Wednesday, June 01, 2011

I don't care what the calendar says,

it's summer. 90's and humid here, friend in Waco says 100's.

And I think the squash bugs are attacking in the garden. Since I love squash, this will be responded to by chemical attack later this evening when the wind drops.

By the way, considering the displays of Professionalism in Molestation and Idiocy displayed by the minions in TSA, doesn't this project of DHS just FILL you with confidence?
Planning a sojourn in the northeastern United States? You could soon be taking part in a novel security programme that can supposedly 'sense' whether you are planning to commit a crime.

Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST), a US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) programme designed to spot people who are intending to commit a terrorist act, has in the past few months completed its first round of field tests at an undisclosed location in the northeast, Nature has learned.
Hmmm, y'know, in other circumstances these same clowns have derided that idea as 'profiling' and racist and bigoted and all... But then this is New and Approved(unlike that nonsense the Israelis use tha- oh, wait)
Steven Aftergood, a senior research analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, a think-tank based in Washington DC that promotes the use of science in policy-making, is pessimistic about the FAST tests. He thinks that they will produce a large proportion of false positives, frequently tagging innocent people as potential terrorists and making the system unworkable in a busy airport. "I believe that the premise of this approach — that there is an identifiable physiological signature uniquely associated with malicious intent — is mistaken. To my knowledge, it has not been demonstrated," he says. "Without it, the whole thing seems like a charade."
Or something to do, instead of actually doing something, maybe?

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