Toronto

Just back from a trip to Toronto. Passing through customs two times was exciting. I felt that maybe they would catch a terrorist. Unfortunately the closest I came to seeing that was the lady who refused to turn off her laptop during both takeoff and landing after repeated requests. I thought maybe we would get to see her arrested. Frankly, I think that using your laptop DVD player to watch Elton John videos should be a crime.

It was a lovely city. It seemed European in many ways. Less crime, more smokers, great public transit, horrible drivers, beautiful people, and beautifully planned. And they seem to have a complex about being Canadian. Apparently there are lots of Americans who look down on Canadians. Most Americans I know don't think about Canadians. (Which is worse?). I'm sure a good percentage of the US population can't even find Canada on a map.

It was nice to have money in my pocket with a picture of the queen and Cadbury chocolate in my belly. And to be in a country where getting attacked by terrorists is something of an afterthought (although not entirely).

On our way back to the hotel one night we passed a Lebanese protest rally. There was loud yelling and angry chants and calls for the heads of the Zionists. I'm sure somewhere their counterparts were responding in-kind. Our three and a half year old was over-tired but had the energy to let us know that he didn't like that noise. My sentiments exactly.

The Reasonable Man Standard

Have no misconception that even ultra-liberals believe in the Second Amendment. Only in its proper context, right after the First Amendment. And in all other ways penultimate.

So I got to talking with friends last night. As we talked about September 11, my wife told them the story about the threats her building has received. On one occasion, the building was evacuated and the evacuees crossed the street, only to look back at the building to see if a plane hit it. The news crew was also camped right across the street. Not real bright. Well shortly after September 11 and that threat they had conferences with the tenants of the building and let them ask questions. After informing the tenants that the building could likely withstand most assaults and that the stairwell doors were 4-hour fire doors, some of the tenants asked what to do in the event of a direct hit on their floor by a plane. Well there's no good answer to that question.

To the extent an answer exists, it is the reasonable man standard. When the law works its best, this is the engine that works. You cannot put land mines in your front yard to guard against terrorists, but a nuclear power plant is expected to have safety protocols even against criminal actions. The question is how far are we willing to go? Is it reasonable to divest ourselves of democracy in order to prevent terrorist attacks? Or again is the unfortunate answer not to spend billions and billions of dollars to make us as safe as we can be and instead to concentrate on what we believe is the reasonable, optimal level of safety. I don't want to be as safe as possible in the world. There will be plenty of time for that after I'm dead.

Of course, for fun there is another option for your building that we joked about last night. On every building over 40 floors the 41st floor can be a dedicated anti-aircraft floor. With several AA guns with overlapping fields of fire and blow out windows. You know, guns kind of like the one that Jane Fonda sat on in Hanoi. Imagine the next time someone tries to fly a commercial jetliner into a building being one of the tenants. Hearing the air raid siren, seeing the 41st floor windows blow out, hearing the guns start to power and roll on their tracks and by the time you see that jetliner, explosions of black and white smoke and flak fill the air. The plane starts to bob and weave like something right out of Operation Marketgarden in Band of Brothers. Instead of that last picture from the tower with the airplane photoshopped in, we could have a new postcard. With the plane in the field of fire as it gets torn to pieces. Of course superimposed over a background of a waving American flag, with a superimposed translucent "spirit" eagle appearing to use its talons to crush the plane out of the sky. Sounds reasonable right?

Fiat 124 Spyder

So for the 4th of July weekend, we were in the Detroit suburbs
where I met one of my wife's brothers and two of her sisters. (We got married in Vegas you know). And sitting in the brother's garage was one of these beauties. A 1978 Fiat 124 Spyder in British Racing Green with a tan interior. The wheels are a bit different and there is less rust on the version in his garage.

Of course I had to go after it. Maybe my midlife crisis is early, but I ocassionally miss a car to tinker with - with my old man. Now I just have to work out a place to put it. I even found a mechanic who knows Fiats. So I can only believe the stars are aligning on this one. I first remember seeing the car about 7 years ago parked in my mother in law's garage where it lingered for a long time. I liked it back then too.

I may be totally off base too, but getting a car like this seems like anti-keeping up with the Joneses to me. I mean they are cheap, old and not especially sought after. It doesn't go that fast and isn't too luxurious. But if I can manage to close the deal, I think the whole will be greater than the sum of its parts.