Putting the T & A back in TSA
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Strangers on a train
While I was waiting for the train during an afternoon commute last week, I ran into him for the second time. A little boy, probably five or six. He ran wild on the platform. He played on the train tracks. He smashed the pay phone against a metal rail. He screamed at people. Last time, he also threw rocks at cars in a nearby parking lot. [Read more →]
Making a case for Four Loko (with a case of Four Loko)
After a long day at the office (my couch), I can’t think of a better way to unwind than with my favorite caffeinated malt liquor beverage: Four Loko. You can see why, then, I was so shocked to hear that my beloved Loko was being pulled from shelves. What’s the matter, Uncle Sam? Scared of a good time? Afraid you might have too much fun? I didn’t realize our government was run by a bunch of grandmas. [Read more →]
Times must really be tough in the age of Obama
We’ve got a few posts here on When Falls that deal with the TSA, full body scanners, and enhanced pat downs. But I think we’re missing the real story when we discuss this issue. We’re focused on the loss of liberty, spending all of our time debating “Give me liberty, or give me a grope”, as Mark Steyn says, and not enough time focused on what is really important.
People are really, really, really desperate for work and this story proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt.
“If you don’t like it, don’t fly.”
There are many people who are willing to give up certain privileges of privacy to ensure safety. I cannot fault anyone for thinking of the safety of their children and loved ones. There is a point, however, where our so-prided ideas of “freedom” and “liberty” are being needlessly handed over because of outright paranoia and the illusion of safety. [Read more →]
Lisa reads: Concrete Operational by Richard Galbraith
Concrete Operational is a collaborative media project — a novel, art book and music cd — wrapped up in a fascinating package, each complementing the others. It’s interesting and ambitious, with a sci-fi novel about a future world gone mad, plus art and music focusing on themes from the book (love, madness, anger). I also have a limited edition, numbered box set, provided by the author, that I am giving away to one lucky winner. There is a link to the contest at the end of this review. [Read more →]
Broadway Fred: Rituals
I read in Playbill that Broadway’s original Harold Hill, Robert Preston, had a ritual whenever he went to a Broadway show. Just before the curtain was to go up, Preston would roll up his Playbill, place one end to his wife’s ear, and whisper “I love you” into the other. Damn. I wish I had thought of that.
Gail sees a movie: Morning Glory
I was almost deterred by the copious television commercials that made me fear Morning Glory would be another lame comedy. But the desire to see my seventies Star Wars crush and the amazing Annie Hall (ok, Diane Keaton) won, and I am glad. This film may be trivial, but it is light and fun, and better than the ads suggest. [Read more →]
National Opt-Out Day
The People have finally found their limit, the line that they are not willing to cross in order to be safe from terror or danger and that limited line is the new Transportation Security Administration’s use of Body Scanners and policy of Pat-Downs that seem more like Feel-Ups. [Read more →]
On artistic weirdness: Part two
Beethoven’s hair was crazy for a reason. I don’t think it had anything to do with styling, though. My own humble speculation is that it was not a conscious decision at all. Beethoven’s hair was messed up because he didn’t care that it was. It was messed up because he wanted to write music and because primping would eat up time he could better spend with quills and keys; therefore, the master’s external manifestation of artistic weirdness falls into a category I call “true bohemian weirdness.” [Read more →]
Why religious discussions usually lead nowhere
The poet Rilke had a brief encounter with psychoanalysis, but proved wary of it. “I am afraid,” he said, “that if my demons leave me, my angels will take flight as well.”
His remark popped into my mind recently under somewhat odd circumstances: at Sunday Mass during the reading of the Gospel. [Read more →]
The TSA, full body scanners, terrorism, and government ownership of corporations
So I’ve caught a really nasty cold or sinus infection and it’s keeping me home from work today. With nothing to do until my doctor’s appointment this afternoon, I’ve been sitting here all morning reading about today’s favorite internet topic, namely the TSA’s full body scanner and peep show. The public outcry over this highly invasive, potentially unconstitutional, search of innocent people has been vast, and so has the coverage. Steve Chapman writes about it over at Reason.com today. CNN is covering the story. You’ve got guides on “How to opt out of the scans”, Yahoo covering the refusal of pilots to go through them, and bloggers discussing their experiences going through the alternative security check points and the resulting molestation you’re going to recieve.
All of this insanity, all of it in response to prior insanity, and for what? Why are passengers being groped and fondled in ways that’d get you beaten up and thrown out of any strip club in the US if you tried to grab a dancer like that? Why are government agencies intent on treating innocent citizens as though they’re cons entering a supermax prison, or like they’re already confirmed as bomb toting terrorists? What gives?
Marty digs: Toy Story 3
As the weekend came to an end, I realized that I spent it sobbing like a child at Toy Story 3, and almost getting mugged at the bank up the street from me. Just another typical weekend for Martin Joseph O’Connor. [Read more →]
Bad sports, good sports: When are kids too old for mercy rules?
When kids are young and are playing sports, it is natural for adults to want to protect them from being embarrassed. If playing sports is not fun for a kid right from the beginning, there is little chance that he or she will grow up wanting to play. Organized sports for young children have developed ways to protect the participants from the harsh realities that will eventually hit them when they get older, as far as losing and not being good enough. Games are played without keeping score, rules are changed so that everyone gets equal playing time, and everyone gets a medal at the end. I am okay with these things as long as they are restricted to games involving only the youngest children. [Read more →]
Top ten excuses of the Seattle man arrested for trying to have sex with his car
10. Everybody knows how much men love their cars!
9. He was very confused about the term ‘carjacking’
8. He swears the headlights kept winking at him
7. Seriously, Dude, have you ever even seen a Maserati Bora?!
6. PCP and Jack Daniels don’t mix
5. He was parked on Lover’s Lane, and one thing led to another
4. No way could he resist that junk in the trunk!
3. The new car smell really turned him on
2. He thought it would be fun to impale an Impala
1. When he told his friends how lonely he was, they suggested autoeroticism
Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.
David Lynch and pulling chairs out from underneath people
“What’s a good plate with nothing on it?” So asks Jay in Clerks, a movie that despite its numerous flaws still managed to be charming. I can now definitively state that a good plate with nothing on it is Mulholland Drive, which I watched last night for the first time instead of rewatching Rob Roy. “I think I liked Wild Hogs better than this,” was my girlfriend’s response to the movie, and while I can’t commit to damning Mulholland Drive with that particular faint praise, I definitely would have enjoyed my fourth or fifth viewing of Rob Roy quite a bit more.
Ballot initiative to ban circumcision
There was an interesting op/ed by Michael C. Moynihan over at Reason.com in their Hit and Run Blogs with the title “The Most Unkindest Cut of All”. The blog post pointed us to a story in the Washington Examiner about a proposed ballot initiative in San Francisco. The initiative would:
“…amend The City’s police code “to make it a misdemeanor to circumcise, excise, cut or mutilate the foreskin, testicle or penis of another person who has not attained the age of 18.”
The new century’s single mom (I love my village)
My mother grew up in a farm town in Illinois. She had an older brother and a younger brother, and her parents had double standards. She could only go so far into the woods, she could only swim so far out into the lake, she had to be home before dark — that kind of thing. Her brothers did as they pleased and she was informed that girls were not allowed the same freedom.
I wonder if that’s why she never complained about raising me alone. And I mean alone, no support system whatsoever, no help from my birth father. I wonder if she just decided to prove to everyone that she was strong, and fully capable of being both parents. She was strong, she was capable, but of course she couldn’t be two people. Neither can I.
The FDA’s new graphic cigarette warning labels don’t go far enough
The way in which a product is marketed is vitally important to its success. We know that manufacturers spend a lot of time and money to ensure that their product, however hurtful it might be, seems appealing to consumers. The reason for this is obvious: most people are helpless in the face of great marketing, and great marketing starts with the packaging in which a product is sold.
This week, the Food and Drug Administration offered up some ideas for new cigarette warning labels, complete with gruesome illustrations that plainly display the effects of smoking. Merely telling people “smoking causes cancer” is not enough – clearly, people need to see the revolting results of their disgusting habit that I hate. That we all hate. That is costing us so much money.
