Bomb Scare

"No one seemed very much concerned about this world or the future, unless it might be the anarchists, and they only because they disliked the present." (education of Henry Adams, Chapter 23)

As you might expect, I would quote Henry Adams in a moment of trial. We had a bomb scare this morning. A suspicious package at 20th & F. The DC police cordoned a 9 block area and prevented us from entering 1957 E. Traffic in Foggy Bottom stopped. I spent much of the morning sitting in the quad exhausting the battery on my phone and answering email in that order. They ultimately blew up the package but they have yet to confirm that it was a bomb.

It is far to easy to say that the police over reacted, that they restricted activity when they needn't have done so. However, that is a first reaction and first reactions are more often too quick to achieve a full assessment. At best, I can judge that the weather was quite decent, that it was rather fun to answer email in the quad while all the students in the last CI paraded through the campus, that it was a good way to end the month of June.

The news has reported that the package was a suitcase that resembled a pipebomb. As today was the last CI, it might have been a suit case from some hapless freshman. It might also have been a suit case that was supposed to appear to be a pipebomb. In either case, it was pleasant day, one that was difficult to dislike. Even if you were an anarchist.

DAG