Aftershocks and Afterthoughts

The scenes from London are terrible, but it seems things could have been a whole lot worse. For one, note how many eyewitnesses claim to be in the cars next to the ones that were bombed - flying glass and smoke inhalation sound like the majority of their injuries. Those were some well-built carriages, man.

Rudy Giuliani, harbinger of doom. Learning from bagpipers, it seems, Rudy will soon be taking money NOT to make any speaking appearances: "Rudolph Giuliani, the mayor of New York at the time of the September 11, 2001, attacks, was visiting London at the time of today's attacks." And to add to the list of celebrity suspects, weren't Bob Geldof and Bono threatening to disrupt the G8 meeting? (I'll go to any lengths to shut those two up!)

What impressed me most today was the relative lack of panic (in the streets of London). Everybody regrouped and took it in stride (and no DJs were hanged). It occurred to me that Londoners, through the historical Darwinism of Luftwaffe blitzkrieg, IRA bombings, and everyday dealings with millions of annoying tourists, are pretty damn hard to faze.