I really wish I hadn’t missed TLC’s Human Face series with John Cleese. Surely they will show it again soon?

Someone (hi Toni!) just mentioned that they wouldn’t let her take her crochet hook on the plane, and I realized that there won’t be any more knitting, crocheting, embroidering, sewing, any activities that need sharp objects on the plane. I am assuming they won’t allow knitting needles of any kind. I’m wondering about fountain pens with sharp points. I will definitely need to carefully think through my luggage next time I fly.

I feel minutes of normalcy and then a thought will intrude and I have a sudden pang as I remember again. Then I think about it for a while, wonder through some things, then try to go back to doing something that needs to be done. Laundry. Making dinner. Cleaning the cat box. Sometimes the intrusion of the re-realization is so strong that I want to push it away, knowing that there isn’t more I can think of. So I try to distract myself with TV (comforting shows from an innocent childhood, like “The Brady Bunch”, or the strict, ordered elegance of Martha Stewart). Then I forget, and channel surf, and it all comes back. Someone’s talking about war. Someone’s showing that video again. Some station is showing an American flag. I do want to keep learning more, so I get on the web. I read what’s new. Lots of people have a lot to say. As they should. I look through the latest list of victims. Someone from my hometown died. John Iskyan. I don’t know him. I probably know someone who knows him. But I feel that everyone knows someone who has died, even if they don’t really. It was that harsh and loud. It’s time to pet the cat again.

The NY Times has a special Magazine issue which will be distributed in print this coming weekend. But they made it available for reading online this past weekend. The memorial to the 1993 bombing victims is now part of the rubble. The artists who spent time in a studio in the towers have conceived a “phantom towers” project that graces the cover of the magazine. And in his weekly column, William Safire takes us through some words that we probably wish we didn’t have to use. The healing has only just begun.

From the FAA FAQ: “Will armed officers be put on flights? Yes, FAA Federal Air Marshals who are armed and trained in the use of firearms on board aircraft will be flying anonymously. Federal Air Marshals are FAA civil aviation security specialists who are specially trained for deployment on anti-hijacking missions. The FAA will not reveal the number or identities of the marshals. The DOT is working with the Department of Defense to see if other highly trained agents may be deployed to augment the Federal Air Marshal force.”

Here’s a fact sheet on the FAA Federal Air Marshal Program. It is “an expansion of the Sky Marshal program of the 1970s designed to stop hijackings to and from Cuba”. “What can be said publicly is that the Federal Air Marshals are a full-time dedicated force that continuously deploys throughout the world on all the major U.S. carriers in areas where terrorist activities indicate the highest probability of attacks. Federal Air Marshals fly every day of the year.” Now I’m always going to wonder about that guy sitting in our row. What are they trained to say if you strike up a conversation? “I’m flying to New York on business.” and then they pretend to read magazine? I’m guessing they always get seated at the back so they can watch the entire plane. And here’s a bulletin warning about bogus sky marshals.

Here are some Google hits on a search for “logistics specialist”. I used to joke about becoming one, often after arranging a complex social event, but now I know there are people who are trained for this, and thank goodness they do exist. FEMA’s Logistics Specialist Training Manual (PDFs). Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance job listings: Disaster Logistics Officer and Disaster Logistics Specialist. Department of Health and Human Services Logistics Program Specialist (Following a Disaster when ESF-8 is activated, the incumbent of this position is required to work irregular work schedules (evenings, nights, and weekends)). This TEC webpage has a photo and listing for a local guy, Brian Beadnell, who, according to the Mercury News “left from Mather Air Force Base in Sacramento on Tuesday headed to New York” to work on logistics. And, bonus link: FEMA’s Emergency Support Functions list. We didn’t want an opportunity to show how prepared we are, but I’m glad we were.

I can’t process the loss of life, so my mind goes to less important things. Like the stash of New York City skyline posters I keep rolled up in a tube in my closet. I collected them in college so that I could be reminded of home. My obsession with the skyline began when I was in elementary school and my parents took me to the Twin Towers, aka World Trade Center. I was so fascinated that the next week in art class I made a miniature Twin Towers out of clay. It included a little reddish blob at the base of one tower where I remembered seeing a huge, red sculpture. I also made a pencil holder in the shape of one tower. I wanted to hold one of those ceramic objects today, feel their weight and how solid they are. Because everything was much too surreal. And I still think I am going to either wake up or see Bruce Willis run in to save us all and then have the credits roll. But that is not going to happen. So instead, to try to ease my mind, I have to gaze again at the cutest kitten photo in the world and remember that there is goodness out there.

If you can, GIVE BLOOD. Update: They are specifically requesting Type O since it is the universal donor. Many centers are overwhelmed with helpful donors.

Patent 6,285,380: Method and system for scripting interactive animated actors. The NY Times article about it is titled “Video Heroines With Personality“. Co-inventor Kenneth Perlin won a technical achievement Oscar for his texturing work on Tron. This patent covers a system where a game’s designer sets parameters for a character, but the character itself decides how to act within those guidelines. The character’s internal workings are “making many discrete choices that are all in keeping with her personality but are nonetheless quirky and unpredictable enough to create the illusion that she is making interesting decisions on her own.” This technique also speeds up the creation of animation since the animator doesn’t have to specifically animate lots of non-repetitive motions. However, there’s also a more practical application. Co-author Athomas Goldberg is CTO of Improv Technologies where they are using this technology for “supplying software infrastructure for peer-to-peer computer networks.” I’m guessing the “actors” in this case are the different peers on the networks.

Here’s a very useful resource, The Cook’s Thesaurus (I like remembering it by its url “foodsubs”). It lists equivalents and substitutes for all sorts of ingredients. It even has a page on edible flowers, and I think I may try making my own candied citrus peel and definitely my own crystallized ginger, since that is one of my expensive indulgences. (via memepool, believe it or not)