When it comes right down to it, if you place me in a line of strangers to walk through one of those weirdly lit passages to an airliner, likewise full of a hundred or more strangers of unknown mentality and motivation, I sweat. There are many things I would rather do, like, say, volunteer to clean a sewer.
The last time I flew internationally, I felt much better when the gentleman sitting beside me, who clearly didn't enjoy flying either, started chatting right away. I soon found myself looking at the little screen on his video camera as he showed me his home videos of hanging around with his 3-year-old daughter back in his native Lebanon (greener than I thought–I guess those famous cedars are famous for a reason). Making even that modest connection with a stranger made the whole experience less clinical and much more comfortable. Most of the time, the human factor is missing from the flying experience. It's all scanning and glum faces and hardware, and that's hardly pleasant or, let's face it, effective.
So I read with great interest this article about the Israeli airport security system and its costs. I'm not advocating that America adopt that system, but I find it quite interesting (and it just makes sense) that the human factor is what makes Israeli security so tight. Surely there is a way to maintain everyone's civil rights while deploying a system at American airports that is more effective and human, less machine-based, because the latter just never seems to work.
PS: I think I've broken new ground, proving that there really is no wave function collapse and the many-worlds interpretation holds: a parallel blog is leaking into this one.
Do they sell a patch kit for that?
ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING:
A handy reader's guide for those who must use GPS to get out of the driveway–
So I read with great interest this article about the Israeli airport security system and its costs. I'm not advocating that America adopt that system, but I find it quite interesting (and it just makes sense) that the human factor is what makes Israeli security so tight. Surely there is a way to maintain everyone's civil rights while deploying a system at American airports that is more effective and human, less machine-based, because the latter just never seems to work.
So there's that, then.
