Keys Corner

Problems that travelers have with the Transportation Security Administration (the agency that is responsible for checking passengers before they board flights to and from US airports) have been well documented (in case you need reminding, here’s a summary of some cases). I wasn’t aware that Canada poses similar problems until Ruth noticed this entry in James Bach’s blog:

...A few weeks ago, as I was clearing customs in Ottawa, on my way into Canada, the customs guys decided that they needed to search my stuff. No problem.

Then they decided to search my computer… the inside of it… the part with all the files. I was shocked. I had never heard of this before. But not only do they have the right to do it, they apparently have the interest.

They told me that they were looking for prohibited material, which include “hate materials” and “child pornography”. If I refused to provide them with the necessary passwords, they told me they would simply sieze all my equipment. So, I complied. (Not before some grumpy sputtering on my part, which they interpreted not as surprise and dismay at an unexpected personal invasion, but a non-verbal admission that I was a child pornographer)

The thing is, I travel with 300 gigabytes of disk space, which includes 7 or 8 complete virtual computers that comprise a travelling test lab, plus backups. I must have millions of files. Furthermore, it quickly became apparent that the frowny customs guys didn’t know very much about computers. They seemed to think that any file with an extension not mapped to an application is “inaccessible” and therefore suspicious. After two hours of plinking away at my system, speaking in hushed French, they announced that they were turning my equipment over to a forensic team for examination…

World democracy doesn’t seem to be very healthy at the moment:

• In the Russian gas dispute with the Ukrainian government, the Handelsblatt writes that the Mafia was almost certainly sitting at the negotiating table.


• In the USA it looks as if Jack Abramoff is going to be embarassing US politicians with revelations about who got illegal campaign contributions, bribes and backhanders as a result of his lobbying on behalf of industry. (Bush’s re-election team has already returned money received from Abramoff in an effort to distance themselves from the allegations.)

Having originally claimed they would give Iraq the best infrastructure in the region, the Bush government has now turned towards winning the the mid-term elections and has announced that there will be no more funding after July 2007 for rebuilding the mess they have created in Iraq. Currently, oil production is well below the pre-war rate (2 billion barrels / day compared with 2.6 bpd before the invasion) and electricity production is also below pre-war levels. The American investment in Iraq has gone largely unnoticed by the local population, with less than 30% of the population even being aware that the USA is contributing to the the rebuilding of their country, according to the Guardian.

If you vibrate a mixture of water and cornstarch, the liquid exhibits some unusual properties.