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Tuesday, January 06, 2004 |
The hitchhiking life
A story in the Washington Post, about a group of latter-day hitchhikers meeting in bleak southeastern California, got me thinking: From January 1973 through December 1979, I hitchhiked all over the country. It's hard to believe now. Everyone then thought the country was dangerous and had lost its innocence, compared to the Kerouac era; but it was a great adventure, in its way, and my brothers started thumbing everywhere, too. I finally quit, in large part because I found myself in one too many stupid, nearly desperate situations (and heard similar stories from my brothers). But today seems so much worse somehow -- people seem more isolated from each other than ever, much less willing to trust strangers and maybe wisely so. I hardly ever see hitchhikers anymore, and I haven't picked one up since 1985. So here's a guy with a hitch-hiking site , sponsoring gatherings and sort of promoting the culture the way hoboing used to be promoted (and romanticized) as a lifestyle/transportation mode.
11:32:25 PM 
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The FBI's almanac bulletin
Cryptome.org, a site dedicated to getting inside-government info into the public domain, just posted what it says is the FBI's Christmas Eve "intelligence" bulletin on terrorists and almanacs. Excerpt:
"... The use of almanacs or maps may be the product of legitimate recreational or commercial activities; however, when combined with suspicious behavior or other information such as evidence of surveillance activities, these indicators may point to possible terrorist planning. The practice of researching potential targets is consistent with known methods of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations that seek to maximize the likelihood of operational success through careful planning. "
I love the note that using almanacs may be ordinary, lawful behavior: Citizens with books, seeking information. It may not be a menace.
12:41:48 PM
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© Copyright 2004 Dan Brekke.
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