Here's the story from the Wall Street Journal:
Which Travelers Have 'Hostile Intent'? Biometric Device May Have the AnswerHow is this not the Voight-Kampff test from Blade Runner?! Here's the user's end of the machine:
By JONATHAN KARP and LAURA MECKLER
August 14, 2006At airport security checkpoints in Knoxville, Tenn. this summer, scores of departing passengers were chosen to step behind a curtain, sit in a metallic oval booth and don headphones.
With one hand inserted into a sensor that monitors physical responses, the travelers used the other hand to answer questions on a touch screen about their plans. A machine measured biometric responses -- blood pressure, pulse and sweat levels -- that then were analyzed by software. The idea was to ferret out U.S. officials who were carrying out carefully constructed but make-believe terrorist missions.
The trial of the Israeli-developed system represents an effort by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration to determine whether technology can spot passengers who have "hostile intent." In effect, the screening system attempts to mechanize Israel's vaunted airport-security process by using algorithms, artificial-intelligence software and polygraph principles.
Neither the TSA nor Suspect Detection Systems Ltd., the Israeli company, will discuss the Knoxville trial, whose primary goal was to uncover the designated bad guys, not to identify threats among real travelers. They won't even say what questions were asked of travelers, though the system is generally designed to measure physical responses to hot-button questions like "Are you planning to immigrate illegally?" or "Are you smuggling drugs."
(snip)
The Voight-Kampff is a polygraph-like machine used by the LAPD's Blade Runner units to assist in the testing of an individual to see if he or she is a replicant. It measures bodily functions such as respiration, "blush response", heart rate and eye movement in response to emotionally provocative questions. In the film two replicants take the test: Leon (played by Brion James) and Rachael (played by Sean Young). In Blade Runner, Deckard tells Tyrell that it usually takes 20 to 30 cross-referenced questions to distinguish a replicant. With Rachael it takes more than a hundred.There's no word yet on how many "skinjobs" have been nabbed in Knoxville so far.Description from the original 1982 Blade Runner presskit:
"A very advanced form of lie detector that measures contractions of the iris muscle and the presence of invisible airborne particles emitted from the body. The bellows were designed for the latter function and give the machine the menacing air of a sinister insect. The VK is used primarily by Blade Runners to determine if a suspect is truly human by measuring the degree of his empathic response through carefully worded questions and statements."
A few days ago I posted a YouTube video featuring a 70-ish man making some "geriatric gripes and grumbles". Well in the past week or so since that first video, which he titled "first try", Peter - aka "geriatric1927" - has gained a massive following especially from the younger crowd that dominates YouTube. He's now posted eight videos of himself so far. He talks about growing up before World War II, entering the British armed forces as a radar mechanic, meeting and marrying his wife, his lifelong love of motorcycles, the passion for blues music that he shares with his audience... he's definitely one of a kind in the world of Web 2.0. Here's one news story I found about him and here's yet another. I'm highly recommending checking this guy out if you haven't already.Lisa and I spent the past few weeks looking for one (although the extreme heat we've had lately put a damper on that for awhile). She brought her bike with her a few weeks ago when she came back from visiting her parents in Georgia. And there's a great bicycle/jogging trail that goes by our place. So of course being a good young married couple that does everything together, she made me get one too so we could go ridin'.
We finally found a good one today at the Super K-Mart in Greensboro, made by Mongoose. So we went out for a "test drive" on the trail this evening after dinner. And I really need to figure out the gears on the thing 'cuz my legs got a way horrid workout going uphill the hard way. But I think this is going to prove to be a very wise investment in the long term. It's great exercise, and it's going to help me work toward a goal that my friend Chad has convinced me to go for: running a full marathon, like he's done twice now.
But that's a ways off still. I gotta train first and start a real running regimen like he's got. In the meantime, I'm trying to get "Bicycle Race" by Queen out of my head :-)
This morning I filed the paperwork pertaining to my political campaign committee. By law I must have a committee with a treasurer, even though that committee and treasurer is actually just me. I shouldn't have to file any more stuff between now and the election, unless I somehow wind up spending/raising more than $3,000. In the meantime all I have to do is keep meticulous records of everything that gets raised or spent. Which so far the expenditure just a little over $65, the bulk of which was registering knightforboard.org as my website domain name.
So I needed to come up with a name for my committee. It had to be something unique. I tried to make it something both practical and memorable. I made attempts to find something that would turn into a neat acronym, but came up with nothing. For awhile I seriously thought of naming it "The Vote Knight for School Board Committee (There's No Real Committee)"... but this is a serious thing so I didn't do that.
In the end, I settled on Knight for School Board 2006 Committee. Just something plain and simple. And short enough to hopefully fit on one line at the bottom of the screen when I start doing the TV commercials.
Tune in next time, when Our Hero talks about the intricacies and hurdles that come with looking for contributions.
This season of Doctor Who was a real mixed bag: the episodes that were good were very good (like "The Girl in the Fireplace", "The Age of Steel" and "Doomsday") while the ones that were bad were absolutely atrocious: the final scene of "Love & Monsters" made that episode the single most disturbing/disgusting thing I might have ever seen on television. Well anyway, if you didn't end up downloading them off the 'net for the past few months, you'll get your chance to see the newest Doctor Who episodes starting next month and then you can judge for yourself :-)
Here's the thing: explosives don't have to be in liquid form. They can also be solid, like plastic explosives.
So if another mad scheme is stopped to blow up a plane, only this time using C4 plastique, will that mean that ALL plastic items - like combs and Game Boys and credit cards - will be banned from carry-ons from then on?
Awright, I spent all night working on this (mostly just writing stuff) but my first-ever political campaign now has its very own website! Head over to www.knightforboard.org to get the lowdown and more information about me than you'll ever want to know :-P
There's also going to be a website going up in the next few days that will have more of my take on some things.PRESS RELEASE
IMMEDIATE RELEASECHRISTOPHER KNIGHT ANNOUNCES CANDIDACY FOR SCHOOL BOARD August 7 2006
Christopher Knight has announced his candidacy for one of the at-large seats on the Rockingham County Board of Education after filing to run on August 3rd.
"I believe that I will bring a fresh and unique perspective to the Rockingham County school board," Knight said. "The realm of education is one that I have experienced much during my young life, from studying to be a teacher to actually running a classroom. I'm looking forward to contributing a new voice toward school policy-making."
At the top of Knight's list of priorities if elected to the school board is finding ways to reassert local control over Rockingham County schools. He cites the No Child Left Behind Act as an example of the federal government determined to micromanage local school systems. "There may not be much we can do at this level toward changing that legislation, but we can at least try to adapt ourselves around it," Knight said. "We are presently very much a system focused on outcome-based education because of the end-of-grade testing, and I believe that's wrong. We should encourage our teachers to be proactive instead of reactive." Knight also said that he is a firm believer in fiscal conservatism and is a supporter of such programs as the arts.
If elected, Knight has pledged to visit every school in the Rockingham County Consolidated School system and to meet with principals and teachers in order to listen to them and discuss how to improve county-wide education.
Knight is a freelance website designer and works part-time as a master control technician at WGSR-Star 39 in Reidsville. He is also the co-founder of KWerky Productions, a North Carolina-based film production company whose first major work, Forcery, gained rave reviews and has been shown in countries as far away as Norway and Argentina. Knight is a 1992 graduate of Rockingham County Senior High and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Historical Studies from Elon University. He is also an Eagle Scout and an assistant scoutmaster with Troop 797 in Reidsville. He has been married to his wife Lisa for four years. This is his first campaign for public office.
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Last night I took Lisa out to something she's never been treated to before: a live performance by a chef in a Japanese steakhouse. We went to Kabuto Japanese Steakhouse in Greensboro: a place that I've heard of for at least twenty years now but had never actually gone to before. We had a few things worth celebrating so Friday I made reservations (highly recommended at Kabuto) and were taken to our seats at 6 on the dot... just before we were about to order some squid from the sushi bar.We were seated at one of those combination dinner table-and-stovetop along with several other people, and it wasn't long before our chef for the evening came out with his cart containing our dinners to be cooked before our very eyes. He squired something on top of the stove and lit it up with a match: flames burst out and threatened to burn us all... well that's what it looked like for a second or two anyway. The chef wasted no time preparing to cook while simultaneously entertaining us: one thing he did was arrange a sliced onion into a "mini-volcano" that spat out fire. He was also pretty quick with the jokes.
Well, Lisa had the ribeye with shrimp and I had the ribeye with chicken, along with generous helpings of rice and vegetables. For dessert our chef made sliced banana covered in a mix of brown sugar and cinnamon. The entire meal was delicious: I can still taste the bananas when I think about them.
Kabuto is a pretty reasonably priced place. Well worth checking out if you're in the Greensboro area and want to try a different dining experience sometime. We'll definitely be paying another visit to the place in the future.
I filed late yesterday morning. I am now officially on the ballot this coming November as a candidate for an at-large seat on the Rockingham County Board of Education. This is the first time that I've ever run for public office (Lord only knows if it'll be the last time too, but I'm gonna try for this).
You can find a complete list of filed candidates here. I'll be writing more about this in the next few days or so, including why I chose to run, what my beliefs are in regards to public education, and maybe a little about what to expect from my campaign committee (there's no real committee... it's just me but by law I have to have a campaign committee for the paperwork).
Awright, any questions? :-)
What they're really trying to do is prevent the Temple Mount Faithful from coming anywhere near the Al Aqsa mosque - i.e. the "Dome of the Rock" - and do what they've set out to do for the past several years now: set about rebuilding the Jewish Temple.
Some years ago when I was a reporter I interviewed Gershon Salomon, the founder and leader of the Temple Mount Faithful. Ever since then I've kept my ears open to anything pertaining to him and the Temple Mount Faithful, especially when it comes to their attempts to approach the Temple Mount. Every time over the years when they've tried to come to the Mount to set the cornerstone of the temple, they have been foiled by their own government. This time the Supreme Court of Israel has ruled that anyone can visit the Mount on the Ninth of Av. I can see Salomon - by far one of the most extraordinary men I've ever met - girding up now with his fellow believers to make one more go at it.
You may want to watch this in the next few days, especially with what's going on right now between Israel and Hezbollah. Particularly with Ehud Olmert at the helm in Israel. Who knows... but this may finally be the year when the Temple Mount Faithful are able to begin rebuilding the temple.
All hell will break loose like Jerusalem hasn't seen before if they try to do it.
I say, let 'em build. It's their land anyway. The Muslims didn't even care that much for the site until Israel was established in 1948 anyway, then it became "sacred" to them.
By the way, Gershon Salomon obliged me with an autograph. Would be neat to know someday that I have the signature of the man who led the effort to build the third Jewish temple.
Meanwhile, work continues on other projects. And I'll post more about those as they develop.
In the past month or so I haven't posted that much "serious" stuff on this blog. Not like I usually do. There's a lot of reasons for that. I've been thinking deeply on a lot of subjects lately and rather than blab about them on the fly here, I've been letting them percolate more. In the meantime this blog seems to have become about nothing else other than entertainment and minor trivia. Now it's starting to shift back to "real world" stuff.
So, what do I think about this mess in Lebanon right now? I don't believe the United States should become involved in it whatsoever, because this has become a conflict with bad guys but no real good guys either. Yes, Israel has the right to defend itself against those that have actively been trying to destroy her... but that does not mean that Israel has to stoop to the level of killing innocent civilians wholesale in order to get to those bad guys. So of course our "brilliant" leadership is practically giving its blessing to Israel to keep putting innocent Lebanese in the line of fire.
Think about it: would the United States government be in the right, at all, if it supported Great Britain if that country began to carelessly slaughter Irish women and children just to get back at a handful of IRA members?
And this may mark me as a strange Christian, but I can't honestly say that I support the state of Israel as many of my brethren do. Yes, we are instructed in the Bible to honor our Jewish forefathers and to pray for the peace of Jerusalem... but nowhere is it written that we are to thoughtlessly acquiesce to whatever the government of Israel chooses to do. There is a difference between the Jewish people and the government of the Jewish people in their own homeland, just as there is a difference between the American people and the government of the United States: one is not necessarily representative of the other.
So no, I don't completely support the Israeli government in this. And I believe that too many Christians should reconsider why it is that they are blindly supporting that government. No government is that perfect and let's face it: the Old Testament is 60% - or more - about times where the then-Israeli government botched things up. Why should we expect any greater from its present-day incarnation?
So chalk me up as someone who thinks that Hezbollah should be ended as a threat... but also thinks that Israel is fast destroying - if it hasn't completely done so already - its moral credibility in this matter.
