As a pinko pseudo-intellectual, my patriotism has always been conflicted. It's usually easy to see everything that's wrong with the good old US of A, and increasingly hard to celebrate what's good (particularly in this flag-waving season of Ashcroft).
But I do love this weird, screwed up giant that spawned me, in many ways, for many reasons. I've always thought that my ideal fourth of July party would involve a bunch of friends, the usual libations and treats (bbq, all the sides, homemade peach cobbler and ice cream), and one requirement of everyone: we all bring one reading or image or idea that encapsulates what we love about America.
Maybe next year, and you're all invited!
I've always had a soft spot for whimsical web design. Unfortunately, whimsy doesn't go over very well with people who might actually pay me to do this stuff. And now that I'm in "explore-my-options" mode, I thought it would be a good idea to update my personal site. First things out the window were the green-skin-blue-hair image of me and the Flintstone-style fonts.
Before I begin promoting my URL, I was wondering if you guys would bang on it with your browsers. I built the *entire site* before I realized that -- although it looked lovely and perfect in IE 5 -- it looked like total ass in NS 4.7. Argh. It took me hours to work out all the kinks and redo the graphics. Anyhoo, I'm happy with how it looks on my Mac. Now I'm hoping to find out how the other 95 percent of computer users will see it. Oh, and the icky bit of copy on the homepage -- a necessary evil -- does it work? Is it a turn off? Please edit away. I'm terrible at this stuff. Thanks!
Side Note Marty and I just adopted a new kitty. It's a little orange tabby with white legs, belly and nose. We're still unsure what sex it is. Marty is guessing it's a girl. We named her Sunny (which is so strange given that Marty and I both abhor the sun). Both the older cats hate her. HATE. Anyone have advice on getting them to chill out and make friends? Or do we just wait this stage out? Gotta love that territorial instinct these critters have.
On a lighter note... Yahoo has finally given into the marketing juggernaut and redesigned its homepage in a big way. I think it's fantastically ugly ...
It's NOT Working: Airport security failures persist
Time for a periodic rant on airport security failures which, according to USA Today, persist around the country. Overall, 24% of threats (packed weapons in hand-carried bags) went undetected; in airports like Las Vegas, Cincinatti and Jacksonville, more than half were missed. LAX missed 41%.
How freaking hard is this? It is not rocket science. Using automated systems like Threat Image Projection, which randomly inserts a simulated weapon image into scanned bags on a belt, many countries with professional screeners catch more than twice as many weapons or simulated threats as our busiest airports. Our best-rated airports let nearly one in 10 weapons through! We are still "evaluating" this proven technological aid while weapons get through every airport, every day. Anyone got a fiddle I can play? I smell Rome burning...
We do not have to invent the wheel on this. Look to Schiphol in Amsterdam, or London, Belgium or France or Tokyo for a look at how other countries do this well. It's not hard, but we don't seem to understand:
They pay their screeners well. UK screeners start at $27K with full benefits, and can easily make bonuses for good performance; US Screeners at $8.00/hour make $17K with no insurance.
They engage a combination of resources: private contractors with government/law enforcement oversight.
They maintain low turnover rates through training, briefings and updates to stress job worth.
They fire screeners when repeated failures and retraining show no effect.
When are we going to wake up and smell the C4? In the USA Today article referenced above, the testers placed weapons in bags "consistent with how a typical passenger in air transportation might pack a bag" rather than trying to conceal them. Do we think a terrorist will be so cooperative?
