USS Clueless - Fear
     
     
 

Stardate 20021020.1304

(On Screen): As I was coming home with my daily Starbucks, I heard some deep-throated booms in the distance, very distant, very loud. It wasn't thunder. It most resembled the sound of the flash-rockets they use in fireworks displays which go off  all at once to make the loudest possible noise.

Except that it was deeper, not as treble. Sometimes several of them seemed to happen in close succession. Then there was a pause, and maybe a couple more. I've never been near when military munitions have gone off, but it seemed as if what I was hearing was bombs going off.

The next time someone wants to attack the US, San Diego would be a particularly good target. It's a port, making access easy. There's a major naval base here. It's large, rich, beautiful and well known around the world. We'd be a beautiful target. And I found myself wondering if there was some sort of attack going on.

It stopped about ten minutes ago, and I went and looked at the local news, fearing to read that there'd been a bombing attack on Coronado Island. What I actually found out is that the Blue Angels are performing at the Miramar airbase today. What I think I was hearing was sonic booms.

Yes, I'm afraid. But to not be afraid when you are in danger is foolishness. Any of us could be attacked at any time. In this war, as in the Cold war, there is "front".

Update 20021021: Clark, who lives here in San Diego, writes:

Just FYI, the explosions you heard from the airshow were probably not sonic booms. Part of the airshow (I didn't attend, but listened to part of it on KOGO 600) was a simulation of a marine landing in hostile territory. The procedure was something like this.

1. They carpet bomb the area using F-18's (killing anything that might shoot at a marine)
2. They bring in the marines, escorted by Cobra helicopters, which can, once again, kill anything that even thinks about shooting at a Marine.
3. They rope-drop the marines, who then proceed to blow up anything that they don't like.

In any of these steps, I guess they had a considerable amount of explosions, etc, going off. That is probably what you heard. The Blue Angels sure looked pretty though (saw them from a distance.)

If so, then what I heard really was bombs. That makes sense; the pattern of booms really didn't quite make sense as sonic booms, and the Blue Angels don't break the sound barrier that often during their show.


include   +force_include   -force_exclude

 
 
 

Main:
normal
long
no graphics

Contact
Log archives
Best log entries
Other articles

Site Search

The Essential Library
Manifesto
Frequent Questions
Font: PC   Mac
Steven Den Beste's Biography
CDMA FAQ
Wishlist

My custom Proxomitron settings

Captured by MemoWeb from http://denbeste.nu/cd_log_entries/2002/10/Fear.shtml on 9/16/2004