Saturday, December 12, 2009
Homeland Security claims that the famous 'no-fly list' has only about 2,500 names on it. The ACLU has estimated that the Terrorist Watch list now has more than 1M names attached. Somewhere in between is the number of people who get hassled at the airport for no good reason–other than their name being, say, 'Robert [...]
Thursday, December 3, 2009
A cheaper, prettier and equally effective device
We reported on this phenomenon nearly two years ago–governments purchasing idiot devices for obscene amounts of cash. Last month the New York Times finally reported on the ADE 651 (beware, the company's sloppy website is laced with misspellings), variously described as a 'remote portable substance detector,' a 'dowsing rod,' [...]
Sunday, November 15, 2009
How many megapixels??
Have you ever snooped around a friend's photo albums on Facebook? Well, you're a liar (unless you just admitted it) for, as we all know, Facebook stalking is now the number one leisure time activity for 90% of the western world, probably costing Irish businesses €100BN a year(†).
Everywhere you go, at every party, [...]
Me, clowning around with Bock
Well, I've just had an interesting phone call from an American lady called Karen Evans from the N.C.S.D.
It sounded pretty much like a telemarketing call to me. Karen told me she wanted to conduct a brief telephone interview to 'confirm some of their research.'
She knew my name and home address and [...]
I was reading another horror story about the TSA and Homeland Security, taking people's electronic equipment, barking orders, going through text messages and photos. The usual.
But it was a little story from the comments section that caught my eye.
A reader was reminded of a friend who had travelled extensively on business throughout the 1980's. When [...]
I have reported previously on the contretemps that had arisen from the United States having an air base in Ecuador. Well, the controversy continues.
Apparently, President Correa's ultimatum (to reciprocate with a base for Ecuador in Miami!) has not been addressed by the White House, and so the U.S. military has been notified that they must [...]
We are watching you watching us
Imagine someone staring at your face for hours, straining to see the slightest indication that you are a terrorist. Blinking too much? Or not enough? Sweating on a cold day?
Now imagine a computerised face-analysis system on an aeroplane, with one camera for each seat.
I think I'd go all squirrelly if [...]
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
P.K.E meter from Ghostbusters (1984)
A chap with the unlikely name of Wade Quattlebaum invented a device for finding whatever you're looking for, and made a fortune selling it to gullible law enforcement agencies in the U.S.
For an example of credulity and clever marketing we need look no further than the case of the Quadro QRS [...]
