Thoughts needed...

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

There was a chemical explosion in my high school today, my cousin still goes there, I still have a lot of friends there and theres not much detail on the story so im a little angsty right now...

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news%2Flocal%2Fchicago_news&id=9437528

Edit: Since I posted the link it updated to say only 3 students were injured (thankfully)

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

There was a chemical explosion in my high school today, my cousin still goes there, I still have a lot of friends there and theres not much detail on the story so im a little angsty right now...

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news%2Flocal%2Fchicago_news&id=9437528

Since they're students most likely under the age of 18 they won't release names to the public until the familes are notified first.  So if your cosuin is involved you'll probably hear something through the family grapevine first.

[mr.MUskie]

Hot chocolate explosion in cooking class.  Really.

[🏀]

You may want to stay away from Malek Harris and chemistry labs.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Ok I obviously put this up before the update. It was very criptic. All it said was chemisty lab explosion at NCP. I know exactly what class theyre talking about too.

[reinko]

[🏀]

That coffee maker. Want.

[mr.MUskie]

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Northside-College-Prep-Evacuated-After-Reported-Fire-246178351.html

[Tugg Speedman]

There was a chemical explosion in my high school today, my cousin still goes there, I still have a lot of friends there and theres not much detail on the story so im a little angsty right now...

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news%2Flocal%2Fchicago_news&id=9437528

great school!

[keefe]

In the grand scheme of things a hot chocolate explosion is right up there with the Hindenburg and Titanic.

The Chicago FD was called and the entire school was evacuated because some kids overheated hot chocolate? In the past 10 years this country has lost its sense of perspective. Everything triggers an over reaction. There is a report of an explosion in the chemistry lab and the people in charge call the FD before establishing Situational Awareness? I really hope the idiot who called the FD was held accountable for making a dumb decision.

Every community in America has a SWAT team. The local Bellevue PD actually has several MRAPs. For what? I have no idea of their arms training or physical fitness standards but these guys lumber around with assault rifles and wear tactical gear that must have spandex waist bands to accommodate their guts.

I was in a Bellevue Starbucks last August when 4 squad cars and an MRAP arrive and haul some guy outside. I asked one of the cops what was going on and he said the "suspect" made comments about Islam that another patron didn't appreciate. I commented that it sounds like he was exercising his 1st Amendment rights. The cop replied that his Department takes "Hate crimes" very seriously! Turns out the guy was simply saying he disagreed with the French Hijab laws!

4 of us returned to the States from Iraq to debrief some findings on IEDs. Our itinerary took us from Baghdad to SATX then DC via ORD. A snow storm hit and so we were forced to RON in Chicago. This was a slam dunk 3 day trip so we had no civvies and only hand held helmet bags.

The morning we were flying out we put our hand helds through the X Ray machine and the TSA idiot hits some secret alarm. A TSA or Chicago PD SWAT team shows up with weapons drawn and they are screaming at a guy in an AF uniform with AFSOC patches to get down on the floor. They then proceeded to jump all over him and were screaming about a bomb.

Our guy is a Chief Master Sgt, Silver Star-decorated Purple Heart wearing TACP who had bomb fragments individually bagged for presentation to Gen Alexander, the Director of NSA. Rather than assess the situation properly they triggered a full scale weapons drawn tactical response.

All of this is completely unnecessary but, rather than exercise common sense, people now go to General Quarters over the most innocuous bull sheet. Hot chocolate explodes? Call the Fire Department! Guy uses the word "Islam?" Call the police (who then dispatch overwhelming lethal force!) Perhaps this is all driven by Check Six Litigation Management Procedures but it is unnecessary. And someday, some ill-trained Danger Ranger wanna-be's finger is going to slip and then there will be a legitimate tragedy. 

[mr.MUskie]

Anything to get out of a pop quiz.

[warriorchick]

In the grand scheme of things a hot chocolate explosion is right up there with the Hindenburg and Titanic.

What's with all the cynicism today, Keefe?  First your remark about laid-off staff not needing prayers and now this......

[Tugg Speedman]

These are the kids that blew themselves up boiling hot chocolate.

Northside College Preparatory High School (commonly referred to as Northside College Prep, Northside Prep, NCP, or simply Northside) is a public four-year selective enrollment high school located in the North Park neighborhood on the northside of Chicago, Illinois, USA. Founded in 1999, it was the first new CPS high school to be built in 20 years. It is a selective enrollment school, and teaches only at the Honors and AP levels (excluding the P.E. department). Northside has earned a reputation for academic excellence, and has been consistently ranked as the #1 public high school in Illinois by US News and World Report. As of 2013, it was ranked #33 in the nation by US News and World Report.[2][3]

[keefe]

What's with all the cynicism today, Keefe?  First your remark about laid-off staff not needing prayers and now this......

It's not cynicism. I just think we as a society have lost perspective on many things. Middle class Americans getting laid off is a financial set-back with emotional consequences but hardly prayer worthy. Their destiny is completely within their own control. Furthermore, the degree of tragedy is minor when one considers what others have to deal with. I find that too much prayer is nothing more than narcissism – "Please, God, let him make these free throws so Marquette wins..." or "God, please let there be a parking space for me at Bellevue Square." 

Often times, people seek divine assistance without fully engaging in an act-based methodology for ethical reflection. If people would take a deontological view, where categorical imperatives and intrinsic good drive prayer, the Lord's Prayer Hotline would have far less traffic.

One of my favorite Jesuits was Fr Davitt who argued correctly that there are Moral Absolutes within a meta-ethical construct. Augustine and Aquinas wrote that ethical correctness and intrinsic good stems from God's Will and would say that praying for someone to get another job is not a proper use of prayer (though, perhaps, the quest for wisdom is.)

[wadesworld]

In the grand scheme of things a hot chocolate explosion is right up there with the Hindenburg and Titanic.

The Chicago FD was called and the entire school was evacuated because some kids overheated hot chocolate? In the past 10 years this country has lost its sense of perspective. Everything triggers an over reaction. There is a report of an explosion in the chemistry lab and the people in charge call the FD before establishing Situational Awareness? I really hope the idiot who called the FD was held accountable for making a dumb decision.

Every community in America has a SWAT team. The local Bellevue PD actually has several MRAPs. For what? I have no idea of their arms training or physical fitness standards but these guys lumber around with assault rifles and wear tactical gear that must have spandex waist bands to accommodate their guts.

I was in a Bellevue Starbucks last August when 4 squad cars and an MRAP arrive and haul some guy outside. I asked one of the cops what was going on and he said the "suspect" made comments about Islam that another patron didn't appreciate. I commented that it sounds like he was exercising his 1st Amendment rights. The cop replied that his Department takes "Hate crimes" very seriously! Turns out the guy was simply saying he disagreed with the French Hijab laws!

4 of us returned to the States from Iraq to debrief some findings on IEDs. Our itinerary took us from Baghdad to SATX then DC via ORD. A snow storm hit and so we were forced to RON in Chicago. This was a slam dunk 3 day trip so we had no civvies and only hand held helmet bags.

The morning we were flying out we put our hand helds through the X Ray machine and the TSA idiot hits some secret alarm. A TSA or Chicago PD SWAT team shows up with weapons drawn and they are screaming at a guy in an AF uniform with AFSOC patches to get down on the floor. They then proceeded to jump all over him and were screaming about a bomb.

Our guy is a Chief Master Sgt, Silver Star-decorated Purple Heart wearing TACP who had bomb fragments individually bagged for presentation to Gen Alexander, the Director of NSA. Rather than assess the situation properly they triggered a full scale weapons drawn tactical response.

All of this is completely unnecessary but, rather than exercise common sense, people now go to General Quarters over the most innocuous bull sheet. Hot chocolate explodes? Call the Fire Department! Guy uses the word "Islam?" Call the police (who then dispatch overwhelming lethal force!) Perhaps this is all driven by Check Six Litigation Management Procedures but it is unnecessary. And someday, some ill-trained Danger Ranger wanna-be's finger is going to slip and then there will be a legitimate tragedy. 

Us 20 somethings are such puss!es for not having gone to war and see people shot and bombed to smithereens.  Anything less than that warrants no reaction.  We get it, you make your point every week.

[keefe]

Us 20 somethings are such puss!es for not having gone to war and see people shot and bombed to smithereens.  Anything less than that warrants no reaction.  We get it, you make your point every week.

You miss the point entirely.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Again, when I first saw this article literally all the information said was chem lab explosion at Northside College Prep. Thats pretty cryptic. Keefe, enough with the war stories, theyre really getting old.

[wadesworld]

You miss the point entirely.

No, I get the point.  A dude brought bomb fragments through TSA security and the police force aggressively reacted.  They should've known he was a war vet who allows those same police officers to have freedom and a job in this country and that he was just going to a display show before they reacted like that.  Then again, we have had people in our country slip pocket knives past TSA security, hijack planes, and fly them into large buildings while killing nearly 3,000 people.  Why even have TSA security?  Why lock cockpit doors?  That's few and far between.  We overreact to everything in this country nowadays.  Back when you flew through Nam they you were unlatching the lid of your plane mid flight.  Now we need to protect pilots?  Puss!es.