Found this on Bruce Schneier's excellent site on security issues:

Quote :

Is this the stupidest terrorist reaction yet? "Two people who sprinkled flour in a parking lot to mark a trail for their offbeat running club inadvertently caused a bioterrorism scare and now face a felony charge."

The competition is fierce, but I think we have a winner.

What bothers me most about the news coverage is that there isn't even a suggestion that the authorities' response might have been out of line.

"Mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga said the city plans to seek restitution from the Salchows, who are due in court Sept. 14.

"'You see powder connected by arrows and chalk, you never know,' she said. 'It could be a terrorist, it could be something more serious. We're thankful it wasn't, but there were a lot of resources that went into figuring that out.'"

Translation: We screwed up, and we want someone to pay for our mistake.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20441775/

Competition:
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/02/...
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/03/...
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/08/...
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/02/...

Geez, 9/11 is six years ago and these people still haven't calmed down.

Quote from wsinda :

'You see powder connected by arrows and chalk, you never know,' she said. 'It could be a terrorist, ...'

Some people just can't miss an opportunity to randomly shit their pants over nothing.

This one from yesterday as well :bananadea:bananadea

Quote :

Burning chilli sparks terror fear

A pot of burning chilli sparked fears of a biological terror attack in central London.

Firefighters wearing protective breathing apparatus were called to D'Arblay Street, Soho, after reports of noxious smoke filling the air.

Police closed off three roads and evacuated homes following the alert.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7025782.stm

Quote :

and his sister, Dorothee, 31, who is visiting from Hamburg, Germany, were both charged with first-degree breach of peace, a felony.

oh the irony ...

my lovely hometown was where some of the terrorist planned 9/11

well according to the media

maybe next time just drink beer guys and skip the running game part

How much manpower does it take to ask someone what they are doing?

'ummm guys what are you doing?'

'marking out a course for our running race'

'ummm ok, can you not do that please, thanks'

Quote from ATC Quicksilver :

How much manpower does it take to ask someone what they are doing?

'ummm guys what are you doing?'

'marking out a course for our running race'

'ummm ok, can you not do that please, thanks'

But they are potential terrorists.

They might kill you right on the street!!111

One day, historians will look back at this fear-driven, paranoid society and laugh.

Quote from Jertje :

One day, historians will look back at this fear-driven, paranoid society and laugh.

Nah, we'll all be dead by then :\

None is more enslaved than he who falsely believes he is free.

they are scared, thats why they do all this

what would sprinkling anthrax on a parking lot accomplish anyway?

sounds like a huge, ineffective waste if you went through the trouble of actually acquiring some.

they weren't wearing any protection, either, were they?

What kinda paranoia inducing drugs was the witness on to actually think a scene like that was remotely suspicious?

TV overdose.

Quote from wark :

What kinda paranoia inducing drugs was the witness on to actually think a scene like that was remotely suspicious?

fox news

Quote from wark :

What kinda paranoia inducing drugs was the witness on to actually think a scene like that was remotely suspicious?

LSD? No. THC, GHB?? No.

Wait, I know. It was DHS!!

Quote from Jertje :

One day, historians will look back at this fear-driven, paranoid society and laugh.

They won't be able to. All books will have been burnt, the government will control the media, and laughter will be deemed subversive.

You know Bin Laden has won when ...


Won what? A wet t-shirt contest?

I heard that more then 150 people per year gets killed by ... coconuts.

During the anthrax outbreak I was temping and at one place I worked we had a letter from a new business inquiry in Iraq. Relations where poor but the 2nd oil war had not started, but simply because of a post mark on the back you would not have believed the responce. We got sealed in and had biowarfare teams all over the place in their big suites. We didnt get suites of course because we where already 'infected'. It went on for hours until somebody with enough authority decided to open the letter and read it. It was in English too.

Then a few weeks later I was working in a package handling warehouse for an overnight courier and I found a package leaking white powder. I reported it to the supervisor immediately, it had already covered myself and I have to say that was not a nice fealing.

The supervisor walks up to the package, licks his finger and dipped it into the powder and tasted it.

Soap powder he declared...

Which approach was right?

lol

Quote :

"'You see powder connected by arrows and chalk, you never know,' she said. 'It could be a terrorist, it could be something more serious.

"something more serious"
What exactly did they have in mind more serious than terrorists?
Alien invasion landing strip? Satan's gateway to the mortal realm?

Quote from BlackEye :

Nah, we'll all be dead by then :\

Quote from Serpentine :

They won't be able to. All books will have been burnt, the government will control the media, and laughter will be deemed subversive.

Today, a forum user will look back at these fear-driven, paranoid posts and laugh.

Quote from wark :

Today, a forum user will look back at these fear-driven, paranoid posts and laugh.

Today?

Quote from Bean0 :

This one from yesterday as well :bananadea:bananadea


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7025782.stm

Have you ever burnt chilli? I was cooking a steak covered in chilli (was really nice by the way you should try it), but it was hard to breathe anywhere in the house out side the house. Each breath burnt your lungs, wind pipe and lungs, if you used your mouth it burnt on the way down, your eyes hurt. And these were low heat chilli, which I got from chilli flakes (I forget the company, but they make a lot of herbs and spices, some German company). So if you was using fresh hot chillies on bulk, you can understand the concern.

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

Have you ever burnt chilli?

Oh, have I.

Working in a restaurant with an open-line kitchen, I tried to push one too many baked lobsters onto a steel shelf above the range, and pushed off a bowl full of those red chilli flakes. It landed upside-down on a lit gas ring...

At first the head chef just scowled at me, then the smoke started and he hit the deck! Even with all the extractors on full we couldn't stop it spreading to the dining room, and soon everybody out there was coughing and choking. Those of us who'd been in the kitchen had to wash any exposed skin to stop the burning, it was pretty hardcore.