Fix Airport Security

Ever since September 11, 2001 airport security has become a priority for the United States government, they have installed many new devices to detect dangerous items; bombs, knives, guns, shampoo, lighters, and Play-doh. These new devices include bomb sniffers (Barringer Ionscan 400B), drug sensors (Barringer Ionscan 400B), body scanners (Rapiscan Secure 1000), and various types of metal detectors. It’s well known that none of these new devices really work against a determined terrorist. On many occasions the FBI has sent an agent to an airport and tested the security, in every occasion the agent was able to sneak a prohibited item on the plane. Since we all know that all this security only stops idiots, I have another approach to security. In the television show All in the Family, Archie Bunker proposed a bold new take on security; he said that "you could end sky-jacking tomorrow by arming all the passengers. The airline would hand out guns at the beginning of the flight, then collect them all when they land". The idea is actually pretty reasonable; think about it, a terrorist with a gun wouldn’t hijack a plane when all its passengers armed. Also if a passenger is offered a gun and replies “No thanks I’ve got my own” then you know he’s a terrorist and you arrest him, its one way to trick the terrorists. Another way to prevent hijackings is to prohibit clothing on airplanes. If everybody is naked, nobody can hide anything dangerous; I’d doubt a terrorist would stick a knife or gun up his behind. So there you have it two brand new ingenious ideas both being considerably cheaper than current securities, hijacking is just that easy to prevent.

If you’re a minority and are sick and tired of being frisked when going through the airport, then solution is simple. We all know that it’s not a myth that white people don’t get stopped in airports, hell half the time they don’t even have to go through security. The solution is dye; all you have to do is dye your skin as white as possible, and BAM no more frisking or cavity searches; its fool proof.

Lazy Generation

Our culture is constantly striving to become more intertwined with computers. We use computers for everything; our cars, televisions, and even our phones are little super computers. The 21^st century is considered the “Lazy Generation” because everything is done through technology, no one goes to the store to buy non essentials anymore they just go on the internet and have it shipped to their door. Nowadays people play video games and watch television for entertainment, the idea of running outside, for some, is absurd. Another thing that is new to the 21^st century is that nobody keeps their records on paper anymore, except the government, everything is going digital. The issue with this is that we build a reliance on technology. Back in 1999, people feared that all computers would fail because of the change from 20^th century to the 21th century. Even in 1999 our society was so intertwined with computers that the idea of losing them was devastating. So what would happen if in 2012 all our technology crashed? I believe that our society would quickly diminish; our reliance on technology has hindered our natural senses and instincts.  People would end up freezing to death in the winter and overheating in the summer. Feces wouldn’t be disposed of correctly resulting in the return of the black plague, society would essentially devolve and another dark age would arise.

If our society was to fail, would future archeologists, from societies a couple hundred of years down the road, be able to learn about how we lived. I think that with our encryptions on our computers it would be difficult to learn about our society, but not impossible. If given enough time and funding, almost any computer can be hacked and accessed, so as long as all files over our recent history isn’t corrupted then our generation will not seem like another dark age.

Home Invasion

Shelby sprinted down the road as fast as her body could go. Time seemed to slow down for her, every step felt like an eternity. Tired and scared, Shelby turned around and looked at the road. Whatever it was that was chasing her was far behind and out of sight. Shelby, out of breath, continued ahead at a slower pace, her boyfriend’s house was just another block down the road. As she jogged along, she saw some eyes poking out of a bush. Startled she began to sprint again, nothing ran after her. Sweat dripped down her brow as she approached Dan’s porch, the porch light was on. Shelby slammed her fist onto the door repeatedly till she heard the door unlock. The door opened to Dave looking at her with a baffled face, “What the hell is wrong with you” he spat at her as if she was demented.

Panting she managed to let out the words, “someone’s … after … me …..”. Dave looked out the door to left and right and replied “I don’t see anyone”. Shelby realized that he obviously thought she was insane, so she pushed herself in the door and closed it behind her. Dave continued to stare at her speechless.

“Look I swear there was a man behind me like at most two minutes ago” She cried hoping he would believe her.

 “Well man or not, you’re welcome to stay” Dave replied.

Suddenly Shelby heard footsteps on the second story, she could tell Dave heard them too because he stopped to listen. “Are your parent’s home” she said calmly.

“No they’re in Santa Barbara” He replied with frightened tone. Dave began moving to the stairs opposite of the door. Shelby grabbed his shoulder but let him go, she just followed close behind as they crept up the stair together. Dave reached the top of the stairs; there was a room in front of him and a hallway running perpendicular to the stairs. He peered left and right down the hallway, it was dark and deserted. Dave lurked over to the hallway light switch and switched the light on quickly. Shelby watched Dave peek into the doorway opposite of the stairs and walk into the room. Shelby slowly followed him into the room, it was his room. Dave was searching relentlessly and then he looked at her, his face was disturbed. “My bat is gone”. Shelby continued to stare at him as he grabbed a golf club from his closet, she didn’t know what to say. “I left it by the door with the rest of my equipment and it’s just gone”. Dave walked over to the door and whispered to Shelby, “stay behind me and run if anything happens”. Dave took a left quietly down the hall.

Suddenly his own bat came swing at him through a door to his right. The bat directly hit the golf club and nearly snapping it in half. “Run Shelby RUN!”. Shelby sped back to Dave’s room and grabbed another club from the closet. By the time she got back out into the hall, Dave was on the floor in pool of blood. Over him was a man in black grunting, bloody bat in hand. Shelby didn’t even try to rush him, she just ran for the stairs. The man saw her run and sprinted after her. Shelby rushed down the stairs as fast as she could but when she hit middle of the stairway, she tripped. Everything was a blur, Shelby tried to push herself onto her feet but she could move her leg. She looked down at her leg and saw that her knee was dislocated, her leg was limp. She also thought she received a concussion from what she thinks was the railing because her vision blurred. The man must have heard her fall because he was slowly walking around the corner and down the stairs. Shelby panicked and started squirming towards the door. Shelby tried to reach for the door knob but she couldn’t lift herself up high enough. The man calmly walked up to her and pounded his foot onto her back; Shelby gave under his pressure instantly. Shelby slowly turned her head toward him, ‘It’s over, bye world’. All she saw was the bat and everything was black.  

Cyber Bullying: What is it and how harmful is it

Cyber Bullying is when someone continuously harasses another person through online media, whether through social media, email, or blogging. The most common place for Cyber Bullying to occur is on Facebook, the social media. On Facebook, consisting of middle or high school students,  kids will post rude comments about each other, send cruel messages, or post embarrassing picture of someone else. In middle and high school kids aren’t mentally developed and are always looking for new ways to harass each other, these kids will use any tool available to bully the outcasts. The bullied eventually begin to feel like there is no escape from their suffering and use extreme measures like suicide and shootings to remove the pain of loneliness. Bullying is the cause of almost all school shootings, not violent video games, and causes most of the underage kid’s suicides. Bullying face to face usually involves pushing, verbal attacks, and inflicting significant pain. There is no doubt that face to face bullying has caused a lot of pain but the question is whether Cyber Bullying is as harmful to a person. There is no straight forward answer, but no, Cyber Bullying is not as harmful as face to face. Face to face bullying is more personal than Cyber Bullying. Face to face bullying leaves the victim petrified and unable to respond because bully is usually larger than his victim, anyone can talk back to a bully over the internet but it takes real inner strength to stand up to a bully in person. In face to face bullying kids usually use physical means to keep the victims around, but with Cyber Bullying the victim can simply block his/her harasser with a click of a button. Cyber Victims don’t actually have to listen to a bully unlike in face to face bullying. The only thing people can do over the internet is post embarrassing pictures and talk behind someone’s back (people do not need the internet to talk behind someone’s back). Also Cyber Bullying doesn’t have any physical aspect to it; you can’t beat someone up through the internet, it’s an attempt on your emotions and it can all be ignored through a single button. My conclusion is that although Cyber Bullying is extremely rude, but it doesn’t do as much harm as face to face because face to face bullying has caused a plenty of deaths through suicide and school shootings.

Ps. Anyone who bullies anyone should look at their own lives and figure out why they need to hurt someone else to make themselves feel good. These actions will only hurt you later down the road when it becomes a part of your personality.

Artificial Intelligence’s taking over the battlefield.

Artificial Intelligence has influenced modern combat in a multitude of ways. In the twenty-first century most missiles are guided by an at least a fairly simple Artificial Intelligence, from laser guided missiles to hellfire missile systems. Back in the forties a single super computer would take up a whole basement and have the computing power of modern day non smart phone.  Although most modern ballistic weapons have Artificial Intelligence contributing to control, they still require a human being to identify targets or give coordinates.  Now the real question is, will Artificial Intelligence steal mans presence on the modern battlefield. I personally believe that Artificial Intelligence will rival human intelligence and awareness but that this won’t happen for quite a while because capable CPU power doubles every year and a half and the human brain is its self monster computer. Artificial Intelligence won’t rival human intuition and adaptability for at least a couple decades because of the current way Artificial Intelligences take in their surroundings. In combat, human beings have a way of adapting to various situations, while Artificial Intelligences just react to certain inputs. In theory, Artificial Intelligence will eventually surpass human intelligence, gain intuition, and eventually learn to adapt to its surroundings. The only issue with Artificial Intelligence taking over the modern battlefield is that when Artificial Intelligence is capable of outsmarting a human being, does the intelligence then have rights. So the next question is when an Artificial Intelligence deserves to be protected by the Bill of Rights. I believe that when an Artificial Intelligence deserves protection under the Bill of Rights; when it can adapt, has intuition, and has self preservation. In conclusion I believe that Artificial Intelligence has come a long way and will become smart enough, in a couple of decades, to control the battlefield without human supervision, but when Artificial Intelligence becomes this intelligent, it will more than likely become protected by the Bill of Rights.