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Comdex Bans Bags From Show Floor
ckd writes: "CNET is reporting that COMDEX organizers have a new security policy--no bags except vendor supplied plastic bags will allowed on the show floor. "While on-site, you should CARRY A PHOTO ID (DRIVER'S LICENSE OR PASSPORT) ON YOU AT ALL TIMES." They want you to leave your laptop in your hotel room, too! Oh, and no cameras at the keynotes, either. But they haven't announced that they're planning to strip search people ... yet."
I can understand a no bags policy, but barring people from entering COMDEX (fricken tech show for pete's sake) with laptops is just stupid. I note (IIRC) it doesn't say anything about PDAs, but still, wtf were they thinking? A better idea would be to have people turn it on quickly at the door (although this might slow things down a lot).
My other sig is funny!
somebody on the radio pointed out that as we get better and better at stopping individual acts, the response is for a smaller number of more dedicated enemy to plan more thoroughly. So, for example, the number of hijackings has long been on the decline, but the number of people killed in each hijacking has gone way up.
anyway, in the particular case of hi-tech and shows like comdex, having the toys banned kinda takes the wind out of the whole affair.
If someone wants to bring anthrax to comdex, why will they need to bring it in a bag? If someone wants to bring in an automatic weapon it should be pretty easy to pick up in a bag search. Explosives don't need a lot of space.
Whatever you do, don't be Irish .. (no wait that should read from anywhere from Morroco to the Phillipines, or even be Greek) and be in the wrong place at the wrong time until sanity prevails.
Actually, if you're a terrorist who wants to inflict maximum mental trauma on a population, (and lets face it, thats their only real weapon)
your best bet would be to be as illogical as possible in your bombings, so that people don't have the ability to say that "They will never hurt me, I live in rural Wisconsin" or something like that. Right now I DO feel safe BECAUSE I live in rural Wisconsin, but if there was a bombing in Fond du Lac (a city 20 miles from where I live with a population of about 25000) I would be singing a differrent tune.
Great, now i need a license to heat my house and buy miracle grow.
In any event, the overboard security everywhere has made me generally avoid things that I was close to being on the fence about but would probably have attended otherwise. Old coders don't like being told that now they can't do some innocuous thing that they've always done before. I'll be skipping COMDEX.
Oh, yes there is. Check out the AS&E Backscatter X-Ray BodySearch(tm) system. Used in prisons now; coming soon to your local airport, office building, etc.
Is Bin Laden dead? The reality is that the suicide bombers are generally the suckers, but the people calling the shots are directing the actions based around their own well being and the general well being of their society. Lots of Japanese were hurled out to die in World War II, but once the Emporor felt personally at risk from nuclear weapons (no longer was he immune) the war suddenly ended. Smallpox would not be contained to North America, so anyone using it would pretty much be wiping out their own societies (in fact they would moreso be wiping out their own societies given poor sanitation, inadequate healthcare, etc.) : Not really an effective measure.
If you're measuring the enemy by the suckers, if you will, who died in the aircraft then you are foolish. They were mere pawns for others (and I'll bet you for a split second before crashing into the building they thought "Hrmmm...what if there isn't an eternal afterlife of bliss and heaven?". It reminds me a hilarious Simpsons were Maude Flanders is rescued and she states "Oooh Neddy : I almost thought I was going to the place of eternal bliss and salvation!" and that right there points out the hilarious paradox of religion)
Man brings bag of anthrax in pants pocket(or even better, crotch it) to show. He breaks in to the maintenence room, spreads it in to the outlet duct of the HVAC system.
If that's the scenario, than these announced new security procedures would accomplish precisely dick in the way of stopping it. About the only thing that would stop that is a full pat-down search of everyone entering the event, which is a practical difficulty if nothing else.
I like the fact that they're at least trying to do something though.
Why do you like the fact that they're wasting everybody's time and restricting everybody's freedom to do stuff that won't do a damn thing to prevent the stuff you're afraid of anyway?
I own and operate a movie theatre.
I'm sure you've discovered you're public enemy no. 1 now.
I don't know how much you charge for your movies, but in NYC it tends to be around $10. And they all charge about the same price so my selection criteria is basically, "Which of these places treats me most like a criminal?" The ones that let me walk in with my coffee I go to once or twice a month, the one that lets me smoke once a week. The one that doesn't let me carry a drink in, I only go to when they are the only ones showing the movie (rare).
No theater has ever tried to search my bag in NYC, but it's happened elsewhere and I was pretty miffed that I even when I could sell my ticket. I can't imagine why I'd go back.
Now I understand that most theaters make their money off the 17-- set, but I think if more of them aimed at the 20++ set they could make more money because I don't mind the $4 coke, if I'm thirsty it's worth it.