Here's where we need a real orbital-capable truck

Go up with a bunch of small boosters, and set them to push problems either into reentry to burn up, or out to a 'go away' orbit. Smaller stuff you run across, either bundle together to dump, or maybe bring back.


It occurred to me last night that between Oklahoma and Germany, the son is probably better prepared for driving in this weather than an awful lot of the people who've lived up there a long time.*


Ok, here's my "Let's talk about the molesters and fools and liars at TSA" compilation for today. First
In an about-face, the feds have admitted wrongdoing in the cases of two elderly women who say they were strip-searched at Kennedy Airport by overzealous screeners.
They seem to be hedging their bets: "We did THIS wrong but not that." Yeah, after all the previous lies, we're ready to believe that...

Then we have this:
After recent published reports accused TSA officials of not maintaining their scanner equipment and questioning just how much radiation one receives when going through those machines, the question remains: to just how much radiation are you exposed before you board an airplane?
...
“There are two types of body scanners. There is millimeter wave and that does not emit any radiation at all. Some airports you have the scanner which emits a negligible amount equivalent to two minutes in flight.”
'not emit any'? Really? Here's the real kicker:
For that reason, Chao says there really is no cause for concern. As for testing the existing machines to make sure they are operating properly, Davis says the TSA is committed to doing that.
You'll notice it doesn't say 'IS doing that', oh no, it's 'committed to doing that'; and anymore, I do not give clowns like this ANY benefit of doubt about wording like that. Especially after I ran into this the other day:
One of the most important issues is that a "Worst Case Failure" mode has not been evaluated. Because these machines are scanning mechanical/software integrated devices, with very intense pencil-like beams of X-rays, if they were to stop in the middle of a scan, there is the significant probability of a radiation burn. What are the consequences, if there were a software glitch or power, even momentary, problems? This important issue, on a machine working 24 hours a day, year in and year out, has not been studied independently and merits major efforts and extensive analysis, not just tested for failure once or twice, given the extreme consequences of a failure.

The casual nature for maintenance of these devices is alarming to us. These machines are built with components from clinical X-ray machines and are capable of delivering large X-ray doses. The actual doses are undefined by any objective tests disclosed to us or to the public. Large doses also pertain if there are errors or maintenance problems. Hospitals usually check for problems on X-ray machines daily, but we understand that TSA will only check once a year, at best, in spite of the fact that these machines are being used 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
If you found out the machine the doctor was using on you hadn't been checked/tested/calibrated for almost a year, you'd have a fit. Rightly so. But TSA says it's not a problem, and they're 'committed' to making sure they're inspected...


Borepatch has an idea for Thursday

Check it out

I need some lunch, see you later