Short on blogging next couple of days,

as life called and I'll be busy.

No, I'm not flying to Tacoma.

Ok, two last bits for tonight. First, the TSA and their apologists are full of crap:
The study by the Marquette University College of Engineering concluded that radiation from so-called backscatter scanners passes beyond a passenger's skin to reach 29 different organs -- including the heart and brain. But the radiation levels are considerably lower than those of otherX-ray procedures such as mammograms, the study said.
Sounds good, right? Oops.
The author of the Marquette study, assistant professor of biomedical engineering Taly Gilat Schmidt, did not test the actual machines. Instead, she based her conclusions on scanner radiation data released publicly by the TSA. She ran the numbers through simulation software that modeled how X-ray photons travel through a body.
Translation: this 'study' is about as accurate as the molesters at TSA saying "You can't take pictures of us!"
Bill Fisher from TSA News Blog gets it right in the comments:

This is blatant TSA propaganda at its worst. A sample size of one data set is too small to be statistically significant and would not pass a middle school science class.

This is the same bogus test they tried to peddle in March, 2011 from Smith-Bindman and no one believed that one either. She was even criticized by members of her University and professional associations for falsifying the results.

Further, the tests by NIST and APL did not say the scanners were safe, they concluded that the scanners met engineering criteria set by the manufacturer.

And the other, a law professor is worried about trusting those idiot troops with Switchblade drones:

She pointed out that when a drone strike is being considered there are teams of lawyers, analysts and military personnel looking at the data to determine whether lethal force is necessary. But the Switchblade could shorten that “kill chain.”
“It delegates full responsibility to a lower-level soldier on the ground,” she said. “That delegation is worrisome. It’s a situation that could end up in more mistakes being made.”

I guess it’ll be the first time a soldier will have massive destructive firepower and the decision making responsibility to apply that firepower to the battlefield. It’s as if a soldier has his own tank or Bradley Fighting Vehicle…oh, wait…. Dingus.
From the comments:

Let’s do a little bit of comparison, shall we, boys and girls?

21-year old college student: Life and death decision consists of which professor to take for easiest “gentleman’s C” grade in Underwater Basket Weaving. Has at hand hundreds of dollars from latest student loan to spend on cheap booze which will be thrown up on random couch in random sorority house.

21-year old infantry buck sergeant: Calling in air support, coordinating movement with higher authority and other units, keeping squad in one piece while undetermined number of bad guys are trying to turn you into DEAD infantry buck sergeant. Has at hand millions of dollars of equipment he can be held personally responsible for.

Okay, thanks for playing, libtards.