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Plane Hijacked in Mexico
Boring Airport Book Contract Better Than No Book Contract
Brit Hippie Politely Douses Politician in Custard
Don't Just Stand There; Be Bombarded With Crap
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Weegee's bored
09/09/09

In reply to Plane Hijacked in Mexico
The hijackers were Bolivians demanding their fair share of landscaping jobs in New Jersey.
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LuluFimbria
09/09/09

In reply to Plane Hijacked in Mexico
Uh, don't mess with the Federales, people.

Give me a terrorist who tries to pull one over on those guys, and I'll show you a terrorist who will soon be missing his opposable thumbs.

Those are some scary and shady dudes, those feds.
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shag_carpet_bomb promoted this comment LuluFimbria was starred LuluFimbria was unstarred

shag_carpet_bomb
09/09/09

@LuluFimbria: Seriously, did you read the thing in Harper's about the hit man? yikes, they make the Oakland PD look like rent a cops at a middle school dance.
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FaceMelter
09/09/09

In reply to Plane Hijacked in Mexico
Totally fucked, but you would think security would be stepped up this week.
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___
09/09/09

@FaceMelter: What's happening this week? (Hopefully thats not a stupid question.)
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richardmarxhatesmyhair
09/09/09

@Unforgiven: demote. big time.
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richardmarxhatesmyhair
09/09/09

@Unforgiven: not approve...
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Charolastra
09/09/09

@Unforgiven: big shake up in Calderon's government. Eduardo Medina Mora has stepped down as Attorney General. I'm guessing that's what he's referring too but something may be skipping my mind right now.

Also, on a side note, several Ministries were closed down and the one I work for just had its budget slashed considerably. It is a good time to be part of the Mexican government.
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Edited by Charolastra at 09/09/09 4:04 PM Charolastra was starred Charolastra was unstarred

___
09/09/09

@richardmarxhatesmyhair:

I honestly forgot what was happening this week. This summer flew by in a flash. I don't think there's been anything on it in the news yet.
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pooks
09/09/09

@Charolastra: That's the first thing that came to mind? Really?
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Charolastra
09/09/09

@pooks: Would you care to explain why the anniversary of September 11 would warrant increased airpor security measures from either Bolivia or Mexico in flights not headed for the U.S.?
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FaceMelter promoted this comment Charolastra was starred Charolastra was unstarred

FaceMelter
09/09/09

@Charolastra: Just because a flight isn't scheduled to enter U.S. airspace doesn't mean a hijacker can't fly it there; which may or may not include a stopover to refuel somewhere.

That said, what you fail to realize is that 9/11 is truly a worldwide event, and the cartels are no stranger to acting on a public stage. Carrying out an action around the anniversary of 9/11 guarantees them extended news coverage and comparisons to one of history's most memorable events. It's a media play. These people aren't foolish.
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Charolastra
09/09/09

@FaceMelter: What you fail to realize is that you *can't* just enter U.S. airspace. Surely, you are aware that U.S. airspace is carefully monitored through extensive radar coverage. No commercial airliner could ever enter unnoticed. EVER.

The reason why the Sept. 11 attacks happened is a) no one expected terrorists would fly planes into buildings and b) the planes used were hijacked for a relatively small period of time, so by the time the authorities knew what was going on it was too late.

September 11 was a worlwide event, but wasn't a traumatic experience for many other countries. Certainly, people were saddened and distrubed, but they never took it as their own tragedy. In the same way the american media couldn't have cared less about the Madrid bombings, which were conducted on the March 11th, at a time when Spain was an ally of the Bush Administration. No one in the U.S. media would have given a shit about the hijacking in Mexico unless an American died.
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Edited by Charolastra at 09/09/09 7:33 PM Charolastra was starred Charolastra was unstarred

Smitros
08/19/09

In reply to Boring Airport Book Contract Better Than No Book Contract
And this is the guy who wanted to tell us not to be worried about status. Right.
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Carol Gardens
08/19/09

In reply to Boring Airport Book Contract Better Than No Book Contract
May favorite Alain de Botton quote: "I will hate you till the day I die and wish you nothing but ill will in every career move you make. I will be watching with interest and schadenfreude."

[www.steamthing.com]
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SultanaEleusis
08/19/09

In reply to Boring Airport Book Contract Better Than No Book Contract
I think they stole the idea from a guy who once spent 24 hours in WalMart and wrote about it. 24 hours in WalMart=one week in Heathrow.
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Carol Gardens promoted this comment SultanaEleusis was starred SultanaEleusis was unstarred

Carol Gardens
08/19/09

@SultanaEleusis: Well, there was also a Nickelodeon Magazine article where the writer spent 24 hours in The Mall of America.
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snugbug
08/19/09

@Carol Gardens: Originality = the most overrated virtue in the po-mo age.
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Gabriel Snyder
08/19/09

In reply to Boring Airport Book Contract Better Than No Book Contract
Somewhere this morning Greg Lindsay is pissed.
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Edited by Gabriel Snyder at 08/19/09 11:27 AM Gabriel Snyder was starred Gabriel Snyder was unstarred

Greg Lindsay
08/19/09

@Gabriel Snyder: Actually, this is exactly the book I didn't want to write (and didn't). Anyone thinking of buying this book should read Walter Kirn's "Up in the Air" instead.
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snugbug
08/19/09

@Greg Lindsay: Hi, a bit off-thread, but I hope you can indulge me. "Now Boarding" for €500: "The breakout James Joyce-ian novel of this European author unfolds over the course of 24 hours spent entirely in the Air France L`Espace Première Lounge at the Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport." (No Googling!)
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Edited by snugbug at 08/19/09 12:15 PM snugbug was starred snugbug was unstarred

Greg Lindsay
08/19/09

@snugbug: The book on my shelf fitting that description is Brigid Brophy's "In Transit," which is so Joyce-ian I can't even read it. But she never had a breakout of any kind, so that probably isn't it.
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snugbug
08/19/09

@Greg Lindsay: Correct answer is "What is question stuffed with totally made-up facts."

I thought I was being clever making it up, but your erudition, which is nothing short of inspiring, brought me to my knees and now I feel like a bit of a jerk. PS: I'm going to buy Brigid Brophy's "In Transit" now.
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snugbug
08/19/09

In reply to Boring Airport Book Contract Better Than No Book Contract
Oh, I think this is a wonderful project. I'd completely buy the book. The Heathrow marketing people hit on a genius idea, and I bet de Botton had oodles of fun interviewing people. Plus, he provided a public service to those bored out of their minds waiting. (Heathrow truly has the WORST lines--I once read an entire paper, all the sections, including "Sports," which I'd normally skip, while waiting my turn for security check there.)
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Swifter
08/19/09

In reply to Boring Airport Book Contract Better Than No Book Contract
The real question is, could I get Julia Allison to live in a glass coffin on the upper deck of my houseboat for a 12-day Blueprint Cleanse and four dozen cupcakes?
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pufflehuff
08/19/09

In reply to Boring Airport Book Contract Better Than No Book Contract
He's not really all that respected over here, please see Charlie Brooker on the subject: [www.guardian.co.uk]

Divine.

Continuing on the Bottonymorons / Chabonorons theme: Philip Roth appearing as himself under a different name in your easily-shocked grandma's conservatory.

(Can't wait to finish my novel! LOL)
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hypocriteoath
08/19/09

In reply to Boring Airport Book Contract Better Than No Book Contract
rich people commissioning art for their own purposes? YOU DON'T SAY! not like this has been happening... oh... say.... FOREVER.
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Cheruth
08/19/09

In reply to Boring Airport Book Contract Better Than No Book Contract
In A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll never do again, David Foster Wallace talks about a highly respected writer who wrote a puff piece on the cruise industry. The cruise line published it in their magazine but didn't label it as advertising and made it look like an excerpt from a stand alone book or article.

That writer also said that his condition was that the cruise industry had no say over what he wrote.

So this isn't exactly a new idea. But that guy got to go on a free cruise everything included. This guy gets to sit in Heathrow.
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snugbug promoted this comment Cheruth was starred Cheruth was unstarred

snugbug
08/19/09

@Cheruth: Hey, was this nugget in one of those incredible footnotes? How could I have missed it, I love that piece.. Or are you referring to the piece itself, which DFW himself wrote for Harper's about a 7-day Caribbean cruise aboard the Zenith? (Harper's paid for the cruise, $3,000--if I recall, he makes kind of a big deal about the cost and how he got to sail the high seas on Harper's dime..)

In any case, time to revisit "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again."
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Edited by snugbug at 08/19/09 11:11 AM snugbug was starred snugbug was unstarred

Carol Gardens
08/19/09

In reply to Boring Airport Book Contract Better Than No Book Contract
I'll read it. The Architecture of Happiness is a great book. If anyone can come up with an interesting commentary on airports, he can. I find them quite fascinating, myself.
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MrInBetween
03/06/09

In reply to Brit Hippie Politely Douses Politician in Custard
She had him at jello.
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pufflehuff
03/06/09

@MrInBetween: Comination, if I do say so myself. La-di-dah.
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BaconCat
03/06/09

In reply to Brit Hippie Politely Douses Politician in Custard
Lord Mandelson resigned himself to the sad truth that his life, while quite respectable in every manner, had become boring. It had fallen, rather politely, into that staid, traditional cheeri-ho proper British rut so many men of wealth and breeding find their lives in post-Cambridge. Ophelia, once a woman of promise and spirit seemed now worn down, nay, utterly exhausted by the 'privileges' of mannered life. Their once vivacious (if not exactly daring) sex-life had now withered away like English grapes down to something that bore fruit only in the summer, and then the fruit was too bitter to truly enjoy. And then Leila and her little cup of custard walked ever so quietly but firmly into his life...
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Uncle_Billy_Slumming
03/06/09

@BaconCat:

A Fish Called Wanda II: Little Cup Of Custard
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BaconCat
03/06/09

@Uncle_Billy_Slumming: Peter's Head Revisited
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