by Lewis, Dan
It’s rare, however, that both the pilot and copilot will become incapacitated, save for something truly nefarious such as a hijacking. One exception? Food poisoning. As recounted by a New York Times article from March 1984, there have been numerous times when flights were put at risk by contaminated food. In 1982, for example, a flight from Boston to Lisbon had to return to Massachusetts after both the pilot and copilot (and six others) fell ill from eating bad tapioca pudding. In 1975, roughly a third of a 364-person flight going from Tokyo to Paris became ill after eating eggs containing staphylococcal bacteria. The only reason the pilot and copilot didn’t get sick? Their internal clocks were on a different schedule, and instead of eating breakfast, they dined on steak—dinner. The Times article advocated for rules that prevented pilot and copilot from sharing meals, something not regulated at the time.
As the BBC reported in 2009, that has mostly changed. That year, the pilot on a Continental flight from Brussels to Newark died in mid-flight; however, the flight ended safely. As the BBC noted, “The main reason for having two pilots is that something like this occasionally happens—though it’s less common for a pilot to die than to be incapacitated by something like food poisoning.” Because of that concern, today’s airlines, by and large, require that the copilot not eat the same meals as the pilot.
Who gets first choice? That’s left unreported, but it would be surprising if the head pilot doesn’t get that privilege.
BONUS FACT
Making good-tasting airline food is very difficult, perhaps for a surprising reason. According to Alaska Airlines’ corporate chef Clifton Lyles (via NPR), at an airplane’s cruising altitude, our taste buds are about 25 percent less effective than normal. From the article: “As the cabin is pressurized and the humidity inside the plane falls, some of your taste buds go numb, and your sense of smell is diminished, too. Things that tasted great on the ground are now bland and boring.”
BEN’S BIG DECISION
THE RIGHT MAN IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE WORST TIME
On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four American commercial jets with the intention of crashing them into large, visible buildings in Washington, DC, and New York City. As we all know, the terrorists were successful in three of the four cases; the fourth plane’s assault on the United States Capitol—the presumed target—was thwarted by the heroic passengers on board. While we now believe that no other planes were targeted, each of the other 4,000-plus flights scheduled to be in American air space at the time were at risk. But Ben Sliney, the Federal Aviation Commission’s National Operations Manager on duty that morning, prevented future harm.
How? He made an unprecedented decision, grounding every single commercial airplane in the country.
That, of course, is not news—in fact, it’s common knowledge. While hindsight teaches us that the call was correct, at the time it was an aggressive decision. Thankfully, it was the type of decision that Sliney was well equipped to make. He had twenty-five years of experience in air traffic control and/or as part of FAA management, including a leadership position at New York TRACON, which has responsibility over the air traffic for New York City’s three major airports and a few smaller regional airports nearby. His position as National Operations Manager gave him immediate access to information as it became available. But the decision to ground the planes—that was Sliney’s to consider, and ultimately, to make.
In all, Ben Sliney’s initiative makes for an incredible story. When Universal Pictures decided to turn the heroism of the passengers of United Flight 93 into a movie, they did not overlook Ben Sliney’s role—they even asked him to play himself in the movie.
As incredible as his story is, one particular fact makes it jaw dropping: On September 10, 2001, Ben Sliney was not yet a National Operations Manager for the FAA. September 11, 2001, was Sliney’s first day on the job.
BONUS FACT
During the three-day ban on commercial flights after the September 11 attacks, very few planes were in the sky—by and large, air traffic was limited to military flights. (One exception? A San Diego to Miami flight, authorized to take flight in order to deliver antivenin to a snake-bite victim.) Because of the lack of planes, there was also a lack of contrails, those white, cloud-like tracks planes leave in the sky. The lack of contrails corresponded to a measurable, significant increase in temperature, leading some to believe that contrails help depress global warming—a theory echoed by World War II data as well.
SUPER-SECRET SUCTION
THE CIA’S TOP SECRET ANTI-TERRORISM VACUUM CLEANER SCHEMATICS THAT MAY OR MAY NOT EXIST
Vacuum cleaners are pretty great tools. Modern ones can clean kitchen floors, get dust and grime in hard-to-reach places, and of course, clean your carpet. They may even help U.S. government officials thwart a future terrorist attack.
But we don’t know, because that’s classified.
You’ve probably heard of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The U.S. government, in the official commission report on the September 11, 2001 attacks, deemed Mohammed the “principle architect” of the attacks and has kept him under lock and key since his capture in 2003, most recently in the Guantanamo Bay Naval Prison. Under what officials call “enhanced interrogation techniques,” Mohammed has admitted to masterminding not only the events of 9/11 but also the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the attempted “shoe-bombing” in December of 2001, and various other terrorist attacks.
These “enhanced interrogation techniques” are controversial; some critics argue that the amount of duress Mohammed and others are subjected to puts into question the validity of any statements elicited this way. The morality, legality, and effectiveness of these methods are a debate for another time, but in order to talk about highly classified vacuum cleaners, let’s take as given that “enhanced interrogation techniques” intentionally aim, in part, to inflict some level of psychological strain on the subjects. Further, there could be some long-term effect on a prisoner’s sanity due to such examinations.
It should go without saying that keeping Mohammed sane is pretty important; there’s a good chance he can provide value to American security interests going forward. But life as a captured, accused terrorist mastermind isn’t all that conducive to maintaining one’s sanity. According to a report in the summer of 2013, a decade earlier while Mohammed was an American captive in a secret, CIA-run prison in Romania, he requested an activity intended to keep his brain sharp and occupied between interrogations. According to a person only identified as a “former senior CIA official” by the Associated Press, Mohammed asked to design a vacuum cleaner.
According to the source, Mohammed—who has a mechanical engineering degree from North Carolina A&T State University—wanted permission to start drawing up schematics for a vacuum, which would almost certainly never be built. Why he picked this project is unknown, but his military-assigned lawyer, Jason Wright, told the AP that such a project would be in line with Mohammed’s passions; while maintaining a great interest in Islam and the Quran, Mohammed also marvels at modern technology.
The CIA allegedly approved Mohammed’s request to start drawing. Further, they allowed him access to some online materials, which helped him design his schematic. So somewhere, in some filing cabinet or data warehouse, there may be plans for an improved home-cleaning system, designed by a person widely characterized as one of history’s worst terrorists.
We can’t be sure, of course, because the CIA won’t confirm or deny what the official told the AP. The CIA responded to a Freedom of Information Act request by claiming that the documents, if they exist, would be highly classified operational files of the agency. Wright, on the other hand, approached the AP’s question with a bit of humor: “It sounds ridiculous, but answering this question, or confirming or denying the very existence of a vacuum-cleaner design, a Swiffer design, or even a design for a better hand towel would apparently expose the U.S. government and its citizens to exceptionally grave danger.”
BONUS FACT
Because of Richard R
eid and his (thankfully unsuccessful) attempt to blow up an airplane via explosives concealed in his shoe, air travelers in the United States need to take off their shoes when going through airport security and subject them to the package scanners. There’s a work-around, though. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) offers a program called “TSA Precheck,” allowing “low-risk travelers to experience expedited, more efficient security screening at participating U.S. airport checkpoints.” For a nonrefundable $85 application fee, those who qualify can avoid checking their shoes and belts.
THE BUSH MARKET
THE AFGHAN MERCHANTS REAPING THE SPOILS OF WAR
Soon after 9/11, American troops went to Kabul, Afghanistan, hoping to stop terrorist cells before they could strike again. Kabul has had an American military presence ever since; for the past eight years, some residents there have felt an enhanced economic effect of the troops’ presence.
Which is why, according to the Washington Post, some welcome the troops and hope they stay longer.
American soldiers come with guns, tanks, and all sorts of other weaponry, but they also come with other stuff, like snacks and toiletries and various other sundries not typically found in Afghanistan. About eight years ago, a black market of sorts opened in the capital city of this war-torn country. It’s named the “Bush Market,” after George W. Bush, the president who ordered the troops to Afghanistan originally. The Bush Market has an estimated 600 shops and booths, selling everything from hair dye and acne medicine to Pop-Tarts and other goodies.
While those items are intended for use by American servicemen, they often find themselves in the hands of Afghan vendors—sometimes via trade, but most often by way of theft. As the Post explains, while most of the items are stolen property, Afghan authorities leave the market alone unless the Americans ask—and that is rare. The U.S. authorities tend to leave the Bush Market be, unless something sensitive has ended up there. That hasn’t happened in about two years.
Despite the presence of armed men loyal to another nation, many of the vendors want the American troops to remain. These entrepreneurs figure that when the soldiers leave, so goes their shops’ inventory. One vendor interviewed by the Post even believes that reports of a troop pullout have a negative effect on the marketplace’s economy, given the uncertainty about the supply of goods.
Until then? As one anonymous merchant told the Post, a lot of Afghans are, by the country’s standards, getting “very rich doing this.”
BONUS FACT
The fact that Pop-Tarts are popular in the Bush Market shouldn’t be a surprise—but it should be credited as an American success. In 2001, the United States began airdropping food (in the form of military rations called “meals ready to eat,” or MREs) in Afghanistan, hoping to feed some of the millions of people there who were going hungry. Many of the MREs contained Pop-Tarts, which were specifically included to “introduce Afghans to American food,” according to the Baltimore Sun. Later reports suggested that the United States dropped well over 2 million Pop-Tarts in Afghanistan that year.
MAKING CENTS OF POGS
HOW YESTERDAY’S TOYS BECAME TODAY’S COMBAT CURRENCY
If you grew up in the 1990s in the United States, you probably had a few toys that are hallmarks of your childhood. There were Tamagotchi, the electronic pets you had to take care of or else they’d die; Beanie Babies, a menagerie of collectible stuffed animals; and of course, pogs. Pogs were thin cardboard discs, maybe an inch or two in diameter, often branded with something from the pop culture of the day and used in a schoolyard gambling game of the same name.
But the children of the 1990s grew up, and pogs faded as fads tend to do. The next batch of school children moved on to new trends and hobbies. Pogs, by and large, disappeared.
Then, they came back—in American military bases in Afghanistan, of all places.
After 9/11, tens of thousands of U.S. troops were deployed to Afghanistan, peaking at just over 100,000 troops in the summer of 2011, according to CBS News. Not everything provided to the soldiers is rationed, and instead, troops are able to purchase items at what is, effectively, a government-run department store or strip mall. Those shops are run by a division of the Department of Defense called the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES), which, according to Wikipedia, exists “to provide quality merchandise and services of necessity and convenience to authorized customers at uniform low prices.” AAFES also has franchise arrangements with well-known brands such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Starbucks, Home Depot, and video-game retailer GameStop, operating those businesses within or nearby the main store.
Tens of thousand of troops buying stuff means millions of coins in the economy. Unfortunately, that’s a problem when the coins come from the United States and the stores are in Afghanistan. Quarters, nickels, pennies, and dimes are heavy in large amounts—$100 worth of quarters, for example, weighs more than five pounds. Shipping all those coins is prohibitive, so instead, during the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, AAFES issued gift certificates. They also looked for a substitute for coins—something that was as convenient as a coin but without the heft—and pogs were the answer. One hundred dollars in twenty-five-cent pogs weighs only about 15 to 20 percent as much as coins. The AAFES issued pogs in five-cent, ten-cent, and twenty-five-cent denominations. There are no one-cent pogs because, let’s face it, pennies are annoying enough without being turned into a throwback to a 1990s fad. (AAFES stores round the cost of purchased items to the nearest nickel.)
Just as they were in middle school lunchrooms, pogs have been popular on military bases. Since their introduction in 2001, pogs have become an accepted currency at AAFES stores around the world.
BONUS FACT
The word “pog” was, originally, an acronym. POG was a brand of juice; its name stood for its three core ingredients, passionfruit, orange, and guava. The original pogs were the caps from this blended fruit drink, and the name stuck.
DOUBLE BONUS
One can buy a lot of things at AAFES shops, but one thing a soldier can’t buy is the video game Medal of Honor. An early version of the game—before it was released—allowed players to assume the role of Taliban fighters taking up arms against Americans. Even though the game’s publisher, EA, removed this after public pressure (changing “Taliban” to “Opposing Forces”), the game still won’t be found for sale at AAFES-run stores.
PUT UP IN A PARKING LOT
WHERE TO LIVE WHEN YOU REALLY CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF YOUR LOCAL SHOPPING MALL
The Providence Place Mall in Rhode Island is, as malls go, nothing really all that special. As of this writing, there’s a Macy’s, a Nordstrom, and a J.C. Penney anchoring its hallways. There’s a food court, which connects to a movie theater and a Dave and Buster’s. On the street level, there’s a P.F. Chang’s, a CVS, an Uno’s Chicago Grill, and a Cheesecake Factory. Pretty generic, down to the paid parking garage.
But in 2007, the last part—the parking garage—had something special: a one-room timeshare apartment.
Make that an illegal one-room timeshare apartment.
When construction of the Providence Place Mall began in the late 1990s, an artist named Michael Townsend, then in his late twenties, lived in the area. According to Salon, he wasn’t a big fan of the project, seeing it as a taxpayer-funded boondoggle that would change the character and skyline of the neighborhood. In recounting his project a decade later, he’d assert that, during construction, he noticed a sizable region within the confines of the parking garage that was destined to be underused. About five years later, that space would spark an idea.
In 2003, Providence Place began running ads as part of the mall’s Christmas shopping season marketing push. One of those ads, in Townsend’s words, “featured an enthusiastic female voice talking about how great it would be if you (we) could live at the mall. The central theme of the ad was that the mall not only provided a rich shopping experience but also had all the things that one would need to survive and lead a hea
lthy life.” Being a self-described artist, he decided to put that assertion to the test. Over the next few months, he gained access to the space—750 square feet—and converted it into a small apartment.
Townsend would spend up to three weeks at a time living in the apartment, spending those days documenting life as a denizen of the mall. When he wasn’t living there—he wasn’t homeless, and spent most of the time in a legitimate apartment in a real apartment building—other artists with whom he was friendly took up temporary residence in his secret space. Over the course of the nearly four years of the apartment’s existence, a half-dozen or so artists rotated through the space.
All this came to an end after a lightweight sting operation in 2007. Mall security found out about the “dwelling” and, working with Providence police, set up a sting to catch Townsend leaving his unique vacation home. The work Townsend and company had done, to that date, was impressive. While it lacked running water (residents had to use mall bathrooms, and let’s just not think about how they bathed), it was otherwise well stocked. The Boston Globe reported that the apartment contained “a sectional sofa and love seat, coffee and breakfast tables, chairs, lamps, rugs, paintings, a hutch filled with china, a waffle iron, TV and Sony PlayStation 2.” Ironically, the PlayStation wasn’t there when Townsend was finally caught; someone had broken into the apartment and stolen it.
The thief who ripped off the PlayStation was never caught. Townsend, for his crime, was given probation.
BONUS FACT
In 2007, having an unauthorized apartment in Providence, Rhode Island, was clearly illegal. But incredibly—and perhaps accidentally—prostitution was not. While revising the state’s legal code in 1980, legislators removed the section dealing with prostitution itself while retaining those parts dealing with on-street solicitation, running a brothel, etc. In doing so, they made the act of buying and selling sexual services legal within the state’s borders. Some politicians claim that the deletion was an error, but the law wasn’t changed back until 2009.