above: Don’t let Gollum on the plane!

The privacy watchdog group, Department of Homeland Security, is preparing to install specialized X-ray machines at airports that can see through clothing, but stop at the skin. From the NYT (via CNET) article:

“Well, you’ll see basically everything,” said Bill Scannell, a privacy advocate and technology consultant. “It shows nipples. It shows the clear outline of genitals.”

At least there’s sure to be an influx of new applicants for airport screener jobs. What’s worse, it’s not 100% effective. A securty expert said:

Thwarting body-scanning technology would be simple, he argues. Because of concerns about radiation, body scanners are designed not to penetrate the skin. All that’s needed is someone heavily overweight to go through the system, he said. I won’t quote him directly on the details; suffice it to say he posits that a weapon or explosives pack could be tucked into flabby body folds that won’t be penetrated by the scanner.

By extension, screeners will be on the lookout for Dolly Parton hiding two Uzis. Oh, and the name of the company that makes these X-ray devices, “Rapiscan” (pronunciation of the first syllable is ambiguous). Oh, and the name of these X-ray devices, and I’m not kidding, “backscatters”.

You know those big foam fingers people wave at sports and entertainment events? Here’s a link to one that you might find rather shocking…

I even like the description – particularly the grandma line and the quote “not yet obscene to the general public.” Hear hear.

Will Wright’s new game in development, Spore, is getting a lot of press. It’s been a little hard to understand what the hype is about, but the man explains it well.

Basically, it looks like Sim-universe; take a single cell to a galactic empire. The difference is that player content is paramount, and is shared seamlessly.
This is a long talk, but check out the demo footage. Could be a next-gen online killer app. Use www.bugmenot.com to avoid registration.

Just the thing to keep the kids from jumping on the bed.
Found here.

Some are funny. Found here.

Someone wrote:

A report in the medical journal Psychopathology notes that psychotic delusions increasingly concern the internet, suggesting high-technology can fulfil the role of malign ‘magical’ forces often experienced in psychosis.
In one case, a patient began to have paranoid thoughts and used an internet search engine to investigate suspicions about an ingredient on a chewing gum packet.
Her searches led her to believe she had discovered a secret terrorist network, and was therefore being personally targeted by the authorities using phone taps and hidden cameras…
The authors also consider that a person’s understanding of technology may be a limiting factor in their ability to incorporate it into a delusional system. People with a poor understanding for example, may be more likely to attribute seemingly supernatural abilities to technology.

Anyone in the field of psychopathology here care to comment?

The often witty McSweeney’s gives us an article titled:
REVIEWS OF DVDS THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE PIRATED BUT WERE DEFINITELY BOUGHT ON THE STREET IN SHANGHAI FOR ABOUT A DOLLAR.

Team America: World Police
Obtained: Yan An pedestrian overpass
Price: 10 RMB, but came with a coupon for “Half Off Double Happy Massage at DragonWing Men Club for Men”

Amateur work throughout. We can see the edges of the bag in which the camera is hidden. But there’s also an unintentional artistry here that adds welcome layers of complexity.

As Team America blows Egypt apart, the silhouette of a man in a cowboy hat looms in front of us in the theater. He’s probably just going for popcorn, but his exiting archetypal shadow plays like a sharp rebuke to the frontier justice being meted out on the screen.

Snipped from the Department of Homeland Security press release:

Acting Assistant Attorney General John C. Richter of the Criminal Division, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement Michael J. Garcia, and Assistant Director Louis M. Reigel of the FBI’s Cyber Division announced today the first criminal enforcement action targeting individuals committing copyright infringement on peerto- peer (P2P) networks using cutting edge file-sharing technology known as BitTorrent.
This morning, agents of the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) executed 10 search warrants across the United States against leading members of a technologically sophisticated P2P network known as Elite Torrents. Employing technology known as BitTorrent, the Elite Torrents network attracted more than 133,000 members and, in the last four months, allegedly facilitated the illegal distribution of more than 17,800 titles – including movies and software – which were downloaded 2.1 million times.

Wow, the homeland feels so much more secure now.