steal this idea

Terrorism, my eye

You know how you like to freak people out by shining one of those little laser pointers in their windows at night? Well you might want to stop, and not just because it's tired and immature.

First read this NYT story and/or this earlier LAT story. Does anyone think the military, or for that matter intelligence or diplomatic agencies, don't lie frequently? Aside from recent events, why would they even bother?

Thing is, they don't need to go so far as to plant bogus stories in the media; they can simply issue a genuine press release (which is nonetheless utterly unsubstantiated horsehit) to the AP and, presto, the nonsense has instant credibility around the world from Sydney to Prague. Of course, the AP aren't the only ones guilty of spreading manure, but they're good at it.

But to address the lasertag terrorists, a couple questions:
* How difficult is it direct a laser beam into the cockpit of an airliner that's flying a couple hundred miles an hour with enough accuracy to blind the pilot and the co-pilot, causing the plane to crash? That is, assuming the pilots are even flying the plane at all?
* By asking the above question, am I engaged in terrorist activity?

Update [15.12]
Well why didn't they say so?
Brendan I. Koerner explains.

posted by Theo @ 11:33 AM