It's Not the "Privacy", It's the Hassle

Looks like I will be avoiding flights connecting in Amsterdam: Dutch to use full body scanners for US flights

Since I have the body of a Roman god, I really don't mind if some Dutch hottie (or dude) scans me. The problem is this is an individual system. Imagine the time, the lines, the hassle, the idiots in front of you who take extra time because they are clueless (like the baggage line), and the extra hours needed at the the airport to go through this system.

I wouldn't mind extra screening procedures if they had a reasonable chance to catch terrorists, but the fact of the matter is they don't - and they won't start catching terrorists until they start profiling.

Until then it will just be more and more hassles for travelers, raising the bar even higher for scheduling a business trip. Maybe the "Total Recall" scanner where you just walk through without slowing down will be invented, but that is a ways off. Until then I will be trying to travel less.

Walking Away From Debt

I have known people who have had a bankruptcy, have friends contemplating short-sales. In all these cases it involved a failed business or lost job, not stupidity, or walking away from a debt they could pay, or lying on a loan application. Bankruptcy has it's place - taking risk is a part of life and unforeseen circumstances change things - but I think people who are stupid or spend more than they can really afford should be thrown into debtor's prison.

So this article about deadbeats hits home. The woman who walked away from not one, but three mortgages, then goes out and buys expensive furniture is human scum in my book.

People from the Depression who couldn't pay off debts lived thriftily and modestly, the moral obligation of what happened to them hanging over them for years.