Hired pretend 'terrorist students' ravage colleges and highschools with understood timing so nobody gets hurt but everybody learns something.
-- daseva, May 01 2010

Wikipedia: Trench Coat Mafia http://en.wikipedia...old#Media_confusion
Not involved in the Columbine shooting, as DrWorm points out. [jutta, May 06 2010]

(?) Practice, practice, practice http://www.teddytac.../activeshooter.html
[normzone, Jun 27 2010]

It's a common misconseption that the Trench Coat Mafia actually had anything to do with the Columbine shootings. They didn't. Besides, this might give students the wrong idea. Shooters are often unstable and unpredictable; the best thing to do is to lock down, which is already a drill.

[-], just because I really honestly don't think this would work out well.
-- DrWorm, May 01 2010


I think this would lead to a shooter using the confusion of the day to pull off the real thing more easily.

The problem with bullying nowadays, and the reason these kids lose it is because the bullying has gone techno.
It's the crap that goes down away from school and the fact that they are slammed on the internet and in texts that pushes them over the edge.
There's no escape from it.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, May 01 2010


I think fire drills help me cope with the absolute terror of a building burning down to the ground while everybody screams. I was running with that idea, in retrospect, perhaps.
-- daseva, May 05 2010


[21 Q] has really thought this one o.. oh wait It's not his idea. too bad [-]
-- dentworth, May 06 2010


kinda baked, a lot of school districts have plans and policies in place, the scenarios are too different etc for them to be drilled really.
-- metarinka, May 06 2010


These events are few and far between but surely, equipping members of the criminal fraternity with power-tools is not the answer.
-- zen_tom, May 07 2010


yes! because what we really need in this society is more hysteria. [-]
-- Voice, Jun 25 2010


I actually thought about the whole terrorist student thing when my stepdaughters were doing their under-grad. I discussed it with them after a student shot a bunch of kids at Virginia Tech in 2007. My idea for them was, upon hearing the first shot, squirt ketchup on themselves and fall to the ground, remaining as inert as possible, reasoning that the thrift-conscious student terrorist would not want to waste a second bullet on someone he (or she) already shot. The idea was summarily dismissed, and they went on to graduate without incident.
-- Grogster, Jun 25 2010


// what we really need in this society is more hysteria //

Yes, but where would you fit it in ? There's no room ...

Actually, the much decried Cold War "Duck and Cover" training was not entirely without merit.
-- 8th of 7, Jun 25 2010


//not entirely without merit// A resounding endorsement if I ever heard one.
-- mouseposture, Jun 26 2010


//Actually, the much decried Cold War "Duck and Cover" training was not entirely without merit.//

I've always seen the duck and cover drills being made fun of in the smarmy "Let's make fun of the 50s" videos being portrayed as a futile exercise in survival to engage in while the world comes to an end.

Ducking and covering would have prevented hundreds or thousands from being mamed and killed in an atomic war. What about the after effects of the blast like fallout? Well, your chances of survival are greatly decreased if you get killed in the initial blast.

The destruction wrought by an fission bomb (the atom bombs of the time) leaves a zone some distance from ground zero that's survivable if you're under cover and much less survivable if you're standing by a window or upright outdoors. Ducking and covering made good sense. Yea, if the bomb hits you in the butt you're dead but who knew where the bomb was hitting exactly?

I say let the intellectuals stand tall in the open waxing philosophical about the futility of trying to survive a nuclear blast if the alarms sound. I'm taking cover. Fusion bombs are survivable at some distance too so might as well do what you can.

Of course we probably won't get any official warning if terrorists get a nuke but I wouldn't run to the window to see what's happening if there were a bright flash outside.

On the other hand you probably don't want to hit the deck every time somebody takes a picture with a flash bulb.
-- doctorremulac3, Jun 26 2010


Doc - it's the double-flash that let's you know it's a nuclear blast. A really bright (blue-white) quick one that's shut off suddently and followed by a longer pulse of white-yellow-red fading. The mechanism is the superheated atmosphere becoming opaque and blocking out the initial pulse, then itself becoming incandescent and fading as the fireball expands. At least that's what I've read.

So hit the deck when two people take photos in rapid succession.
-- Custardguts, Oct 03 2011


//Ducking and covering would have prevented hundreds or thousands from being mamed and killed in an atomic war.//

really? That many? Hundreds of people might have been saved out of a US population of ... 240 million or so? That's quite a success rate (0.0004%, for 1000 extra survivers)

What was the opportunity cost of the program?

Seriously, I think people were/are more amused by the tone of it than the message itself.
-- Loris, Oct 03 2011



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