The Longest Wednesday

It's been Wednesday for almost 27 hours so far, with another 10 hours still to go. Our flight from Beijing to San Fransisco had to be some kind of record, coming in right at 10 hours. (Testament to our new perspective that we consider it "only" 10 hours.) We had tail winds of 170 miles per hour, which put us on the ground here 90 minutes early. Ground speed topped out at 780 mph. The air was so clear and dark (nearly-new moon) that it was like flying through the stars.

That's been the best part of our trip so far. SFO was a cluster as usual, from rude Customs officials (eye-rolling when the Customs Declaration form wasn't handy), to clueless ticket counter reps (who couldn't seem to find Rick's ticket), to obnoxious TSA employees. (Can anyone say line management? No one here, apparently.)

The Baggie Approach to Airline Security

Permit me a rant on the ridiculous new requirements for carry-on luggage. The regulation states that toiletries and liquid make-up can be transported as long as they bottles are 3 fluid ounces or less, are packed in a quart-sized, transparent zip-top plastic bag, and that each passenger is only permitted one such baggie.

On the one hand, I'd like to say with confidence that the feds know more than we do about the UK bomb plot. They well may, but this smacks of overkill. (Much like the x-raying of shoes.) In the case of the UK bomb plot, isn't that sort of plan better foiled by data modeling? In the case of the Shoe Bomber. . . well, the best way to stop a crazy man is by the vigilance and action of a fellow passenger.

To bring this back to China: it is, for all it's modern conveniences and capitalist-lite economy, a police state. The government seems to know where you are and when you got there. They know where you live. They are paying much more attention to who, rather than what. There is no removing of shoes, or restrictions of liquids or gels, or gel-like liquids or liquid-like gels. One wonders if the security measures we implement here in the US would be feasible in a country with a population of 1.3 billion.