There is a huge difference in the amount of track needed in the U.S. than Japan.
It always bugs me to see people comparing things like this and high-speed internet access in small Asian countries to the U.S. The reason why we can't keep up is very simple: this country is huge. There's no way to cover the distances involved on even the same scale of a budget - the population density just isn't great enough to make it work.
I'm glad you find it an acceptable measure for yourself, but that doesn't mean it's okay by everyone. If they implement this measure the way they're planning to, they're effectively going to make flying an unreasonable mode of travel for anyone who doesn't want to be seen naked by people they don't personally choose. It's rather like a peeping Tom - only government sanctioned. Being "in the name of security" doesn't make it any better.
Now, if they used the machine as a substitute for, or precursor to manual strip searches and only in a situation where it's currently warranted, it would be an appropriate security measure. But mandatory "see you naked" screening is an invasion of privacy, whether you're willing to let them invade or not.
Interesting idea. But even if people can do it right once, it doesn't mean they'll continue to mod reasonably once they're out of the controlled test environment. Beware of people with anonymity.
I also have wonderful vision after sitting behind CRTs for 9 years, more than 8 hours a day. But I still suffered from eyestrain periodically.
About a year and a half ago I got an LCD at home, and liked it, but didn't notice a lot of difference in my eyestrain. About a month ago they switched (some of) us to LCDs at work. The difference now is amazing. I find that I am more productive because I can work for longer stretches & consequently am able get more absorbed in my work (which then translates into fewer errors & less time correcting them).
In the interest of keeping employees efficient & morale up, I can see why even a company low on funds would invest some of what they do have in good monitors.
I grew up in a household with a paranoid schizophrenic father. He wasn't diagnosed until I was 9, so I got a very good picture of both unmedicated vs. medicated.
His story is very similar to A Beautiful Mind in many respects. He doesn't see people (though he has a couple of stories which make me wonder), but he is a brilliant mathematician. The scene in the movie where the main character is frustrated because the drugs make it difficult for him to work on problems is/was a daily scene in my house.
It started with him occasionally thinking that someone stole something (LPs, or a book), or being extremely convinced that my mom was putting poison in his food. As time passed, these episodes (and general assumptions that people were out to get him at every turn) became more frequent until they were happening on an almost daily basis. He had stopped working when I was 1 1/2, and so he was/is home almost constantly, which meant that a lot of his paranoia revolved around my mother, and as I got older, me. He was extremely abusive to her, and would even lose himself in his paranoia so much that he would let loose on me (to this day, he swears that he didn't, but... yeah).
After a few hospital trips (by my mom), and a couple of trips to area shelters, he finally hit me in front of her. That was it. We left for 2 or 3 weeks, and he ran off to his parents. They made him go see a shrink, and so he was diagnosed (and this after 5 years of marriage counselors telling my mom that she was the problem *mutters about training*).
The next time I saw him, he was in the hospital and shaking violently from the anti-psychotics, but he was... pleasant to be around. For the first time, I wasn't afraid. Later they put him on something that makes him sleep 10-12 hrs to cancel out the shakes.
After a while (he was in the hospital 3x longer than most schizoprhrenia treatments because he kept stopping his meds), he came home. I didn't see him when my mom wasn't around, and that was great by me. When he stopped taking his meds for a couple of days (soooooo easy to tell), there was a lot of tiptoeing around him, until we could get him to take them them again (fortunately only a couple of days at a shot).
Slowly, he has stopped skipping them (intentionally at least). He realized after 10 years or so (~4 years ago) that he really is better toward all of humanity when he takes his medication. He even specifically took them on my wedding day (which meant the world to me -- even if he was drowsy during the father-daughter dance). As he is now a decent person almost all the time.
I don't know why this question was asked of Slashdot, but I will take this opportunity to put in my 2 cents. I think that anyone who is schizophrenic and in a relationship should take their meds. You might not notice the difference, but everyone else will.
This system would be very difficult to implement in areas with heavy pedestrian traffic. The government is now studying how to improve them (I work at a firm where it's being studied). Implementing any sort of system where the light changes quickly and spontaneously would make it almost impossible to ensure that pedestrians, elderly & disabled in particular, have enough time to finish crossing. Unless all the intersection lights are red.
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There is a huge difference in the amount of track needed in the U.S. than Japan.
It always bugs me to see people comparing things like this and high-speed internet access in small Asian countries to the U.S. The reason why we can't keep up is very simple: this country is huge. There's no way to cover the distances involved on even the same scale of a budget - the population density just isn't great enough to make it work.
I'm glad you find it an acceptable measure for yourself, but that doesn't mean it's okay by everyone. If they implement this measure the way they're planning to, they're effectively going to make flying an unreasonable mode of travel for anyone who doesn't want to be seen naked by people they don't personally choose. It's rather like a peeping Tom - only government sanctioned. Being "in the name of security" doesn't make it any better.
Now, if they used the machine as a substitute for, or precursor to manual strip searches and only in a situation where it's currently warranted, it would be an appropriate security measure. But mandatory "see you naked" screening is an invasion of privacy, whether you're willing to let them invade or not.
They are businesses, and they have the right to restrict access to their property any way they want to.
Now that would be fine - except that it's the government doing the restriction here, not the airlines.
Interesting idea. But even if people can do it right once, it doesn't mean they'll continue to mod reasonably once they're out of the controlled test environment. Beware of people with anonymity.
You have made a very good point very clearly. I wish more people were willing to understand it.
About a year and a half ago I got an LCD at home, and liked it, but didn't notice a lot of difference in my eyestrain. About a month ago they switched (some of) us to LCDs at work. The difference now is amazing. I find that I am more productive because I can work for longer stretches & consequently am able get more absorbed in my work (which then translates into fewer errors & less time correcting them).
In the interest of keeping employees efficient & morale up, I can see why even a company low on funds would invest some of what they do have in good monitors.
I grew up in a household with a paranoid schizophrenic father. He wasn't diagnosed until I was 9, so I got a very good picture of both unmedicated vs. medicated.
His story is very similar to A Beautiful Mind in many respects. He doesn't see people (though he has a couple of stories which make me wonder), but he is a brilliant mathematician. The scene in the movie where the main character is frustrated because the drugs make it difficult for him to work on problems is/was a daily scene in my house.
It started with him occasionally thinking that someone stole something (LPs, or a book), or being extremely convinced that my mom was putting poison in his food. As time passed, these episodes (and general assumptions that people were out to get him at every turn) became more frequent until they were happening on an almost daily basis. He had stopped working when I was 1 1/2, and so he was/is home almost constantly, which meant that a lot of his paranoia revolved around my mother, and as I got older, me. He was extremely abusive to her, and would even lose himself in his paranoia so much that he would let loose on me (to this day, he swears that he didn't, but... yeah).
After a few hospital trips (by my mom), and a couple of trips to area shelters, he finally hit me in front of her. That was it. We left for 2 or 3 weeks, and he ran off to his parents. They made him go see a shrink, and so he was diagnosed (and this after 5 years of marriage counselors telling my mom that she was the problem *mutters about training*).
The next time I saw him, he was in the hospital and shaking violently from the anti-psychotics, but he was... pleasant to be around. For the first time, I wasn't afraid. Later they put him on something that makes him sleep 10-12 hrs to cancel out the shakes.
After a while (he was in the hospital 3x longer than most schizoprhrenia treatments because he kept stopping his meds), he came home. I didn't see him when my mom wasn't around, and that was great by me. When he stopped taking his meds for a couple of days (soooooo easy to tell), there was a lot of tiptoeing around him, until we could get him to take them them again (fortunately only a couple of days at a shot).
Slowly, he has stopped skipping them (intentionally at least). He realized after 10 years or so (~4 years ago) that he really is better toward all of humanity when he takes his medication. He even specifically took them on my wedding day (which meant the world to me -- even if he was drowsy during the father-daughter dance). As he is now a decent person almost all the time.
I don't know why this question was asked of Slashdot, but I will take this opportunity to put in my 2 cents. I think that anyone who is schizophrenic and in a relationship should take their meds. You might not notice the difference, but everyone else will.
This system would be very difficult to implement in areas with heavy pedestrian traffic. The government is now studying how to improve them (I work at a firm where it's being studied). Implementing any sort of system where the light changes quickly and spontaneously would make it almost impossible to ensure that pedestrians, elderly & disabled in particular, have enough time to finish crossing.
Unless all the intersection lights are red.