I Need to Vent

I don’t know how many of you have flown recently, but I have, and I can tell you that it’s a pain in the rear to get through “security.” I put that in quotes because it seems more and more obvious to me that the system is less about security and more about business than many people realize.

For example, we have to present a photo ID to get through the security checkpoint. This is supposedly to check for passengers that are on the “no-fly” list. After just a little research, though, you’ll find that it’s really because the airlines wanted to shut-down the market for reselling tickets and the only way to do that is to make sure that your name is the same as the one on the ticket/boarding pass.

And how about liquids and gels? It’s just ridiculous the rules that are in place over this, and every halfway intelligent human being knows that the driver behind this can’t really be security. It doesn’t even make good sense to think that it’s about security when I can take a completely full three ounce bottle of gel through security but I can’t take a virtually empty four ounce bottle through. There’s no real evidence to support this that I’ve seen, but I would still argue that the driver behind this is getting more checked bags. Why would the airline want more checked bags? That seems like it would cost them more as they have to pay for people to handle those bags. On the other hand, I’ve recently seen some data from DFW that would indicate that a big factor in paying overtime is the timeliness of flights. How much more timely does it make a plane when you don’t have to wait for 200 people to stuff and cram their bags into an overhead bin?

The thing that really takes the cake about all of this is the recent reports of the FBI seizing Christopher Soghoian’s computer and other belongings (rumor has it that he had some hair gel and toothpaste that were over the legal limit). You might not have read about Mr. Soghoian, but he created a website that allowed users to print fake boarding passes for Northwest airlines with any name and any flight printed on them. Now, I don’t agree with Mr. Soghoian’s method of getting the word out, but this guy is really exposing a fatal flaw in the design of our computer system.

And don’t say that the issue is allowing passengers to print boarding passes from home. That’s a value add that helps both the passenger and the airline. Unlike other concerns, I’m sure that we can resolve this without having to restrict customers more than they already are.
When you go through the initial security checkpoint, all that is looked at is the name on your ID and on your boarding pass, and when you get on the plane all that is scanned in the boarding pass which compares the pass to the information in the computer. So basically, there are three places that information is stored but they are never all checked against one another. Many others have written on this as well, and we all agree that in our current world it would be very easy to get through security with a fake boarding pass and then get on the plane with a real boarding pass that’s in someone else’s name. There goes the whole point of the “no-fly” list.

Terrorists still fly wherever they want, whenever they want, they just don’t buy tickets in their own name and no one checks. I think the solution is pretty simple, though. Why not just have the security inspector visually check your ID just as they do now and then have them also scan the boarding pass? Suddenly, the security flaw disappears, Mr. Soghoian has to find a new hobby, and terrorists have to stay on the ground.

Why are we after Mr. Soghoian and essentially shooting the messenger instead of fixing this problem?

Same Old Same Old

NBC finally seemed to be pulling out of a slump with one of the highest rated dramas on television: "Heroes." I'm afraid that it might not last, though. I know that we've all enjoyed discussing the nuances of the show since the pilot, and I do want to discuss some more of that later in that post. First, though, in the vain hope that someone who might know someone who might have seen someone that might have a little influence over the show will read this blog I want to say ENOUGH ALREADY!

We get it that there are people out there with special powers. We get it that they got them suddenly. We get it that they don't totally understand how to use them yet. We get it that there are people out there that seem to know more about these Heroes than they know about themselves. We get it that there may be more of them than we've already met. What we don't get is why that's all we see week after week. Surely I'm not the only viewer out there that's tired of this story not moving along.

It seemed, at first, like things were moving along rapidly. We met new characters every week. They had new powers. We saw interesting intersections in their lives. That was the first four. These last three, on the other hand, did not really contribute anything of substance to furthering the story. I haven't even had that much to write about on this blog lately for lack of new revelations to discuss. It's almost like the writers haven't figured out where the show is going, and they are stalling until they do.

That doesn't mean that I don't have any thoughts about last night's episode, though. I'll just have to dig deep to find hidden meaning, so hang on for a wild ride through my mind:

Peter was dreaming about a conversation with Mr. Devereaux and at the end he flew by himself. Peter knows that he can't fly alone, so I wondered about the scene briefly before I realized that it was a dream. Or was it? Later in the episode Simone visited and told Peter that her dad had died and that he had spoken of Peter just beforehand. It sounded like the conversation her dad recounted was taken from Peter's dream. So was Peter communicating with Mr. Deveraux telepathically? If so, the implication is huge. Peter's power is to mimic those around him. Obviously, the real question here is who has telepathic powers and was near Peter while he slept? Was it Mr. Bennett's assistant? Was it someone else?

Micah apparently has the ability to repair electronics, but it appears that the repairs only work for him. Or maybe the extent of the repair is something he can control. This explains how he repaired his computer in the first episode, though. He's not a child genius, he just touched it and made it work. It was interesting, though, that Micah responded to Jessica (Friki as we call her) as if to say, "Lady, we've been around this block before, and I know all about you. Get my mom on the phone!"

Niki must have some kind of power besides super strength when Jessica appears to have survived D.L. "scrambled insides" move. That or the writers have the wrong idea about the average IQ of their viewers. If whatever he did hurt her badly enough to make her pass out, then there must have been some kind of damage.

Claire's secret is out now, so what is her brother going to do with the knowledge? I imagine that he'll let something slip and Mr. Bennett will then be forced to do something about it. Of course, I still am not convinced that Mr. Bennett is evil. When you look at his character across all of the episodes, you've never seen him do anything that necessarily wrong or bad. Perhaps he's duplicitous, but I still think that he may just be interested in protecting Claire. Or perhaps in protecting all of them.

Radioactive man was a nice touch this week. It reminded us that there may be others that we don't know about and that they could be good or evil. Of course, when he told Matt not to shoot because he might explode, it got me to wondering if he's the actual cause of the nuclear explosion that they are trying to prevent. Maybe he gets transferred to New York for one reason or another and then Sylar attacks him and BOOM! Anybody else thinking that?

Also, how about the little intersection with D.L., Ando, and Hiro. I thought that was nice, and I loved Hiro's line about wishing he had super strength, too. Along those same lines, I have to agree with Nathan's observation that being able to fly isn't really all that useful as a super power. I mean, let's look at all the characters and their abilities:

Isaac – Precognition. Pretty useful if he could get off the smack. It would always be nice to know what's going to happen.

Niki – Super strength when Jessica is around. Pretty handy stuff. It made her a millionaire.

D.L. – Phasing. The guy can walk through walls. You could do all kinds of good with that.

Matt – Telepathy. What detective wouldn't want that ability? It's almost as good as seeing the future.

Peter – Mimicry. Or whatever you want to call it. Pretty cool and useful to be able to do anyone else's super power. And he even better if he finds out that he can combine them.

Hiro – Bend space and time. We've already seen lots of uses for this and he's already saved several people.

Micah – Electronics. Can he just make it work, or can he also control it. Either way I could see lots of applications where you could save people.

Claire – Regeneration. If you couldn't get hurt, what would you do to help people?

Nathan – Flight. So he can make a quick getaway, but what else good does it do? Without super strength he's not helping aircraft that are in trouble.

More on Nathan, though. Why did he lie to Peter about the painting? It sure seemed like Mr. Linderman was willing to let him at least see the painting, but he told Peter that there was no way. Hmmm…what's Nathan hiding? He's always made me a little nervous, but this seems downright dirty. Does he plan to keep the painting for himself? Does he know why Peter wants to see it? Does he know more than he's letting on?

Lot's of questions and not many more answers. Until next week!

School Buses are Unsafe?

As you know, I’m always on the lookout for interesting news articles to comment on, and today I found a good one (http://www.livescience.com/healthday/535932.html). Apparently, school buses are unsafe. I don’t know how my high school bus driver escaped scrutiny this long, but apparently, she and the crazy driver Jeffrey had his first year at Youree Middle School have been found out. Of course, it wasn’t even just the driver. It was the whole environment. They should have just asked me about this a long time ago, and it would have saved tons of time and money.

I’ve got a scar on the palm of my right hand from the school bus I rode on in Kindergarten. Who knew it wasn’t smart to hold yourself up between the seats and swing back and forth? Those darn seat springs just won’t stay behind that leather.

I remember when Mother drove a school bus and all the windows got shot out by a neighborhood kid with a BB gun. And it was cold the next morning. Not only did we have to dodge broken glass fragments, but think of all the germs from the runny noses.

I remember school bus “surfing” in high school. And it was the driver’s idea.

I remember being in a wreck in the school bus in high school. Never mind that it was the other guy’s fault. He rear ended us (it was more like parked under the rear end), didn’t have a driver’s license, and told the police that he couldn’t see us stopped at the red light. Okay, that was really more funny that dangerous, but it could have been a close call. And when it was all done, our driver still insisted on completing every last stop on the way to school, like some idiot kid would really sit out on the corner for 2.5 hours waiting on the bus. Needless to say, we didn’t pick anyone else up that day.

I remember a guy on the bus next to us getting shot one day. Of course, that guy went to Byrd, and it wasn’t on our bus, but it was definitely dangerous.

And I remember that first day Jeffrey was going to Youree Drive Middle School, and his bus driver was determined to get to Napoleon (the name of our street, which she pronounced napp-OH-lee-uhn) faster than anyone else. I don’t know who she was racing, but she hit at least 65 in the short block and a half distance from the corner to the bus stop. I really wasn’t sure I’d ever see my brother again, so I tipped the driver and said, “Light the fires, and kick the tires! Go, baby!” He came back later that day. Oh, well, it’s all good. He’s much more fun to have around now that he’s older.

So, you can see that this business about school buses being unsafe is not news to me, but let’s get back to the actual scientific study that validates my experiences. Apparently, there are roughly 17,000 children and teens that head to hospital emergency rooms each year because of injuries suffered while riding on or getting off of a school bus. Of course, my first thought was that I needed more information to really evaluate the situation.

How many kids actually ride school buses every year? Seventeen thousand seems like a really large number, but not if there are 20 billion kids on school buses. It turns out that there are 23.5 million kids on school buses each year according to the same article. They don’t do this simple math in the article, but that means that your child has a 0.07% chance of being injured on a school bus. Conversely, school buses are 99.93% safe. In round numbers, that’s one in a thousand odds. In spite of my experience, it seems like this article doesn’t really support its own theory.

Before we get too down on this article, though, there might be some useful information. The most interesting thing to me is that they say that the kids were treated in 99 different emergency rooms. I just did a quick Google search and found that there are 2,797 “emergency” rooms listed in the Dallas area alone. So, really, the critical piece of information missing in this article becomes, which specific school district has such a hard time keeping their kids safe on the bus? Is it mine? Is it yours?

Of course, they don’t say.