Flights with no e-readers?!

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by NeilHawkes

Oh sh#t, I'll have to wear a cunning disguise instead.

And for the love of the gawds....do NOT FORGET YOUR TURNIP!! Every cunning plan needs a turnip as a back-up just in case!

[Sydney's Mom]

As someone who had her kindle broken somewhere in the 3 screenings I went through post 12-25, I don't think I will ever again take my kindle to the airport. I had to buy a pbook for the plane, and I bought the paperback version of the very first book I ever bought for my kindle. It was $9.99.

[kindlekitten]

it was abused through the xray?

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Krystian Galaj

"If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. The loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or imagined, from abroad."
– James Madison ...

With all due respect, this quotation is unsourced and appears to my ear to be somewhat questionable. Madison did, however, in a 1798 letter to Thomas Jefferson, write something of a similar nature.

"Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to provisions agst. danger real or pretended from abroad."
-- James Madison, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson (May 13, 1798)

That letter can be found here.

[Krystian Galaj]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

With all due respect, this quotation is unsourced and appears to my ear to be somewhat questionable.

Yes, I don't have it traced to the source, just to here: http://www.scienceaddiction.com/2006/04/25/outrage/

Madison did, however, in a 1798 letter to Thomas Jefferson, write something of a similar nature.

"Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to provisions agst. danger real or pretended from abroad."
-- James Madison, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson (May 13, 1798)

That letter can be found here.

It does appear to be the very same conclusion.

[kfarmer]

Originally Posted by Krystian Galaj

Yes, I don't have it traced to the source, just to here: http://www.scienceaddiction.com/2006/04/25/outrage/



It does appear to be the very same conclusion.

Wikiquote agrees that it seems to actually be a paraphrasing: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Madison

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Krystian Galaj

Yes, I don't have it traced to the source, just to here: http://www.scienceaddiction.com/2006/04/25/outrage/

It does appear to be the very same conclusion.

The Internet is a virtual Child's Garden of Misinformation. I would sooner trust an ex-con turned used-car salesman with my life savings on a handshake deal than to trust the accuracy of 99% of "Quotations" pages on the Internet, the vast majority of which see no reason to give sources. Sometimes I think there are as many bogus quotes out there and genuine ones. My rule is simple: Give me chapter and verse. Unless I see an original source given, I assume to quotation to be hearsay.

One of the most frequent things I see done is people taking a genuine quotation and adding to it or altering it in some way that more closely reflects their own inclinations. This is nothing new, and has been going on for as long as writing has been around. This seems to be what was done with this quotation. Certainly the tail-end of what was posted on scienceaddiction.com was very close to Madison's own words, but where did the rest of that quote come from?

[NeilHawkes]

Originally Posted by Barcey

You might have heard that they were restricting bathroom access towards the end of the flight and think it's a good idea to wear some Depends undergarments as a backup.

I wouldn't recommend it. It sounds like you're going to have enough trouble.

I wonder if I'll be allowed to wear a nappy...........I also wonder if my wife will divorce me if I do!

[NeilHawkes]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

And for the love of the gawds....do NOT FORGET YOUR TURNIP!! Every cunning plan needs a turnip as a back-up just in case!

Oh come on............that's that disguise ruined, my turnipman suit has got me through many crisis.

Maybe if I had a big sign saying "I'm not Neil Hawkes" taped to my head, I'd get away with it.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by NeilHawkes

Oh come on............that's that disguise ruined, my turnipman suit has got me through many crisis.

Try humming Abba tunes - they might think you're a swede.

[calvin-c]

Originally Posted by NeilHawkes

Maybe if I had a big sign saying "I'm not Neil Hawkes" taped to my head, I'd get away with it.

Not too sure about Lagos, given the apparent intelligence of US security agents though, I think it'd work.

[calvin-c]

Originally Posted by Harmon

My thought then & now was that the best security we could have was not to ban box cutters, but issue them to everyone who boards a plane.

As far as I can see the US is turning into the type of police state where people are no longer allowed to defend themselves. No, I'm not an NRA member. Although I believe in the right to bear arms, I also realize that more injuries occur from simply having a gun in the house than from home invasions.

But, back to the subject of people defending themselves, the primary defense against crime (including terrorism) is for the victims to fight back. The greatest boost to crime comes when the government (usually the police) tell people not to fight back. Yes, it protects the individual-but it sacrifices society.

There are problems with every approach I've seen-from encouraging people to report suspicious activity ("Joe stole my girlfriend, what can I do to get back at him?") to government monitoring. (Multiple problems there-from government officials that don't do their job to those that do their job, but sell the information they gather from it.)

IMO the proper approach is education. I'm not sure it will work-basically I believe that people, when they understand why they should act for the betterment of all even when the circumstances work against themselves, will do so. That's not the case now, and many people disagree with me. According to them, that's human nature-and it doesn't change. IMO, that's human thought patterns & the way to change it is to show people why it's to their long-term benefit to change.

There's a lot to be done in this regard. Providing jobs, for example-one of the reasons (IIRC an article I read) many youth join gangs, including terrorist gangs, is because it's the only way they see to make their lives better. Show them another way, without resorting to violence, and in many cases they'll take it-but the way they see it (and I don't disagree with them) a violent way is better than no way. If it works (and that's where I do disagree with them.)

[DawnFalcon]

Crime rates have fallen off dramatically in all the Western countries from a mid-90's high. People don't feel safer, but that's got entirely different causes to the actual crime rate.

Oh, and while I don't have a problem with countries where you can bear arms, I do have a problem where there's the right to bear them without having done a basic firearms safety course.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

Crime rates have fallen off dramatically in all the Western countries from a mid-90's high. People don't feel safer, but that's got entirely different causes to the actual crime rate.

Is that all crime, or a subset?
I'm just thinking there must be heaps more crimes committed now than 10 years ago, millions more illegal music downloads for example.
And the government keeps inventing new crimes all the time - I'm finding it really hard to keep up .

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

Is that all crime, or a subset?
I'm just thinking there must be heaps more crimes committed now than 10 years ago, millions more illegal music downloads for example.
And the government keeps inventing new crimes all the time - I'm finding it really hard to keep up .

Maybe the statistics are assuming you are innocent until convicted. In a lot of countries copyright infringement is a civil offense and maybe the statistics makes a difference.