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Defeated

orenhazi.com

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Re: Defeated

#271
post #227

I'm that person too I always make sure i have time to opt out and sometimes it gets annoying. The last time, the TSA person seemed friendly and chatty enough and I remarked towards the end that, "you know why I'm doing this right? I'm doing this for you". He may have been humoring me only but I think not, he seemed to genuinely appreciate my point and almost be grateful. It is very true that amongst the many things I…

I still cannot believe that TSA personnel don't wear radiation dosimeter badges. It's absolutely absurd. In any other setting, OSHA/CDC would be going crazy.

From 2010: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2010-12-06-tsa...

Re: Defeated

#272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't like them either, but why are they invasive?

A few reasons: - They actively image your naked body. Metal detectors do not. - They record said image of our naked body for an indefinite amount of time. Metal detectors do not. - A human views the image of your naked body, and makes a subjective assessment of whether or not something suspicious has been detected, based on a wide range of parameters. A metal detector is a simple on/off detection based on an extremel…

This whole rant hasn't been true for over a year. All it shows now is a generic block body, with an indication of an area to check if the COMPUTER decides it needs to be checked. For the majority of people, it doesn't even show the body. It just flashes "OK" on the screen.

Re: Defeated

#273
post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not a metal detector, it's a system designed to scan for tagged items. My problem with the scanners is that they are invasive AND ineffective. They aren't protecting me, but they do train me to complacently subject myself as an innocent, not-charged-with-a-crime citizen to pre-emptive searches. That's just not alright by me.

So invasive you'd rather have a guy grab your junk?

I do that not because I would prefer to be patted down, but because it's a lot more obvious that I'm being subjected to an unreasonable search.

Re: Defeated

#274
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-driving cars will kill air travel for distances shorter than an overnight car trip. Or we will suddenly find that airlines' customers are not a security risk and deserve good service throughout their trip.

Time to short manufacturers of midrange jets, like Embraer.

Not really though. I regularly travel 1000 - 1500 km on US domestic flights for business on Embraers and CRJs. It's way too long a trip to do by car and high speed passenger rail isn't really a thing that exists here in the US.

Re: Defeated

#275
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd also add that the three worst travel experiences I've ever had were: immigration at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, anything at all London-Heathrow, immigration at Toronto Pearson. Schiphol, El Prat, Marco Polo, Dublin, da Vinci, Kloten and Munich get me in and out without any fuss at all. Though security at Schiphol was about what you'd contend with at Dulles. Domodedovo and Koltsovo are very mediocre and busy,…

> I'd also add that the three worst travel experiences I've ever had were: immigration at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, anything at all London-Heathrow, immigration at Toronto Pearson. Funny, my only complaint about Toronto was that the immigration officials tried hard enough to avoid charging me the work permit fee that it wasted a bunch of our time. Best experiences though have been Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. W…

I was surprised that just recently on an in-state flight from Spokane to Sea-tac and back, I did not get scanned at all, I only got the metal detector treatment. I had thought that the gawk-at-you-naked scanners were the default everywhere no matter where you were traveling.

I was surprised to find that leaving Tegel in Berlin was easy as can be, short lines, quick trip through the metal detector. The entry process at Sea-Tac was another story though. It took forever. You got grilled, you got the German Shepherd dog sniffing your crotch, and you had to wait for all your bags to be x-rayed. Some of the agents seemed to be behaving in a very rude way, in particular I remember one agent seemingly being a real jerk to some poor old guy who didn't speak English well. I remember thinking how bad an impression of the US that the foreign visitors in line must be forming. I was at that moment embarrassed to be a citizen.

[edit: %s/x-ray/metal detector/]

Re: Defeated

#277
post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Extremely simple?" There's lots of reasons it isn't so simple for people. 1) Barriers to work and emigration 2) Language barriers - I know that learning a new language isn't impossible (I know a little Spanish but I'd hardly call myself fluent), but I speak only English fluently, which limits me to a handful of nations, many of which are nearly as bad as the United States (hey UK, how are those surveillance cameras?…

>hey UK, how are those surveillance cameras? The vast majority of CCTV cameras in the UK are privately owned, on private property. What is the problem here? I don't know where this "surveillance state" idea came from but it's largely a myth.

That leaves another "vast" amount of cameras that are public -- in thousands of public spaces. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Re: Defeated

#278
Just say you had shoulder surgery and cannot lift your arm(s) and they'll move away from the magnetometer and let you through.

Re: Defeated

#279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Extremely simple?" There's lots of reasons it isn't so simple for people. 1) Barriers to work and emigration 2) Language barriers - I know that learning a new language isn't impossible (I know a little Spanish but I'd hardly call myself fluent), but I speak only English fluently, which limits me to a handful of nations, many of which are nearly as bad as the United States (hey UK, how are those surveillance cameras?…

Ok, so maybe "extremely" was a bit much. In my defense I think leaving is much simpler at this point than hoping that the current course of politics and public sentiment in the US will change. > 1) Barriers to work and emigration While real, they can be overcome. Also, I'd wager there will be something of a domino effect -- once other countries begin to catch on that well educated, highly trained Americans are lookin…

Disclaimer: there's a lot of generalization here.

You've only got half of the domino effect. Sure, it might become easy from a paperwork standpoint, but supply/demand will kick in and wages will drop.

In most countries recruiting immigrants is a royal pain in the ass. The main redeeming factor is that in the case where the immigrant's primary motivation is entry into the country (aka a work visa), the recruiter has an excellent negotiating position, especially when the visa in question keeps the immigrant bound to the sponsoring company.

Emigrating Americans are a little different, however. We're pretty highly paid in comparison to the rest of the world, and we're usually quite happy to stay in, or return to, our home country if we can't find something that suits us. Couple this with a good education and success in American industry, and this gives us a pretty powerful negotiating position in comparison with other immigrants. We still might not get anything comparable to an American salary, but at least we're able to negotiate rather than just having to accept whatever is handed to us.

This changes as soon as you remove the safety net. If there isn't a huge outflow of Americans, those who are emigrating because they truly want to leave America can just bluff their way through it. If there's a huge outflow however, this negotiating position will quickly be lost, at least in the countries to which most Americans would wish to be immigrants.

Re: Defeated

#280

There is an extremely simple solution: leave. I've not lived in the US for almost two years now. I've only had to travel back twice in that time. Meanwhile, in the same time I've visited France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany multiple times. None of those travel experiences were nearly as unpleasant or stressful as my two trips to the US. Furthermore, the technology communities that are growing up in these pla…

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