The Urkel Effect

No, this post has nothing to do with politics.  Instead, it has to do a little with fashion.

"Urkel, as in Steve Urkel?  Fashion??  In the same sentence??"

I hear you.  Seriously, I actually saw a little video about it.

Okay, we have all seen the baggy pants worn by youngsters in the last decade, who seem to think that their boxers are so fashionably interesting that all must be exposed to it.  

When I was working as a camp counselor, I saw my fair share of it and threatened the boys that if their boxers were even peeking out, it was fair game for anyone to pull down their pants.  (Not that we actually carried out the threat, but it worked well enough.)

So here comes this school principal who told his students that if they chose to come to school with baggy pants exposing their underwear, they could either 1) take suspension or 2) wear Steve Urkel pants.

This ingenuous man uses zip ties (see below) to cinch up the belt loops, thus pulling up the pants!

Of course, he does actually have a wall of shame where a picture of the offending student in Urkel pants is posted.  That, of course, is the greater deterent.

So Who Really Owns Your Mortgage

We are all aware of the mortgage fiasco involving robo-signers, predatory lending, and so on and so forth.  Let us also not forget about personal irresponsibility -- just because the lender said you could afford the mortgage did not actually mean that you can really afford the mortgage.  Still, if you think the bank to which you are making a payment every month owns your mortgage, the chart below proves you wrong.  You can get a more detailed look in the original article.

(For the record, I did try to understand the flow chart.  I got through about half of it in 5 minutes and decided my time was better spent elsewhere.  And the "Black Hole" notation on the right hand side of the chart made me chuckle too.)

That Thing About Body Scanners

Back in March, I posted my two cents about the body scanning technology in airports.  With the recent experience of John Tyner and the growing controversy backlash, I decided to add another two cents.

1)  If you don't already think that this is a serious invasion of privacy, read this quote from Andy Greenberg's article on the same technology available (and by the way, is currently used) in moving vans:

"The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is currently suing the DHS to stop airport deployments of the backscatter scanners, which can reveal detailed images of human bodies. (Just how much detail became clear last May, when TSA employee Rolando Negrin was charged with assaulting a coworker who made jokes about the size of Negrin’s genitalia after Negrin received a full-body scan.)"

 2)  All that scanning is a safety issue, and not for transportation security but a health risk for passengers, and more so for the TSA agents and airport employees.  The exposure to all that radiation has long-term consequences, which no one in TSA seems to have addressed.  The current technology used in airports deals with radiation.  It is not in as high doses as the Hiroshima bomb (duh!), but seriously, do you want to be exposed to radiation that is scattered?  When you get an X-ray, why do you think the technicians ask if you are pregnant (if you are female), or why they stand behind a lead wall ,or why they put a lead "armor" on you, depending on what you are getting X-rayed?  It's RADIATION, folks!  Doesn't matter whether it is millimeter wave or backscatter technology -- they are both radiation.  Persons most at risk (listed in order of amount of exposure): TSA agents, airport employees, vendors in the terminal, pilots (note that pilots' unions have urged a boycott of body scanners), flight attendants, frequent fliers, children and pregnant women.

3)  Apparently the TSA policy of alternative options to body scanning (supposedly optional) is not available in all locations -- the ability to opt out apparently depends on the TSA agent you get.  There are a number of reports of people threatened with legal consequences, as well as being dished emotional trauma and mistreatment, and at least one report of a pregnant woman who was coerced into going through the body scanner.  Among the arguments used was "You get ultrasounds, don't you?"  Ignoramus maximus!  First of all, ultrasound is not radiation.  Totally different!  Even if it were the same, radiation is not a good thing for anybody!  Secondly, doctors limit ultrasounds to a minimum for the sake of the baby because it's not good for the babies either!

4)  By the way, TSA has acknowledged this in the most limited sense: those body scanning images can  be (and sometimes are) stored.  Surprised?

 5)  As I have said before, there are alternative technologies out there.  (Funny how the media doesn't really report on them...  but that's another post)  One such technology is thermal imaging.  In a nutshell, you take a thermal read of the person.  Our body temperature is afterall hotter than room temperature.  Anything that blocks that heat from radiating from the body to the scanner shows up on the image.  Left your iPhone or extra small notebook in your pocket?  No problem, they'll see the heat signature blocked and have you empty your pocket...  without seeing all of you.

There are many articles out there decrying the use of the current body scanners in airports, venting public frustrations with TSA, and so on and so forth.  Here are just a handful for your reading pleasure.

Consumer Traveler: So what's really up with those full body scanners?

Consumer Traveler:Is TSA getting the message?  Air travelers don't want to be stripped naked and felt up

 Rick Seaney: Are Airport Full-Body Scanners Dangerous?  (By the way, notice that Nico Melendez evades the question on whether such technology could have caught the Christmas Day underwear bomber?)

BlackBook: TSA Full-Body Scanner May Cause Cancer

WorldNetDaily: Life With Big Brother

Gizmodo: TSA Full-Body Scanners: Protecting Passengers or Padding Pockets?

My personal take: I do not approve of having my privacy violated beyond what my primary doctor can see/do and I most certainly do not agree with a government-sanctioned molestation in the form of over-zealous pat-downs.  With that being said, I am probably not flying for a long time.  

Quoting part of the Declaration of Independence (bold mine):

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness...But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security...He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance...He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power."

I am not advocating any sort of physical revolt or anything violent or what not, but Big Brother, I highly recommend you look at the alternative technologies and use smart screening or you could have a revolt on your hands for being an oppressive government.

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety".

~Benjamin Franklin

Buy Chinese - Buy GM

...and everything in WalMart.  But that's another conversation...

So among the banks helping out the initial public stock offering of General Motors next week are two Chinese banks, both are linked to the Chinese government.  I think that "Government Motors" should be renamed "GM-C"... for Government Motors-China.  What do you think?

QE2

No, I am neither talking about an European monarch nor a cruise ship.  I am talking about Quantitative Easing. In very simplistic terms, that means "printing money".  The Feds are buying $600 billion (yes, that is "billion" with a "B") in bonds.  When the government spends money, the Treasury prints the money they spend.  The video in the link is calling this a "Global Ponzi Scheme".

Um, last I checked, a Ponzi scheme is illegal.  So if the Feds are heading up a Ponzi scheme, shouldn't they be prosecuted for it like any Ponzi perpetrator?

Additional note:

Remember I said some time ago that there are only 2 ways the government can pay for all the programmes they have -- raise taxes or print more money?  Hmmm....  I know the election is over, yet I will state a common sense principle again: 

Don't spend money you don't have in your hand.

Cut the programmes.

Searching For A New Rental? Beware of scams!

So recently, I have been doing a little scouting around Craigslist to see how other rental properties around the area compare to our humble abode.  I have been coming across a number of scams.  Here are some tips to weed them out:

• The rent is really low for the area.  (Seriously, a "3BR huge home in KOP" for $631/month??)
• The contact number is out of town.
• When you contact them, they ask for your email address to "send you information".
• If you leave a message and no one calls you back within a couple of hours. (Real owners or real estate agents or rental managers always get back to you ASAP.)

Never ever give out any personal information without seeing the property in person first.  Not your last name, email address, home phone number (cell phone is okay because they do need one way of contacting you and cell phone numbers are not easily traced by the general public), definitely not any financial information and never your Social Security number.  If they pressure you to give information because "we have many people calling us about this property.  Are you going to rent it or not?", they are probably not legitimate.  (I responded to one such instance with, "Well, I need to know if you are legit or not." and was promptly hung up on.)
 
One more thing: If you see a listing that just has a website link (such as ez.com) -- DO NOT CLICK ON IT!  ez.com is a known tracking website and others may contain worse (such as keystroke programmes and other viruses).  Use common sense when clicking on any links.

Cutest Hockey Goal Celebration Ever

We all know that kids say and do the darndest things.  This is the darn-cutest way to celebrate a goal.

Lampooning the Old Spice Commercial

Words cannot describe how hard I laughed...

Gerald Lesser Dies at 84

"Can you tell me how, how to get to Sesame Street?"

Sniff sniff.  Mr. Lesser was one of the creative geniuses of Sesame Street, one of the best childhood programmes ever um, I mean during the 1970s and 1980s.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/entertainment-15749636/sesame-street-s-gerald-lesser-dies-at-84-22293905

Thank you for bringing us all the letters of the alphabet and numbers on the street every kid wants to to get to.

What To Do Next...

...for the man who has found his other half.  

I came across some marriage proposal videos, and some were very creative.  These two are among the ones I enjoyed most.

This is the most creative video I have seen:

Of course, I love any proposal involving someone in uniform: