Back in the USA
Back in the US (in Brooklyn) and here are some first impressions, including self-critique:
1. Northwest Airlines sucks and it has the crankiest service crossing the Pacific. Is this because I have been completely immersed in the hyperconsumerist social order of Taiwan, which makes US airlines look like East German state monopolies?
2. The paranoia of airport security does not serve security interests. Why? Because they had to X-Ray Leo's giant stuffed baby alligator twice because it wasn't photographed correctly the first time. Not only is this a waste of time, I think that doing it "by the book" actually causes airport security employees to lose all initiative and intuition. Following the rules replaces "thinking on your feet." To remain alert, airport security should be able to use their intelligence -- blue baby alligators carried by four year olds should be X-rayed only once. But perhaps I am out of touch with the threat posed by these plush toys.
3. Yes, people are much bigger on this side of the Pacific. I feel downright slim. (Is weight relative?)
More to come soon -
And just as a footnote, the No to the European Constitution looks remarkably like a populist revolt against Europe's rulers, but the revolt spans left and right and has enormous reactionary potential.
1. Northwest Airlines sucks and it has the crankiest service crossing the Pacific. Is this because I have been completely immersed in the hyperconsumerist social order of Taiwan, which makes US airlines look like East German state monopolies?
2. The paranoia of airport security does not serve security interests. Why? Because they had to X-Ray Leo's giant stuffed baby alligator twice because it wasn't photographed correctly the first time. Not only is this a waste of time, I think that doing it "by the book" actually causes airport security employees to lose all initiative and intuition. Following the rules replaces "thinking on your feet." To remain alert, airport security should be able to use their intelligence -- blue baby alligators carried by four year olds should be X-rayed only once. But perhaps I am out of touch with the threat posed by these plush toys.
3. Yes, people are much bigger on this side of the Pacific. I feel downright slim. (Is weight relative?)
More to come soon -
And just as a footnote, the No to the European Constitution looks remarkably like a populist revolt against Europe's rulers, but the revolt spans left and right and has enormous reactionary potential.