Normally I write about reasonable subjects which I think are relatively important, at least to me. There has to be some merit to the subject. But, this once, I will make an exception. I have a comment or two about the group of people in the United States who are concerned with Full Body Scans at airports. This group of people are not only morons; they easily qualify for being in the top 10% of all the members on the Low Grade Morons list.

Let me set the scene. There exists Terrorism in the world, today. It is more focused, and more active than terrorism which has been practiced in the last several hundred years. I am not focusing on the Terrorists, nor their objectives. Perhaps I will make comments on them another day. But for the moment I would like to point out that Terrorists have decided to use airplanes as a means of killing people. I remind you of the events of 11 September 2001. There have been other air crashes, caused by terrorists or simple malfunction, over the past few decades. In each case the loss of life has been complete, or near to it.

Airplanes are always full of a highly combustible mixture: fuel. They generally fly quite high, which means that the external air pressure is very low, so blowing a hole in the fuselage will cause an immediate decompression, almost always causing a fatal crash. The authorities have come to the realistic conclusion that allowing people on airplanes with their own personal explosives, specifically carried with the possible intention of blowing themselves and everyone with them out of the sky, is not acceptable behavior. Such behavior is forbidden, and the authorities decided to take steps to keep suicidal maniacs with their explosive devices off airplanes.

The concept of screening arose. Initially it was merely annoying, and added additional time to your arrival and eventual departure on your airplane. But the increasingly strident voice and efforts of terrorists and the parallel path of technical development of equipment and material which can explode with sufficient force to cause an airplane to crash has caused the world authorities, but particularly American authorities, to take greater and greater precautions.

One of the technical strides has been the development of very low radiation machines that can see your entire body, as well as anything which is not human in origin: a bomb, or dangerous weapon. These machines work by looking through your clothes and show an outline of your body and any other items you may be trying to bring on board, illegally. Sounds good to me.

But a group has arisen which think this is an invasion of their privacy. Most things don’t surprise me, but this is a posture which has left me figuratively, dumb founded. There is a little secret which I am now going to reveal: all men and all women look the same. There are small variations in size, shape, etc. But there are no women who have three legs; and no men who have two behinds. So, NO ONE has a body that has not been seen before.

The aptly named Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has taken the thoughtful step, to protect the sensitivity of the flying public, of allowing only one trained observer to privately see the image in a closed room, down the hall from the machine. The observer doesn’t even know the physical image of the person being scanned. All they see is an outline of the naked body shape, and hopefully, no bombs or weapons.

But, the Low Grade Moron (LGM) Group feels that somehow this electronic screening is somehow a blow to their sensitivity and privacy. They would rather be not searched, at all. I have not asked them, but I wonder how they feel about being blown out of the sky?

I marvel at various things I encounter throughout my voyage through life. Some are very interesting, intriguing, and exciting. Some astound me because of brilliance or stupidity. The case of the LGM is one of the latter.

Now I am going back to contemplating the reason for the Universe. A pleasant Thanksgiving to all readers.