[geeks] Dos and similar games

[William Kirkland]

On Aug 17, 2006, at 11:26, geeks-request at sunhelp.org wrote:
> Message: 4
> Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 08:34:54 -0700
> From: William Kirkland <bill.kirkland at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [geeks] Dos and similar games
...
> On Aug 16, 2006, at 08:37, geeks-request at sunhelp.org wrote:
>> Lionel Peterson wrote:
>>
>> Why should it be easier to spot a CCW holder on a plane than
>> anywhere else?
>
> ... because they do not properly understand the concept of a poker
> face (the biggest asset for every sky marshal is surprise). They will
> be beaming with the fact that *they* are the one on the plane with
> the bullets.
> ...
> If a passenger stands up, after having carved and painted a potato to
> look like a gun ... the sole purpose is to find the over zealous sky
> marshal ... after that, four or more hijackers take the now located
> gun from the sky marshal (the potential hijackers can easily be
> trained just as well as the sky marshals).

> Message: 8
> Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 13:20:13 -0500
> From: Michael Parson <mparson at bl.org>
> Subject: Re: [geeks] Dos and similar games
> To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
> Message-ID: <20060817182013.GA10114 at bl.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> On Thu, Aug 17, 2006 at 12:29:35PM -0400, Phil Stracchino wrote:
>> William Kirkland wrote:
>>> On Aug 16, 2006, at 08:37, geeks-request at sunhelp.org wrote:
>>>> Lionel Peterson wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Why should it be easier to spot a CCW holder on a plane than
>>>> anywhere else?
>>>
>>> ... because they do not properly understand the concept of a poker
>>> face (the biggest asset for every sky marshal is surprise). They  
>>> will
>>> be beaming with the fact that *they* are the one on the plane with
>>> the bullets.
>>
>> False generalization.
>
> I had a CCW for a while (it expired and I never went to get it  
> renewed),
> and I carried all the time, if you saw me, I was armed.  Only places I
> did not carry were places that I was prohibited to by law.  I bought
> liquor in liquor stores, conducted business in banks, went to church,
> even sitting at my desk at work, even got married, with a pistol on
> me.  If I could have carried a gun into the court house (and my  
> license
> wasn't expired), I would have gotten divorced while armed, but they
> seem to frown on that sort of thing, I couldn't even take my Gerber
> Multi-tool into the courthouse.
>
> If somone posted a sign saying I couldn't carry there, I didn't do
> business with them.
>
> The reason you carry concealed is so no one knows you are carrying.
>
> If you can't have a poker face, you shouldn't carry, there's just too
> much responsibility involved in being armed.
>
> -- 
> Michael Parson
> mparson at bl.org

Yes, but are you going to keep your poker face even after the lone or  
maybe even two passengers take control of the airplane with their  
painted potatoes? That would require you to stay in your seat,  
because if you get up you have marked yourself.

Consider that the Sky Marshal is paid to do a job, and would be hung  
out to dry if he fell asleep ... I've just eliminated 50% of most  
flights longer than an hour, as most either focus intently on their  
laptops (not paying attention to their surroundings) or are taking a  
nap. I look for the one who pops his head up when someone drops a can  
of soda -- thud.

I can prioritize those who have come from another flight, because the  
sky marshals typically have a home ... somewhere. Then apply  
additional prioritization to those who are frequent flyers. What the  
heck, may as well get some inside information from the ticket  
counter, I can wait until I happen to have the personnel in place,  
you can't. If I can not identify the sky marshal this flight, I can  
wait for the next one.