nackt

While I believe that it is far better and more dignified to submit one's self to a full body scan--the process, however, was not so effective for the Governator in Total Recall--rather than squirm in one's seat or soil one's self during the last hour of a flight or to curtail necessities in packing or divest one's self of carry-on items altogether, Europe's compliance with the scanners is disappointing.  It makes me think about those legendary office-parties where some drunk secretary makes a photocopy of her backside.  She was not worried about personal privacy and the image abused on the internet.  I wonder about these early-adopters for the full-body scans--at least they have the good sense to blame America and make measures only mandatory for flights there and not across the board.  This sort of escalation is no different than Putin's rebuttal to Obama that Russia needs more weapons to keep the US in check, so America cannot do whatever it wants.  One should be accountable if one makes itself a victim or a promising target.

snow patrol

The weather has been generally benevolent, gentle and seasonal, but a heavy, wet snow slogged down yesterday afternoon, snarling the light traffic of people still going to and from work.  I crawled through the hyperspace blizzard of snow flakes, listening to the news station on the radio.  Lo and behold, the traffic report announced an accident and snarl on the relatively peacable and incident-free stretch of Autobahn that I drive.  This was the first time I had heard my drive on the radio, and a part of me did not want to miss the accident and rubberneck--perhaps checking for timliness and accuracy, though I knew that I should avoid it if I was able to--after all, such warnings are issued so cars will steer clear of the scene.  H heard the report too and called immediately, to make sure I was OK.  I trudged on slowly, on the look-out.  When I didn't come across any evidence of an accident, I started to worry that perhaps this rare report of activity was a missive from the future, directed at me.  Mush, mush--the tedious work of plowing and skidding can engender strange thoughts.

you got chocolate in my peanut butter

In response to the two yuletide would-be airline disasters, Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing fame put together this wonderful posting.  Systematically, the reactionaries are just ruining the flight-experience, just like the bloated security software they liberally lather on our computers.  I guess that this underpants-bomber was not too concerned over maintaining a sensible safety-to-convenience ratio, just as the shoe-bomber and the mystery-liquid and great unknown bombers of Christmas Future were not thinking about the farce that they were about to set off.  Apparently now one cannot use the airplane toliet during the last hour of flight before decent starts.  Meanwhile, I imagine that the Italian air travel administration will have to fold to the status quo imposed by Ryan Air.  Italy was actually moving towards relaxing some of the more non-sensical measures and allowing passengers to board domestic flights with forms of identification like drivers' and hunting licenses.  Ryan Air, representing a large portion of the Italian in-country flights, however, does not like this move, since it will create more work for ticketing agents and put kinks in on-line check-ins.  I guess it's a good thing that the majority of Ryan Air flights last less than one hour (apparently, that last hour is golden time for mad-bombers) and plan to install pay toliets on their flights.

tierekreis

Some weeks ago, at the kick off to the Christmas season, Saint Nickolaus brought us these great, giant zodiac mugs with our star signs.  I am not a strong adherent of astrology, but as with the curious describtors and biographies printed here, I am always wont to ask, how did they know.  Now if some wandering swami or other type of zodiacal pollster were to ask me what my favourite food is, I probably would not automatically respond "onions and garlic" like the mug says but I feel like that is probably more accurate than any spontaneous answer I would give, especially when H asks me what I want for dinner.  Scorpios generally get a bad reputation, astrologically speaking, and are characterized as cold, jealous and secretive, but that's probably pretty spot on as well.

schnee und matsch or "cover your brake"

I am very happy that the storm of tee-tiny snow flakes that blanketed this area is dispersing to mush.  It amazes me that when the first heavy snowfall of the year comes around, drivers go into panic-mode, like they've never, ever driven in snow before and let driving rules of engagement slip.  People are less courteous and take more chances in hopes of inching forward, sloppy parking, tossing wet things on car upholstery, driving half-blind from unscraped windows or condensation.  I have done hasty things in the snow that I am not proud to admit to.  I think this new car is quite a little prima donna flashing its fancy complaint that tyre-pressure is too low, whereas I think that is a natural consequence of the laws of Gauss and thermodynamics.  A month ago, I had to take a class for winter driving safety.  I can see myself bumbling around in the mornings like these bundled up unfortuneates, and the video had a catchy admonition while driving in potentially dangerous situations: "Cover your brake."  One should always be prepared to stop well in advance of encroaching danger.  I informed H that road conditions were "amber" yesterday.  I could not say what exactly that meant, however--terrorists on the prowl on the Autobahn.  Always remember, cover your brake.

laudable ennumerations

Even before the tree has had a chance to dry out and shed its needles or we have had a chance to plan for New Year's, the agents of recognition are out on the prowl, deciding what are the superlatives of this past year, and ten is the standard unit, even if it takes some reaching and duplication to come up with that many.  Top 10 movies, top 10 economic stories, top 10 memoriable moments, top 10 disasters, top 10 inventions--and the self-referential bunch, top 10 episodes, top 10 doctor's visits, tops, flops, and other sundries.  In some cases, they are even trying for the whole decade, not the roaring Aughts, but the ten-year span between 1999 and 2009.  It's nice to remember cultural currency but not when it's this fresh.  2010 must be an Aught too.