I used to feel that way (lived in Manhattan for 3 years before I moved across the river) too, but honestly I don't know anyone who's moved to Brooklyn from Manhattan and regretted it. The more I live here, the less I need Manhattan. So many great restaurants, bars, parks etc....and no tourists getting in the way (although we get ######ed hipsters, which is possibly worse). Once I moved to Brooklyn, there was no going back. It's a more livable version of the city while still having easy access to it.
Definitely a few neighborhoods were I'd stay away from though....
Yeah, I was in Cobble Hill over the weekend, it's great. The restaurants and bars looked awesome and everything seemed very livable and less hectic. Made my end of month move to Chelsea seem questionable, at least I'll be close to Chelsea Piers so I can get back on the ice.
The military was still designed around fighting the cold war, an apparent enemy and lots of time.
Considering it was over a decade after the cold-war ended, that's some pretty amazing incompetence. With the increase in terrorist activity targeted at western interests around the world (I remember hearing about Osama at least a coupe of years before 01), you would think somebody would have clued in a little bit. I understand that such a large industrial machine is hard to maneuver, but not having a few armed jets ready to scramble (or pilots who aren't fresh out training) seems like such a glaring omission.
The military wasn't built around the terrorism threat a few years ago, especially one that was going to attack domestically.
Because the threat was small, it was considered a police matter, not a military matter.
Car bombs, attack on U.S. assets abroad, the first trade center bombing, non of those were really something that required the military to be prepared.
The fact is that at the time, even with the Soviet Union dead, the U.S. Military was configured to deal with attacks before they hit the coast line. It wasn't configured to deal with what happenned on 2001.
I've always wondered if the American's shooting down American flag airliners over American soil would be a violation of Posse Comitatus, since Terrorism was considered a law enforement matter.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
The one thing I really am appreciating is the personal angle a lot of the stories that are coming out now.
I talked with a lady in my office who worked only a few blocks away from the WTC about how she emerged from the subway minutes before they shut it down, only to find total chaos. About them sneaking back into the building to get a coworkers shoes so they could get home. Climbing the stairs and feeling the the earth shake as the first building came down.
The TLC TV specials were really enlightening too. If you havent seen them you should, they are on Saturday again from 8-10pm
Heroes of the 88th Floor, about the guys who climbed up to help people escape the floors above them, only to lose thier lives when the towers collapsed.
The other, Flight 175: As the World Watched, about the 2nd plane that crashed. Where the guy on the plane was on the phone with his mom as it impacted.
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"Wake up, Luigi! The only time plumbers sleep on the job is when we're working by the hour."
Evman, I can only think of three possible ways you're telling the truth about nobody at your school acknowledging the events of September 11th...
1) You were in school in Siberia (not Edmonton, the real Siberia).
2) You were in school in your parents basement, and your teacher (your mom) decided not to bring it up.
3) You were so baked that you forget the actual events of that day.
The whole continent shut down. Air traffic landed at the closest available airport. Employees and managers and owners of businesses gathered around radios and TVs. Kindergarten kids have recollections of this and you don't? This was the biggest news since the Challenger exploded, and y'all just carried on with your physics equations? You're so full of it.
I went to St Francis and only one of my classes all day was effectively cancelled. In my Bio 30 class our teacher brought out a TV and let us watch CBC on the crappy reception we got and we just sat there talking about it for 80 mniutes.
I'm not going to say the students didn't talk about it or that people just acted like nothing happened but I remember distinctly that out of my 4 (5?) classes that day, all of them were business as usual except for one of them.
There was no special announcement, no assembly, no cancelled classes all day except Bio. I'm sure some of my teachers mentioned it but all but one carried on business as usual.
Last edited by Cecil Terwilliger; 09-09-2011 at 04:29 PM.
I remember going downstairs to get my foster kids ready for school at 8am or so, heard it on the radio, turned on the TV in time to watch, second plane hit a few minutes after and heard the guys up the street 4 houses away shout out, then went downstairs and woke up the kids (15 and 16year old boys) with 'you'd better come and watch this, we are at war with someone'.
My Dad's cousin had a meeting sceduled for September 11 at the towers. He was to fly in from Houston on the 10th, but it was resceduled for the 12th just before he was to leave for New York. He would have been at ground zero the morning of 9/11. Crazy to think that a small thing like pushing back a meeting could change your life.
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Considering it was over a decade after the cold-war ended, that's some pretty amazing incompetence. With the increase in terrorist activity targeted at western interests around the world (I remember hearing about Osama at least a coupe of years before 01), you would think somebody would have clued in a little bit. I understand that such a large industrial machine is hard to maneuver, but not having a few armed jets ready to scramble (or pilots who aren't fresh out training) seems like such a glaring omission.
There was one guy, FBI? He was running around trying to get people understand that there WOULD be a terrorist attack. But he couldn't get anyone to believe him. I don't remember his name. He was in the twin towers when they were attacked and he died.
There was one guy, FBI? He was running around trying to get people understand that there WOULD be a terrorist attack. But he couldn't get anyone to believe him. I don't remember his name. He was in the twin towers when they were attacked and he died.
Actually he wasn't FBI anymore, he resigned from the FBI believe it or not, not because they wouldn't listen to him, but because he had massive debts and got a job offer that would get him out of trouble.
He'd been knee deep into the investigation of Al Queda and he knew something was coming, but he wasn't taken seriously, so he quit and started a new job at the WTC and died in the tower.
I can't remember his name, but I just read about him last month.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Just for anyone who's interested, MSNBC is replaying the days events without later commentary as it happened on Sept 11, 10 years ago tomorrow. Hearing the shock as the planes hit the target including the second plane is a tough memory. One of the reporters when the second plane hit wondered if there was something wrong with air traffic control,
Seeing that second plane hit was horrifying as they were talking about how this had to be an accident and they and I didn't even see the plane flying into the shot live and into the WTC, and the massive explosion as the person that they were interviewing screamed.
Channel 88 on Shaw.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Just for anyone who's interested, MSNBC is replaying the days events without later commentary as it happened on Sept 11, 10 years ago tomorrow. Hearing the shock as the planes hit the target including the second plane is a tough memory. One of the reporters when the second plane hit wondered if there was something wrong with air traffic control,
Seeing that second plane hit was horrifying as they were talking about how this had to be an accident and they and I didn't even see the plane flying into the shot live and into the WTC, and the massive explosion as the person that they were interviewing screamed.
