I won't curtail any travel plans, it's starting to feel like the Airlines are safe again from all that I've gathered on the news lately. Anyone have any travel experiences to relate?

it doesn't really change my plans any--i hardly ever go anywhere. but i will say that my mother had planned to visit germany last month but her family there advised her against it for now. as far as going into public places, hasn't affected me, still gotta do what you gotta do, y'know?

On Oct. 1 we flew from Baltimore to Ontario to Zurich and back on Oct. 22. Airports were deserted in North America (with Nat'l Guards and machine guns posted prominently), Europe was business as usual. No undue searching at any checkpoint, just the standard metal detector and x-ray machine for carry-ons. Had to walk across a disinfection carpet (remember foot and mouth disease? That story got blown off the headlines) on the way back. Took trains, cabs, funiculars, cable cars, etc...no extra security anywhere over there. S. flew to Denver last week, nothing out of the ordinary either.

what's a funicular? L.A. had (has?) dudes on certain random rooftops with machine guns at the ready.

(and i should mention that these aren't the bad guys sitting on the rooftops either)

A funicular is a sort of cog "elevator" that ascends a steep grade, such as a mountainside. I imagine with Thanksgiving that the airports/planes were doing a brisk business. Haven't heard of any episodes, though.

*Sigh* I am less than entusiastic to visit my son in California. Rather than never seeing him again, I will travel by air. I simply do not like the companions with whom I will be travelling. I used to LOVE flying!

http://www.laughlab.co.uk/home.html This study shows that Canadians are least likely to think jokes funny of all nationalities. Germans are easiest to tickle, America isn't far behind Germany.

Tom Friedman has a pretty sensible column in the Wednesday NYT about this. He suggests that we fly naked, or face the consequences: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/26/opinion/26FRIE.html

fried again ;-( Anthrax mail cleaning zaps digital gadgets Digital dream gadgets are being irreparably zapped by an irradiation process the U.S. Postal Service has used since October to sanitize mail against anthrax threats, an electronics trade group said on Tuesday. Compact flash memory cards used to store data on many name-brand digital cameras and handheld computers face not just data loss but become entirely inoperable when subjected to electron beam irradiation, the CompactFlash Association said. --Reuters

The Laugh lab link no longer works. I've long espoused opposing generals be stripped naked to do their negotiating. I just don't want to be there taking notes when they do so. On the other hand... Maybe I do. GeoAnthropology is languishing and I could always use a good laugh. I'm feeling better about flying since last November. I am looking forward to visiting California even if it is boring to fly 5 hours over the ocean with nothing to look at. I've not even seen whales from up there though I have looked!

Terry, is that still true about my 64 KB digital camera flash card being fried? Thanks for the warning!

Fill me in with more details, what's the background on this?

In the 10th item of this topic you posted: Anthrax mail cleaning zaps digital gadgets Digital dream gadgets are being irreparably zapped by an irradiation process the U.S. Postal Service has used since October to sanitize mail against anthrax threats, an electronics trade group said on Tuesday. Compact flash memory cards used to store data on many name-brand digital cameras and handheld computers face not just data loss but become entirely inoperable when subjected to electron beam irradiation, the CompactFlash Association said. --Reuters I was wondering if it still applies. I was about to order another flash card for my digital camera but decided I'd wait until I heard moer about it. It never occurred to me that it would fry the memory inside!