After a conteintal breakfast at the Best Western in Garberville, we continued North. A large amount of the journey was through the redwood forests, which was absolutely beautiful. The trees were crowded right to up the road, and towered above. The river (Eel River perhaps?) wuond along with the road, sometimes disappearing behind the trees, other times coming close enough for me to see large rocks and logs sitting in the river.
We stopped at a Park Station, learned a little about the history of the redwoods, the biology of the trees, the ecology of the forest, and dashed about madly in an attempt to stay dry. We then took a little hike into the woods. Little. Like 10 minutes. Very short. We saw the Founder's Tree, which was, in rough numbers, ginormous. Also saw a few hollows in trees, or as Nick insisted on calling them "caves". Nick and I climbed on the remains of a huge fallen tree, and then jumped off because the car was threatening to leave without us.
'Round 'bout lunch time we started looking at the casinos we were passing, to see if we could find a good deal. We were not fated to dine at a casino this particular day though, and ended up instead, at the Palm Cafe, in the town of Orick, population approximately 500. The Palm Cafe was a diner, perhaps even a greasy-spoon, but I find that classification too harsh. It was iconic. Dining counter, one cook, one waiter/host/cashier, swivel stools at the counter, uncomfortable chairs at the tables, classic American food. I'll admit, there were a few elements that threw things off for me, but if I managed to ignore those, I could just imagine Sam Spade walking in the door, shaking the rain off his coat. Yes, it was raining hard outside, cloudy, that kind of weather that seems to appear entirely in noir works.
The food was amazing. I was pretty hungry, so I ordered the double cheeseburger, expecting something halfway decent. It was outstanding. No frills, no fancy bun, no Dijon mustard. Bun, cheese, patties, tomato, lettuce, onion, and pickles. I added plain yellow mustard. It was delicious! The meat was real beef, freshly cooked, not greasy, but not dry and flavorless either. The fries were perhaps the best fries I have ever had. Long-time readers will remember my raves about the fries at King Burger in Liberia. These gave them a serious run for their money. The meal, considered in its entirity, had a quiet digenity. It knew it was good, and didn't need any fancy culinary doo-dads. Everyone else enjoyed their meals equally, though not quite as intensely as I did. I took pictures. Jerry, the one-man show that equaled half of the Palm Cafe was bemused at my efforts to document the meal. It is a compliment Jerry! I rarely take pictures of food. Most of the time, it is food I made, so taking pictures of food other people made is high praise. Jerry wasn't actually the cook. She remained sequestered by the cooking area. Jerry did provide plenty of interesting mealtime conversation. I learned some about the history of Orick. At one time it was home to a whopping 1500 people. I learned a little about Jerry. He was a foster child, worked at a health food store in Oregon for a time, and then moved back to Orick to work at the Palm. He hardly knows his Native American biological family. He has no kids, but enjoys helping other raise their children. I have to say, Jerry reminded me of a good friend who lives in our apartment complex. Their way of speaking, what they talk about, how they treat us, almost creepily similar. Full disclosure, to make it clear I have nothing against either of these men, the one who lives in our complex is one of my favorite people to talk with.
I have a thing about cake. I don't like it very much. America is a fairly cake-centric culture, causing considerable chaos when I am offered cake. Its not that I hate cake, that's too strong. There are even times when I enjoy the cake I am given. Those are rare occasions. As a result, I have been forced to find an equivalent. I can't be just a cake-disliker, I need an alternative. I have two. Cheesecake and pie. I love both with equal passion. So, when Mom said we could get a slice of pie at the Palm, I was thrilled. (If I didn't show it, Mom, that was probably due to the early onset of the coming food coma.) I love berry pies particularly. Cold, warm, lukewarm, just plain good. Ice cream, by themselves. Marionberry, blueberry, mixed berry, raspberry, huckleberry, blackberry, I'll take them all. I cannot remember at the moment which kind of berry my slice was, but I think it was blackberry, judging from the coloration and flavor. I had it warmed, ala mode. Toppers! Turned out Jerry's mother handmakes the pies, with berries she hires the local children to pick for her. It made sense. The pie was that good. Mandy had the same kind as I did. Alex had butterscotch, Mom and Beth had banana cream, and Nick and Dad had chocolate. Also took pictures of those. The coffee was fair, surprisingly. I throughly enjoyed the experience. I don't think I could eat like that every day though.
Eventually we arrived in Coos Bay, Oregon. There was much excitement for about 10 seconds when we entered Oregon, but then that kind of petered off when the car realized we still had a fair amount of driving to do. Darn. We enjoyed the heated, indoor pool, and hottub. I would like to rant about a TV show I caught the end of as Dad and I returned from getting Taco Bell for dinner. Platinum Weddings. Anyone heard of it? It involves a couple, with an outrageously expensive wedding. In the 5 minutes I saw, the small portion ran dangerously close to a million dollars. The bridegroom rented an ELEPHANT!! A real, live, elephant!! Seriously! I don't have a very high value for ceremony, and this especially disgusted me. That money could have given an entire village in India adequate sanitation infrastrucre, with plenty to spare. It could have innoculated hundreds, thousands of children against an huge array of preventible diseases. They had a thousand guests!! Dad agrees with me.
Here is the link to the pictures from the diner in Orick. http://picasaweb.google.com/Iskid2astop/RoadTripDiner
Anyway, we are now in Seaside, OR, staying at a hostel. We will be here two days.
I'll have a post later on our time here, and what we do.
Chris
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Road Trip-Garberville
That little "A" on the map, that's where we stayed in Garberville. Where's Garberville, you ask.
That's where Garberville is. I would have zoomed out more, but it just vanishes. Garberville is in the middle of the redwood forests. About 250 miles north of San Fransisco, surrounded by trees, and nothing. The stay was lovely. I actually typed this post last night, but I'm posting it tonight. Minutes after I post this one, I will post the next post, which was also typed last night. Double!
After leaving Pigeon Point, we drove to Garberville. Mom had a journal entery that she wanted me to post for my readers. Here goes!
After we checked out of the youth hostel, we looked around the lighthouse and bought some postcards. We drove North up Highway 1 to Half Moon Bay. Stopped for Starbucks (coffee and hot chocolate), while Alex went to Jamba Juice. Back on the road going North through San Francisco and crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. We stopped again in Mill Valley, home of B.J. Hunnicut from M*A*S*H*, for Alex. After our potty break, Elaine drove, and Steve made pita sandwiches for lunch. Again heading North on 1/101 we stopped again to go the the Pomo "rancheria" and check out the casino. We drove around the small reservation, saw some of the track housing and community living area, and went up the casino. We took the kids in to use the restroom and to see the inside of a casino. This provided us a good opportunity to how the Native Americans and specifically the California people were treated. We went into the smoke shop.mini mart and Roneta, a Pomo woman. She was very gracious and answered all of ourquestions. She was in her 40's, with a Winnebago husband and 17 yearold son. The son dances in a Pomo dance troop and has performed in a couple of a pow-wows in Gilroy, CA. Her grandmother was part of the group that was moved up from the Russian River area to their current location, far away form the river. Roneta went down to Riverside for High School and then came back to the Pomo "rancheria" with her jusband. She is 1/2 Pomo and 1/2 Mexican. After we left there we continued heading North. We kept driving until we reached Garberville in time for wine and cheese hour at the hotel, a short walk, and delicious dinner across the parking lot at the pizzaria. A couple we met here at the Best Western paid for $20 of our meal. Thank you, God for a good day!
A few little notes Mom made in the margins. We saw a lot of rainbows, and Rainbow Bridge.
I like Mom's summary of the events. She covered the stops nicely, and did a swell job of being more detail and education oriented than I. I guess I could talk about the books I read, but that would probably fall into the boring and not of general interest catagory. Perhaps later! There is just a little color commentary I would add.
The casino was interesting, the drive was nice, Mill Valley was filled with rich snobs, San Francisco had interesting houses. The part of the journey that really grabbed my attention was Garberville. Every person there creeped me out in some way. I spent a fair amount of the walk paranoidly looking down sidestreets and around corners. The grocery store was filled with a group that was just slightly less worrisome than the people who were living on the street. Lots of facial hair, flannel plaid, and crazy eyes! Typed words don't do that justice. I did crazy eyes and voice. Just imagine it. I'll show you next time I see you, assuming I do see you. It was pretty interesting. As I walked from the pizza place to the hotel, to use the bathroom in our room, there was a group of loud puesdo-adults who were drunkly "playing" in the parking lot. They pulled off, running over the curb, and roaring down the street. The decor of the pizza place was......different. Lots of print ads, and signs, and magazine covers, just bits of history, put up all over the walls. It wasn't bad as a whole, but if you looked at one little bit, it was outrageous. Racism, sexism, the most condescending advertising I have ever seen. There were truly interesting ads, novel ads, products I had never heard of. One little piece I thought was interesting was a comic strip, which featured a character named "Google". No kidding. Sometime later, I'll have a few more I remember, and things that the rest of the family remember. They were super interesting.
That's it for now!
Chris
Monday, January 25, 2010
ROAD TRIP! ROAD TRIP! ROAD TRIP!
So, in case the title was too subtle, I thought I should make clear the fact that the Hays Family is on a road trip. Spontaneous road trip. My dad has left the ranks of the unemployed, and to celebrate, and take advantage of the fact that being unemployed is like a huge vacation without pay, the Hays' are taking a road trip from Morgan Hill, up to Kirkland, WA, with several stops along the way. We left Friday evening, after I returned from the Aquarium, and we will be back home Saturday the 30th, in time for Mandy to be at one of her friend's birthday party. Hopefully I will be posting semi-regularly throughout the trip, and also uploading pictures to the Picasa Web Album.
The drive to our first stop, Pigeon Point Lighthouse was remarkably uneventful.
As I'm blogging this, there was a remark made about the name of Pigeon Point. I happen to know. There was a boat that wrecked on the Point, one of the first boats to do so. (Is ship the proper word? What is the difference between ship and boat?) That boat was named The Pigeon. Dad, in a particularly droll moment, thought it was because they found a yellow-skinned guy on the point dancing. This made no sense, until Dad reminded me of this golden oldie. Vintage Sesame Street!
We spent a lovely night at the Youth Hostel at the Point. If you are traveling, but want to traveling affordably, and support a great movement, hosteling is the way to go. (Almost put in a Reading Rainbow "But you don't have to take my word for it" clip there, but didn't want to go to the bother of finding a few hosteling books.) Dinner and breakfast were both prepared and consumed in the full kitchen that was part of the cabin, which we shared with a German couple and a retired hiker couple. (Similar to biker couple.) I enjoyed scouting out the surrounding area with Nick at 9:30, while dinner was being prepared, running around in the darkness. Almost ran smack into a couple puddles and stair steps a few times. The next morning, we spent some educational time at the Lighthouse, which has been closed for a few years now, due to budget decreases and the deterioration of the structure itself. I enjoyed the art, by a long-deceased local artist, Galen Wolf, and seeing the interpretive work that was done on a fairly low budget. The rest of the family had a good time as well. Mandy picked up a few postcards, Nick and Beth mostly ran around and made noise.
We then got in the car, and drove to Garberville. But, seeing as it is past midnight, that can wait. I'm going to bed. But, to be fair, here is the link to the pictures from Pigeon Point. A few were taken by Nick or Mandy, and some of them have almost nothing to do with the trip, but help give the atmosphere wonderfully. http://picasaweb.google.com/Iskid2astop/RoadTripPigeonPoint#
I would like to thank Best Western, Coos Bay, for the wonderful internet connection they have provided, which allowed me to upload my pictures in a flash.
Have a great day, and stay tuned for more dispatches.
Chris
The drive to our first stop, Pigeon Point Lighthouse was remarkably uneventful.
As I'm blogging this, there was a remark made about the name of Pigeon Point. I happen to know. There was a boat that wrecked on the Point, one of the first boats to do so. (Is ship the proper word? What is the difference between ship and boat?) That boat was named The Pigeon. Dad, in a particularly droll moment, thought it was because they found a yellow-skinned guy on the point dancing. This made no sense, until Dad reminded me of this golden oldie. Vintage Sesame Street!
We spent a lovely night at the Youth Hostel at the Point. If you are traveling, but want to traveling affordably, and support a great movement, hosteling is the way to go. (Almost put in a Reading Rainbow "But you don't have to take my word for it" clip there, but didn't want to go to the bother of finding a few hosteling books.) Dinner and breakfast were both prepared and consumed in the full kitchen that was part of the cabin, which we shared with a German couple and a retired hiker couple. (Similar to biker couple.) I enjoyed scouting out the surrounding area with Nick at 9:30, while dinner was being prepared, running around in the darkness. Almost ran smack into a couple puddles and stair steps a few times. The next morning, we spent some educational time at the Lighthouse, which has been closed for a few years now, due to budget decreases and the deterioration of the structure itself. I enjoyed the art, by a long-deceased local artist, Galen Wolf, and seeing the interpretive work that was done on a fairly low budget. The rest of the family had a good time as well. Mandy picked up a few postcards, Nick and Beth mostly ran around and made noise.
We then got in the car, and drove to Garberville. But, seeing as it is past midnight, that can wait. I'm going to bed. But, to be fair, here is the link to the pictures from Pigeon Point. A few were taken by Nick or Mandy, and some of them have almost nothing to do with the trip, but help give the atmosphere wonderfully. http://picasaweb.google.com/Iskid2astop/RoadTripPigeonPoint#
I would like to thank Best Western, Coos Bay, for the wonderful internet connection they have provided, which allowed me to upload my pictures in a flash.
Have a great day, and stay tuned for more dispatches.
Chris
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Haiti, Jay, and Conan
There are two really big stories of the moment it seems. Some news stories come and go, and some claw for a few moments more in the spotlight, and then some demand our attention. When two come into the public eye at the same time, it is like heaven and hell combined. So many interesting things, and still we need to focus on one. Do we choose to marginalize our time, and learn a little about both, or focus on one, to the detriment of the other?
At the moment, the two competing stories are the disaster in Haiti, and the disaster on late-night television. Wait! One story is about the disaster that has devastated the lives of millions, and brought an already heartbreakingly poor nation to unthinkable depths of misery, and the other is about rich, popular men squabbling pettily about who gets to make people laugh at what time.
There is something that feels absurd about it, and I give some points to Jimmy Kimmel for bringing up this absurdity. Play nicely, shut up, whatever works! Leno is worth at least $100 million. He doesn't need to have a show. He already is established as a great comic, and doesn't need to worry about his legacy anymore.
Enough of my ranting. I'm just trying to say, I think there should be more serious stories, less stupid, trivial, shallow nonsense. I understand, the latter is a lot easier to write, but reporters get paid, and not for the stupid stuff.
At the moment, the two competing stories are the disaster in Haiti, and the disaster on late-night television. Wait! One story is about the disaster that has devastated the lives of millions, and brought an already heartbreakingly poor nation to unthinkable depths of misery, and the other is about rich, popular men squabbling pettily about who gets to make people laugh at what time.
There is something that feels absurd about it, and I give some points to Jimmy Kimmel for bringing up this absurdity. Play nicely, shut up, whatever works! Leno is worth at least $100 million. He doesn't need to have a show. He already is established as a great comic, and doesn't need to worry about his legacy anymore.
Enough of my ranting. I'm just trying to say, I think there should be more serious stories, less stupid, trivial, shallow nonsense. I understand, the latter is a lot easier to write, but reporters get paid, and not for the stupid stuff.
Security
(Note:The bulk of this post was written shortly after the underwear bombing, when the topic was on my mind. It is being posted sometime later, as I got amazingly busy.)
A lot of my posts are about me, and things happening with me. This is an exception, and, at the same time, not an exception. I've been doing a lot of thinking on this topic, but this topic is being nationally discussed at the moment. I should probably get to the topic itself. Airport security, terrorism, underwear, body scanners, privacy. Run all those together in your head, and the idea that comes out, that's what I'm talking about today.
To really do this right, we have to go back. I know, its a cliche, but we never will forget. I remember where I was on 9/11, as I'm sure we all do. The aftermath was filled with lots of fear, worry, and wanting some kind of response, something that would make us feel safe again. There were responses, and they filled that need, we felt a little safer. This feels like an appropriate time to bring up an old Ben Franklin quote. (Short aside. Is there another kind of Ben Franklin quote? They are all at least 200-something years old. And still, if I hadn't put that "old" in there, it would have felt odd.) "Any society that would give up a little liberty, to gain a little safety, would deserve neither, and lose both." Nice rhetoric there Mr. Franklin! Classic use of a chiasm. (Go look it up!) Living in the time and place I live in today, Mr. Franklin's point feels a little offhand, and not entirely true. One, how does a society come to earn deserving freedom, or security? Two, I think we are living in a time where giving up a little liberty has resulted in gaining some security.
The context for this topic being on my mind, in case you missed it, is the "Underwear Bomber", as he has come to be called, but his real name is Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He attempted to blow up an airplane over Detroit, by fairly complicated means. As far as I understand, he had packets (condoms) filled with liquids, that if injected with the right reactant, would explode. The biggest hurdle to this plan actually working was getting the liquids on the plane, which means past security. Logically (illogically?) enough, he put these packets in his underwear, which worked. He got on the plane, attempted to detonate the explosives, and got caught. Bad, yes. When you start looking at the history behind this, that's when you get a picture of what a incompetent job was done that allowed Umar to get on the plane.
Umar's father, in what must have been a heartbreaking action for him, went to the U.S. embassy in Nigeria, and reported that his son had become radicalized, and was a possible danger to other people. Eventually this information got to the proper authorities, and Umar was actually going to be taken in for questioning by an FBI team that was waiting for him to land. Talk about the perfect example of "a day late and a dollar short"! I agree, a father's warning is not enough to arrest a man. There was more! Turns out the CIA had information that there was going to be an attack, perhaps involving a Nigerian. Reasonable doubt. Sounds like enough to get something going. Homeland Security also knew that there was an increased possibility for an attack over the holiday season. And yet, somehow, he got on the plane.
One final bit of background is the ongoing battle between security and innovative terrorists. There was the shoe bomber, and now shoes must be removed. The good guys keep upping the security, and then the bad guys get even more clever, and then the good guys find a way to thwart the latest innovation. Back and forth. Some argue this piecemeal approach is a waste of time, but I feel that attempting to anticipate the next bad idea is hard, and letting the terrorists spend the time, and get frustrated keeps us safer than hundreds of security precautions.
Now the more theoretical side of this problem. How do we stay safe? What are the costs we can encounter from attempting to stay safe?
One of the biggest problems we have seen over the course of the battle with terrorism is lack of communication between various agencies. The CIA has information, and they don't share it with the FBI until its too late. The FBI gets a tip, and it goes through the buracracy, and 3 months too late, Homeland Security gets that information. The instinctive reaction is to develop one super intelligence agency, that goes from gathering to acting on that action. The reason we don't have such an agency is to prevent a concentration of power. This make sense. What seems like a more reality based idea is developing better communication between agencies, so reliable information is shared while it is still relevant. The thing that stands in the way of better communication, which in theory would lead to increased security, is security. The clearance levels at various agencies are different, and some information can be shared with an ordinary analyst at the CIA, but would require a senior analyst at the FBI. There is also the problem of piecing together the puzzle. If one organization was infiltrated, the unfiltered sharing of information could easily result in the compromise of a source. Deducing who shared a particular wouldn't be too hard if you knew when it was shared, how, and where it originated, geographically.
Another idea is a heavier reliance on digital storage. As the hackers in China recently showed us, even the biggest entities, such as Google, are not invulnerable. The United States has a lot of enemies, even more than Google.
What is the solution? I'm really not sure there is one answer. Do we need a solution? Undoubtedly.
It is hard to put a price on safety. Is it worth 10 extra minutes per person? That doesn't seem like a lot, but considering the millions of people who travel a year, that is actually a large economic sacrifice. And when you weigh freedom against safety, it is even harder. Can't we have our freedom and security too?? Personally, I don't see the problem with my body being scanned. If we don't want to break the rules, why should we care about the rules? I understand the words of the argument about TSA workers seeing private body parts, but that could easily be blurred enough that weapons would still be visible, but genitalia not distinguishable. I do not understand what makes this thought so utterly indigestible to the general consciousness. The person will be in another room. This could be an interesting topic for a study. Offer the choice of someone seeing you naked, and no possible danger, or not being seen naked, and the possibility of serious harm, and perhaps even death. I know which one I would choose.
On an ideological level, I don't really see much else of a choice. Unless we respond to this newest innovation, this tactic will continue, and probably increase in efficacy as time progresses. I understand, there are other steps that can be taken. Great! Take those too! Its not like the free press is being shut down (heck, it is doing that itself), or the right to bear weapons is being taken away. If you don't want to be searched, and have your body scanned, then you can get from point A to point B in some manner besides flying on a commercial airlines. Submitting to a search is part of the conditions which must be fulfilled to fly, just like undergoing a physical is part of the conditions to go skydiving.
The "invasion" of privacy is a momentary glimpse, which would then probably be erased. No one is bugging your house, watching you 24/7, or barraging you with personal questions for no reason. Having my body seen by someone in another room is preferable to a lot of other invasions of privacy I can think of.
So, what do you guys think?
Also, speaking of my readers, I want to give a shout-out to Miki at the Monterey Bay Aquarium! Miki, you can comment too. I love to hear people are reading this. If you have been reading without tell me, please, let me know! It makes my day.
Have a great night!
Chris
A lot of my posts are about me, and things happening with me. This is an exception, and, at the same time, not an exception. I've been doing a lot of thinking on this topic, but this topic is being nationally discussed at the moment. I should probably get to the topic itself. Airport security, terrorism, underwear, body scanners, privacy. Run all those together in your head, and the idea that comes out, that's what I'm talking about today.
To really do this right, we have to go back. I know, its a cliche, but we never will forget. I remember where I was on 9/11, as I'm sure we all do. The aftermath was filled with lots of fear, worry, and wanting some kind of response, something that would make us feel safe again. There were responses, and they filled that need, we felt a little safer. This feels like an appropriate time to bring up an old Ben Franklin quote. (Short aside. Is there another kind of Ben Franklin quote? They are all at least 200-something years old. And still, if I hadn't put that "old" in there, it would have felt odd.) "Any society that would give up a little liberty, to gain a little safety, would deserve neither, and lose both." Nice rhetoric there Mr. Franklin! Classic use of a chiasm. (Go look it up!) Living in the time and place I live in today, Mr. Franklin's point feels a little offhand, and not entirely true. One, how does a society come to earn deserving freedom, or security? Two, I think we are living in a time where giving up a little liberty has resulted in gaining some security.
The context for this topic being on my mind, in case you missed it, is the "Underwear Bomber", as he has come to be called, but his real name is Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He attempted to blow up an airplane over Detroit, by fairly complicated means. As far as I understand, he had packets (condoms) filled with liquids, that if injected with the right reactant, would explode. The biggest hurdle to this plan actually working was getting the liquids on the plane, which means past security. Logically (illogically?) enough, he put these packets in his underwear, which worked. He got on the plane, attempted to detonate the explosives, and got caught. Bad, yes. When you start looking at the history behind this, that's when you get a picture of what a incompetent job was done that allowed Umar to get on the plane.
Umar's father, in what must have been a heartbreaking action for him, went to the U.S. embassy in Nigeria, and reported that his son had become radicalized, and was a possible danger to other people. Eventually this information got to the proper authorities, and Umar was actually going to be taken in for questioning by an FBI team that was waiting for him to land. Talk about the perfect example of "a day late and a dollar short"! I agree, a father's warning is not enough to arrest a man. There was more! Turns out the CIA had information that there was going to be an attack, perhaps involving a Nigerian. Reasonable doubt. Sounds like enough to get something going. Homeland Security also knew that there was an increased possibility for an attack over the holiday season. And yet, somehow, he got on the plane.
One final bit of background is the ongoing battle between security and innovative terrorists. There was the shoe bomber, and now shoes must be removed. The good guys keep upping the security, and then the bad guys get even more clever, and then the good guys find a way to thwart the latest innovation. Back and forth. Some argue this piecemeal approach is a waste of time, but I feel that attempting to anticipate the next bad idea is hard, and letting the terrorists spend the time, and get frustrated keeps us safer than hundreds of security precautions.
Now the more theoretical side of this problem. How do we stay safe? What are the costs we can encounter from attempting to stay safe?
One of the biggest problems we have seen over the course of the battle with terrorism is lack of communication between various agencies. The CIA has information, and they don't share it with the FBI until its too late. The FBI gets a tip, and it goes through the buracracy, and 3 months too late, Homeland Security gets that information. The instinctive reaction is to develop one super intelligence agency, that goes from gathering to acting on that action. The reason we don't have such an agency is to prevent a concentration of power. This make sense. What seems like a more reality based idea is developing better communication between agencies, so reliable information is shared while it is still relevant. The thing that stands in the way of better communication, which in theory would lead to increased security, is security. The clearance levels at various agencies are different, and some information can be shared with an ordinary analyst at the CIA, but would require a senior analyst at the FBI. There is also the problem of piecing together the puzzle. If one organization was infiltrated, the unfiltered sharing of information could easily result in the compromise of a source. Deducing who shared a particular wouldn't be too hard if you knew when it was shared, how, and where it originated, geographically.
Another idea is a heavier reliance on digital storage. As the hackers in China recently showed us, even the biggest entities, such as Google, are not invulnerable. The United States has a lot of enemies, even more than Google.
What is the solution? I'm really not sure there is one answer. Do we need a solution? Undoubtedly.
It is hard to put a price on safety. Is it worth 10 extra minutes per person? That doesn't seem like a lot, but considering the millions of people who travel a year, that is actually a large economic sacrifice. And when you weigh freedom against safety, it is even harder. Can't we have our freedom and security too?? Personally, I don't see the problem with my body being scanned. If we don't want to break the rules, why should we care about the rules? I understand the words of the argument about TSA workers seeing private body parts, but that could easily be blurred enough that weapons would still be visible, but genitalia not distinguishable. I do not understand what makes this thought so utterly indigestible to the general consciousness. The person will be in another room. This could be an interesting topic for a study. Offer the choice of someone seeing you naked, and no possible danger, or not being seen naked, and the possibility of serious harm, and perhaps even death. I know which one I would choose.
On an ideological level, I don't really see much else of a choice. Unless we respond to this newest innovation, this tactic will continue, and probably increase in efficacy as time progresses. I understand, there are other steps that can be taken. Great! Take those too! Its not like the free press is being shut down (heck, it is doing that itself), or the right to bear weapons is being taken away. If you don't want to be searched, and have your body scanned, then you can get from point A to point B in some manner besides flying on a commercial airlines. Submitting to a search is part of the conditions which must be fulfilled to fly, just like undergoing a physical is part of the conditions to go skydiving.
The "invasion" of privacy is a momentary glimpse, which would then probably be erased. No one is bugging your house, watching you 24/7, or barraging you with personal questions for no reason. Having my body seen by someone in another room is preferable to a lot of other invasions of privacy I can think of.
So, what do you guys think?
Also, speaking of my readers, I want to give a shout-out to Miki at the Monterey Bay Aquarium! Miki, you can comment too. I love to hear people are reading this. If you have been reading without tell me, please, let me know! It makes my day.
Have a great night!
Chris
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