At 01:53 AM 12/27/2001 +0000, Dr. Evil wrote:
The solution to this problem might be greater use of high-speed trains, video conferencing, and other things to make air travel less necessary.
High-speed trains are almost as much fun to blow up as planes, and muckers can do that by blowing up the tracks without even having to get on the train. Back when I was living in New Jersey and commuting to DC, I usually took the train instead of the plane - it took about 15 minutes longer, but was much nicer (I lived closer to the train station, and most places I went in DC were closer to the train than the airport, which made up for the Metroliner being a bit slower.) Now that they're adding an hour or two to the plane trip, even the slow trains would be a slam dunk, and they've now added an even faster train (though I'm not sure if it stops in Central Jersey or just Newark.) Here in California, if I'm going to Burbank it's still an hour or so faster to fly than drive, but getting more ridiculous, though for Orange County or LAX it's still a lot faster to drive. But at least you can drive down the Grapevine without them demanding that you take off your shoes, jacket, hat, pager, cellphone, wallet, computer, wristwatch, screwdrivers, pocket knife, nail files, scissors, car keys, and golf clubs and unwrap all your Christmas presents.