Teenagers After My Own Heart

A couple of kids on the way home from Europe seem to have caused a minor ruckus when they landed at O'Hare Airport. Funny that the European end of security didn't catch them. Of course, maybe they did and realized that such things are about as dangerous as your average doorstop.

Baggage screeners at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport have discovered two World War I artillery shells in checked luggage that arrived on a flight from London.

The Transportation Security Administration says the bags belonged to a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old who were returning from a school field trip to Europe.

TSA spokesman Jim McKinney says a bomb disposal crew determined the shells were inert and no one was ever in danger.

The teens told law enforcement they obtained the shells at a French World War I artillery range...

The teens were questioned then allowed to travel onward. They weren't charged.

The article says the shells were "seized" but does not say if they were also released. I can think of no reason whatsoever to confiscate inert shells. They are nothing but chunks of iron, and in this case also historical artifacts.

More here.

MI6's Invisible Ink

Besides not reacting to iodine fumes, it likely had the advantage of raising morale, and, as the article says, "it had the advantage of being readily available."

Mansfield Cumming, the first chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) during the Great War apparently was delighted. James Bond, MI6's most famous, if fictional, member, would have been pleased. The invisible ink: fresh semen.

For more on the early days, see 'MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949' by Professor Keith Jeffery.

Chalk caves at the Battle of Arras

Here.

Note the life expectancy of a British pilot there after von Richtofen showed up with his Flying Circus. Sheesh.

Robert Hardman has the story in the Daily Mail.