Infographic for how pointless TSA is

December 30th, 2009 • chatter
Tags: photo of the day, security, tsa

This is a graphic depicting the real odds of an air-based terrorist attack based on historical data, accurate to September 2009. Boy, all this money, time, and energy pumped into TSA surely seems like nothing but a waste given the actual odds of another panty-bomber or worse, a bra-bomber or a girdle-bomber. Maybe we can start dumping more money into TSA to protect AMTRAK as well, they badly need the money and exposure.

I like how this displays that we have a better chance of going to Neptune twice than have a single airplane as an attack vector. We can’t even get to Neptune to begin with, which makes it that much more funny.

Zoom zoom – Photo of the Day #20

December 30th, 2009 • 1 comment chatter
Tags: cars, photo of the day, photography

Cars zooming by on the road next to our apartment complex. I like the warm amber colors in this photo, which is almost identical to what the actual light from the streetlights looked like.

The TSA, a dog and pony show

December 29th, 2009 • chatter
Tags: security, tsa

As we Americans know, some crazy Nigerian tried to blow up an airplane with explosives planted in his underwear this past weekend. What many of us also know, from experience, was that the TSA — Transportation Security Administration — put in some bizarre new “regulations” in quick reaction to this latest “threat”. These include the following:

No potty breaks in the remaining hour of a flight

Nothing in your lap (including your own child) during the last hour of the flight

Absolutely nothing in your last during the remaining hour of the flight, including MP3 players, laptops, DVD players, and in some instances, books.

“More stringent” physical searches of one’s person and baggage

No in-flight wifi

And the list goes on, literally for pages. And why all the new regulations? Knee-jerk reaction to extremely poorly designed and executed rules in place already. None of these new regulations are going to stop anything and the airlines completely proved that this weekend. By Sunday, airlines such as AirTran, jetBlue, and others had already dropped the regulations because they were greatly displeasing to their customer base. If they have enough sense to opt out of out-of-this-world regulations, I think they could do something about their service as well. But that’s another story altogether.

Now, eight years after its creation, the TSA has fully shown itself to be completely incompetent and useless, all around. It started out as a great idea and, like many things thought of by the government, it was executed very poorly. In 2001 and early 2002, world renown security experts like Bruce Schneier and Jeffrey Goldberg were asked to review the drafted regulations and provide their input. Well, they did and they said one thing: the regulations won’t make a difference. That was eight years ago. And today, on CNN, Bruce Schneier goes on record to, again, say that the TSA really doesn’t do anything preventative or useful. And he’s absolutely right. Limiting our liquid volume and removing shoes obviously didn’t stop some crazy Nigerian — who the British embassy were actually notified of, including flight plans and “recent radicalization” — from stuffing explosives into his underwear and trying to cause a big ruckus in the plane’s cabin. All the regulations do, as Schneier blatantly points out, is that it tells terrorists what not to do and does so publicly. Our government through ignorance has given the keys and blueprints of the castle to the raiders. Good job.

And now that the searches are “more random” than before, passengers can now easily second guess taking a flight anywhere, including overseas. I say “random” because they’re anything but random. Since 2006, I’ve taken perhaps nearly a dozen flights. However, during four of those flights, I was “randomly” selected to be searched. Why? The one thing the TSA devoutly states they cannot and will not do (because it’s illegal): racial profiling. Since they still thought, at the time, that all terrorists had big bushy beards and possibly long hair, I got physically searched at every airport every single time. I even came to expect it. All thanks to my collar bone-length beard and pony-tailed hair. Since last October, I’ve shaved and have taken four flights. How many of those was I searched on? Not one. Before that? Nearly every single one. I even saw an 80 year old grandfather in a wheelchair get searched for explosives. We all know that he must have been wearing aging make-up and was hiding C4 in his cushion. And I saw a woman of no younger than 75 get searched as well. Crazy old Jewish ladies must be hiding guns in their hair wraps. This latest threat this weekend proved without a doubt that these “random” searches don’t do any good.

Why all of the diatribe? Because the nation may finally be realizing what the rest of us in the security sector have known all along: TSA is the high-fiving and back-patting facade for politicians and it needs to stop. Schneier calls it “theater” and I have to agree. Everyone goes through the motions, does the dance, and expects the same result each time. Security through complacency has never worked, fallen empires through the centuries have taught everyone that. Everyone but the US government.

I hope that Bruce’s recent media explosion helps TV goers understand how futile of an effort the TSA and its regulations are. Perhaps more people will start complaining to the politicians and get it reformed, or better yet abolished entirely. It’s a pipe dream, I know, but it’s one I’ve held to for eight years.

The following link at Slashdot is actually of good and informational comments by intelligent readers, some of which can provide some eye opening ideas to the futility of this “security theater”: Slashdot.

Tiny us – Photo of the Day #19

December 28th, 2009 • photography
Tags: music, photo of the day, photography

My girlfriend holding up a print out of a concert floor plan of the last 311 concert we went to. Just found this while we were cleaning up last week. Those printed mini-figs are supposed to be us in the front row.

It’s a Box cat! – Photo of the Day #18

December 26th, 2009 • photography
Tags: cats, photo of the day, photography

This is Benny playing in one of our now discarded Ikea boxes. She thought it was a fun place to take a nap until I blinded her with my camera’s flash.

It’s almost time to open presents!

December 24th, 2009 • chatter, photography
Tags: christmas, photography

This is our little plastic Christmas tree, ensconced by our multitude of presents. I like to write little things on each one so my girlfriend gets a chuckle before opening a present. I think I started that about 2 years ago, which was also the same year I double and triple wrapped her presents and put them in deceptively shaped boxes, just for fun.

While I don’t believe a bit of the mumbo jumbo behind Christmas, I do believe in getting together with your loved ones and making a damned fine time out of this tradition. So, please have a safe and happy one, and have a drink for me!

PS – Disregard my scattered anime DVD collection behind the tree, we’re still re-arranging our new Ikea shelves.

It’s like a mini sun – Photo of the Day #17

December 22nd, 2009 • photography
Tags: photo of the day, photography

Beautiful glow created from one of our lights in the parking lot, it does remind me a little sun. Taken during the Geminid meteor shower.

Some of the things I learned this year

December 21st, 2009 • chatter
Tags: chatter

It’s been a great year, much better than last year! Outside of school, I think I learned some interesting things:

- No matter how much you try to watch what you eat, college football season will wreck your diet. Every time.
- A job is more than likely something you’re always going to hate.
- A good pair of cowboy boots can be the last pair of shoes you need to own.
- American Apparel makes the most comfortable tee shirts known to man. Too bad the rest of their clothes are aimed at hipsters and their ads are the epitome of “sex sells”.
- Photography is a lot of fun. I can see why “hobbyists” will spend as much money as they do on something they’ll never make a profit on.
- Writing is also fun as a hobby. Blogging to try and make money is worth its weight in headaches and lead, and sucks the life out of you.
- Comparatively, music gets worse as you get older. However, upon looking back, most stuff you listened to as a kid/teen is just as bad as today’s music. Sometimes, it doesn’t even sound different.
- Progressive rock is an immeasurably deep genre.
- Never randomly play ELP’s Karn Evil 9 (Parts 1 & 2) in a bar when you’re getting ready to leave. It’s probably best not to play at all since it’s only 20 minutes long.
- On average, I drink over one gallon of liquid every single day. That’s typically split up between coffee, tea, and water — mostly the latter.
- I think I have started smoking too much.
- Beer tastes really good. Except at the end of the night when you lie down and it gives you heartburn.
-Netbooks, as popular as they are, are huge wastes of money. If you want a netbook, buy any laptop with an Intel Celeron or other ULV processor. It’ll be just as slow and useless as a netbook.
- E-book readers, also very popular and chic right now, need a lot more work before they’re ever an acceptable replacement for books. All the UIs stink, the e-ink screens refresh too slowly, the physical device designs are all boring, publishers are deliberately dragging their feet on a market that could easily make them gobbles of money.
-Journalism is, essentially, dead. This goes for “old” media and “new” media alike. Of course, people have been saying this for at least two decades but it’s proven itself this year. A great example of this was the Fort Hood incident in which most media outlets depended on Twitter for news. Their first problem: depending on Twitter. Their second problem: depending on Twitter.

I could go on but I’ll choose not to, I really need to get back to work. Let’s hope 2010 is as fun

Low hanging fog is creepy – Photo of the Day #16

December 19th, 2009 • photography
Tags: photo of the day, photography

Picture of my “backyard” (an abandoned golf course behind my apartment building) during the first night of the Geminid meteor shower on December 13-14 2009. I only saw two meteors that whole night but saw a metric butt load of fog. It was kind of creepy but the color haze it generated was amazing.

999 Bottles of Guinness on the Wall – Photo of the Day #15

December 17th, 2009 • photography
Tags: guinness, photo of the day, photography

I actually have no idea if that is 999 bottles, I just know it’s a lot. And it was a great color display. This is one of the last things you will see when exiting the Guinness Storehouse as it leads to their archives, which is part of the beginning of the tour although it’s next to the exit door. I was not able to accurately portray the colors on display but I tell you, it was like a Guinness bottle rainbow.