thoughts

Many, many times over the past years I have said to myself, “I’m going to go back to writing.” And all of those times other things came up. Family, work, computer projects, moving, jobs, friends, etc, so many other things that were, naturally, more important than this silly thing.

But I didn’t stop thinking about it. My old hosting expired and I didn’t do anything about it. Someone bought my old domain (what an asshole!) and I can get it back for a princely sum, apparently. But ha, I am smarter than that! I will get A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT DOMAIN that has a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NAME!

As you can see, it’s not much different than the old one. Just minus one letter. If that’s what keeps me from having to fork over $4500 (yes, that’s the amount the domain overlords want for it) then they can keep it.

But so much has happened since I left.

A tyrant was in power when I left, and a tyrant is in power again. And he’s more of an asshole this time than last time.

So much has happened, and my brain has been on pause. Between everything (mentioned in the first paragraph) and politics (it’d be nice to go an entire day without having someone’s name or voice shoved at me), I’ve got other thoughts.

To quote the late great Rob Reiner –

But hey, enough of my yakkin’, what ya say, let’s boogie!

I’m about to go on a trip in the very near future, and one thing I will have to do before boarding the airplane (since I have applied, but have not been interviewed or approved for the Global Entry program) is take my shoes off and run them through the metal detector at an airport security checkpoint. Before Global Entry, everyone, regardless of who you were, had to take their shoes off and run them through the metal detector. It’s an inconvenience that came to life thanks to the man above – Richard Colvin Reid, also known as the Shoe Bomber.

On December 22, 2001, Reid boarded a Miami-bound flight from Paris wearing his special shoes that were packed with plastic explosives and a detonator cord that he would have to light. After he was reported to be acting strangely on the flight, Reid grabbed a woman who was curious about what he was doing (he was attempting to light the detonator cord attached to his shoe). Reid, a large man, was 6′ 4″ and weighed 215 pounds, was subdued by several passengers who used plastic handcuffs, seatbelt extensions, leather waist belts and headphone cords to restrain him. A doctor on board gave him a sedative from the emergency medical kit of the plane and they diverted course to Logan Airport in Boston, where he was immediately arrested on touchdown.

Apparently, the explosives didn’t detonate because of rainy weather in Paris – the detonator cord had become too wet in the Parisian rain.

So, the next time you’re stressed and late for your flight and have to take your shoes off at airport security, curse the name of Richard Reid. It’s all his fault. ¹

1. Of course, if he’d been successful, this would have been a tragedy. Fortunately, fate decided to not cause anybody harm that day. Except for Reid, who was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences and 110 years with no possibility of parole.[↩]