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Comment Re:Article is Troll **AND** Flamebait all in one! (Score 1) 642

Emminent scolars in the field of radiation and medicine do not agree with the conclusions that the wikipedia information that you present asserts. See, for example, this letter from UCSF faculty in bilogy and medicine, here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/35498347/UCSF-letter-to-Holdren-concerning-health-risks-of-full-body-scanner-TSA-screenings-4-6-2010

With all due respect, I would assume the sigtanators to this letter to certainly not be "purposefully ignorant" on this matter.

Comment Re:Article is Troll **AND** Flamebait all in one! (Score 1) 642

Come on, what real proof is there the rule change is to be more "embarrassing"? It's utterly stupid on the face of it if you think AT ALL about airport security as it is, and will be in the near future:

1) There are not enough scanners to process traffic flow at any airport.

2) (the big one) only a handful of people get pat downs - the ones who fail the metal detector. Which you don't realize until AFTER you have gone through it, so how is a slightly more embarrassing pat-down which no-one even knows about going to make you want to choose a scanner? Since people assume they are not going to trigger the metal detector why would behavior change in the slightest?

Honestly, more and more SLashdot stores are devolving into utter paranoia. And not even the productive kind.

Pat-downs are given to those who fail either of the automatic methods, or to those who explicitly request opt-out from the backscatter xray.

I belong to the latter group, those who request opt-out. As it would be, hospitals and veterinary clinics have highly trained people with advanced degrees who, when taking any kind of medical imaging, are tracking exactly the exposure that their patients get (and over time). This, so as to minimize and manage the risks from being radiated. They also have people at hand who know how to deal with radiation burns etc.

Airports have.....the TSA. They're neither trained in radiation nor tracking exposure. As exposure is cumulative, there is a real risk.

The general advice has been around here, that if you have a melanoma in certain forms, you definitely should refuse backscatter x-ray because we simply do not know that it won't worsen it, and we suspect that it may.

Thus, having a (common form of) skin cancer sufficient reason for the TSA (the employees of which, for the vast majority, are not licensed to practice medicine) to present "more embarrassing" treatment.

I systematically refuse to go through backscatter x-ray, as I find it unduly invasive, and that it does nothing to further aircraft security. Sometimes the TSA agents ask, and I reply "on medical grounds" - as they are not physicians, they are not competent (and they start to know this) to discuss passengers' medical conditions.

And, for the record, I know of at least one sexual molestation lawsuit having been brought against a TSA agent and the TSA, who enjoyed the "pat-down" of a teenage girl a little too much. Note to TSA agents: if you want to group a teenage girl, pick one whose dad is not both a trial lawyer and just behind her in line .....

Comment Re:This is why airbii make pilots nervous. (Score 1) 403

i want a solid mechanical link between the controls I'm pushing on and the control surfaces on the wings... That way, even if EVERY computer on the plane dies, I can still control the damn thing...

And yes IAAAP... (I Am An Airline Pilot)

Do you by "mechanical link" mean "hydraulic link", by any chance? I am personally not convinced that hydraulic control of surfaces is any less prone to problems than are electric control using localized actuators and possibly disjoint/redundant electric linkage through the fuselage. FBW is not my greatest worry a - a hydraulic failure/leak is hard[er] to recover from than is a computer failure [where you have redundant computers and channels, and possibly various restart options].

It's true, however, that the automatization of the flight deck has radically changed the role of a pilot -- I still haven't made up my mind if that's for better or for worse.

Comment Re:No RedBull for the French either (Score 4, Informative) 290

I was surprised, while living in France last year, that RedBull is illegal. I was even more surprised when they told me you can buy Poppers at clothing shops like nothing happens. Any Frenchie care to comment on it??

You asked for it, there you have it. I am not a Frenchie and can't speak for the availability of poppers -- but Red Bull *was* illegal due to its taurin content. The French equivalent of the FDA didn't think that it was possible to determine, based on available studies, if the product was safe, and was citing at the time (if I recall correctly) something about detected hyperactivity in animals who'd consumed high doses of taurine. In April 2008, in a neutered version (arginine instead of taurine and much less caffeine...) was approved for sale in France.

In, I think, later 2008, the unneutered Red Bull entered the French market: this time it was the EU that forced the French to accept it. A product sold in one EU country can legally be imported and sold in an EU country (or something to that effect), and Red Bull was/is sold in many (but not all) EU countries.

Windows

Submission + - Microsoft kicks Windows XP off support list (pcauthority.com.au)

Slatterz writes: Come next week, Microsoft will be in the unusual position of no longer offering mainstream support for its most widely used product. Windows XP will pass another milestone on the road to retirement next week when Microsoft withdraws mainstream support for the operating system. Mainstream support for XP will end on 14 April 2009, over seven years after the operating system originally shipped. While the company said that it will continue to provide free security fixes for XP until 2014, any future bugs found in the platform will not be fixed unless customers pay for additional support. Windows XP accounts for about 63 per cent of all internet connected computers, according to March 2009 statistics from Hitslink, while Windows Vista makes up about 24 per cent.
Privacy

Submission + - IPRED law in Sweden - Watching the watchers

digithed writes: In response to Sweden's recent introduction of new laws implementating the European IPRED directive a new Swedish website has been launched allowing users to check if their IP address is currently under investigation. The site also allows users to subscribe for email updates telling them if their IP address comes under investigation in the future, or to report IP addresses known to be under investigation. The site can be found at: http://ipred.bitchware.se/

This is an interesting use of people power "watching the watchers". The new Swedish laws implementing the IPRED directive require a public request to the courts in order to get ISPs to forcibly disclose potentially sensitive private information, and since all court records are public in Sweden (as are all government records) it will be easy to compile a list of IP addresses which are currently being investigated.
Idle

Submission + - UK Home Office Site Links to Porn 1

Azaril writes: The British home office had an embarrassing incident this morning, when it was discovered that a link to the new legistlation on data retention actually linked to a Japanese porn site. Apparently, the home office forgot to renew the domain name, and didn't change the link when it was bought by a japanese company. This of course comes after the news that the home secretary claimed pornographic films on her expense account.
The Internet

Submission + - Happy 40th Birthday Internet R.F.C.s

WayHomer writes: Stephen Crocker in the New York Times writes, "TODAY is an important date in the history of the Internet: the 40th anniversary of what is known as the Request for Comments (RFC)." "RFC1 — Host Software" was published 40 years ago today, establishing a framework for documenting how networking technolgies and the Internet itself work. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

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