Eric Joiner's Freightdawg.com - The Logistics and Supply Chain Blog!

Ok, these things are CREEPY.

I spent the last couple of days in south Florida in some customer meetings.   I normally fly into KFLL, pick up a rental car, go to our corporate headquarters to visit my amigos, then go do what I need to do with the Latin American regional offices of my clients that are based in Miami.   This is all quite normal and regular business for me.  

On the return to Atlanta tonight, going through TSA security at Fort Lauderdale, I noted that they had a new (at least since the last time I was there) scanning unit in terminal 2.  It is a backscatter body imaging machine.  These are the units that can see through the clothing of scanned passengers, though said not to either store scans nor compromise the modesty of the scanned passenger. (see for yourself here.)

Since I work with customers who produce some of these kinds of security devices,  I figured I would go through the body imaging line.  No big deal really.  You take off any and all metal, then you proceed to hold your arms up and get scanned.  The TSA officer then tells you to move along.   However, I will say watching a young lady in front of me get scanned, then subsequently get frisked, gave me the willies.  The TSA officers did nothing unusual and were perfectly professional in the examinations. Standing in the unit, then holding your arms up to get scanned, was somehow just a little unnerving.   After a few times, I'm sure it will seem quite normal, but I can think of a few things that might seem normal if you did them enough.

Here is what the TSA says about those who observe these screenings:

"For additional privacy, the officer viewing the image is in a separate room and will never see the passenger and the officer attending to the passenger will never see the image. The officers have 2-way radios to communicate with each other in case a threat object is identified."

Why is this even more unnerving?     I do not want to even know what those people could be doing in the observation rooms, though I can pretty much assure the traveling public my image won't incite anything weird.

I really think it's time to go to a US domestic passport along with some kind of bio marker that says it's me.  Maybe a retina scan or a fingerprint scan, but something that shows I am a safe traveler and something that expedites travel through security. I am convinced that at least one true cost of 9/11 is being borne and costed out on the traveling public by the inefficient use of security measures.   

Politically, I am a center right independent.  Mostly I just want to be left alone by government to pay my own way, take care of my responsibilities and do my own thing.  Most conservatives rail at the idea of any kind of domestic passport on the grounds that it is like Nazi Germany "requesting your papers" just to travel in your own country.  

On a defacto basis I think we are already there.  We are just using technology to verify who is safe and who is not.

Stop screening my shoes and my underwear.   Neither of which is really that interesting.

Eric

Jetwhine's Great Train Article

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year everybody.  I'm on vacation this week, but after reading a great article by Scott Spangler over at Jetwhine.com,  I thought I'd post a link to it.

Scott's article details the pleasure of train travel where available in the US as an alternative to air travel hell.   I wish it were more available here in Atlanta where we only have the Amtrak Crescent, which goes between New Orleans and Washington DC.  It passes through Birmingham, Atlanta and Charlotte on the way.  

When I was a kid,  my girlfriend, (and later my wife) lived in Birmingham.  I recall with fondness taking the train to visit her.   It was only a 4 hour trip, but pleasant nonetheless.

With air travel becoming increasingly painful due to security, cost and schedule contraction, perhaps one day America will reinvest in passenger rail.   Scott Spangler lives in Chicago, where railroad travel both east and west, is still somewhat of an option, just as it is in the Northeastern US, Japan and all over Europe.

Eric

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Living Overseas - A Career Aspiration?

Purchasing.com has an excellent article on ex patriot life and considerations for taking an international assignment.   This was always something I wanted to do but timing, children and life always seemed to get in the way.  If you have the opportunity, take it and give yourself and your family a view of the world that puts American life in perspective.   Check it out here.

Eric

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Ferry Capsizes with Massive Loss of Life

Periodically the ocean reminds us that sailing the seas in ships is still a dangerous business.  Filipino Ferry Princess of Stars capsized on June 24, 2008 with only 62 survivors out of a passenger list of over 800.

The ferry capsized after being hit by Typhoon Fengshen on Saturday while sailing from Manila to Cebu City. Despite efforts by the Philippines Coast Guard, few passengers were able to be rescued from inside the capsized vessel. The ship remains afloat and rescue divers are still attempting to save those who may be trapped in air pockets.

Modern transportation has become so reliable in most cases that we often take it for granted until weather impacts the ships or planes involved. 

clipped from www.iht.com MANILA - What Rodel Laborte could not forget was the screaming of his fellow passengers. As the strong waves and wind tossed around the 24,000-ton ferry - "like a paper boat," he said - pandemonium broke out. The shrieks got so loud, he said, he could not determine if the captain gave an order to abandon the ship. "My heart was racing fast," Laborte said. "All I could think about was whether there were enough lifeboats for all of us." When the ship tilted heavily to the left, Laborte decided to jump, along with several others, into the churning water, where they clung to a lifeboat. It took only minutes for much of the ferry to disappear, he said. Laborte, 60, was one of the 62 survivors of the Princess of the Stars, which was struck by Typhoon Fengshen on Saturday, possibly killing most of the more than 800 passengers and crew on board. He and 27 others huddled in the lifeboat, which ended up Monday on the shore of Quezon Province, miles from the island of Sibuyan, near where the ferry capsized. The ferry disaster could turn out to be one of the worst in the Philippines in the past two decades. On Tuesday, rescue teams from the Philippine Coast Guard managed to penetrate the overturned ship and found many decomposing corpses floating inside.

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Some Days the Hammer...Some Days the Nail.

I spent the week flying around the southeastern US, between Atlanta and Memphis, then on to Charlotte before returning home to ATL.

That's a little unusual for me as I usually travel further afield than that, but I had customer locations to visit in all three places. I hate regional flying because the jets tend to be smaller and more likely to get messed with by weather, air traffic control, and generally weaker run regional air carrier/slaves to the bigger carriers. I was not disappointed.

My flights from ATL to MEM and thence onward to CLT were no problem. Flying back to ATL however was a charm indeed. Today was one of "those days".  You know the ones.  The days when everything starts well then the more stuff you touch the worse it gets.  I had a very nice and very successful visit with a customer this morning.  It was one of those fun visits where you have a nice buzz coming out of it. Prospects are good, the customer is happy, and you've just learned that they are PISSED at your major competition.  As they say in the military...a "target rich environment".   That was the morning.

I then figure, "hey, I'm done with my stuff here in Charlotte, I'll see if I can catch an earlier flight to get home earlier".  I turn in the rental car, get to the terminal and see that its wall-to-wall passengers waiting for security clearance. That was the first sign that life was about to get complicated. I go up to the Delta self check in kiosk and attempt to get my boarding pass. The machine can't find it. Not good. So I call the corporate travel agent and ask what's up. After some searching and a call to Delta, I am told that my flight has been canceled, and that lo and behold, I have been rebooked to tomorrow mornings flight.  Lovely. Nice to see what Platinum-elite status is worth these days. I ask the travel agent what other flights are available and am told that a US Airways flight at 7:45PM still has seats.  Book me Dano. I'll take a bird in hand over a promise. 

Whilst standing at the Delta ticket desk, I ask the agent why they canceled my flight and what the delays were about.  There were three geniuses standing at the check in desk.  Each had a unique answer, presented almost simultaneously.

Eric:  "Hey, what's the delay about today?"

Agent 1: "Its summer time!  The kids are out of school"

Eric: "I don't see any kids"

Agent 2: "It's the weather!"

Eric: "It's sunny outside and my wife says it's sunny in Atlanta"

Agent 3: "Might have been a mechanical"

Eric:  "Is that what it was?" All these people are on my plane?"

Agent 3 again:  "Well, we don't really know but we have a long list of excuses to work from!"

Eric: "Nuff said.  Please transfer my ticket to US Scare."

I get my new ticket, make my way to the US Airways counter, get my confirmed but delayed boarding pass and proceed to the TSA security line.  The one nice thing about US Airways in CLT is that they are the hub carrier in Charlotte.  The facilities aren't much faster, but they are bigger.  So, it only takes 30 minutes to get to the security check point.  On perusal of my documents, the TSA screener informs me I have been "selected" by the airlines for further screening.  Ok.  No biggie.  Just more wanding and prodding and baggage check.  I've got 3 hours to kill.  Knock yourselves out guys. 

The TSA guys are nice and efficient in this case, which is great.  However much depends on your sense of humor. I've lost all hope for anything approaching early or on time.  At this point its just make light of it and move on. If you have that attitude and are nice to the TSA folks, typically they'll move you on as quickly as the Federal Government can do so.

By 7:45, I am seated on the plane, we take off and arrive in ATL about 9PM. I get home around 11.  Later than I wanted.  Much more tired than I wanted, but this is a pretty typical day for a lot of travelers. 

I have always thought the true cost of 9/11 is in the experience above. Traveling and moving around in the United States is now HARD and much less civil than it used to be. Some wannabe terrorist-Jag off decides to try to blow up a plane with C4 in his shoes and now I don't buy lace up shoes any more because I have to take them off every time I fly.

Forget fuel costs. The reason I want to ride trains nowadays is this experience.

Eric

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