NEW YORK: PORT AUTHORITY



Things not permitted in the Port Authority

April 1, 2005 | 11:18 p.m. | New York, New York
Permanent link: http://www.offoffoff.com/opinion/offofftopic/20050327.php#e115

PICTURES: PICTURE A WEEK

Picture a week #5: Central Park, early spring

	(Click image for larger view.)

I've been very bad about posting a picture a week, mainly (here comes my big excuse) because the weather has been so lousy in New York. But today was foggy and in the 50s, and Central Park was full of people.

PICTURE A WEEK 2005 - More in this series -

Best thing I saw in the park — this couple enjoying nature together.

Additional pictures

April 1, 2005 | 11:15 p.m. | New York, New York
Permanent link: http://www.offoffoff.com/opinion/offofftopic/20050327.php#e114

NEWS: POPE JOHN PAUL II

John Paul's peace

Pope John Paul II — who has been described during this Terri Schiavo extravaganza week as setting an example for how to embrace "life" — appears now to be embracing death. According to ABC News:

Pope John Paul was in a "very grave" condition on Friday and appeared close to death after suffering heart failure and shock, the Vatican said in a statement. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the 84-year-old Pope had received the "Holy Viaticum" — communion reserved for those near death — and had decided himself not to go to hospital for treatment.

This is a bit of a surprise — and I think it's totally fine. The pope, who has repeatedly reminded the world that he believes in a "culture of life," is not fetishizing "life" to the point of abstraction, to the point where he insists on keeping his heart beating emptily a few more weeks. It seems to me to show great grace to accept death when it comes, without fear or dogma. I'm sure John Paul has peace in his heart at this moment, as Terri Schiavo appears to have had 15 years ago and as we all might hope to have when our time comes.

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April 1, 2005 | 2:50 a.m. | New York, New York
Permanent link: http://www.offoffoff.com/opinion/offofftopic/20050327.php#e113

TRAVEL: AIRPORT SECURITY

Catch twenty-shoe

	Somebody (not me) getting the full treatment from airport security.

I was going through "security" at Newark Airport on the way to LAX last week, and the woman running the carry-on conveyor belt said that removing your shoes was "recommended." Sensing a new wrinkle in the security protocol, I asked her if that meant I could keep my shoes on. She said yes, I could go through the metal detector and see if I got through, but if I set it off I would have to be searched.

Well, that sounded like a minor risk, since my shoes didn't have any metal in them. I went on through, and sure enough, I didn't set off the alarm.

Free to go? Not so fast. A big burly agent stopped me and told me to have a seat in the search area and, of course, remove my shoes. He ran the metal detector over me a couple times and gave me an "upper body patdown," none of which turned up anything. Before letting me go, he explained that I was searched because I fit a "shoe profile."

Related links:

March 27, 2005 | 12:58 p.m. | New York, New York
Permanent link: http://www.offoffoff.com/opinion/offofftopic/20050327.php#e112