A Modest Proposal for a FReepers "Instant Alert Network" FIRST DRAFT, 11/03/01 - SUBJECT TO REVISION. On the morning of September 11, I was just getting ready to go in to work when the phone rang. It was one of our neighbors. "Did you know that two airplanes just flew into the World Trade Center in New York?" No, we didn't. At the time, we didn't have our TV on. Neither did my wife's parents, who were doing repair work on a rental property and didn't hear the news until hours later. In the days since then, I've pondered how ...