It's one of them trenchcoat-wearin' terrorist types, good buddy

Via BoingBoing, a Time article on how the DHS is training truckers to report "suspicious activity":

Members of Highway Watch are given a secret toll-free number to report any suspicious behavior — people taking pictures of bridges, for example, or passengers handling heavy backpacks with unusual care. "We want to hear from you when something just doesn't look right," Beatty said. "Say you're out at a truck stop and you see someone hanging out near your truck, wearing a jacket. Maybe it's too hot out for a jacket. Go back inside, alert someone and check him out through the window."

I typically carry a backpack with about 15 pounds of books and a laptop computer, so I treat it fairly gingerly. I also live in a state where in the summertime it's frequently 85 degrees in the daytime and about 60 at night, and where building administrators typically turn the air conditioning to 'arctic' .... and the way my nervous system's wired, I find fans almost painfully distracting, so I wear a trenchcoat year-round.

I guess truckstops won't be getting many of my roadtrip dollars anymore.