grrm makes a point

[matgb]

For some reason, I'd managed to remove grrm from all my viewing filters. Fortunately, cleolinda linked me back there. grrm you ask? Yes, we are talking that George R R Martin.

Reasons to add him to your Friends list? Here's one. Here's another:

What's next, I wonder? Anal probes, x-rays, body cavity searches? Have we become such a nation of sheep that we will line up and swallow all this meekly? If so, let's change the words in our national anthem. Instead of "land of the free and home of the brave," maybe "land of the safe and home of the scared" would do.

He's not too happy with the ID card promoting scaremongering governments either. Is his most recent out in paperback yet (asks the still reasonably skint matgb).

Comments

[tiredstars.livejournal.com]

I find it hard to get angry about airport security checks. It's a terrible threat to our liberty! I could have been deprived of my toothpaste and forced to queue for a long time! On the three occasions in my life I've been on a plane.
Imagine it like an ersatz green tax on air travel. My instinctive response to people who complain about it all it don't fucking fly so much.

[matgb]

Meh, I used to fly a few times a year, then I ran out of money, this year the passport hasn't been used.

But, many of the "security" measures aren't in any way helping. Some are, undoubtedly, but many are cosmetic, and some simply appear to be cosmetic for appearance sake stuff.

Whether it's "let's scare the proles" or "let's look like we're doing something" I don't know, but whatever it is, it doesn't actually do anything.

Heh, was just reading Xnet, glanced at the E-European migrants thread, thought possibly log in and comment, then read someone say what I was going to. 'twas you, natch.

[matgb]

Cool, I'll text when I;m on the way up to confirm meeting point I guess, I'll need to park somewhere.

[raksaksa.livejournal.com]

Right - make that 4.30pm outside Debenhams, so we can decide how best to get to the beach.

Not sure if you will get this before then though...

[raksaksa.livejournal.com]

Apparently so. :)

[karis-uk.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about the airport security checks. On the one hand I'm in complete agreement with the idea of ensuring our safety, on the other hand, by making it so strict (you're not allowed to take a book on the plane at the moment ffs, and I wouldn't be happy with the idea of my camera or laptop being kept in the hold having seen the way that baggage handlers treat bags - not to mention what happens when your luggage gets sent to the wrong place and your mobile is in it - all things far more likely than bombs on planes) I can't help but feel that they are doing the terrorists job for them, as this is having a far greater impact and effect on a much wider slice of the population than a bomb on a plane would have.

In response to your other question - if you mean 'Feast for Crows' yes it is out in paperback (albeit large format paperback, so not much cheaper than a hardback to be honest), and last time I was in Waterstones it was in the buy 2 get 1 free offer on Sci-fi/Fantasty fiction.

[caramel-betty.livejournal.com]

you're not allowed to take a book on the plane at the moment ffs

Based on the flight I took yesterday (Friday), I was allowed to take books on the plane.

What I wasn't allowed to do was take books that I'd brought with me onto the plane. Anything I bought once I'd passed through the security checks, including the obligatory "Take your shoes off" check, was fair game. Which worked out not too badly, as the shop had Freakonomics, which I'd been meaning to buy and read for ages and ages and ages. (Uh, you mean about two months? - Ed.) Yes, two months. Hush, you.

[matgb]

Keep also meaning to get Freakonomics, but given the number of books on my "too read" pile, I'm in no hurry currently.

I'm utterly convinced that the ban on carrying books through check in is partially a way to increase sales. OK, maybe that may be a little too tinfoil helmet like?

[matgb]

large format paperback

I'm waiting until the standard small cheap one comes out, as I prefer reading them and it'll then fit on my shelf next to the others.

And am happy with sensible security measures that are effective. The current ones don't seem to be, and some are downright dangerous.

[karis-uk.livejournal.com]

I'll keep an eye out and let you know if I spot it in the standard edition.

Ok, so I can buy a book at the airport. This wouldn't be so bad if any travel shop I'd been in sold stuff that I actually wanted to read. My tastes are quite specific - and as there is a huge pile of books in my room that I've built up from my bookclub membership that I'm working my way through, why can't I continue to read the books that I've already paid for and want to read while I'm travelling, why do I have to go and buy something that I already have or something that only marginally interests me because the powers that be have decided that I can't be trusted because a handful of fundamentalists might be plotting to commit a crime on the flight I want to take. I see this as a major infringement of my rights, rather than a necessary security measure. I'm inclined to agree with the theory that this is just to boost sales on aircraft and in airports, because any other reason is simply ludicrous. And also, air travel is expensive enough as it is, without adding to the costs unnecessarily by having to pay out more at the airport just to be able to relax on the plane.

I also agree that these measures are not effective - and the pictures of staff pouring and throwing liquid away at airports are extremely worrying if it was in fact liquid explosive that was involved.

[(Anonymous)]

Weapons of Mass Disruption seem to be working rather well.
LordHutton