The Holiday Season Is Upon Us

Just announcing that I’ll be taking a little break from blogging at Hellipsis, due to my increasing workload over the Christmas season. After the turn of the year I’m going to attempt to redesign the blog, purchase a domain name for it, and blog more often.

That being said, I’ll break my blogging vacation on Hellipsis if something comes up in politics and international relations which I just can’t afford to not blog about.

I’m also planning on making blogging a bit simpler by purchasing the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet to use as a blogging tool. [more information on the N810 can be found on (especially) tabletblog.com] This little gadget should make a world of a difference in the frequency of my blogging. Time will tell.

Because I’ll be at work 5-7 days a week, in retail, until the end of the year, I’m focusing on a new blog I just started, the Consumer Etiquette Guide at http://consumers.wordpress.com. You can subscribe to the RSS feed at feeds.feedburner.com/consumers.

My apologies for putting politics in the background for the meantime. Trust me, I feel as bummed about this as you might. I’ll be back, worry you not. While I’m on a slight blogging vacation, I’ll also be applying to 8 different universities to study International Relations and English Philology, which’ll at the very least teach me how to blog on Hellipsis more efficiently, and at the most get me a career in international politics.

Time will tell. See you in January, unless something important comes up in the meantime!

Oh, and Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Diplomatically,
Jani Helle

TSA Implements Additional Safety Measures Concerning Remote Control Toys. Are Cell Phones Next?

The Transportation Security Administration just announced that they are implementing “additional security measures related to remote control devices”. Following a National Intelligence Estimate on Homeland Security released in July (2007), the TSA is “carefully monitoring information developed in the law enforcement and intelligence communities related to methods of possible attacks.”

Furthermore, the press release where this information is from stated the following:

While not associated with a specific threat at this time, TSA is aware that remote control toys can be used to initiate devices used in terrorist attacks.

Passing the information on to passengers, the press release stated that:

Accordingly, Transportation Security Officers have been trained in this possibility and travelers may encounter additional screening when bringing remove control devices in carry-on baggage.

So, who exactly might, plausibly, bring remote control toys with them onto a plane in their carry-on? KIDS!
I’d assume it would be a safe bet to assume that most such toys would be carried onto the plane in the backpack of Little Johnny. Parents, you’re kid might be a terrorist, or atleast suspected of being one the next time you fly…

I’m not downplaying the possible threat of using a remote control for blowing up an IED, but aren’t there more common devices for achieving such an end?

That thing in your pocket, your cell phone? Yeah, that’s right. Your cell phone as been used thousands of times to blow up shit. Remember the amateur terrorists who tried to blow up a few car bombs in London? The ones that didn’t blow up because they’d wired them wrong or something? They used cell phones as the (intended) trigger.

Are they going to ban cell phones on planes next? It’s probably one of the most common ingredients of homemade bombs. Pretty much every single adult traveler has a cell phone on their person, and it’s one item not too many people would like to put in their checked baggage. (Chances of being stolen: very good…)

Is there even any conceivable way in which the TSA could prohibit taking cell phones onto planes in carry-on baggage or in person? Can cell phones ever be banned from airplanes, considering how abundant and important they are nowadays in the world?

What do you think?

Source:
TSA Statement On Information Regarding Remote Control Toys