Not what you want to hear while on hold with Time Warner: “Panicked voice: ‘I can’t see and there’s smoke.’ Operator voice: ‘Is there smoke? There isn’t smoke, is there?’”

• 9-11
• andreaharner

What if 9/11 never happened?

Haven’t read it yet, but New York magazine has a ginormous feature called What If 9/11 Never Happened? “Without 9/11, would the London plot have been foiled? Without 9/11, would there have been an Iraq war? Without the Iraq war, would there have been a London plot?”

• 9-11
• Iraq
• politics
• terrorism
• war

Vanity Fair has a report on the military history of 9/11 (i.e. what the Air Force did to find/stop the hijacked planes), including audio tapes from the NORAD control room. (thx, andrew)

• 9-11

Networks on a plane

Q. Is it possible to use a wireless Internet connection on a plane?

A. Yes, if you happen to be flying on an airline that offers the service. International carriers like Korean Air, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines already have wireless broadband service on many routes; fees for using it vary. Check with your airline to see if it offers in-flight Internet.

So says the NY Times. While it may not be possible to use wireless Internet connections on the plane, it is possible to use wireless connections. Apple laptops can create networks which other computers with wireless capability can join. Bluetooth capable devices like laptops and cellphones can communicate with each other over smaller distances.

Since 9/11, I’ve often thought that this would be an effective way for a group of people to coordinate some nefarious action on a plane without attracting any attention. Five or six people scattered about the plane on laptops, iChatting plans to one another, wouldn’t be unusual at all. Of course, a properly trained group wouldn’t need to communicate with each other at all after boarding the plane. Nor, says Bruce Schneier, should we ban things like cellphones and Internet access on airplanes for security reasons.

• 9-11
• Bruce Schneier
• flying
• security
• wifi

Manhattan’s Chinatown didn’t bounce back after 9/11 and the city’s Chinese are moving elsewhere in the city to find cheaper rents. (via dg)

• 9-11
• China
• Chinatown
• NYC
• real estate