Laughing Boy wrote:
] ] Visitors to the United States with visas will be greeted
] ] with a demand for fingerprints and photographs Monday as
] ] a government program intended to fight terrorism takes
] ] effect.
] ]
] ] The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says the goal of
] ] the US VISIT program is to track the millions of people
] ] who come to the United States every year on business,
] ] student and tourist visas -- and to use the information
] ] as a tool against terrorists.
] ]
] ] US-VISIT stands for United States Visitor and Immigrant
] ] Status Indicator Technology.
]
] Don't you just get warm fuzzies all over everytime you are
] reminded you're living in a police state???
]
] LB

Actually, I don't have that big a problem with this, depending how invasive it is. As the picture in the article shows, there are new digital systems where all you have to do to give your prints is to rest your finger on a scanner pad for a moment, and I don't see that as any more invasive than requiring people to display their passport, provide photos of themselves, and fill out the usual visa applications.

If it's the old "ink roller and paper card" system though, then yes, I would find that extremely annoying. I actually think that that old-style perception may be where a lot of the protests are coming from. When most people hear "fingerprints", they immediately envision an inky mess all over their hands, which aside from being embarrassing, would also be extremely inconvenient in an airport while you're already having to juggle bags and tickets.

Speaking as a world traveler, I've been through plenty of border nightmares, especially in third-world countries. I'd routinely have to carry extra photos of myself in case I was asked for one. I more than once was asked for bribes. I accepted as routine that I'd be asked who I was traveling with, where I was staying, and, during the height of the AIDS panic, I was even questioned about my sexual habits (one border guard told me that since I was American, he didn't want me having sex while in his country).

Compared with all that, I see a digital fingerprint scan as trivial. It's a simple check that says, "Yes, I'm the person that this passport was issued for." It makes forging efforts *much* more difficult, and I see that as a good thing.

RE: Program to fingerprint U.S. visitors starts - Jan. 4, 2004

] 0452 GMT (11:52 p.m. EST)
] SPIRIT IS ALIVE ON MARS! A "very strong signal" is now
] being received from the Spirit rover from the Gusev
] Crater on the surface of the Red Planet!

Excellent! Go NASA!

Yeeeeehaw! We landed one!

Spaceflight Now | Spirit Mission Status Center

] Tolkien's High Elvish language, Quenya, was inspired by
] Finnish. Tolkien taught himself Finnish in order to read
] the Kalevala, a 19th-century compilation of old Finnish
] songs and stories arranged by Elias Lönnrot into a linear
] epic poem and completed in 1835 and revised in the
] mid-1800s.

Tolkien's Elvish was based on a language from the "Viena Karelia" region, near the Finnish border. Which means that that area of Finland is now on the list of, "places that Elonka is going to travel to someday." ;)

If you're really bored, and would like to see a complete list of places I've already been to (along with my rules for "what counts as a country"), check here:
 http://members.aol.com/elonka/allcountries.htm

Elonka :)

Finland and Tolkien's Languages

] Imagine this: The FBI nails a couple of major terrorism
] suspects, in possession of a weapon of mass destruction
] -- a sodium cyanide bomb -- as well as about 100 other
] bombs, bomb components, machine guns, chemical agents,
] and 500,000 rounds of ammunition. Additionally, they find
] documents detailing an apparent scheme to actually use
] these weapons, some indicating other suspects might still
] be at large. And to top it all off, the suspects plead
] guilty.
]
] Big story, right? Huge, right?
 . . .
] Not one press conference. Just a
] quietly issued press release. If that defies explanation,
] some Ashcroft critics think they have one: The suspects
] were named William J. Krar and Judith L. Bruey, not
] Mohammed or Omar or Khalid. They aren't Muslims, but
] alleged white supremacists. And they were caught right
] here in Texas.
]
] Without the DOJ bringing the Krar case to national
] attention, the media silence has been deafening.

I have to admit, that I find it enormously frustrating to see which stories get big press and which ones don't. Thank god for Google News and the blogosphere, so I can choose for myself which stories I want to follow. But even with those freely available sources to the internet-literate, I still constantly run into friends and family who will say, "Blaster? Tuwaitha? I never heard about those on CNN. It must be a media conspiracy!"

Personally, I don't see it as a conspiracy so much as hard choices that have to be made by news organizations about which stories to list in a short timeslot, to an audience who only give themselves a half-hour a day to "catch up on the news" (if that much).

After September 11th, I remember being vaguely aware that there were some huge stories going on elsewhere in the world -- stories that normally would have resulted in hours of coverage, but in the wake of September 11th were only mentioned briefly in the headline ticker at the bottom of the screen.

In "interesting times", big stories get lost. :/

Domestic Terrorism Gets Little Press

] The second wave of a Martian invasion will start Saturday
] night with the arrival of NASA's Spirit rover on the Red
] Planet.

Timeline:

 - 12/25/2003: Europe's Beagle 2 (named after Darwin's
vessel) may or may not have come to a safe landing. The bouncing
landings can send a craft a half-mile away from an intended landing
site, so it may have bounced itself into a crater.

 - 12/25-12/31: NASA's Mars Odyssey tried to pick up
signals from Beagle 2 every time it passed over the landing site,
to no avail.

 - Saturday evening, 1/3: JPL's Mars Rover "Spirit" attempts
to bounce to a landing at 11:35 p.m. ET.

 - Tuesday, 1/6: The European mothership Mars Express
will orbit Mars and attempt to pick up a signal from the AWOL
Beagle 2. This will be the first of four attempts,
scheduled for January 6th, 12th, 13th, and 17th. More info about
the Search for Beagle here:
http://planetary.org/html/news/articlearchive/headlines/2003/beagle2search.html

 - January 24th, a second Mars Rover, Opportunity will
attempt to bounce to its own landing.

Good luck to all!

Elonka :)

Next attempt to land on Mars on Saturday, 1/3/2004

] Whose names are on the microchips?
]
] The names on the microchips are from individuals who
] submitted their own names along with the names of
] friends and family if they chose to include them. Also,
] all members of the Planetary Society and the National
] Space Society current as of 1998 were included. In
] addition, as a special tribute, all names on the Vietnam
] War Memorial in Washington, DC were included.

I was originally following this story because my name is one of the 1+ million that are included on this probe. But something about the fact that all of the names from the Vietnam War Memorial are also currently mixing with the stardust of a comet, really touches me. :)

Stardust Microchip Names include those who fell in Vietnam

] PILOT MOUNTAIN, North Carolina (AP) -- As soon as a group
] of fellow bikers pulled the handlebars out of his abdomen
] after his motorcycle crash, Brian Shipwash wanted to do
] one more thing in case he died.
]
] So he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box,
] broken and blood-spattered, with a ring inside and asked
] Shandra Miller to marry him.
 . . .
] "I said something like, 'I know this is not the best time
] in the world, but will you marry me?"'

She said yes. :)

Impaled biker pops the question

] With 254 movies to consider, Academy voters better get
] busy. Nomination ballots went out this week and the final
] five Best Picture candidates will be announced with the
] rest of the Oscar nominees on January 27.

According to E Online, the top contenders are:
- Return of the King
- Master and Commander
- Seabiscuit
- Cold Mountain
- Lost in Translation
- Kill Bill
- Mystic River
- American Splendor
- In America

I haven't seen all of the movies on the list yet. Of the ones I *have* seen, I'm rooting for "Return of the King", with "Master and Commander" also a strong possible, and "Lost in Translation" well-worth nominating, but I don't think it was even close to the strength of the first two. I also really enjoyed "Under the Tuscan Sun" and "Whale Rider" this year.

254 Flicks Battle for Best Picture

Well, Gallup didn't call me personally, but if they would have on this one, this is how I would have answered. Caveat: Just because I say "I approve" doesn't necessarily mean "I approve strongly."

Do you approve or disapprove of the way the U.S. has handled the situation with Iraq since the major fighting ended?

- I approve.

Do you think the Bush administration does -- or does not -- have a clear plan for handling the situation in Iraq?

- I do.

All in all, do you think the situation in Iraq was worth going to war over, or not?

- I think it was worth it.

Do you approve or disapprove of the United States' decision to go to war with Iraq in March of this year?

- I approve.

What Should the U.S. Do About the Number of U.S. Troops in Iraq?

- Keep as now.

Was Hussein Personally Involved in the Sept. 11 Terrorist Attacks?

- No.

Do you think the war with Iraq has made the U.S. safer -- or less safe -- from terrorism?

- Safer. (I feel this one very strongly)

Gallup Poll on Iraq

Decius wrote:
] Campaign finance reform attacks the symptom and not the
] disease. We don't need campaign finance reform, we need voter
] clue reform. As long as so many people remain completely
] incapable of independent thought they will always be the
] victims of big marketing budgets.

Well, yes, but I think it'll be easier to get campaign finance reform. :)

Remember, most of the people in the world are just plain not as bright as most of the people in our little community here. This doesn't mean that most of the people in the world are stupid. This means that they are average in intelligence, and that we are the odd ones, by being *above* average. And as the higher IQ ones, I believe that we have a responsibility to the others of our species. It falls to us to some degree to come up with *systems* that work, not to sit around whining that other people aren't as smart as we are.

It's my belief that it's the human condition for some to lead and to push for change, and for most others to follow. For most people, they naturally follow along with the systems that others have established. Which, again, doesn't make them stupid -- it makes them human.

So, fwiw, I'll keep pushing for campaign finance reform.

RE: Gallup Poll Analyses