On Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:40:54 -0300, nemesis wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Yes, I think that's probably the case.  After all, before I mentioned
>> the shooting in Wisconsin, had you even heard of it?  Or the one in
>> Scotland?
> 
> so many shootings.  I only really remember the Columbine one.  I
> remember though that since then it's become quite routine.  Like I said
> before, people adapt to such horror situations and let their hearts go
> cold:  oh, so what, another shooting?
> 
> The first time it's shocking, the others not so.

It becomes something you "get used to" - that's one of the problems with 
the news over-sensationalizing stories:  desensitization.

>> The thing is, we - as a people - tend to overreact to things,
>> especially here in the US.  One crazy guy fails to blow up a plane
>> using a shoe bomb (which some have argued couldn't have worked
>> regardless), and now everyone who boards a plane has to take their
>> shoes off.
> 
> well, that's news to me.  So, no one dies from a bomb anymore, just for
> smelly feet?

I used to fly about 2-3 times a month starting 5 years ago (actually, 5 
years ago yesterday), did it for about 2 years.  The rules varied from 
airport to airport, but Richard Reid (the "shoe bomber", as he became 
known) made life difficult for frequent travelers.

To be clear - in the US you are required to take your shoes off *at the 
security checkpoint* and run them through the X-ray machine.  It used to 
be if the soles were < 3/4" and did not have metal shanks in them, you 
didn't have to take them off.  I bought 2 pairs of Eccos specifically 
because they met the TSA guidelines.  Then the rules changed - now 
everyone has to take their shoes off going through security.

The requirement is not that you get on the plane in your socks.

Jim

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