Strange to read about a would-be terrorist (is his name Achmed?) who strapped a bomb to his thigh, near his crotch. He was overpowered after the bomb failed (gave him 30% burns) and now security at all airports have been tightened. Hope all my friends travelling are not too inconvinienced by this. Many thoughts ran through my head when i read about this:
1) was the bomb still strapped to his crotch when he tried to set it off? Then it may only be minor burn but is a painful 30% to bear
2) how is airport security going to react? More "is that a bomb in your pants or are you just happy to see me?" quotes perhaps?
3) surely some other passenger must have noticed this guy fiddling with his....err....fly mid-flight? "Er, dude, the mile-high club usually admits 2 at a time, going Hans Solo is not counted one"
In other news, this caught my eye:
A FORMER board member of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) was fined $10,000 for forging a certificate when registering as a patent agent in 2002. Ho Ying Dat, 52, who pleaded guilty on Monday, could have been jailed for up to two years.
His lawyer B. Ganesh said that Ho, a Malaysian and a Singapore permanent resident, had passed the examinations set by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in April 1992.
However, he failed to fulfil the residency qualification of working in the US for a year. The Malaysian returned here as his father was very ill then.
In July 1992, he set up his own patent firm Lawrence Y.D. Ho & Associates, with his wife.
In 2002, IPOS required all patent agents to be licensed. Ho was worried he may not be registered as he did not have certification and decided to forge an USPTA certificate.
So everyone has to try hard to pass (average 20-30% passrate) at the annual patent agent exams that are set by the board at IPOS which this guy was sitting on? Hope people dun feel too bummed by this.
New Year's post coming up!
