I have bunches of tabs open in my browser window, some having been sitting there for days waiting for me to post them. No time to do all the ranting I would like, but I’d like to close my browser, so I’m just going to start a post and squeeze in a minute or two on it here and there as the night progresses. No sense just putting the links on my desktop, because I have noticed I never get back to them again … and just like on the old computer, I have a folder full of dated folders on links to stuff I wanted to post and never got back to. The news, it doesn’t slow down. It just keeps coming day after day after day. Ugh.
Anyway … it’s long, so behind the cut it goes. :)
Clowns in the UK are having a hard time of it. Don’t use balloons. Some children may be allergic. Don’t use bubble machines. A child may slip and hurt themselves. And whatever you do, do NOT form a balloon into a gun shape. It might promote violence. Swords though are A-OK. I look forward to the day when we all live in our identical and perfectly safe houses, drive our identical and perfectly safe cars, and no harm will ever come to anyone from anything, because all the life and color has been sucked out of living. Won’t that be just grand? :rolleyes:
In case you hadn’t already heard, Mattel has recalled some more Chinese-made toys. One of them is even a Barbie doll (with pooping dog). Also, there are apparently some lead-tainted baby bibs in Toys-R-Us stores. Yes, of course, those also come from China.
“A lot of people like to say, uh, scaremonger about China, right? A lot of politicians, and I know you talk about that issue all the time. I think people should be careful what they wish for on China. Ya know, if China were to revalue it’s currency or China is to start making say, toys that don’t have lead in them or food that isn’t poisonous, their costs of production are going to go up and that means prices at Wal-Mart here in the United States are going to go up too. So, I would say China is our greatest friend right now, they’re keeping prices low and they’re keeping the prices for mortgages low, too.”
It’s true that if China started putting out products that didn’t contain poisonous substances and lived up to the standards of any first-world country, the prices at Walmart would, in fact, go up. I don’t see this as a bad thing. Food shouldn’t be full of chemicals and antibiotics, and toys shouldn’t contain lead. Everyone should be more than willing to pay whatever price it takes to make certain these things remain true. To believe that having low prices at Walmart is more important than buying quality products that aren’t going to cause anyone harm is like saying “I know I just drank a bottle of poison, but it only cost me a buck!”
What might happen if China starts putting out decent, non-harmful products and prices go up to reflect that? Maybe kids will get less than ten thousand toys each at Xmas and instead of eating a quarter-pound of catfish at dinner instead of a pound will be the norm. I see neither of these things as being negative outcomes. But no, apparently many Americans don’t care what they put in their bodies or give to their kids, so long as they can get it cheaply. :mad:
Now, a little closer to home:
The U.S.’s top intelligence official has greatly expanded the range of federal and local authorities who can get access to information from the nation’s vast network of spy satellites in the U.S.
The decision, made three months ago by Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell, places for the first time some of the U.S.’s most powerful intelligence-gathering tools at the disposal of domestic security officials. The move was authorized in a May 25 memo sent to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking his department to facilitate access to the spy network on behalf of civilian agencies and law enforcement.
Great. Spy satellites in the hands of domestic police forces. Can you tell I am tickled pink about that? You may be thinking … “So what. There’s Google Earth and Live Search. I have looked at my house from a satellite and didn’t see much.” Any satellite photos of your house you may have seen are nothing like the information those with proper clearance are looking at.
“There is little if any policy, guidance or procedures regarding the collection, exploitation and dissemination of domestic MASINT.” MASINT stands for Measurement and Signatures Intelligence, a particular kind of information collected by spy satellites which would for the first time become available to civilian agencies.
According to defense experts, MASINT uses radar, lasers, infrared, electromagnetic data and other technologies to see through cloud cover, forest canopies and even concrete to create images or gather data.
I’m just guessing, but you probably don’t have a satellite-proof roof on your house, do you? Sitting here right now, fully-clothed, I am feeling a little naked … and watched. Just to properly freak you out about this, I recommend going to Live Search (a product of Microsnot) and search for your address. Not all locations on the planet are available yet with quadra-directional viewing (our house is, unfortunately), but I’m sure they will eventually fix that so everyone everywhere can look at everyone else’s back yards in full and blazing color. If you can’t find a location that has it, just search for Austin, Texas and look around downtown. Now, imagine that satellite can zoom in even further and has Superman-like x-ray vision with the ability to see where people are in the buildings and where energy is being used … or any sort of heat or electromagnetic signature. Is that cabin in the mountains and living off the land looking better to you? Too bad, they will be able to see your cabin in the woods too … and into it. Feeling naked yet?
As if that isn’t quite enough to set your nerves atwitter, wait until you hear what they have added to the security theater in airports:
Specially trained security personnel are watching body language and facial cues of passengers for signs of bad intentions. The watcher could be the attendant who hands you the tray for your laptop or the one standing behind the ticket-checker. Or the one next to the curbside baggage attendant.
They’re called Behavior Detection Officers, and they’re part of several recent security upgrades, Transportation Security Administrator Kip Hawley told an aviation industry group in Washington last month.
Micro-expressions are nothing new. The idea has been around for about 30 years, and it is a sound one. I determined long ago the reason I am so able to read people’s intentions is because I pick up on these fleeting changes in expression and vocal tenor that tend to give away more than people would like. The Israelis have been using a similar system in their airports for some time now, and they claim it is successful. The US doesn’t want to be as invasive as the Israelis though:
American officers receive 16 hours of training — far less than their Israeli counterparts_ because U.S. officials want to be less intrusive.
Obviously, less training means less invasive. I always thought less training meant a lower ability to do a job. Do you know it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something? Sixteen hours of training in how to detect micro-expressions, to people who may or may not be naturally able to detect them in the first place seems to be a case of a little knowledge being dangerous … and creating more unnecessary hassle and aggravation, as well as probably not doing a whole lot to make flying any safer than it already is (which is actually fairly safe).
But not to be outdone, and wanting to move into the 21st Century, Homeland Security isn’t going to be happy with having 500 poorly-trained Behavior Detection Officers in airports.
The Department of Homeland Security hopes to dramatically enhance such security practices.
Jay M. Cohen, undersecretary of Homeland Security for Science and Technology, said in May that he wants to automate passenger screening by using videocams and computers to measure and analyze heart rate, respiration, body temperature and verbal responses as well as facial micro-expressions.
Remember, we are all guilty until proved innocent. Feeling naked yet? Huh, are you? Doesn’t all this freedom and safety taste good!
But wait! You can make yourself feel even more safe by purchasing your very own personal Taser!
It resembles a hand-held electric razor and is available in metallic pink, electric blue, titanium silver and black pearl. But it gives out a 50,000-volt jolt that short-circuits brain signals and momentarily incapacitates.
Some of you may be thinking, as I did, “Great! A new way for criminals to perpetrate crimes!” Oh, but don’t worry, the company swears it’s all very regulated.
Company officials said they have taken steps to ensure that the C2 has ample safeguards, starting with its limited 15-foot (4.5-meter) range. Police can strike a target from 30 feet (9 meters).
The stun gun is shipped inert, meaning it can’t be fired until the buyer registers it, goes through a background check and receives a five-digit activation code from the company.
When fired, the Taser shoots out paper confetti that identifies the serial number registered to its owner. One-on-one training also is available for an additional fee.
“We’re hoping that we’re doing everything we can to ensure to the best our ability that it’s used correctly and if it’s not, that we can identify the user,” said Smith.
So a fifteen foot range isn’t terribly far, according to the company, and people will have to go through background checks in order to activate them upon purchase … and enter a 5 digit code. Any hacker worth his wages can brute-force a 5 digit code. It’s an electronic device. It can and will be hacked in new and “exciting” ways, and, of course, none of them will ever be stolen from people who have already gotten the background check and entered the code. And confetti with the serial number on it to track the person who used it?! Guns have serial numbers on them too, and yet they don’t often lead to the person who used them in a crime.
Remember friends, War is Peace … Freedom is Slavery … Ignorance is Strength. :shootme:
And 21st Century safety, security and freedom is one grand illusion.
This recent bash-China campaign, designed specifically to terrorize women (baby toys, groceries, puppy food) follows the latest failure of American banking to extract concessions on currency valuation. It’s aimed at women because most are mothers, have dogs and comprise the voting majority. Most carry the family checkbook. Women watch more TV and worry more.
The credit vendors and their DC flunkies will never admit to incompetence and will always use fear and misdirection. By initiating the attack they hope to preempt any discussion of American credit practice and the obvious question, ‘what are we paying the government inspectors for if they have accepted these imports all these years?’
The reality is our communist trading partner has us right where he wants and there’s no longer anything, economically or militarily, we can do. All that matters is that the check clears. China knows American shoppers are addicted to cheap stuff as much as American business is addicted to easy profits.
Greed will be our undoing. Hell be damned, everyone wants everything cheap … so they can buy more and consume more, save more (to buy even more with), and, in business, make more profit.
Everybody else can drink the buck-a-bottle poison and say it’s great if they want to. I’m going to keep buying the $5 a bottle non-poison, thank you very much. Unfortunately, my fate (all of our fates) are directly tied to the society we live in, so no matter what I do, I’m doomed anyway.
And yes, it is a look-over-there maneavuer (harping on the poor quality of imported goods). I don’t really give a damn if China makes children’s toys out of 100% pure lead and stuff their farm-raised fish with chemicals, so long as those things aren’t coming into this country. But they are coming in … because our system is busted. In fact, I wouldn’t even call it a system at all considering much less than 1% of the crap coming in is even looked at. It’s just more of that security theater meant to make us think we are being protected, when it really isn’t doing much of anything at all.
But we aren’t going to stop buying crap from China (and elsewhere) so we might as well get them on the program with raising some production standards. Not that I really expect to see much in the way of that happening in my lifetime. I mean, it would raise prices to have quality imports, and we can’t have that!!!