Your Daily Planet #2 · Thursday May 29, 2008 by colin newell
If I had a dollar for every absurd thing I have seen or heard this week, I would have… let’s see… 56$.
Still. If there are people from other Planets cruising our internet via a free wireless connection, I would just like to let them know…
…that we are not normally this kooky or illogical. Really.
But back to the silly files for a moment.
Dunkin’ Donuts has pulled an online advertisement featuring Rachael Ray after complaints that a fringed black-and-white scarf that the celebrity chef wore in the ad offers symbolic support for Muslim extremism and terrorism.
Uh-huh? Right. Critics, including right-wing want-to-be journalist Michelle Malkin who ejaculated: “The scarf wrapped around her looked like a kaffiyeh, the traditional Arab accessory.” Woo! Scary! Head-scarf! Obvious sign of terrorism, Woo!
A quick read of Michelle’s open comment system revealed that many readers thought she was out of her mind… as well as the readers that support her headline grabbing nonsense. I will add my sentiment to that list of comments, “Michelle, you are a dying breed of ignorant, fear-mongering web nobodies… enjoy your fleeting moments of whatever…”
In other news – Afraid of flying? Watch your facial expressions.
A prototype surveillance system being tested by the European Union would place cameras inside the back of every passenger seat to track the facial expressions of travelers and catch would-be terrorists and unruly fliers on the brink of “air rage.” link According to a report in New Scientist, the cameras would look for passengers sweating profusely or behaving in a nervous manner, but it would alert the crew only after detecting a combination of signs, rather than a single one.
Sweating. Nervous behavior. Gee. That describes, what, less than 1% of the flying population?
In an update to the Big Brother post: Lap-top, i-Pod, gadget searches to become routine in your daily air travels… There are numerous court challenges yet to be prepared and contemplated in Canada and the U.S.A. It seems our American constitution and Canadian charter of rights and freedoms still have some basic protective tenets built in – there has to be a reasonable expectation of privacy in your travels, there has to be a reasonable suspicion of guilt or potential guilt when fishing for data in your computer or personal electronic and ex-parte searches are still open to challenges, if not immediate in the airport objections to security staff rifling your stuff. Still, if you are an American returning to America or a Canadian transiting the American aviation infrastructure, there is a remote possibility that your laptop and all its contents will be confiscated – despite your protestations – with no promise of return.
If this upsets you, write your senator or member of parliament.
additional reading from the TSA themselves…
Big Brother Air travel rant #2 how long is your pocket knife · Sunday May 25, 2008 by colin newell
Long delays at Vancouver International Airport on Friday were the product of a traveler slipping through security screening with…
- A handgun?
- A grenade?
- A copy of the Koran?
- A copy of the Torah?
- A copy of Mad magazine?
- A bottle of mother’s milk?
Nope. Security staff spotted something on an X-ray machine around 10 a.m.
The passenger had already collected his bag and walked into the secure area of the domestic terminal.
At least 10 domestic flights were grounded for the next hour and a half while staff searched for the passenger and a knife.
What kind of knife? Steak knife? No. K-Bar knife? Hardly.
A pocket knife… probably 10cm long.
Woo! Scary!! Pocket knife! Woo!
Listen up folks. I am Ex Canadian Army and I can do more damage to the average human with a slice of stale pizza than a randomly selected civilian can do with a hunting knife.
So. Enough of these stupid security alerts at Airports.
Small statistic: The U.S. has spent billions on protecting us from terrorists in the U.S.A.
Ironically, bath tubs have killed 100 times more Americans since 9/11 than honest-to-goodness wild-eyed terrorists.
That’s right folks, bath tubs. You’ve seen them in bath rooms all over America… perhaps you have one in your own home. But do you really know what lies behind those porcelain surfaces, composite materials and space-age plastics?
I do: Mayhem, tears and death…
by slippage.
Comment [1]
Big Brother Air travel rant #1 what`s in your pocket · Saturday May 24, 2008 by colin newell
The federal government is secretly negotiating an agreement to revamp international copyright laws that could make the information on Canadian iPods, laptop computers, mp3 players, iPhones, cell phones and other electronic devices illegal and greatly increase the hassle of traveling anywhere with such devices.
These new laws could also impose strict regulations on ISP’s, forcing those companies to hand over customer information without a court order.
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), would see Canada join other wing-nut countries, including the United States and members of the European Union, to form an international coalition against copyright infringement.
Right. And who is behind this nonsense? That’s right – formerly unstoppable and now foundering record company multi-nationals like Sony Music. It seems that American Idol is simply not producing enough revenue to buoy their titanic-bound fortunes of old.
This deal would create a international regulator that could turn border guards and other public security personnel into copyright police. These byte police would be in charge of checking your laptop, iPod and even your cellular phone for content that “infringes” on copyright laws; like the video of your son or daughters performance in their school’s production of Oklahoma.
Is it just me, or are you sick and tired of the Canadian government wanting to peep into your bedroom, your kitchen, your financial records and now your personal electronic entertainment devices? Enough already! Enough!
The ACTA document divulges… officials should be given the “authority to take action against law breakers (authority to act without complaint by rights holders).”
Anyone found with infringing content in their possession would be open to a fine or have their devices confiscated or destroyed.
The trade agreement includes “civil enforcement” measures that give security personnel the “authority to order ex parte searches” (without a lawyer present) “and other preliminary measures.”
Have you seen some of the security personnel that work at our airports and border crossings? They are power mad wieners that will go crazy with this new authority.
Currently in Canada, border guards already perform random searches of laptops at airports to check for illegal content. ACTA would expand the role of those guards.
Gas Price Rant #12 The Chug-a-lug bug in your rug · Monday April 28, 2008 by colin newell
As gasoline prices continue to bottle-rocket in the Canadian (and American) marketplace, a torrent of theories attempting to explain the pricing behavior in gasoline markets have emerged. Internet pundits from the CoffeeCrew blog and beyond have their own pet theory about the rising price of motion juice.
So – who is right? And how off the mark am I?
Some sound economic analysis is in order and it seems only appropriate to play a bit of “gasoline price fact or fiction” with stalwarts: supply and demand.
(Theory #1) Gas prices are controlled entirely by wholesalers and refinery oligopolists who collude, cooperate and profiteer at your expense.
Fact or Fiction?
One of the most widespread theories about gasoline markets is that prices are controlled entirely by monopolists in the oil industry – That suppliers may charge whatever high price they prefer with impunity due to collusion and cooperation between cogs in the chain of process. From appearances alone (Prima facie): prices between gas stations tend to move up (and down) in a synchronized pattern, with the suggestion that collusion must be occurring between suppliers.
If one uses the Victoria, B.C. Canada market as an example, one would note that prices move lock step – often shifting city-wide to the exact same point within minutes of any rumor of increase (or decrease)
And while gasoline wholesalers and refiners certainly possess modest “market power,” suppliers do not “control” prices. On the contrary, prices are controlled by the interplay between supply and demand; the collusion whimsy tends to dismiss the demand side of the market. Gasoline refiners and wholesalers have market power because demand for gasoline tends to be insensitive to price changes. “Price in-elasticity” – means that when prices change, consumers’ spending habits change proportionately less than the accompanying variation in price.
Price in-elasticity occurs for several reasons. First, gasoline, has no close substitutes. Without choice, consumers tend to be less price conscious.
Gasoline is also viewed as a “necessity” by most people. There is no option to stop buying fuel as protest. Most people will sacrifice other goods in order to spend more of their income on gasoline – or forgo recreational travel.
Consumers do not have time to alter their buying behavior in response to price spikes. They do not typically adjust to higher gas prices by purchasing hybrid vehicles, riding their bicycles or walking to destinations. Any adjustments in buying patterns take time. In the long term consumers could adjust by finding alternatives, making the gasoline more price elastic. Hasn’t happened yet, has it?
Finally, studies indicate that gasoline expenditures are still a small slice of most household budgets. In 2003, the average Canadian household probably spent less than 5% of annual income on gasoline. At this juncture, Canadian households tend to be insensitive to price changes. We are currently feeling the pinch in the food marketplace as the real impact of fuel costs versus costs of delivery impact the very mechanisms that bring goods and consumables to our communities.
Gasoline is a price-inelastic product. Here is another reason why:
Whether prices fall or rise, people generally buy the same amount. I mean, you can only fill up one gas tank at a time.
Look at it this way: If the demand for gasoline is perfectly price inelastic, and if refineries and wholesale have firm control over prices, why do prices ever stop rising?
They do actually. They ebb and flow. The current price of 1.29/liter is scarcely higher than it was a year ago – It goes up and down. Obviously the trend is upwards
and although we will not stop buying gasoline any time soon, we are certainly going to feel the pain of skyrocketing fuel prices in other ways – some of which we have yet to imagine.
update: Note blog entry from almost a year ago – yup, 129.9
How have prices impacted your life? [3]
