Duck and Cover

No one can say we're not on the cutting edge here in Boston. Consider the big doin's  my hometown has going on today: a rehearsal for what would happen if a large scale terrorist attack took place. They put it in the paper yesterday to give people the heads-up, which seems like a REALY good idea when you remember what happened with those low-flying planes in New York last winter.So see what you think of this for today’s tourist. The City of Boston and Homeland Security are planning a series of what they are calling "scenarios" with fake terrorists who will be  

• shooting a simulated weapon inside the Boston Marriott Copley Place
• seizing a control room in Everett, and taking hostages on a boat in Winthrop,
• issuing threats to detonate explosive devices at Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, at the old Quincy High School in Quincy, aboard an Amtrak train, and in a market in Everett.
• There will also be an exercise to test teams responding to a structural collapse of some sort at the Quincy Shipyard.

"The weekend will culminate with two large exercises - one tomorrow evening and Sunday morning at a cruise terminal in South Boston - modeled after terror attacks in Mumbai. The exercise will include a car being set on fire, a partial building collapse, pretend shooters, explosions, and fake mass casualties, and will test how local law enforcement, as well as the FBI, National Guard, Coast Guard, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, coordinate.

But not to worry: "It’s an exercise. Repeat: Do not call 911. It is just a test."So come to Boston where we really know how to celebrate a return to the warmth.  Who needs fireworks and a street fair?  [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW4s7TETtJA&feature=related]