EMPIRE STATE BLDG.: IDIOT MAGNET

Last week the Empire State Building's 75th birthday party was crashed by Jeb Corliss. Corliss, an expert BASE jumper and (now former) Discovery Channel host, duped building security with little more than a rubber mask and a fat suit that allowed him to sneak his parachute, helmet and camera in along with him. He then tore the suit off and made it outside the fence on the 86th floor observation deck and was about to jump when police and security grabbed him by his legs and handcuffed him to the gate. It turns out someone tipped the building off to Corliss' plan earlier in the day, so extra officers were on hand. After wrestling through the fence for 15 minutes, they managed to drag Corliss back onto solid ground and quickly hauled him off to jail, where he was charged with reckless endangerment and resisting arrest. NYPD Deputy Inspector James McCarthy said, "In the worst-case scenario his parachute doesn't open and he kills a number of people walking by." Nobody acknowledged the other worst-case scenario, and the implications of a man slipping by security with electronics and a bulky package strapped to his chest and back, wandering freely into a crowded area in the city's remaining famous building. For all the wiretaps, bag checks and terror alerts, Corliss showed New York that it's a fat suit away from another 9/11.