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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SilentZ who wrote (199243)	9/1/2004 12:44:16 AM
From: combjelly	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574053

".. just that we shouldn't live in a constant state of fear of them." At the risk of sounding shallow, ditto. In the US, we have pretty good security. Anyone that has traveled in Europe should be able to attest to that. Four data points. One, a couple of decades ago, the French built a tower outside of Paris. It is very high, over 100 meters, and coated with a ceramic tile to keep people from climbing it. At the very top is a combination radio and TV broadcast station. The reason given is to keep terrorist from taking over the broadcast facility. Can you imagine that happening in the US? CNN and TBS(at least used to) are located in a shopping mall in Atlanta... Two, the first time I went to Europe I was struck by the amount of security at the airports. People were not allowed to see others off on flights. No one but the ticket holders were allowed beyond the concourse. And even on short hops, the passengers were required to point at their luggage, under the watchful eyes of men with submachine guns. Only then was it put on the plane. I dunno what happens to luggage without validation... Three, the first time I was in Germany to visit my future wife, we were driving through the countryside. I saw a building with a tower in the middle of a sugar beet field. I wondered out loud what that building was. I was informed it was a radio station. Why put it in the middle of a beet field, I wondered. She replied, "so that they can spot anyone who is trying to attack the station". Four, when we went to Berlin we were walking down the street. I noticed a large facility, more than a city block in size. It had a tall brick wall, given the location, maybe 3 meters in height. It had video cameras about every 3 meters, barb wire at the top and broken glass set in the concrete on the top of the wall. What on Earth is that, I wondered. I was told it was a sewage/water treatment plant. My first thought was "can't they allow it to run down the river at least a couple of meters before they suck it in?". My second was to compare it to the typical water treatment plant that exists in SE Texas. They are surrounded, if they are at all, with a 6 foot chain link fence. If someone were to hop it, assuming it was noticed at all, they would only be told that they should go. It probably wouldn't go much further than that.