Thursday, March 08, 2012

Thursday Morning Science News.............

Couple of interesting but odd things to ponder over.
This first topic has been in the news intermittently, usually associated with "The End of the World" type scenarios.
With our increasing dependence on computers and their offspring, I can actually see the chances for this option growing as the maintenance, upkeep and updating of the supporting infrastructure drops.
Not that I'm I'm worried about it much. I have much more pressing things personally.

Solar blast could have earthly impact
"The sun unleashed one of the biggest flares ever seen during its current activity cycle late Tuesday — an X5.4-class outburst strong enough to trigger a radio blackout. The resulting geomagnetic storm could affect electrical grids, communication links, satellite navigation systems and airline schedules over the next couple of days."

This one doesn't sound like to big of a deal. But given the right conditions, a big enough CME would fry the electrical grid 6 ways from Sunday.
Again, I'm not losing any sleep over it. But I did want to get out and and see if the Northern Lights were out there, but damn if the clouds hadn't moved in already.
So I was more upset about that than any potential catastrophe.

Yeah, I know. I'm a selfish old fart. But it's all about me, right?


And from the "Why Does This Not Surprise Me at All?" Files comes this-

How to get ANYTHING through TSA nude body scanners: Blogger exposes loophole in $1billion fleet

"Controversial nude body scanners used at U.S. airports have come under fire again - after a blogger claimed he could easily smuggle explosives through them onto a plane.

Engineer Jonathan Corbett has published a video where he shows how he took a small metal case through two of the TSA's $1billion fleet in a special side pocket stitched into his shirt."


We all know that the big security song and dance to get through an airport is a waste and just for show anyway.
And that this young kid figured out a cheap and easy way to bypass that system makes me laugh.
The "Large and in Charge" types in Washington are gonna have a Case of the Vapors over all this and I expect them to do the right and reasonable thing here.
They'll probably send a SWAT Team to his place, drag his ass off to jail and bring him up on a list of charges including "Domestic Terrorism" as an example for the rest of us.

Who knows, maybe he'll get to be the first one they use the NDAA powers against. Someones gotta be first and there really is no greater offense to those in power than pointing this sort of thing out and then taunting them with a video as proof.

Good luck, Kid.
You're gonna need it.

Gratuitous Picture for a Thursday Morning-