I mentioned at the end of my last post that I would say more about airport security screening. Well here it is...

Over the Christmas holidays our family got interested in a television series (via netflix---netflix is kind of like a metal detector--sometimes it will uncover treasures but only after uncovering a substantial amount of worthless refuse) called Lie to Me. It is about a group of psychologists whose specialty is reading micr0 facial expressions and body language which they apply to solving various cases--mostly of a criminal nature. The whole 'reading' thing is fascinating but unfortunately after the first season the show seemed to follow a familiar path for modern television dramas---once the producers hook people with an intriguing premise and interesting characters they start throwing in more sex and violence as if competing to see just how depraved they can make the criminal cases and just how non-private they can make the private lives of the regular characters. (I have fallen for several appealing lures only to find, like a hooked fish, that they are not only non-nourishing but not palatable---they get stuck in my throat and I wiggle around until I hopefully escape before being completely reeled in) Anyway......in the show there is a woman who is a natural at reading facial expressions and body language who is actually working for the Transportation Security Agency when she is spotted and hired by the two main psychologists. This finally leads me to my proposal for more efficient less intrusive airport security screening----

First have large screens that would show each passenger and then have teams of these trained psychologists (preferably all natural born talents in reading micro facial expressions and body language) study the screens. Anyone not passing their 'screen test' would have to step aside into a booth where a psychologist would do a face to face analysis to detect any potential threats. Anyone working as a member of these a-teams of impressive psychologists would have the extra incentive of possibly starting their own company or even being offered their own TV series.

After being carefully scrutinized by hypersensitive psychologists passengers would then need to pass through a line of well seasoned mothers. We all know from experience how good mothers are at knowing when some thing's up and especially how hard it is to hide anything from them. Considering all the blame mothers as a group have received from the profession of psychology it would be a bit of poetic justice to have the psychologists' work double-checked by a group of mothers...
If people weren't posing a threat but just hiding hurt feelings or insecurities then they could receive several motherly hugs and even some quick motherly advice making for much happier passengers. (Of course the mothers would have to be specially trained in non-meddling or it could take a while to get through the lines)

If the passengers make it past the psychologists and the mothers then they will just need to pass through some trained bomb sniffing dogs (I endure this everyday upon arriving home only it isn't bombs my dogs are sniffing) and then they will be allowed to fly the hopefully friendlier skies.

I think these innovative methods of airport security screening could work and all without taking off your shoes, being too thoroughly frisked or being violated by x-ray vision body scanners (which are of no medical benefit and will probably soon be found to cause cancer).

Seriously I think we should be thankful that we live in a country where someone is concerned for our safety and tries to take precautions to protect us but I do question the effectiveness of current methods. We all learn early in life that sometimes we get extra homework because someone else was misbehaving so we should be willing to trade some convenience for security but when it comes to airport security these days the line between protecting freedoms and violating them seems to be a fine line.

Today the sun is shining and making the snow sparkle. I feel like I could be in a snow globe surrounded by a crystal clear sky---as long as no one shakes it and gets the snow falling---- of course if I still pretended to be in a snow globe then the snow would be fun---that is the point of snow globes...

How is your view of the globe?
Take good care!