LAX To London Flight Delayed Over "Al-Quida" Wi-Fi Name 339
linuxwrangler writes A flight from LAX to London was delayed after a passenger reported seeing "Al-Quida Free Terror Nettwork" as an available hotspot name and reported it to a flight attendant. The flight was taken to a remote part of the airport and delayed for several hours but "after further investigation, it was determined that no crime was committed and no further action will be taken." That seems an awfully low threshold for disrupting air traffic, since wireless access points can be had for just a few dollars these days.
This was no AP. (Score:5, Insightful)
wireless access points can be had for just a few dollars these days
What? I very much doubt this SSID was broadcast by a stand-alone AP. It was, likely, due to default behavior of old versions of Windows, setting up an ad-hoc network with an SSID of the last seen access point. Someone somewhere has jokingly set their SSID to "Al-Quida ...", and there was that one Windows-running laptop that someone had that picked up on that SSID and kept broadcasting it. Even if someone set such an SSID on purpose on their mobile device, it's still irrelevant and inactionable.
Delaying a flight over this shows how much technical ineptitude is there.
Re:This was no AP. (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, blame Microsoft for this.
Or, you know, every smartphone made in the last 5 years.
Re:This was no AP. (Score:5, Insightful)
Personally, I blame the pathetic cowards who shriek, hike up their skirts and do the mousey dance every time someone sneezes at the airport.
Re:This was no AP. (Score:5, Funny)
The image in TFA shows a phone seeing the network as an AP. Chances are someone with a phone set up AP mode (fairly standard on Android devices).
The whole thing is dumb. The name clearly states that the network is "Al-Quida Free", as in there is no Al-Quida in it. Incredible that they managed to spell "Al-Quida" correctly but misspelled "nettwork".
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Re:This was no AP. (Score:5, Funny)
Is that free as in beer or free as in speech?
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sounds like it could cause a tainted colonel, to me...
Re:This was no AP. (Score:5, Funny)
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lose-lose. what kind of mofo joins up with a terror nettwork fighting against beer? Now free beer is a cause I can get behind. Free beer and titties. Where do I sign up?
Re:This was no AP. (Score:5, Funny)
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In other words, terror is available for free.
That's probably it. They didn't want people giving away the airline's product for free. It costs money to provide airline food and airline toilets and airline seats.
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I would say at least three. An alternate parsing is as Al-Quida Free Terror Nettwork. I.e. if you're looking for a terror network, use this one: it's free!.
Re:This was no AP. (Score:5, Funny)
The image in TFA shows a phone seeing the network as an AP. Chances are someone with a phone set up AP mode (fairly standard on Android devices).
That was my first thought. I know when I'm running my phone as a hot-spot, I have the SSID set to "FBI Surveillance Van 42".
Re:This was no AP. (Score:5, Funny)
The image in TFA shows a phone seeing the network as an AP. Chances are someone with a phone set up AP mode (fairly standard on Android devices).
That was my first thought. I know when I'm running my phone as a hot-spot, I have the SSID set to "FBI Surveillance Van 42".
Mine is simply 'Virus.net'. Best I've ever seen though is 'It burns when IP'
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Incredible that they managed to spell "Al-Quida" correctly but misspelled "nettwork".
It's also redundant. Al-Quida means "The Network", I've seen several cases were people jokingly set their network name to Al-Quida because of this.
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I knew it!
It's Bush's fault.
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They didn't spell Al-Qaeda correctly at all. That looks like the spelling of someone who's only ever heard the name and spelled it the way they were taught English.
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They didn't spell Al-Qaeda correctly at all. That looks like the spelling of someone who's only ever heard the name and spelled it the way they were taught English.
Right. "u" and "i" should not be in Al-Qaeda.
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Seeing as it's a transcription from Arabic there's some leeway for spelling. How many ways have you seen Gadaffi spelt, for instance.
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I'd phonetically spell it Al-Kyda, but hey.
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Incredible that they managed to spell "Al-Quida" correctly but misspelled "nettwork".
They didn't. Back at 9/11 they spelled it Al-Qaida, and then since a few years later it's been Al-Qaeda. Not aware that a 'u' was ever involved.
Re:This was no AP. (Score:5, Insightful)
And real terrorists would broadcast they are in the vicinity by stating so loudly, of course.
Now do have a concern if the access point had been named "Good On You England No Terrorist Here".
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Panicky people are fun to watch. Your"douchebag" is merely pointing it out. I think mocking hysteria is a good thing. It has a chance of knocking it out of the morons out there who make life miserable for the rest of us.
Re:This was no AP. (Score:5, Insightful)
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I see your point. But, the world has far too many panicky people. Maybe it is time to decide that nowhere is sacred. Maybe they should be trolled into panicking until enough of them finally wise up and stop running around yelling that the sky is falling every time something seems a little off.
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you seem to think that free speech means you can spout your mouth off whenever you want. I know that free speech means protection from unreasonable government interference. I got news for you, you keep spouting your mouth off and somebody's gonna bop you in the nose, and the government isn't going to interfere with that, either.
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The real douchebags are the cowards who freak out over things like this. Sometimes they even end up infringing upon people's fundamental liberties to make themselves feel better.
Re:This was no AP. (Score:5, Insightful)
What? I very much doubt this SSID was broadcast by a stand-alone AP
Brace yourself: defending @timothy for a moment. *
His point wasn't that you need a certain piece of gear, but that for a few dollars (or as others are pointing out "zero dollars", which a few dollars approaches asymptotic to zero) you can incite bureaucrats to attack the air traffic system.
Which I guess is the major strategy of Al Qa'e'da - asymmetrical attacks - so timothy can expect Hydra to be by momentarily for relocation and reeducation.
* someday Slashcode will catch up with the aughts and the at-tag will link this comment as rendered from the database
Re:This was no AP. (Score:5, Insightful)
Which I guess is the major strategy of Al Qa'e'da - asymmetrical attacks
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WO... [cnn.com] Per Osama Bin Laden, their goal is to bankrupt the USA. They seem to have achieved a pretty good ROI if the returns are counted as dollars spend by the US fighting Al Qaeda. They don't even need to do anything these days, just having their name mentioned can cause costly countermeasures to kick in.
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... for a few dollars (or as others are pointing out "zero dollars", which a few dollars approaches asymptotic to zero) you can incite bureaucrats to attack the air traffic system.
Cheap phones in AP mode with maliciously-chosen SSIDs, randomly distributed at airports = instant DoS attack against the US air travel system.
Doesn't really seem like Al Quida's style, but I imagine people at Amtrack and Greyhound might be interested.
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* someday Slashcode will catch up with the aughts and the at-tag will link this comment as rendered from the database
You can keep your Twitterfication (twatification?), thanks. I don't come to Slashdot for hashtags and 140 characters.
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So you're saying Al-Qaeda is Cobra?
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Who says they plot elaborate schemes that rarely come to fruition?
Those going bankrupt, or those sending up wild goose chases?
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Delaying a flight over this shows how much technical ineptitude is there.
It also shows, however unfortunately, the futility of trying to protect everyone against everything all the time. Who needs to blow themselves up, or even risk the explicit criminal sanctions you'd face for making a bomb threat, when you can just co-opt some unwitting and otherwise innocent traveller's personal device somewhere outside a travel hub or other likely target for an attack?
If our threshold for fear has become so low that some kid's not-so-funny practical joke can now result in several hours of d
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Very true. What should have happened, in an ideal world, and I'm not sarcastic here, was that a flight attendant would react to this "revelation" by looking at the customer and telling them "Are you fucking stupid?", perhaps in a more politically correct way. And that should have been the end of it.
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I like the direct route. Many people don't get the subtlety of 'politically correct'.
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Political Correctness is stupidity dressed up as reason.
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Parent:
Me:
Seriously. Even before 9/11, any joking about a bomb in an airport would be problematic. You can't expect everybody in a position of power to be intelligent, s
Re:This was no AP. (Score:4, Interesting)
My father likes to tell the story of his and my mother's honeymoon. The whole thing was a disaster (my mother ended up with an injured neck during a hike). When their return flight was rerouted to another city entirely, my father had enough and loudly complained to a flight attendant about his wife's injured neck. The plane landed but didn't go to the hanger. Instead, the plane was surrounded and people boarded the plane, came to him, and asked if they were the ones who needed medical attention. As they left the plane, my father whispered to my mother "I guess they found the bomb."
Turns out a passenger heard this and reported it. When my parents went to collect their checked baggage, they found it on one side in chains. After the "bomb threat" and luggage turning up that nobody claimed (my parents having gone right to the hospital), the police suspected their suitcase of containing a bomb. After examining it, they let him go with his luggage. Nowadays, he'd probably be arrested for making a terrorist threat or would have his luggage blown up as a "preventative measure."
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... It was, likely, due to default behavior of old versions of Windows, .... there was that one Windows-running laptop that someone had that picked up on that SSID and kept broadcasting it...
No wonder they say future airliners will not have any windows....
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Wow, you must use a cheap airline.
Re:This was no AP. (Score:5, Insightful)
Was assuming a smaller passenger load. Then I read the article and looked up the plane type. 777-300ER, depending on configuration could have a 3 class load of 350 pax. No telling how full it was, assume 85%. Planes run pretty full these days. So doing some math...
Oh fuck it. Who the hell cares. I am so sick of you fucking nit-picking slashdot morons. The point is a fine proportional to the impact on the airline and passengers would make the fucktard think twice about doing it again. $100K, $500K. Either would do.
The fine should be given to whatever dickhead decided an obviously shady network name was enough grounds to delay a flight for several hours. You know, when you idiots run scared from every little boo the terrorists have won. Once you introduced TSA they had you on the backfoot and now this. America is shitting it's pants while the rest of the world looks on in disbelief and the actual terrorists are pissing themselves laughing.
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And in unrelated news, the makers of "Depends" announced record profits this week.
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No. They will ignore the fine itself as they likely can't pay, and if their stuff starts to be taken from them, they'll declare bankruptcy. They'll thus move from being an immature idiot to an immature idiot who has nothing left to lose.
I.e. precisely the opposite of the most beneficial outcome, which is to educate the guy and those who would do similar.
Punishment doesn't work. It is sadism for the punisher.
(And, yes, this is wrong behaviour. Even Alan Partridge got the terror squad arriving at his hotel wh
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Then perhaps we should jail the idiots who think that AP names matter so much? I would love to see some of these idiots who think that its A-OK and unintended consequence free to deal with the public, a public that is supposed to be free people capable of saying what they want and representing any ideas they want, in a ham handed fashion?
Re:This was no AP. (Score:5, Insightful)
The whole process of losing what he has would make him wiser.
Or, y'know, just angrier. If I had my life ruined due solely to making a joking name on my computer, you'd better believe I wouldn't be getting all introspective about how dare I attempt to make a politically incorrect joke, I'd be thinking the rest of society is fucked in the head.
Re:This was no AP. (Score:5, Insightful)
Or rather the airline should have to refund a portion of everyone's ticket for the sheer ridiculousness of delaying a flight over this.
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This is something that a 10-year old would do.
Re:This was no AP. (Score:4, Insightful)
I agree, but who put a 10 year old in charge of security at LAX ?
Re:This was no AP. (Score:5, Insightful)
actually, we need more of this.
why?
we are being desensitized to sensibility. the 'zero tolerance' world we now have - the so-called 'new normal' is BULLSHIT and needs to end.
the more we call attention to stupidity (no, not the wifi name but the airlines, in this case!) the better. we need to have more and more of these incidents to make us re-realize that stupid things are not going to hurt us. jumping at every bump-in-the-night is a failwhale.
we need to grow some balls. if it means that more 'authorities' have to start THINKING on their own instead of covering their asses, so be it. but zero-tol is not working and needs to end asap.
some kid takes a PBJ sandwich and eats part of it so that a shape of a gun is made; and he's sent home or expelled. this is just more of the same zero-tol CYA bullshit that also has to end immediately. if we don't come to our senses, we will be ruined (we're long on our way to ruin, as it is; due ENTIRELY to our own fear level).
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Zero Tolerance is simply lazy judgement policy. Instead of having rightful judgment everything is viewed in the eyes of Lawyers suing people for shit beyond anyone's control, so you do everything (zero tolerance) in your power to stop everyone doing anything resembling the thing you're trying to stop. This catches a shit ton of false positives, which seems to be the "choice" we would rather make.
That being said, my solution to all of this is simply incarcerate the bastards and feed them all pork products un
Zero Tolerance (Score:3)
I have zero tolerance for zero-tolerance policies.
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The core problem being what?
Idiots scared of obvious troll APs?
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You have to figure out who made the stupid decision, and fine that person or persons. Using the name of a terrorist organization as an access point name isn't necessarily too bright, but it isn't a threat. Reporting the name to the authorities should be harmless. The real culprits are those who took that to be a threat.
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How about we fine the dunce in charge, who decided a humorous wifi name was a good reason to go into ape-shit public panic mode.
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That's just stupid.
It's like stopping a flight because someone carries a newspaper with the headlines "Terror actions imminent" and then it's revealed that it's 10 years old.
wireless access points, what is this? 2002? (Score:3)
since wireless access points can be had for just a few dollars these days.
Every major phone nowadays allows setting up a softAP, you do not need a frigging wireless AP to send a few "Al-Quida" Wi-Fi beacons..
Funny (Score:5, Insightful)
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Ooh, how about Al Qaeda is spreading ebola using wifi, but you can only get it by using wifi during a thunderstorm, because the system needs the extra lightning power to move the virus.
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I know you were being funny, but take australia as an example. its often said that everything that moves around down there with more than 2 legs is ready to kill you. all kinds of dangerous venemous creatures in oz; and yet, they are just as afraid of their shadows as we yanks are. they are being terorized by their own people just like we are (ie, the 'authorities').
we have little to fear about the big bad foreigner. we have much more to fear by our own lawmakers and those who carry guns under color of
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just about had an asthma attack from laughing.
Maybe that was the intent of the terrorists . . . !?!? They are now going at us using "Joke Warfare": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T... [wikipedia.org]
I think the NSA needs to hire more Joke Analysts to carefully monitor this danger on the Internet!
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Jokes aside, that was the intent of the terrorists - to scare us and make us afraid of them.
Unfortunately for them, we wouldn't have been afraid (for long) with just the one attack on 9-11. Fortunately for them (and unfortunately for us), the government and media has latched onto the whole "scare the people" routine and are playing it for all it's worth.
Puckered (Score:3)
Well, I'd certainly hope so.
A Pox on Both Your Houses (Score:2)
Overrreaction? Yes.
Really dumb SSID name choice? Yes.
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I'm not sure how much it was an over reaction. Seemed reasonable to me. It's unfortunate it happened, but TPTB were screwed no matter what they did.
If it was reported, and did nothing, then it gets out that authorities didn't investigate a possible threat and are inept.
If it was reported, dismissed, and something bad happens, then it was something that was preventable.
If they did what they did, it's labeled as an overreaction.
It's not like passengers were ordered off the plane, stripped searched, and rece
Re:A Pox on Both Your Houses (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not sure how much it was an over reaction. Seemed reasonable to me. It's unfortunate it happened, but TPTB were screwed no matter what they did.
If it was reported, and did nothing, then it gets out that authorities didn't investigate a possible threat and are inept.
If it was reported, dismissed, and something bad happens, then it was something that was preventable.
If they did what they did, it's labeled as an overreaction.
It's not like passengers were ordered off the plane, stripped searched, and received a free body cavity search. They were inconvenienced for a few hours before a 11 hour flight. It happens.
Everything beyond a mild chuckle was an overreaction.
Unless they stuck to their guns and pointed out, like most of the posters here likely will, that it's incredibly stupid to ground a plane over a joke SSID.
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It's incredibly sad is what it is. What if the SSID were "There is a bomb on this plane"?
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Here's the reason for the "overreaction". Lawyers. Suppose, just for a second, that they ignored the SSID and the plane fell out of the sky. End of that Airlines (multi-billion dollar business). Risk / Reward analysis is you don't risk the entire company on something that might be a joke.
The issue isn't the overreaction (it is), the issue is that there is an asshole who thought the whole thing was funny.
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I know terrorists aren't the brightest bulbs in the chandelier but they know enough not to name their networks after a famous terrorist group. What exactly is the threat that caused the delay?
A "few hours" X 400 passengers IS a big deal - and delayed flights mean missed connections, The aircraft my not be available for its next schedule flight etc.
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True but I have used some SSIDs like FBI4395, NSA02395, and BugsBunny as SSIDs.
Some kid with a cellphone hotspot set it up as a joke and forgot that it was still on the phone when he got on the plane.
Free Terror, what a bargain! (Score:4, Funny)
It's a wonderful future we live in. No purchase necessary. Terror is Free!! It's all over the news! BE TERRIFIED!
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Yes, but is it open source? I refuse to use any closed source terror.
Where is that surveillance van? (Score:5, Funny)
I've had the FBI parked outside my house for seven months now. I just can't figure out where "FBI surveillance van 42" is at.
Low threshold = enormous rate of return (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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however the minute someone breathes an utterance of terrorism its secret prisons, wiretaps, indefinite detention, extrajudicial rendition targeted killings, and secret courts
The response is so out of proportion to the threat, it makes you wonder if there's an ulterior motive for stripping people of liberties and increasing the power of the government and military, merely using islamic terrorism as an excuse?
Nah, that's crazy talk.
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Considering the over-reaction we're getting from a lot of people around Ebola - and that includes people who laugh about bureaucrats' overreaction to blinking lights in Chicago and WiFi network names - I'm going to guess that most people are just scared shitless of stuff they don't understand and willing to sacrifice everything to feel safe again.
That doesn't make it any better, but it gives us a better shot at fixing the issue (educate people) than the conspiracy theory approach.
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Ssshhhh! You're going to ruin my tinfoil hat business!
Re:congratulations america, theyre still winning. (Score:5, Funny)
Heart disease kills 600 million americans a year.
Out of a population of 300 million, that is pretty horrendous.
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I'd call that good riddance.
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Fair point generally, but..
> Heart disease kills 600 million americans a year
600 thousand, not million
> we still sell vape kits
vape kits reduce smoking deaths
Re:congratulations america, theyre still winning. (Score:4, Funny)
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I went through a period of my career where I was taking two, sometimes three business trips per month. I was supposed to fly on one of the planes that flew in the WTC on 9/11, but my trip was cancelled a couple days earlier so I could attend a meeting up in Nashua with Oracle. I've never been hijacked or crashed, but I've been in more than one near-miss, which takes a lot of flying. I've also been stranded by missed connections multiple times. Take it from me, Chicago Midway is the worst airport hub to s
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if they need a volunteer, I'm happy to join in.
you gotta go somehow. if I die by bacon, at least I die happy.
um (Score:5, Insightful)
LAX To London Flight Delayed Over "Al-Quida" Wi-Fi Name...
You mean...
LAX To London Flight Delayed due to Authorities being morons...
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America's auto-immune disease: Terrorism. (Score:5, Interesting)
America's overreaction to ISIS, al-queda etc fall into this category. We are doing a lot more damage by such over reactions than what these entities could do to us. We need a strong dose of anti-histamines. (Of course there will be people protesting the discrimination against the histamines)
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We see this response in other areas - such as the Ebola "crisis" also. So far around 9 people in the US have come down with Ebola. In all cases, the people were working closely with people with Ebola. So far, none of the Ebola victims' friends, family, or random people on the street that they bumped into have gotten Ebola. Any yet, many people are acting like it is the zombie apocalypse. Did that man just sneeze? Does he have the Ebola? I feel a little warm, I must be coming down with Ebola!
Politicia
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Hopefully you Americans won't have these "anti-histamines" for quite a while, else your leaders have to send a few more planes in some of your buildings.
Re:LAX? (Score:4, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L... [wikipedia.org]
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Once the plane leaves, is it EX-LAX?
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Yo mamma so lax...
BOO! TERR'ISTS! HAPPY HALLOWEEN! (Score:2)