List Of Land Borders I've Crossed

The following is a list of land borders I've crossed, along with the mode of transportation I've used to do so. (Bus means public bus while coach means long-haul motorcoach.) I'm including countries that are unconnected but for man-made structures as well as those which require waterway crossings. Borders are described by their official name where possible and otherwise by the two nearest cities on either side.

Argentina-Uruguay
Buenos Aires-Colonia (boat)

Austria-Hungary
Nickelsdorf-Hegyeshalom (coach, train)

Austria-Liechtenstein
Schaanwald-Feldkirch (bus, train)

Austria-Slovakia
Berg-Petrzalka (coach)

Belgium-France
Blandain-Sin (train)

Belgium-Luxembourg
Kleinbettingen-Sterpenich (train)

Canada-United States
Detroit-Windsor Tunnel (bus)
Highgate Springs-St. Armand (car)
Derby Line-Stanstead (coach, car)

Egypt-Israel
Taba (foot)

France-Germany
Huningue-Haltingen (foot)

France-Switzerland
Basel-St. Louis (train, foot)
Basel-Huningue (bus)
Le Chatelard-Vallorcine (train)

France-United Kingdom
Dover-Calais (train)

Germany-Switzerland
Basel-Haltingen (foot)
Freidrichshafen-Romanshorn (boat)
Rafz-Lottstetten (train)
Schaffhausen-Atlenburg (train)

Italy-Switzerland
Chiasso-Como (train)
Ribellasca (train)
Simplon Tunnel (train)

Italy-Vatican City
Vatican Museum (foot)
St. Peter's Square (foot)

Israel-Jordan
Yitzhak Rabin/Wadi Araba (foot)

Liechtenstein-Switzerland
Wartau-Balzers (bus)
Buchs-Schaan (train)

Malaysia-Singapore
Woodlands-Johor Bahru Causeway (bus, train)

Mexico-United States
Nogales-Nogales (foot)
San Ysidro-Tijuana (foot)

Socratic Method? So What?!

Law school education in the United States is typically characterized by the pedagogical technique known as the Socratic Method. Rather than lecturing to students on the holding and reasoning of judicial opinions they read in advance of class, professors instead ask questions of students in order to get them to tease out the details of the opinions themselves. Under the quintessential form of the Socratic Method, students do not volunteer to answer questions. Rather, students are liable to be called upon by the professor, at any time, without warning. While some professors spread their attention around the room, asking multiple students only a few questions each, others spend virtually the entire class period grilling one unlucky victim.

The main justification for the Socratic Method is that its prepares law students for practice, since attorneys appearing before a court need to think on their feet and answer any question a judge throws before them. The random, unsolicited nature of the cold-calling encourages students to thoroughly prepare for class, lest they founder or get called out by their professor in front of all their classmates. The Socratic Method is also recognized as a hazing ritual that all law students must undergo in order to be initiated into the esteemed fraternity of attorneys.

When I started law school as a 1L, the Socratic Method was scary. You dreaded being the person who was called upon and you dreaded even more being the person who stumbled through a case because you hadn't understood it, or (gasp!) hadn't even read it. You wanted to succeed, you wanted to do the best you could, you wanted to prove you were worthy, and you wanted the professor to approve of your insight and your effort.

In the final semester of my final year, the Socratic Method has become tiresome. When a classmate is called upon to explain the potential separation of powers violation in a given federal statutory scheme, I zone out. I really don't need to hear one of my classmates stumble through the analysis while the professor prompts (or misleads) them with follow-up questions. When the professor is engaged with one student, he isn't engaged with the other 79. Similarly, when it's my turn to answer, I know that nobody else is really paying attention, and if I do screw things up, I know that nobody really cares. I'm well past the supposed insecurities upon which the Socratic Method relies. And if someone at this point does experience joy at a classmate's struggles under Socratic pressure, they need to reexamine their priorities in life.

You don't become a 3L without being able to handle the Socratic Method. At this point, there's nothing to left to prove. I'm no longer afraid of any of my professors. I don't live in fear of humiliating myself in front of fellow students, since I know that like myself, they don't really care either. Professors need to just drop the charade when teaching upperclassmen and instead either just lecture or ask for volunteers. If they get a room full of blank stares with no hands raised when they ask a question, they need to examine their teaching style. The Socratic Method is a great way to motivate and indoctrinate new students, but by the time they've reached their third year, the Socratic Method has long since outlived its usefulness.

USA-Bound Flight Security Procedures

Listed below is a catalog of the security procedures for U.S.-bound flights at international airports I've passed through starting in Fall 2003 (once the 9/11 hysteria had largely subsided and more standardized procedures started to replace the ad hoc patches that were in place). This catalog also includes flights on U.S.-based carriers within a foreign country or between two foreign countries. All procedures are accurate as of the time I made the trip. I make no warranties as to what are currently in place.

For ease of reading, I define the following terms ahead of time:
WTMD: Walk-through metal detector. Assume no special procedures, e.g. shoe removal, unless otherwise specified.
X-ray machine: The standard machine we all know and love. Procedure may require separate inspection of laptop computer, liquid bag, etc.
Wanding: Personal inspection with handheld metal detector.
Patdown: Personal inspection by hand, unassisted by tools.
Secondary: Manual inspection of hand luggage. Unless otherwise specified as cursory, involves unpacking and repacking of luggage.
Gate-specific: Individual control point for specific gate with dedicated, segregated gate lounge.
Interview: Passengers questioned about destination, purpose of travel, length of stay, contents and/or control of luggage, etc.

Frankfurt-Main T1 (Nov. 2003, Transit Austria to USA, Lufthansa)
Additional security checkpoint for area of terminal reserved for USA flights. All passengers must show boarding pass, send hand luggage through x-ray machine, and submit to wanding/patdown. Checked luggage was screened in Frankfurt (though it was checked through to final destination and did not need to be reclaimed).

Paris-Roissy/Charles De Gaulle T1 (Jan. 2004, To USA, United)
Interview by airline-hired private security personnel to enter check-in area, x-ray and WTMD at entry to cluster of gates (all for USA flights), further interview by private security personnel before entering jetway, with some passengers sent to table for manual inspection of luggage and wanding.

Auckland-Jean Batten (Nov. 2004, To USA, Air New Zealand)
Standard WTMD and x-ray to enter airside area, additional checkpoint to enter area reserved for USA flights with another WTMD and x-ray (procedures no different than original checkpoint). After clearing checkpoint, some passengers pulled for manual inspection of luggage.

Madrid-Barajas (Jan. 2005, To USA, US Airways)
Interview by airline-hired private security personnel before checking in. X-ray and WTMD to enter airside area. Further interview by private security personnel before entering jetway. Separate security officer pulled passengers for manual inspection of luggage and wanding.

Amsterdam-Schiphol (Mar. 2005, Transit Spain to USA, Northwest)
Interview by airline-hired private security personnel before being allowed into gate area. Gate-specific WTMD and x-ray machine. Jackets needed to be removed (not required at checkpoint for intra-EU flights). No secondary inspection observed.

Frankfurt-Main T1 (Aug. 2005, To USA, Lufthansa)
Standard x-ray and WTMD to enter airside area. Additional security checkpoint for area of terminal reserved for USA flights. All passengers must show boarding pass, send hand luggage through x-ray machine, and submit to wanding/patdown. Checked luggage was screened in Frankfurt (though it was checked through to final destination and did not need to be reclaimed).

Sao Paolo-Guarulhos (Aug. 2005, Transit USA to Rio de Janeiro, United)
Passengers discharged into segregated arrivals passageway. X-ray and WTMD to reenter airside area. Interview by airline staff while on jetway. Secondary inspection table present but not in use.

Rio de Janeiro-Galeao/Antonio Carlos (Tom) Jobim (Aug. 2005, To USA via Sao Paolo, United)
Interview by airline staff before checking in. X-ray and WTMD to enter airside area. Further interview by airline staff while on jetway. Secondary inspection table present but not in use.

Sao Paolo-Guarulhos (Aug. 2005, Transit Rio de Janeiro to USA, United)
Passengers discharged into segregated arrivals passageway. X-ray and WTMD to reenter airside area. Interview by airline staff while on jetway (displaying boarding pass indicating through passage from Rio gets passengers waved through questioning). Two tables for secondary inspection present.

Vienna-Schwechat (Jan. 2006, To USA, Austrian)
Gate-specific security checkpoint with x-ray and WTMD, followed by cursory patdown for all passengers. Screened-off secondary inspection area present.

Osaka-Kansai (Apr. 2006, To USA, United)
X-ray for all luggage (checked and carry-on) to enter check-in area, with secondary inspection table present. Standard x-ray and WTMD to enter airside area, with shoe removal for passengers who alarm. Boarding pass check to enter area cordoned off for USA flights, with secondary inspection table present.

Toronto-Pearson (Jun. 2006, Transit United Kingdom to USA, Air Canada)
Transit passengers clear Canadian passport control and proceed to USA connections baggage claim. After boarding pass check, passengers (with checked luggage) must proceed through USA Customs and Border Protection pre-clearance, with passport control and interview followed by collection of customs declaration forms. Conveyor belt drop-off for checked luggage, followed by x-ray and WTMD with shoe removal.

Hong Kong-Chep Lap Kok (Mar. 2007, Transit USA to Singapore, United)
Passengers discharged into segregated arrivals passage. Standard x-ray and WTMD at security checkpoint for transit passengers. Cursory manual inspection of all hand luggage on jetway. Some passengers sent for wanding after hand luggage inspection.

Singapore-Changi (Mar. 2007, To USA via Japan, Singapore)
Gate-specific security checkpoint with standard x-ray and WTMD. Document authenticity check by government official after security.

Tokyo-Narita (Mar. 2007, Transit Singapore to USA, Singapore)
Passengers discharged into segregated arrivals passage. Standard x-ray and WTMD at security checkpoint for transit passengers. Some passengers pulled for secondary inspection before entering jetway.

Toronto-Pearson (May 2007, Transit Canada to USA, Air Canada)
Transit passengers enter USA connections baggage claim. After luggage tag check, passengers (with checked luggage) must proceed through USA Customs and Border Protection pre-clearance, with passport control and interview followed by collection of customs declaration forms. Conveyor belt drop-off for checked luggage, followed by x-ray and WTMD with shoe removal.

Halifax-Stanfield (Sep. 2007, Transit United Kingdom to USA, Air Canada)
Transit passengers clear Canadian passport control and proceed to USA departures area. Luggage is through-checked. After boarding pass check, security checkpoint with x-ray and WTMD with shoe removal. All passengers must proceed through USA Customs and Border Protection pre-clearance with passport control and interview.

Munich-Franz Joseph Strauss (Jan. 2008, To USA, Lufthansa)
Standard security checkpoint with x-ray and WTMD to enter airside area. Boarding pass check to enter area of terminal reserved for USA flights (non-USA citizens must supply Advance Passenger Information System data at this point), followed by additional, standard security checkpoint with x-ray and WTMD.

Enough Security Is Enough

The above title was the headline of an article from the Lufthansa airline magazine, which I read on my recent trip to Munich. (More details about that trip will be forthcoming within a week or so.) If an American airline executive made such a public statement, he'd earn himself a one-way trip to Gitmo. But in Europe, it represents a measured, common-sense response to the post-9/11 security hysteria.

At Frankfurt Airport, all passengers on flights bound for the USA had needed to pass through a special security checkpoint with x-ray inspection of hand luggage and a rather thorough wanding and patdown affectionately known as the "Frankfurt Feel-Up." Certain passengers would also be pulled for a manual inspection of their bags and/or their shoes. This secondary inspection was mandatory for all passengers, regardless of whether they were connecting or originating in Frankfurt (and hence had already passed through security control in Frankfurt). While I never received a satisfactory response for why a second checkpoint was needed, the two generally-accepted possible explanations are that there are special rules for U.S. bound flights and that connecting passengers needed to be screened at the airport of embarkation for the U.S. and the only way to do so was to re-screen everybody.

The article explained that the Frankfurt airport gate assignments were being reconfigured so that passengers who originated in Frankfurt or any other Schengen-zone country did not need to go through the Frankfurt Feel-Up. Whatever officials were in charge of such policy (and I don't know if they are U.S. officials, EU officials, airline officials, or airport officials) came to the realization that . Only those passengers connecting from outside the EU, who would arrive at the gates for U.S. flights via the SkyTrain, continue to face the Feel-Up (and given that some these passengers come from Africa, the Middle East, and India, it's a good idea).

Another pleasant security development I discovered during my trip was that the rule requiring duty-free liquids to be delivered to the gate of U.S.-bound flights has been relaxed. Among the EU countries, duty-free liquids packaged in a sealed, tamper-proof bag with a receipt from that day are considered secure. For some reason, the U.S. decided it needed its own, slightly different rule, just to make people's live more complicated. At Munich, however, I purchased my duty-free wine, beer, and mustard and took it through the special checkpoint for U.S. flights with no problems.

I commend the relevant officials (whoever they might be) for this step in the direction of a common-sense security procedure. Eventually, I'd like to see a Grand Unified Security Policy, in which all industrialized nations would recognize each other's security procedures as satisfactory and unify rules regarding liquids. Hopefully, someday, we'll get there.

Playing The Spread 2K7, Super Bowl XLII

I thought we had put this thing to bed, but it looks like I need to repeat myself one more time: Spygate (and I really resent that term, if only for the complete lack of originality, since the media has slapped the suffix "-gate" on the end of nearly every scandal over the past thirty years) does not tarnish what the Patriots did in the 2007 season, not one bit.

For those of you who haven't been paying attention, let me recap. In the first half of the opening game of the season, security personnel, tipped off by the New York Jets, seized a video camera being used by a member of the Patriots staff on the visiting team's sideline. Nobody ever saw that tape before it was seized. And after Roger Goodell imposed his unprecedented penalty, the Patriots did not continue with those shenanigans.

Now, theoretically speaking, there is a possibility that the videotaping activities benefited the Pats in their run to their first three Super Bowls. Accepting that possibility, though, means that you think Roger Goodell is a liar, since he openly stated the confiscated videotapes contained footage from six games, all of which took place since the Pats won their last championship. Yeah, you can point to yesterday's revelation from a former video assistant who claimed to have taped the Rams' pre-Super Bowl walkthrough in 2002, but the timing of the news strikes me as sour grapes.

The shocker of the day is that Senator Arlen Specter is calling for a congressional investigation. Unlike the steroids epidemic in baseball, the Pats' videotapes involved no laws being broken, and no allegations of perjury. It was merely a case of private industry taking action against one of its members who used allowable technological means to make otherwise permissible observations from a forbidden location. There's a war in Iraq and millions of homeless people on the streets, Senator!

If the Pats win tomorrow and cap off the greatest season in professional sports history, not only will it be completely unblemished in my eyes, it will be even more impressive given the target on their back from Week One and the boundless, season-long potential for distractions.

The following pick is for entertainment purposes only and should not be the basis for any actual cash wagers.

Last Week: 1-1
Season To Date: 118-136-12

Giants (+12) over Patriots
Hey Mercury Morris, we're in your neighborhood, we're on your block, and we're coming down your driveway! That doesn't mean I doubt it will be a close game, however. It's been a tale of two seasons for the Pats -- the high-flying aerial acrobatics that dominated the early part of the season have given way to a smashmouth, clutch, do-just-enough-to-win brand of football that has characterized December and the postseason. As much as I'd love to see Tom Brady and Randy Moss put the game away before Tom Petty takes the stage, I'm predicting a back-and-forth nailbiter. WIN

Top Five Exciting Super Bowl Finishes

1. Super Bowl XXV (Giants 20, Bills 19)
With the underdog Giants ahead by one point, the Bills received the ball on their own 10 from a punt with just over two minutes to go. They drove to the Giants' 29-yard-line, and with eight seconds left, Scott Norwood had the opportunity to make a last-second game-winning field goal. The snap went down, the ball went up, but it sailed wide right. With four seconds to go, the Giants took a knee and ran out the clock. The final score is (and always will be) the closest margin of victory in a Super Bowl game.

2. Super Bowl XXXVI (Patriots 20, Rams 17); Super Bowl XXXVIII (Patriots 32, Panthers 29)
We'll package these two games into a single entry. After the Rams tied the game with a touchdown, the Pats took possession with 1:24 to play and no timeouts. Ignoring John Madden's entreaties to take a knee and play for overtime, Tom Brady completed five out of six passes, driving to the Rams' 30. He spiked the ball with :07 to play, setting up Adam Vinatieri for a 48-yard FG which he converted as time expired. Two years, Vinatieri continued his magic, though he only got his chance after a wild, back-and-forth final quarter. After the Panthers went up 22-21, Brady drove the Pats 68 yards, throwing a touchdown to linebacker-cum-tight end Mike Vrabel and following that with a direct snap to Kevin Faulk for the two-point conversion. Carolina responded with a drive of its own, capped off by a game-tying 12-yard pass to Ricky Proehl with 1:08 to play. But an out-of-bounds penalty on the ensuing kickoffs gave the Pats great field position and allowed them to drive to the Panthers' 23, where Vinatieri once again converted the clutch field goal with :04 to go.

3. Super Bowl XXXIV (Rams 23, Titans 16)
Down by a touchdown after a Kurt Warner pass to Isaac Bruce, the Titans took possession at their own 10-yard-line with 1:54 to play. Short completions to Derrick Mason, Frank Wycheck, and Kevin Dyson, plus a couple of fortuitous penalties, put the Titans on the Rams' 10 with six seconds to play and no more timeouts. Steve McNair threw a short dump to Dyson down the middle. Dyson appeared to have a clear path to the end zone, but Rams' linebacker Mike Jones tackled Dyson one yard short of the goal line. The image of Dyson stretching his arm as far as it could go in an futile effort to nail down a final score is what defines this Super Bowl.

4. Super Bowl XXIII (49ers 20, Bengals 16)
A field goal gave the Bengals a 16-13 lead with 3:20 to play and the 49ers found themselves backed up to their own eight-yard-line thanks to a penalty on the kickoff. To relieve some of the pressure from his teammates, Joe Montana huddled them up, then pointed out John Candy in the stands. From that point, Montana completed seven of eight passes, interspersed with two Roger Craig runs and a 10-yard illegal man downfield penalty, as part of a 92-yard drive, eventually finding John Taylor in the end zone from 10 yards out with :34 to play.

5. Super Bowl V (Colts 16, Cowboys 13)
The Blunder Bowl was tied at 13 with less than two minutes to play. The Cowboys had the ball on the Colts' 48 after a punt, but thanks to a rush for a one-yard loss and a 15-yard spot foul holding penalty, the Cowboys were faced with 2nd and 35 from their own 27. Craig Morton then threw a pass to running back Dan Reeves, but the ball passed through is hands and straight to Colts linebacker Mike Curtis, who returned it to the Cowboys' 28. Colts kicker Jim O'Brien strode onto the field to attempt the game-winning FG. O'Brien had an extra point blocked earlier in the game, but this time around, his kick was true and the Colts took their first and only lead of the game with only five seconds remaining.