. i just kept it in my wallet. i'd walk the halls during class (always because i was running an errand for a teacher or something) and no one ever stopped me.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

Fucking hell, that's just nuts. I remember Kate mentioning that her school had metal detectors and its own armed security guard, and that struck me as complete fucking madness.

Here, I personally found it hilarious how we would have a lockdown drill, usually once a year, in the same way we'd have a firedrill. The best part was that our lockdown drills would've just made it EASIER for any prospective lunatic to cause maximum harm. Like in the library, we were all to hide in the seminar room. Great, instead of having everybody dispersed throughout the library, let's crowd them all into a small room with a few chairs and a couple of tables to hide behind. THAT'S REALLY SMART.

so they had a notion that we should have a firedrill (ooh firedrill)?

 

[Axver]

I feel the same way about those dodgy bastards who take photos of planes at airports. Who knows what they're planning.

or trains. what FREAKS.

Complete crackpots, the lot of them. They MUST be planning to destroy things. Or graffiti them. Or cause some other disruption. Bastards.




Actually, in all seriousness, you can tell which countries are switched on, because their police stay on good terms with train/planespotters, since the first people who spot a problem are likely to be them. I know of numerous instances of observant trainspotters seeing a problem, contacting train control, and averting an accident.

 

[Axver]

i think we had id badges, which were more for using as like a debit card for lunches. i just kept it in my wallet.

We had student ID cards in high school, but I'm not sure I ever actually took it to school. It stayed in my wallet, which I didn't take to school (even on the odd occasion I bought food, I took the precise amount in my pocket). It was pretty much just to prove that you qualified for student concessions, like on public transport or at the movies.

so they had a notion that we should have a firedrill (ooh firedrill)?