Terrorism, a Bridge Collapse, and the Weather
A reader inquires why weather and infrastructure disasters are treated so differently from terrorist attacks.
A reader inquires why weather and infrastructure disasters are treated so differently from terrorist attacks.
Levitt responds to the fiery criticism of his previous post, “If You Were a Terrorist, How Would You Attack?”
In the wake of changes in airport security technology, Levitt lists his own ideas for a fear-maximizing terror plot, and solicits other ideas from readers as a means of bringing possible scenarios into discussion before they actually happen.
July 30 is Father In Law’s Day. Recently exonerated terrorist suspect Mohammed Haneef, however, may not be inclined to celebrate: he was given a one-way plane ticket out of Australia by his father-in-law that was later used as evidence against him.
At least for me, there are not too many questions that would lead me to respond, “For $25 million, no way, but for $50 million I’ll think about it.” Twenty-five million dollars is so much money that it’s hard to think about what you would do with it. It sure would be nice to have the first $25 million. I’m . . .
Mirroring Levitt’s thoughts on doctors plotting terrorist attacks, the Wall Street Journal takes an in-depth look at Alan Krueger‘s findings that terrorists tend to come from high-income, high-education families. David Pogue of the New York Times points out that, in the midst of last week’s iPhone mania, most of us missed T-Mobile’s announcement of a new plan under which all . . .
So much for the Hippocratic Oath. The latest terror attacks in the United Kingdom were apparently carried out by doctors. The specifics of the case are admittedly bizarre, but the general principle that acts of terror are often committed by individuals with high levels of education is not at all unusual, a fact I learned from economist Alan Krueger‘s excellent . . .
1. Tired of Google Street View yet? Here, via TechCrunch, is the next step on the horizon: Microsoft’s Photosynth Project is developing a network of 3-D virtual maps depicting actual places. Meanwhile, 3-D street views of ten cities will launch this fall on Everyscape. No word yet on whether the scenes will feature virtual peeing bystanders, dozing cats, or Dubner’s . . .
I am an editor at one of the top academic economic journals, the Journal of Political Economy. I handle between 150 and 200 manuscripts a year, deciding whether or not the journal should publish each of them. It takes a lot of time — something I’ve been short on lately. I’ve turned into a lousy journal editor as a consequence. . . .
Breaking news on CNN: Six terrorists were caught plotting an attack on Fort Dix. From the report: “Their alleged intention was to conduct an armed assault on the army base and to kill as many soldiers as possible,” the office said. If your goal is to kill people other than yourselves, I cannot think of a worse plan than having . . .
Seeing this article about drones today reminded me of a conversation I recently had with a man I met at a conference. I would identify him by name, but I left his business card in my jacket pocket which is at home, so I won’t be able to give him direct credit until I get back home later. This gentleman . . .
The readers of this blog seem to collectively know the answer to just about any question we can think to pose. So here are some questions: 1) How much of the damage/human toll is because of the hurricane per se versus the levees breaking? If we had perfect foresight, would 1,000 well-placed national guardsmen and some heavy machinery have been . . .
I arrived at the West Palm Beach airport yesterday, trying to make my way back to Chicago, only to see my flight time listed on the departure board as simply “DELAYED.” They weren’t even pretending it was leaving in the foreseeable future. With a little detective work, I found another flight that could get me home on a different airlines, . . .
I’ve been thinking a little about terrorism lately and how to fight it. Some clues might be in this how-to manual seized in England and used as evidence in the trials for the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, according to thesmokinggun.com. It includes chapter titles such as “Assassinations using poisons and cold steel,” and “Explosives.” The bomb-making instructions . . .
Believe it or not, my father is the leading medical researcher on intestinal gas (which has earned him the moniker the “King of Farts” — see here, and here). Two of his fart-sniffing employees recently earned the honor of “worst job in science” in Popular Science magazine for their efforts on his behalf. Which I suppose makes him a rogue . . .