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TSA Millimeter Wave Sample Images |
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| Topic: Society |
10:20 am EDT, May 11, 2008 |
I really like the TSA's new blog. Yes, it leaves a lot to be desired, but they are the first agency I can think of to engage in a direct dialog with citizens, and doing so knowing that most people are going to be angry with you is pretty bold. I invite the IRS to try :) These images from a "millimeter wave" scanner were on the blog. I'm not really sure what to think of these. It's not quite as cool as Total Recall. TSA says that passengers given a choice of a typical pat-down or the MW choose the backscatter by 85%. I wonder, however, if passengers see these images first? Is there really "informed consent" here? I guess what bugs me more than the whole nudity thing is the "put your hands in the air or I'll shoot" pose you are required to assume. I don't see how that is really necessary. I understand this is not "x-ray" and that they do need to scan under your arm, but the whole thing reminds me to The Fifth Element. Put your hands on the circles, or we'll shoot. Your thoughts? TSA Millimeter Wave Sample Images |
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Space Shuttle Destruct Switch - NASA Prepared to Blow Up Discovery - Popular Mechanics |
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| Topic: Science |
10:08 am EDT, May 11, 2008 |
Each time the space shuttle rises from its launchpad at Cape Canaveral, Fla., an Air Force officer waits anxiously for the first 2 minutes to pass safely. If the spaceship were to veer off course and endanger a populated area, this range safety officer would bear the terrible responsibility of flipping a pair of switches under a stenciled panel reading “Flight Termination.” The first switch arms explosives on the shuttle’s two solid rocket boosters. Flipping the second switch would detonate them, destroying the shuttle and crew. “If something happens when it’s just off the pad, there’s only a couple of seconds [to react],” says Bryan O’Connor, a former shuttle commander and NASA’s chief of safety and mission assurance.
Space Shuttle Destruct Switch - NASA Prepared to Blow Up Discovery - Popular Mechanics |
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The Get Out Clause, Manchester's stars of CCTV cameras - Telegraph |
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| Topic: Miscellaneous |
10:53 pm EDT, May 9, 2008 |
Unable to afford a proper camera crew and equipment, The Get Out Clause, an unsigned band from the city, decided to make use of the cameras seen all over British streets. With an estimated 13 million CCTV cameras in Britain, suitable locations were not hard to come by. They set up their equipment, drum kit and all, in eighty locations around Manchester – including on a bus – and proceeded to play to the cameras. Afterwards they wrote to the companies or organisations involved and asked for the footage under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Get Out Clause, Manchester's stars of CCTV cameras - Telegraph |
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Lost Voicemail of Man's Dead Wife Restored by Phone Company |
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| Topic: Miscellaneous |
3:39 pm EDT, Apr 28, 2008 |
IRVINGTON, N.Y. — An 80-year-old man who thought he'd lost the only recording of his dead wife's voice can hear her again, any time he wants. When Verizon upgraded Charles Whiting's telephone service, his wife's voice, saying, "Catherine Whiting," disappeared from his voicemail system. She had died in 2005 and Whiting said he listened to her voice every day for comfort. He blamed Verizon for the loss, saying, "Now they took her voice away." But Verizon had archived all the old greetings and messages. Company spokesman John Bonomo said Tuesday that a contractor found the recording and restored it to the new voicemail system. "I'm glad they rescued it," Whiting said. "I'm very happy."
Lost Voicemail of Man's Dead Wife Restored by Phone Company |
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