(no subject)
As any security expert knows, a chaotic checkpoint is a security problem. “If terrorists can anticipate that, it gives them an opportunity” to try to evade various layers of security by creating an incident for diversion, Mr. Pistole said. “And what would this do for travel plans for Thanksgiving? Are people going to miss flights because there are long backups, because other people are protesting?”
(Full article here.)
So now objection to the false dichotomy of ionizing radiation vs. a pat-down that would constitute sexual harassment is not merely a political statement, it's bad social behavior? I bet a lot of colonists were pissed that all that tea got dumped into Boston Harbor, too.
In medicine we bend over backwards trying to limit ionizing radiation. I've been in ORs where the entire staff had to wear heavy lead aprons and thyroid shields (if you can find 'em -- those suckers are more elusive than the Questing Beast) for several hours because there would be one x-ray. We've been bombarded -- see what I did there? -- recently with journal and lay articles warning of cumulative dose effect. I am concerned about my brother, and any other travelers who fly several times a year.
The TSA protests that these scanners don't have emit thaaaaaat much radiation (which I doubt, because if you get resolution good enough to see a piece of paper in someone's pocket, you're probably using a pretty hefty dose), but I have yet to see reliable numbers.
(A PubMed search for "radiation dose airport scanner" returns an article entitled "The effect of homeopathically prepared thyroxine on highland frogs." Um, great.)
(Full article here.)
So now objection to the false dichotomy of ionizing radiation vs. a pat-down that would constitute sexual harassment is not merely a political statement, it's bad social behavior? I bet a lot of colonists were pissed that all that tea got dumped into Boston Harbor, too.
In medicine we bend over backwards trying to limit ionizing radiation. I've been in ORs where the entire staff had to wear heavy lead aprons and thyroid shields (if you can find 'em -- those suckers are more elusive than the Questing Beast) for several hours because there would be one x-ray. We've been bombarded -- see what I did there? -- recently with journal and lay articles warning of cumulative dose effect. I am concerned about my brother, and any other travelers who fly several times a year.
The TSA protests that these scanners don't have emit thaaaaaat much radiation (which I doubt, because if you get resolution good enough to see a piece of paper in someone's pocket, you're probably using a pretty hefty dose), but I have yet to see reliable numbers.
(A PubMed search for "radiation dose airport scanner" returns an article entitled "The effect of homeopathically prepared thyroxine on highland frogs." Um, great.)