July 5th -- When I heard about the shooting at LAX (sorry, I just can't call it "Bradley International"), my first reaction was in the form of a question, as in: what do you want to bet the triggerman's name is Mohamed?" Sure enough, it was.

And I suppose that is the real effect of 9/11. I was actually talking to my boss on the phone when the first plane hit. He was stuck in traffic on the Greorge Washington Bridge when I told him about a commercial jet colliding with the WTC. He said he could see the smoke. I went into historicaldave mode, explaining that this wasn't the first time a plane had hit a tall building in New York City; the first time it happened, a B-24 hit the Empire State on the 72nd floor in 1947. My boss, an Israeli, was impressed with my knowledge, but didn't think it was an accident. He said to me: "what to do want to bet the pilot was named Mohammed?"

Then, the second plane hit.