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Flight 370 and the Terror of Being Off the Grid
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/13/flight-370-and-the-terror-of-being-off-the-grid/ ^ | MARCH 13, 2014 | Farhad Manjoo

Posted on 03/13/2014 3:58:30 PM PDT by nickcarraway

How can a commercial airliner go missing? How, in this hyperconnected age, could it vanish from the earth, apparently without trace, eluding a nearly weeklong search involving more than a dozen governments and some of the world’s most advanced surveillance technology?

In addition to the familiar horror and sadness over a catastrophe of modern aviation, the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 comes freighted with an unusual terror — the surprise that in our digitally monitored era, people and objects can still somehow vanish. The disappearance stands in stark contrast to the hallmark sensation of our time, the certainty that we’re all being constantly tracked and that, for better or worse, we’re strapped to the grid, never out of touch.

It turns out that’s not true. There are places in this world that are still beyond the grid. And it reminds us — or, at any rate, it reminds me — that as much as we lament constant tracking, there is often something deeply comforting in having one’s location pinned to a map.

This week aviation experts have poured out to explain what, in 2014, seems unfathomable. When you’re high in the air over the ocean, you may be flying in a blind spot, one of the few places on the planet where you’re not being watched.

(Excerpt) Read more at bits.blogs.nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: iran; malaysia; mh370; waronterror
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1 posted on 03/13/2014 3:58:30 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

My house key disappeared recently. No call, no trace, no nothing.

The mystery deepens.


2 posted on 03/13/2014 4:01:43 PM PDT by Noamie
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To: nickcarraway

I don’t know which is more frightening, Being off the radar or ALWAYS being ON the radar.


3 posted on 03/13/2014 4:01:53 PM PDT by mylife (Ted Cruz understands the law, and is not afraid of the unlawful.)
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To: Noamie

It is always in the last place you look.


4 posted on 03/13/2014 4:02:23 PM PDT by mylife (Ted Cruz understands the law, and is not afraid of the unlawful.)
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To: Noamie

The mystery deepens. Not really!

Check out Diego Garcia. Curious?


5 posted on 03/13/2014 4:05:03 PM PDT by free from tyranny
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To: nickcarraway

The “spooks” can read a newspaper from out of space. Yet they can’t figure out what an object floating on the ocean actually is. I’m starting to doubt all “official” information.


6 posted on 03/13/2014 4:05:32 PM PDT by VerySadAmerican (".....Barrack, and the horse Mohammed rode in on.")
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To: VerySadAmerican

I have been doubting Snowden from the beginning.


7 posted on 03/13/2014 4:06:38 PM PDT by mylife (Ted Cruz understands the law, and is not afraid of the unlawful.)
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To: nickcarraway

This is total baloney. There are at least 10, if not 20, countries who could tell you today where the plane or the debris from that plane is.


8 posted on 03/13/2014 4:07:49 PM PDT by ladyjane
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To: free from tyranny

What about Diego Garcia? Are you saying the plane could have landed there? Did it have enough fuel to get there from the spot it was last known to be?

I doubt an entire AF Base in is on the “plan”. Then again, I guess that’s just as plausible as a “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” type of incident.


9 posted on 03/13/2014 4:09:05 PM PDT by VerySadAmerican (".....Barrack, and the horse Mohammed rode in on.")
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To: free from tyranny

Diego Garcia is a spooky place.


10 posted on 03/13/2014 4:10:35 PM PDT by mylife (Ted Cruz understands the law, and is not afraid of the unlawful.)
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To: nickcarraway

If the plane hit the ocean, it’s at the bottom and all the the bodies have become food fish.


11 posted on 03/13/2014 4:10:47 PM PDT by cloudmountain
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To: nickcarraway; a fool in paradise
My socks go off the grid all the time!


12 posted on 03/13/2014 4:11:16 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious! We reserve the right to serve refuse to anyone!)
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To: mylife

I saw a report on 20/20 back in the 80s that said they could read a newspaper. The picture they showed was at street level. The “spook” said that was as close as he could show the public.


13 posted on 03/13/2014 4:11:34 PM PDT by VerySadAmerican (".....Barrack, and the horse Mohammed rode in on.")
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To: nickcarraway

tyrants hate losing control


14 posted on 03/13/2014 4:12:00 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans!)
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To: mylife

I’ve been there. I didn’t think it was spooky. But the again, I was drunk most of the time.


15 posted on 03/13/2014 4:12:22 PM PDT by VerySadAmerican (".....Barrack, and the horse Mohammed rode in on.")
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To: mylife
From the Internet;

Diego Garcia is a tropical, footprint-shaped coral atoll located south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean. It is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT).

The United States Navy operates Naval Support Facility (NSF) Diego Garcia, a large naval ship and submarine support base, military air base, communications and space-tracking facility, and an anchorage for pre-positioned military supplies for regional operations aboard Military Sealift Command ships in the lagoon.

I didn't know this. Live and learn.

16 posted on 03/13/2014 4:14:05 PM PDT by cloudmountain
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To: mylife

You give Snowden a laptop and he’ll tell us all where this damn plane is!


17 posted on 03/13/2014 4:14:07 PM PDT by bigbob (The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
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To: nickcarraway
Lets cut the BS. I believe there are plenty of Countries that could tell you just where the plane is. Also I believe the idiots in the US couldn't find their ars if they were sitting on it.
18 posted on 03/13/2014 4:14:49 PM PDT by Logical me
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To: nickcarraway

Personally I find it comforting to be off the grid in those places in the world where its still possible. YMMV


19 posted on 03/13/2014 4:15:03 PM PDT by montanajoe
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To: VerySadAmerican

20 posted on 03/13/2014 4:15:52 PM PDT by mylife (Ted Cruz understands the law, and is not afraid of the unlawful.)
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