Manhattan Mid-Afternoon

[dmolnar]

I'm living in west village, which is mid-to-lower manhattan. No panic yet,
streets are orderly and very sparsely populated, almost deserted. Everyone
seems to have either gone home or found someplace to wait it out. Roads
lower than about west 11th seem to be closed; St. Vincent's hospital seems
to be taking injured (although I don't see too many coming in right now. I
don't know if that's a bad sign).

My roommate tells me that the ferry line reaches 4 across from 53rd to
23rd...and back again.

I've heard speculation about curfew, martial law, etc. etc. Nothing like
that has been confirmed AFAIK. Then again I've been avoiding the radio and
TV for the last few hours.

As to whether cypherpunk technologies assisted in this tragedy -- please
explain how anonymous remailers affect airport security? I am personally
more worried about the lack of cryptography and system security.

I didn't learn about what happened until walking into work this morning.
On the way up people were crying and the headlines in the elevator talked
about FAA grounding all planes. I thought that the ATC computers had
finally given up. What happens if in the next attack the terrorists take
control of the ATC system?

-David