I would never allow my child to go through that. The parent seemed to consent to it which boggles my mind. We teach our kids not to talk to strangers, and to never let a stranger touch them....but then to let a random TSA agent do a patdown? No sir. As for the backscatter machines, neither me nor my children will be going through any of them. Not sure what will happen if I ever go through an airport with them and get selected for "screening" because I'm not going to let the TSA scan or pat down my kids... or myself for that matter.
And with regards to the radiation "dose" being less than a chest Xray or high altitude flight, that's a matter of the TSA spinning the data. The "total dosage" is measured in the amount of radiation when spread evenly throughout the entire body. However, many experts point out that the backscatter machines only penetrate the skin. Therefore the actual "dosage" of radiation while being less than an Xray is actually concentrated on the skin and is thus actually a much higher dose.
To simplify I am making up numbers and measures.... if you get zapped with 300 gigawatts of radiation during a flight and weigh 150 lbs, your dose is 2 gigawatts per lb. If you are zapped with 150 gigawatts of radiation from a scanner that only penetrates 30 lbs of skin, the quantity of the dose may be half, but your skin is actually getting 5 gigawatts per lbs which is more than twice as much. Follow?
In other TSA spin, they love to quote that Johns Hopkins studied it and said its safe, but if you read the statement from one of the scientists at Johns Hopkins he very clearly states that they only measured the radiation produced by the machine and reported it to the TSA, they did not study its impact on people or state that it was safe/healthy.
I found several of these charges on my wife's phone. They did not occur every month repeatedly....maybe 2-3 times over the course of a year. I called and had the account credited, as I am sure thousands of other customers did as well. I'm not defending VZW in the least as the charges were TOTAL BS, but its pretty simple to see that Techdirt's math is flawed by leaving out all of the credits issued to customers like myself who called to dispute the charges. The forthcoming credits are undoubtedly just to cover the millions of customers who never noticed these charges.
A tax on bloggers here is just the tip of the problem with Philly's government. The revenue tax is not new, they are only seeking new "businesses" to hit with it. The city taxes ANY business....be that large or small, based on REVENUE. That's right....you could lose money, but if you generate ANY revenue you are taxed on it. What a wonderful way to encourage new businesses, particularly start-ups, considering that most new businesses lose money to begin with. And people here wonder where all the jobs are and why all the business is in the suburbs and surrounding states. Philly deserves what it gets. The icing on the cake is that they call it a "Business Privilege License"....what a privilege it is.
I don't care. It won't affect me...or probably anyone. Maybe I am wrong, but it seems like Warner has no clue how real people actually operate. For the most part, I think there are a few types of consumers of DVDs.
Type A - ONLY rent.
Type B - mostly rent (or stream) and occasionally buy a favorite DVD.
Type C - Buy everything.
I think 99% of people fall into type A or B. Those in TYPE A who never, or almost never BUY a DVD aren't going to start buying simply because they have to wait 28 days to rent. Type B people are only going to buy their faves anyway, so it won't matter to them, they aren't going to buy more movies. Type C people are buying movies anyway so nothing changes for them.
I just don't see how this makes ANY more money for Warner at all.
Besides, most Netflix users put things in their queue and when they show up in the mail they watch them. Release dates are so random anyway that most people wouldn't know the difference if a film was delayed 28 days. I know I wouldn't.
On the post: TSA Does Full Grope Search On Screaming Three Year Old [Update]
Just say no!
And with regards to the radiation "dose" being less than a chest Xray or high altitude flight, that's a matter of the TSA spinning the data. The "total dosage" is measured in the amount of radiation when spread evenly throughout the entire body. However, many experts point out that the backscatter machines only penetrate the skin. Therefore the actual "dosage" of radiation while being less than an Xray is actually concentrated on the skin and is thus actually a much higher dose.
To simplify I am making up numbers and measures.... if you get zapped with 300 gigawatts of radiation during a flight and weigh 150 lbs, your dose is 2 gigawatts per lb. If you are zapped with 150 gigawatts of radiation from a scanner that only penetrates 30 lbs of skin, the quantity of the dose may be half, but your skin is actually getting 5 gigawatts per lbs which is more than twice as much. Follow?
In other TSA spin, they love to quote that Johns Hopkins studied it and said its safe, but if you read the statement from one of the scientists at Johns Hopkins he very clearly states that they only measured the radiation produced by the machine and reported it to the TSA, they did not study its impact on people or state that it was safe/healthy.
On the post: Verizon Wireless Fined $25 Million For Bogus Fees... But May Have Still Made Out Profitably
Flawed math
On the post: Philadelphia Demanding Business License For Bloggers Who Bring In A Bit Of Cash
Tip of the iceberg
-Philadelphia born, raised and disgusted.
On the post: Warner Bros. Gets Netflix To Delay Movies; You Don't Save Your Business By Pissing Off Your Customers
Who will notice...besides Warner's accountants?
Type A - ONLY rent.
Type B - mostly rent (or stream) and occasionally buy a favorite DVD.
Type C - Buy everything.
I think 99% of people fall into type A or B. Those in TYPE A who never, or almost never BUY a DVD aren't going to start buying simply because they have to wait 28 days to rent. Type B people are only going to buy their faves anyway, so it won't matter to them, they aren't going to buy more movies. Type C people are buying movies anyway so nothing changes for them.
I just don't see how this makes ANY more money for Warner at all.
Besides, most Netflix users put things in their queue and when they show up in the mail they watch them. Release dates are so random anyway that most people wouldn't know the difference if a film was delayed 28 days. I know I wouldn't.
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