Cav's Place

And just when you thought that it was quite insane enough, it would seem that airport security is getting even worse. I do wonder if people will finally do something to stop this trend at least now, since plenty seem bothered by it, but unfortunately polls say most won’t, because they’re exactly the frightened sheep those in power wish them to be, believing they have to put up with all these things or the terrorists have won. And, of course, the terrorists do win thanks to that attitude, the only question being which ones.
Still, it’s nice to see that some do take action, through various means. Since this is not only about airport security but about a general trend in society, I can only hope that the numbers of those who act out against such measures will grow and those of the frightened sheep will dwindle, though experience says that it almost always turns out exactly the other way around, with the few rational individuals being crushed by the combined efforts of those in power and the mindless masses.

But let’s stop for a moment and just focus on these measures themselves, leaving the all too obvious greater implications aside. There’s quite enough to say about the risks posed by these scans, plus the privacy worries and discomfort associated with both possible procedures. Not to mention that, from the point of view of security, they still can only really stop copycats, because they only look for potential terrorists that’d use the methods that have been used in the past, when any serious attack planned by a major organization in a Western country is likely to involve an entirely new strategy. So, overall, we have yet another method of greatly inconveniencing, harming and taking away the freedoms of regular people in exchange for an all too small increase in security.
At first glance, it would appear that privacy is the primary concern of those who complain about these measures, along with the discomfort caused by being groped in such a manner if they opt out of the scanner. But different people are going to react to this in different ways, so this sort of response is to be expected from the mainly puritanical society seen in the USA but would perhaps be quite unlikely in more socially (and sexually) liberal countries. In the end, though even this can cause certain problems, excepting the victims of rape or abuse, who have every reason to be frightened by the prospect, being seen as if naked or even groped in such a manner shouldn’t realistically be a major cause of concern in itself. The fact that you’d likely be arrested if you’d show up naked or start groping your significant other in such a manner while waiting your turn is something that needs to be discussed separately, however.
What I see as truly worrying are the potential health hazards posed by those scanners. Even occasional exposure could be somewhat dangerous for certain categories of people, such as those who already have or are very likely to develop cancer or for small children, but imagine what they could do to those who travel by plane frequently. Since we’re talking about radiation, the damage tends to accumulate over time, so repeated exposure leads to ever increasing risks. That means that every single person who goes through the scanner forfeits just a little more of their right to a healthy life each and every time. The fact that people are exposed to similar or even greater doses of radiation in plenty of other places and in plenty of other ways isn’t an excuse, as it only means that we have our work cut out for us if we’re to eliminate such hazards from our lives, so we must make absolutely sure that no more will be added to the list.

Then again, considering the huge environmental footprint of flying, I certainly find pretty much anything that discourages people from using this means of transportation to be rather pleasing for that particular point of view. But, considering the frightened sheep, it’s unlikely that enough will stop flying because of this to have a significant impact, so the potential benefits are slim to none in this area as well.
Still, whether you’re more concerned about your health, your privacy, your personal property or anything else, refusing to fly is the most obvious way to protest against these measures and I strongly encourage everyone who is in any way able to reach their destination by some other means, or to skip the trip completely, to do so for as long as it takes. Even if your country does not currently employ such methods and expresses no desire to do so in the near future, they are likely to end up doing so anyway if this system will be permitted to exist and propagate, so it would also be very useful to send a very clear message to authorities and airline operators everywhere that such measures will not be tolerated, preferably by refusing to use their services until they sign binding agreements stating that they will never make use of these or any other similar methods of screening passengers.
However, if this would be impossible for you or if the impact would seem to be negligible, there are always other ways. The first is, obviously, having everyone opt out of the scanner, which would mean far too many people would need to be felt up for the security staff to manage. The others may be more and more disturbing and, at some point, even more and more illegal, but I also think these would have the greatest impact even if done by a small number of people. I’m talking about things such as farting just when the security agent’s nose is perfectly positioned to smell it, having something perfectly harmless but very gross somehow glued to your clothes in an area that you know will be reached, working out how you could wear something under your clothes that would cause an offensive message to be seen by the person watching the scanner’s screen, starting to fondle yourself or each other while waiting your turn and exaggerating the potentially disturbing parts of the procedure, flashing the security personnel or even showing up completely naked. Who knows, perhaps this way the message will get across before the frightened flock will once again mindlessly smother every voice of reason.

I am noticing more issues with the writing, but that may well be because I’m looking for them more. Otherwise, it’s still a very ambitious story that required an immense amount of work. This time around, the number of answers seems to slowly start to exceed that of new questions, and those answers do make quite a lot of sense, so I’m looking forward to the final book in the series, even though at the same time I dread a potentially disappointing ending or even worse writing.

Rating: 4/5

At the start of the 2009 season I offered some suggestions for the future of the FIA Formula One championship. I still fully stand by what I wrote then, but there have been certain rule changes and other new developments over these past two seasons, so I’ll take the end of the 2010 season as an opportunity to make some appropriate additions to those earlier suggestions of mine.

I’ll certainly admit that the change in the number of points awarded did make for a very interesting season all the way to the end, with four drivers still having chances to win the title at the start of the last race and the one who was third at that moment ending up victorious. This was most likely the best change made during these last two seasons, but unfortunately it still only improved something other than what really happens on the track, because the races themselves haven’t been particularly more exciting than usual, though there have certainly been several notable moments, some of them even without a wet track.
With that in mind, I will reiterate my desire for regulations that would allow more aggresive driving, materials and construction methods that would make the cars capable of withstanding at least some contact without risk of noticeable damage, more safety car periods, less yellow flags and, quite frankly, less safe tracks, in the sense of making driving mistakes more likely to result in retirements. In fact, though this may sound strange to some, I’m also quite worried about the very high reliability of the cars, as there have been quite few retirements in most races this season, culminating with a single one in the Brazilian Grand Prix. Granted that having many cars on track can make for interesting racing, and the Brazilian Grand Prix certainly was that, but it also often makes the results quite predictable and, perhaps more worryingly, is a sign that constructors are no longer pushing to the limit, because it’s extremely unlikely to have such a high reliability if your designs would push the limits all the time.

But that is the problem, isn’t it? In this effort to reduce costs, development is being stifled in every way possible. Engines can’t really be improved until 2013, though a true revolution is expected for that season, KERS has been abandoned for the 2010 season, testing during the season is also now forbidden… Sure, a few teams keep finding ways to innovate even under such circumstances, but they’re certainly doing it in spite of the regulations. And that’s awfully sad and just plain wrong, because the regulations of a sport such as this should do their best to stimulate and reward development and innovation instead of discouraging and even completely banning those things!
My opinion regarding reducing costs in this sport remains the same one I have expressed in my previous post on this issue, and that also goes for my suggestions of ways in which the poorer teams could be helped to continue racing despite being unable to afford raising themselves to the level of their wealthier competitors, so I won’t repeat myself. Suffice to say that I find the current efforts at best misguided, and often completely detrimental both to the sport itself and to any potential “real world” benefits it may end up having.

The refueling ban is something I’m quite uncertain about. It greatly reduces the impact of strategy and, though such a thing was theoretically expected to make racing more spectacular, tends to be one more element that turns the “new” Formula One into something more similar to endurance racing, which is certainly not what it should be. It also has the effect of making pretty much all drivers focus on passing through the pits a single time during a race, for the required tire change, and otherwise simply manage their car and their tires instead of pushing nearly all the time, in a series of sprints separated by two, three or occasionally even more pit stops, which really goes against the idea of Formula One being the pinnacle of motor racing. It’s no longer just a matter of being the fastest, but more of being the most careful, looking after your fuel consumption, your tire degradation, your engine, your gearbox and who knows how many other factors…
I’d still really want to see an actual limit imposed on the total amount of fuel a car may use during a race, and I saw a news piece once stating that it will happen starting in the 2013 season, but see no reason to ban refueling during the race as long as that total is not exceeded. I’ll also admit that limiting the number of engines and gearboxes a car may use during a season is a good thing, but wish someone would come up with a way to do that without forcing drivers to look after those parts during each race, for example by building them in such a way as to allow repairs, so the mechanics would be able to solve any problems noticed after one race that could compromise the reliability during the next one.
But what bothers me the most out of all these elements that seem to change the nature of Formula One racing is the apparently too high durability of the tires, proven by several drivers who have managed to drive almost entire race distances on a single set, only using the other compound for as little as a single lap, and even that only because the regulations required them to. This only encourages careful and safe driving even more, making drivers attack far less or even not at all, which once again goes against everything Formula One should be about, so I suggest making significantly softer tires, which should provide more grip while also making it clear for the drivers that they’re unlikely to make it to the end of the race even if using just two sets of tires, much less a single one. This should theoretically make them attack more, knowing that their tires won’t last long enough even if they don’t… Or they could simply be required to stop at least twice while preserving the current tire durability, though that would once again reduce the impact of strategy.

Finally, I really don’t want to see night races anymore, for the simple reason that motor racing is by definition a very wasteful sport and that waste needs to be reduced, such as by increasing fuel efficiency and building engines in such a way as to allow repairs instead of requiring replacement. Yet the insane amount of electricity required to provide the appropriate illumination for a night race does nothing but add to that waste, and that simply must not be allowed to happen. So forget about trying to have races at “reasonable hours” in Europe or any other marketing interests that would appear to justify night races and just focus on eliminating a completely unnecessary addition to the already huge environmental footprint this sport has!

Elena P. should have turned 30 exactly one week ago and, as I remember all too well when we were talking about her health problems and she said she knows all too well what she’ll die of and would therefore rather live her life as she wants to and die at 30 instead of doing what her doctor wants and just struggle along until 50, I have to wonder whether she’s still alive… This, of course, comes on top of generally wondering how she is.
I just did a search and it seems I only mentioned her a few times on this blog, the first being only about a year and a half ago. I did find myself thinking of her more frequently since around that time, so it makes sense to mention her since then, but I’m quite surprised that I never did before. Whether she really was the only best friend I ever had or just pretended to be my friend far better than anyone else ever did, she remains the second most important person that ever was in my life, despite vanishing after so little time, so I should perhaps post that story in full someday as well.
Until then… I’m thinking of you and wish you all the best, wherever you are. And thank you for those two months, nine years ago. Mainly if it was real, but perhaps even if it wasn’t. The real help you offered during those two months was likely negated by the suffering caused afterwards, but since I didn’t actually fall in love with you I’m left mainly with fond memories instead of heartache. Perhaps more importantly, I’m left with a clear representation of what I want, and likely what I need, from a best friend and with the hope that someday I may find someone to have something like that with again.

Went to that bookstore I mentioned on my own yesterday… I spent about 30 minutes looking around there, though it’s certainly not a large place and I didn’t find anything particularly interesting anyway. But the problem was getting there and back, as a few things that happened along the way made me feel awfully crappy. Yes, this concrete jungle gets me just about every time.
The first problem was caused by me taking some more newspapers from the pile in the kitchen to recycle and the nearest paper bin being, of course, full. The last time that happened I kept going along my way and dumped them a pretty long way off, where I found another bin that wasn’t quite as full, but doing the same didn’t seem likely yesterday since the next such bin I knew of along my route was a long way off and I didn’t need added complications when I wasn’t really sure I knew how to reach my destination anyway. So I just left them on the bin, which meant that I kept worrying that the wind carried them all over the place, possibly right on somebody’s windshield as they were driving past. Should have left them on the ground or at the very least placed the one magazine that was among them on top, since it was less likely to be carried away by wind, but got all confused and panicked because there were people around and just knew that I had to get the fuck out of there…
Then there was the usual confusion with a three-way stoplight that I can never remember is three-way despite passing it whenever I go in that general direction, so I see the cars stopping, wonder why does the pedestrian light stay red, usually see others rushing forward and follow suit, only to be caught right in the middle of the road by the light for the cars coming from the other way and turning going green. The fact that there are about ten seconds between one light going red and the other going green certainly doesn’t help, since I see cars stopped in all directions and assume something’s wrong with the stoplight. Really barely dodged a car there once, and yesterday wasn’t much better. As soon as the cars stopped, two girls that were also waiting to cross rushed forward, so me and two men who were also there sort of glanced at the light, the girls and each other, then shrugged and went forward as well, only to of course find ourselves sort of deer in headlights as the other light went green and the traffic swerved our way while we were in the middle of the road. First came a scooter and, since my brain was still trying to figure out what the fuck was happening, I’m not even sure whether I stopped to let it pass in front of me or it went around behind me, but the car coming right after it appeared to make a point of trying to run right into me, slamming on the brakes and honking loudly. Since by then I was pretty much jumping forward, I’m not even sure it could have hit me without ending up in the bushes from the area that separates the two ways, but the driver obviously wanted to make a point. (Then again, he certainly would have hit the other two men, who were slower than me.) Really wonder how many get hit there, because I’m not sure there was ever a time when that stoplight didn’t confuse me like this…
And then there was the way back, when I decided to take the subway, not wanting to go through it again, and ended up taking the wrong one. I assumed I was at another station for some reason and thought it didn’t really matter which way I went since I had to switch anyway and this line crosses the other in two points, but preferred one direction and took it… Only to check the map once inside the train and see that I was at the first such crossing point and got it all wrong… If you care for the details, you can see what the problem was on the map: I was at Piata Unirii and thought for some reason that I was at Universitate, though it was obvious I wasn’t, since there were multiple lines and at Universitate there’s just one. So instead of taking M1 or M3 and going left, as shown on that map, I ended up taking M2 to Piata Victoriei, then switching there to take M1 to my stop. All I can say is that at least I didn’t take M2 the other way, which would have resulted in me needing to get out and go back as soon as I could.