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‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

politico.com

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Re: ‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

#161

Post by organsnyder »

YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #149

>> I asked the vice president that question and he answered it in the affirmative. I asked again to be sure. “Sir, I am confirming that you have given permission?” For me, being a military member and an aviator—understanding the absolute depth of what that question was and what that answer was—I wanted to make sure that there was no mistake whatsoever about what was being asked. Without hesitation, in the affirmative…

I have a very low view of Dick Cheney, but my view of him is that he would have made this decision in a cold, calculating manner—looking at the probability of casualties on the ground vs. in the air, and doing a numbers game. He would probably also consider the ramifications of civilians in the air killed vs. the destruction of a national symbol and the casualties inflicted there.

Re: ‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

#162

Post by alexhutcheson »

whamlastxmas wrote: post #157
staticautomatic wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got misconnected once while trying to book a hotel reservation over the phone. Rooms became available 330 days out but a whole month at once, so when the reservation office opened at 8am or whatever on the first of the month, everyone would try to call in. So many people were calling this number that the system would start hanging up on people at random, so you'd just call back over and over hoping that you'd get c…

What hotel is this that people go to such lengths to book?

This is pretty common for big events, especially in smaller metros that don't have a huge amount of hotel capacity: Conventions, college football games, college graduations, etc.

Re: ‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

#163

Post by organsnyder »

cantrevealname wrote: post #31

The article has photos from inside the bunker during the actual crisis. Who took the pictures? It seems that VP Cheney’s official photographer went into the bunker with him: On July 24, 2015, the National Archives and Records Administration released 356 photos shot on Sept. 11, 2001, by Vice President Dick Cheney’s official photographer David Bohrer. The publication was the result of a decade-long fight by Frontline…

Wow, those pictures are poignant. Looking at their faces, I can almost feel the pit in my stomach I felt for much of that day.

Re: ‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

#164

Post by organsnyder »

rmason wrote: post #54

I was headed downtown to my startup's office when I heard a radio newscast. I don't even know why I had my radio on as it was a pretty short drive. I immediately went in and started checking the web. It gave me a little more information. Fifteen minutes later when my developer showed up you couldn't bring up any news site on the web. Guy from across the hall had a TV and he invited all of us in the building to watch.…

I remember CNN being down for part of the morning, then coming back up with a stripped-down version. This was before CDNs—those servers were sitting in a rack somewhere, probably a few (or few dozen) web servers and a reverse proxy serving requests for the entire world.

I also remember trying to load the WTC website, and it not responding. IIRC, it was hosted in the basement of one of the WTC towers.

Re: ‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

#165

Post by organsnyder »

dghughes wrote: post #3

I remember working that day (a cool and sunny Tuesday) and each place I went to I asked them to turn on the TV. Nobody was interested in turning on the TV or even changing the channel to any news channel. What I thought had happened was a large aircraft accidentally ran into the Empire State building again like had happened many years ago.

I was a senior in high school. Almost every classroom had the news on (except for one teacher who insisted on holding a calculus quiz as scheduled). We watched the towers come down as it happened.

Re: ‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

#166

Post by lostlogin »

Roritharr wrote: post #78
dredmorbius wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The definition's a working one, and subject to modification, but I feel it's a good start. I've been collecting / compiling / commenting on similar veins for a while. There's Robert Ewashuck's paging philosophy (Google SRE): Pages [alerts] should be urgent, important, actionable, and real. They should represent either ongoing or imminent problems with your service. Err on the side of removing noisy alerts – over-moni…

I heard on Hardcore History a similar notion, that the fall of empires often was indicated by the absence of news from the outer regions. It just became quiet, and that quiet kept on creeping in. Terrifying thought in todays terms, imagine we simply stopped receiving news out of Hong Kong and spreading out from there. People on WhatsApp/Instagram there would stop responding. News agencies would wait for their updates…

Me too. Keep writing.

Re: ‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

#167

Post by garaetjjte »

Noctem wrote: post #33
sopooneo wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to piggy-back on this about a certain way information may not add up. I live in Boston, and so do my siblings. We all worked downtown. On the day of the marathon bombing, I immediately called my sister on her cell phone to see if she was okay. Someone that was not my sister picked up, then immediatly hung up after I said who I was looking for. I was immediately terrified. What if my sister had been hurt, dr…

Wow, I've never heard of that happening. If anyone knows, I'd love to hear a technical explanation of how and why that could occur.

Maybe usage of non-ECC RAM on servers?

Re: ‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

#168

Post by murraybhenson »

dredmorbius wrote: post #59
rmason wrote: post #54

I was headed downtown to my startup's office when I heard a radio newscast. I don't even know why I had my radio on as it was a pretty short drive. I immediately went in and started checking the web. It gave me a little more information. Fifteen minutes later when my developer showed up you couldn't bring up any news site on the web. Guy from across the hall had a TV and he invited all of us in the building to watch.…

A lot of the Web wasn't geared for high load. Information was developing so rapidly that online was really the only effective place to go for information (such as it was -- there was rampant speculation). Many sites rapidly slimmed down their services and offered lightweight versions. A few lighter-weight sites remained up, notably, at the time, Slashdot. NPR refers to 9/11 as the event which made clear that the netw…

It's funny that you mentioned Slashdot. I was living in Portland (OR) at the time I first saw the news on Slashdot. I turned on the TV to confirm. I don't remember the rest of that day except for being jumpy, as was everyone.

Re: ‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

#169

Post by throwbrow »

jacquesm wrote: post #79
throwbrow wrote: post #41

I was riding the 7 train from Astoria, Queens, to my job at the big Citigroup tower in Long Island City. It was after the first plane hit and, with the 7 being an outdoor subway line with a great view of the Manhattan skyline, we in the first car could see the gaping hole and smoke billowing. I assumed it was an accident. When I got to work I said dismissively to colleagues, “That must be the dumbest pilot ever.” We…

> I thought nothing would ever be the same. And nothing ever was. Plenty of stupid political decisions today , and untold billions of wasted money some of which is spent today are a direct consequence of 9/11.

That’s true. Yet I was surprised at how quickly NYC went back to normal. Five years later I was hard-pressed to see any real changes on the ground but for See Something Say Something posters in the subway and the gaping hole and tussle over the buildings’ reconstruction. IDK what I expected.

Re: ‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

#170

Post by shantly »

organsnyder wrote: post #165
dghughes wrote: post #3

I remember working that day (a cool and sunny Tuesday) and each place I went to I asked them to turn on the TV. Nobody was interested in turning on the TV or even changing the channel to any news channel. What I thought had happened was a large aircraft accidentally ran into the Empire State building again like had happened many years ago.

I was a senior in high school. Almost every classroom had the news on (except for one teacher who insisted on holding a calculus quiz as scheduled). We watched the towers come down as it happened.

> I was a senior in high school. Almost every classroom had the news on (except for one teacher who insisted on holding a calculus quiz as scheduled). We watched the towers come down as it happened.

Same but a year behind, right down to our math teacher being the only one who insisted on teaching class as usual (trig, for me, though she'd teach my calc class the next year).

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