“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

Beautiful twister-like clouds

Qian Hongyan was in a car accident when she was just 3 years old, and as a result, she had both of her legs amputated.

Her family was unable to provide real prosthetics, and as a result, she was put into a basketball, which she then hopped around in like a human Weeble.

Despite her disability, this young Chinese girl has dreams of participating in the 2012 Paralympics in London. No, not in the basketball event, but in swimming.

She swims 2000 meters every day in training in order to prepare to achieve her dream of swimming for Team China.

Sure, that’s an impressive shot. But Monta gets paid $11 million a year to put the ball in the bucket, so it’s not really all that impressive. But what sticks with me is how pimped out his handshake is after the fact. Is there any good reason I don’t have something that baller to pull off with my boys?

Having trouble accepting that this is now the present as it still sounds futuristic to me.

But alas, it’s the present, and here are but a few of the issues we’re grappling with:

- Does this make you feel safer?: http://www.newser.com/story/77836/airport-security-of-the-future-mind-reading.html

If that’s not enough, the TSA has purportedly ordered 300 of the naked-body scanners that they’ve been testing out and will be rolling them out in ariports for everyday use in the near future.

Everywhere you look, technology is being instituted to an absurd degree, ostensibly to keep us safer. It reminds me of this article that appeared on www.consumeraffairs.com on March 26, 2007:

Toyota Says Sweat Detector Stops Drunk Drivers
By Joe Benton

January 3, 2007
Soon to be the world’s number one carmaker, Japanese auto giant Toyota plans to develop a system that it says will prevent a vehicle from starting after detecting that the driver is drunk.

The Toyota system analyzes sweat on the palms of the driver’s hands to assess blood alcohol content and does not allow the vehicle to be started if the reading is above programmed safety limits.

The system can detect abnormal steering and whether the driver’s pupils are out of focus as well as the sweat sensors in the steering wheel to determine the level of alcohol in the driver’s bloodstream.

If any of these symptoms are detected the car will not turn on or will slow to a stop.

The automaker said the system could be available as soon as 2009.

Toyota joins Volvo in developing computerized systems to prevent drunk driving. The Volvo system requires the driver to blow into a tube to detect alcohol in the breath.

Toyota rival Nissan Motor is also working on measures to prevent drunk driving.

The research announcements follow a record of drunken driving in Japan which included 14,000 intoxicated driving accidents in 2005 that killed 707 people, according to the National Police Agency.

Japan is considering increasing the penalty for driving under the influence to up to a maximum five years in prison from the current three years and doubling the fine to $8,500.

I’m sure you’ve already seen the recent Lexus ads that promote the vehicles’ steering-assist capabilities in case the driver veers too close to another automobile. You know how sometimes a warning light on your car’s dashboard will be triggered, and then when you take it in for service the mechanic tells you that it’s just a faulty sensor and that you should just ignore it? Well that is exactly why I don’t want my car deciding out of the blue to steer for me, because I can’t just ignore that if it is making a “faulty” decision! Do the people who are in charge of these “innovations” ever consider at what point enough is enough?

- Everybody’s cheating on each other, as Tiger Woods headlined the biggest scandal of 2009.  Maybe people should take a page from Masha Kirilenko’s philosophy on relationships.  Remove the controlling, “you can’t” element from male-female interactions, and it figures that people will be less likely to be treacherous towards those they are involved with.

- New year means it’s time for a new year’s resolution: no more twitter.  Sorry tweeps, but attempting to follow others (here’s looking at you Mark Cuban) brought with it too much clutter.

“The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” – Ralph Nader

Fire Melts Ice