Stuff On A Plane!

[denny]

http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/archives/2006/08/the_uk_terror_p.html

"None of the alleged terrorists had made a bomb. None had bought a plane ticket. Many did not even have passports, which given the efficiency of the UK Passport Agency would mean they couldn't be a plane bomber for quite some time."


http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200608/msg00087.html

"If you choke from fumes, or if your explosives go off before you've got enough made to take out the airplane -- say if you only have enough to shatter the mirror in the bathroom and spray yourself with one of the most evil oxidizers around -- you aren't going to be famous as the martyr who killed hundreds of westerners. Your determination and willingness to die doesn't matter -- you still need to get the job done."


And less seriously:
http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/snakes/

"NO SNAKES OF ANY KIND WILL BE PERMITTED ON A PLANE. SNAKES ARE NO LONGER ALLOWED IN CHECKED BAGGAGE. This includes all pythons, boas, rattlesnakes, vipers, mambas, adders, and other known species of snakes. Exception: some limited amounts of snakes may be allowed if Samuel L. Jackson is traveling;"

Comments

[altered-state.livejournal.com]

the media coverage i heard said that the liquid explosive was based on methyl nitrate, which it would be really easy to do on a plane (unlike the binary they talk about in the second article) - i've watched it done - can on two liquid, pour into container, shake for about 10seconds and film canister's worth of the stuff can put a hole through steel plate... more than effective against the side of a plane.

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

Interesting... any idea of how volatile it is and what sort of detonator it would require?

[skx.livejournal.com]

There is an analysis of that here:

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/08/on_the_implausi.html

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

Which quotes and links the article I linked directly and which the original commentor was commenting on. Whee :)

[skx.livejournal.com]

D'oh.

I even had the wrong link; I did mean this one (http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200608/msg00087.html). But as you say it is already present.

I'm obvious less attentive and stable today than i thought.

[hythloday.livejournal.com]

Your first quote is quite egregiously out of context.

Your second link postulates the sensible forward-planning and sanity of people willing to blow themselves to bits over the Atlantic. :)

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

1. Yes, it was the bit of the article that amused me the most.

2. Well, aren't the ones with forward-planning skills the ones we should be worrying about stopping?

[hythloday.livejournal.com]

I only skimmed both of them, but the second link seemed to be saying, "the media must be reporting rubbish; only someone naive to the point of idiocy would expect this to work!" I'd say that phrase was a fairly likely profile of a suicide bomber.

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

I thought his point was that if those were the facts, then the plot probably wasn't quite as worrying as it's been made out to be. I may have been reading into the text based on other stuff I've read today and yesterday.

[swiftangel.livejournal.com]

Do you want to come see Snakes on a Plane with us on Friday night? We're going to the 7:10 showing in Croydon at the Vue. I think there are currently only 4 of us in the group at the moment.

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

I'm going to a party that evening... friend leaving the country.