They should make a movie out of this.

Japanese tourist Hiroshi Nohara is on a layover at the Mexico City airport. It has lasted almost three months, and he has no plans to leave.

For reasons he can't explain, Nohara has been in Terminal 1 of the Benito Juarez International Airport since September 2, surviving off donations from fast food restaurants and passengers and sleeping in a chair.

At first, he frightened passengers, and airport authorities asked the Japanese Embassy to investigate why the foul-smelling man refused to leave.

Now, he's somewhat of a celebrity, capturing Mexico's collective imagination with nearly daily television news reports on his life at the food court.

Tourists stop to pose with him for photographs or get an autograph.

The Tokyo native flew into Mexico with a tourist visa and a return ticket home, but he never left the airport. In an interview on Thursday alongside the airport McDonald's, he said he had no motive for his extended stay and doesn't know how much longer he'll remain.

"I don't understand why I'm here," he said through a visiting interpreter originally hired by a television station. "I don't have a reason."

The embassy can't force him to leave, and since Nohara's visa is valid all Mexican officials can do is wait for it to expire in early March.

During his stay, Nohara's wiry goatee has grown into a scraggly mass. His red-tinted hair is speckled with dust and dandruff, and his cream-coloured jacket and fleece blanket are dingy with overuse. He smells like he hasn't had a shower in months.

"He's a calm person, a nice man," said Silvia Navarrete del Toro, an airport janitor. "He just sits here and eats all day."

Various stalls in the food court give Nohara free snacks and drinks, sometimes even throwing in hats or coffee mugs with store logos to get free publicity during his frequent television appearances.

Strangers often buy him pastries or hamburgers; he prefers the latter.

He sits with the interpreter, talking and laughing for hours, at a small table covered with cups of cold coffee, packets of ketchup and sandwiches wrapped in foil.

Stroking his facial hair, Nohara said the 2004 film The Terminal, starring Tom Hanks as an Eastern European man stuck in a New York City airport, was not his inspiration. But he acknowledged the similarities.

"My life is The Terminal 2," he joked.

Source: www.smh.com.au
Date: 24 November 2008

Tom Hanks starred in a movie based on this same subject?
It was called The Terminal.

Life can be so strange at times.

Attitudes we have.

We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon.

Konrad Adenauer

Negativity

Peter Irvine, co-founder of Gloria Jean's Coffees writes: People who are in a negative state of mind will usually exaggerate the situation. They will often declare,"Everyone says this won't work!" or "Everyone thinks we should give up!" There have been many occasions where people have come to me and made similar statements such as, "Everyone is doing it this way." But when you ask who everyone includes, almost always you'll find that everyone ends up being one or two people. So in response to these sweeping statements, I learned to ask the question, "Who is everyone?" It's actually never anyone.

Too many unfair judgements have been made through ignorance. Have all the information in front of you before you pass judgement on a situation or on someone. After all, that's what you would want others to do to you.

He goes on to say.....

Negativity stunts your growth. If you have a negative attitude, you will stop growing; you will stop making wise decisions and this will slow your progress. People with a negative mindset tend to believe that every decision they make will bring about a poor result. If you are like that, you need to fight those thoughts by reminding yourself of your successes. You need to remind yourself of what you have achieved to date and start to develop and more balanced, positive attitude. By maintaining a negative spirit, you limit your effectiveness in the present and you sabotage your future; you stop moving towards the resources that will eventually bring you success.

So you see that viewing every situation from a negative point of view is not a great way to manage your business, run your life or maintain relationships with other people. It's so easy to be negative with other people, but we have to learn to be positive and to see the best in each situation. We have to get away from the ceiling mentality in which we believe we have reached the ceiling or the potential in our business or relationships. if you believe you have achieved all that you can ever achieve, then you must believe that there are no more opportunities for you.

Would a pilot carry a bomb?

Pilot allowed to fly despite positive test for explosive.
Author: Natalie O'Brien
Publication: The Australian
Date: 5 November 2008

A VIRGIN Blue pilot who tested positive for traces of explosives and then avoided security guards was allowed to continue unchecked and fly a passenger aircraft.

The security breach at Sydney's domestic airport in August was sparked when the pilot, who has not been identified, was selected for the random explosives testing but left the security screening area while guards were waiting for the results of the sample.

Instead of calling in the Australian Federal Police and grounding all the outbound Virgin Blue flights until the pilot was found, the guards covered up the security breach.

An investigation by The Australian into the incident has exposed a widespread problem with the testing of pilots that could be exploited by terrorists.

Security sources say pilots are often not selected for the explosives testing because of their aggressive attitude towards it.

It is understood that there have been several incidents in Australian airports in which pilots have refused the random explosives test, leading to reprimands from the airlines.

Aviation security experts warned of the risks involved in pilots refusing to undergo the tests.

Nick O'Brien, an associate professor in counter terrorism at Charles Sturt University, said: "If it became known that pilots were immune to screening it would be tempting to train as a pilot and get a job or target them and steal their passes."

The explosive trace scanners can give false-positive readings, which are triggered by high-nitrogen content fertilisers, some perfumes or shoe polish. Positive readings can also be given by people who have come into contact with fireworks or who have been to a fireworks display.

Last year, two Qantas pilots, one a captain, refused to remove their shoes for screening after setting off security alarms.

A spokesman for the Department of Infrastructure said yesterday it was aware of the incident in August at Sydney airport. He said the actions of the Virgin Blue pilot were unacceptable and a breach of the security procedures.

"Aviation security regulations require that airports and airlines ensure that all persons entering a sterile area of an airport (including air crew) be screened," the spokesman said. "Explosive trace detection sampling is one layer of the screening process. Undertaken on a random and continuous basis, it may result in flight crew being selected for sampling."

SNP Security, the company that employed the guards, said it had sacked three staff involved in the security breach and cover-up.

"A thorough SNP Security investigation took place following the incident, and upon completion of the investigation appropriate disciplinary action was taken," a company spokeswoman said.

A Virgin Blue spokeswoman said the company was investigating the allegations.

The revelations about the security breach come as it was revealed that British security services had discovered up to 100 potential terrorists posing as postgraduate students. It is believed the suspects tried to gain access to laboratories to obtain the materials and expertise needed to create chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons.

I don't want to sound flippant here but really, would a pilot carry a bomb on to an aircraft, fly it, then explode the bomb?
Why not just crash the thing in the first place?
I fully understand where the authorities are coming from and I also experience first hand the frustration of pilots who, more than daily, are compelled to undergo these tests.
Their reasoning is simple. Why would I carry a bomb, I fly the thing. If I wanted to cause chaos, I'd just crash the thing. No-one would be able to stop me.

I must say, I understand their logic.

As for training as a pilot so they can get a bomb on to an aircraft, well hasn't that already happened. September 11 2001 I recall. Except they didn't carry a bomb, they just used the aircraft as one.
If you wanted to impersonate a pilot so you could get a bomb on board your still not going to get off the ground because you can't fly. In which case you'd set the bomb off on the ground which you could do easily before you go through any security screening point.

Maybe we could just screen everyone before they get in their car to drive to the airport.
Now there's a thought........