logo of
jason macemore.com

It could soon be coming to an airport near you. A new x-ray screening device has been put into testing at airports in Phoenix, Los Angeles and New York.

The new machine has the ability to peek underneath passengers’ clothing to search for guns, bombs or liquid explosives. Initially, the machine will only be used to scan volunteers, but that may change.

From the New York Times:

Security officials examining the head-to-toe images work in a closed booth, hidden from public view, agency officials said. Special “privacy” software intentionally blurs the image, creating an outline of a body that is clear enough to see a collarbone, bellybutton or weapon, but flattens details of revealing contours.

Several issues are at debate here: privacy and health concerns due to the radiation used in the scanning, to name a few.

How do you feel about the extra screening?

So classic. So common.

A couple things I hate about showers. The uneven water pressure shot through the showerhead and the sudden temperature change when someone else in the house turns on the water or flushes. Well, now we have a cure.

The Isabel showerhead, from Show House by Moen, eliminates uneven water pressure by letting water collect in the center of the head before being shot out of 100 jets. A lever toggles between April shower and hard-rain’s-gonna-fall mode, and a thermostatic valve keeps water at a preset temperature that won’t fluctuate, even if a family member flushes the toilet while you’re washing up.

Link via ESPN

Three ultra-endurance athletes have just done something most would consider insane: They ran the equivalent of two marathons a day for 111 days to become the first modern runners to cross the Sahara Desert’s grueling 4,000 miles.

“This has been a life-changing event,”
said American runner Charlie Engle

In less than four months, they have run across the world’s largest desert, through six countries — Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya and finally Egypt.