Divemedic

Unimpeachable

From commenter D, we get this comment:

The state sees cops as “unimpeachable witnesses” meaning whatever they say is gospel unless you can prove otherwise.

For this reason, I will always side with my fellow citizen and give him or her the benefit of the doubt.

When I was in the Navy, we had a commanding officer who was incredibly authoritarian, Captain Macke. He was a douche, but retired after getting his fourth star. More on that in a minute. Why was he a douche? He would hold Article 15 (Captain’s Mast) like this:

They would put all of the accused on an aircraft elevator at the hanger deck level, maybe 20 or 30 of them, and the Captain would be standing behind a lectern on the flight deck. They would raise the elevator to the flight deck, and the Captain would say: “You all must be guilty, or your officers wouldn’t have sent you here. I find you guilty as charged. You are hereby reduced in rank one paygrade, fined one half pay for two months, restricted to the ship for 45 days, and 2 hours of extra duty every day for 45 days, to be served under the duty master at arms. Dismissed.” (This is the maximum punishment he can give without a courts martial)

The reason that this is important is that Macke believed that officers were absolutely unimpeachable. One of the things he used to say was, “If I have 100 enlisted men with 100 video cameras that show me 100 videos of something taking place, and I have one officer who tells me that isn’t how it happened, I will believe the officer every time.”

Of course, it’s also telling that he retired after being investigated by the Defense Department inspector general for allegations that he used military aircraft for personal trips and improperly fraternized with female subordinates while he was CINCPAC. They dropped him two paygrades for that. His new civilian job appeared to be using his military contacts and influence to arrange funding and lucrative government contracts. So much for unimpeachable officers. The best thing that I can say about the hypocritical sunovabitch is that he died last year.

So you’ll excuse me if I don’t buy into the “unimpeachable officer” trope.

By Divemedic, ago

Portland is Enemy Territory

A Portland jury found two Antifa members not liable for attacks on journalist Andy Ngo after defense lawyer Michelle Burrows told the jurors that not only does she self-identify as both a progressive and an “anti-fascist,” she strongly declared, “I am Antifa” and insisted upon making herself an “I am Antifa” t-shirt, which she said she would wear after the trial. Then made the statement that this would be her last trial, before telling the jurors that she “will remember each one of their faces.”

There is a reason why I have advised everyone to get out of the entire area of Portland, which can best be described as being behind enemy lines. Anyone who finds themselves in this area is advised to leave immediately, even if this means abandoning property.

There is no longer any redress available through the courts in large areas of the country. The only justice you get is what you take for yourself. As we approach another election season, expect violence to begin ramping up. Make sure that you are familiar with your area and have identified those who may be enemy combatants.

By Divemedic, ago

Wow, just wow

I was a witness to one of the most fucked up things that I have ever heard of a cop doing. I was there and saw it with my own two eyes. My wife doesn’t want me to blog details, because she is afraid of what the cops will do to me if they find out I am talking.

There were four witnesses to what happened. I filed a complaint with the supervisor, and he told us “The officer says that isn’t what happened. You must have misunderstood what you think you saw. It’s your word against his, so that’s where things stand.”

I’m gonna give it a week or two to calm down, then I will tell the story.

The reason for this post today is this: My wife is afraid of what the cops will do. How bad have things gotten in this country that ordinary, law abiding citizens are afraid of the police? My wife doesn’t watch the news. She knows little of current events. She says it’s depressing to watch stories about things you can’t change. So how did we get to the point where ordinary people are afraid of the cops?

By Divemedic, ago

How Palm Scanners Work

There have been a few questions about how palm scanners work, and how this affects reliability. Let’s take a look at the technology, its strengths, and its weaknesses.

If you’ve ever had a pulse ox on your finger, you know that it is a system that allows a machine to determine how much oxygen is in your blood. Have you ever asked yourself how it works?

Hemoglobin in the human body is responsible for transporting oxygen. Deoxidized hemoglobin absorbs infrared light differently than does oxidized hemoglobin. The pulse ox shines two different frequencies of near infrared light through your skin, and measures how much of the different wavelengths gets absorbed, and uses this to calculate the ratio of oxidized to deoxidized hemoglobin in your blood. Palm scanners use the same technology to determine your identity.

Veins transport deoxygenated blood to the heart. Therefore hemoglobin present in vein blood is deoxidized. When the near-infrared light from the palm scanner is directed on a person’s palm, hemoglobin absorbs its rays. The veins’ capacity to reflect the light is reduced, and they appear like a black pattern on the image taken by the system. Then the system processes the image and compares the results with the data from the database.

Since the pattern of veins in the palm is unique to each person, this image is a very accurate way of verifying that the person who was just scanned is the same person who has been scanned in the past. All you have to do is verify a person’s identity at the same time that you scan their palm and place the image in the database. Future scans verify that the person scanned in the future is the same person who was scanned and identified in the past.

Strengths:

  • Given the possibilities of modern technology, many biometric identifiers, like face or voice patterns, can easily become subject to forgery. Palm vein patterns are hidden inside the human’s body and are more difficult to capture without a person’s knowledge.
  • Unlike the face, which is visible to anyone in a public place, palm vein patterns cannot be scanned from a distance without a person’s consent.
  • The palm vein pattern is significantly bigger in size than those of the finger or iris. Consequently, the scan from it contains more data, which increases the accuracy of the identification.
  • Unlike many other biometric parameters (face, fingerprints), palm vein patterns are not likely to change due to some unexpected circumstances over the course of a person’s life.
  • The technique of identifying a person by their fingerprints has a number of serious disadvantages. Fingerprints are easily affected by external factors, like aging, disease, or the state of the skin on the hands. Palm vein patterns usually remain the same throughout the person’s life.
  • The results of the measurement are not affected by the state of the hand’s surface: dirt, grease, and oil don’t affect the image because IR passes through these substances easily.
  • Unlike retina scans, the risk of passing infections is lower because the system doesn’t require physical contact.

Weaknesses:

  • Some health factors, such as fevers, can affect the quality of the image
  • Companies aren’t always great about information security when storing their database, but this is true of all identification technologies

Palm scanners have been in use by the medical field for identification purposes for over a decade. Banks in Japan have been using it for even longer.

By Divemedic, ago

Work At Home

The hospital where I work has an extensive training program. One day a week, I get scheduled to work from home, attending online training. The hospital follows a protocol model, where everyone is expected to follow the hospital’s official guidelines when treating patients. An encyclopedic level of knowledge of those protocols is required in order to comply with this. My last hospital was more of a “come as you are” model, and I actually think that the protocol model is safer and more efficient. Still, that means there is a steep learning curve.

My wife seems to look at this as an opportunity to assign “honey do” chores for me to do, because she apparently hears the “from home” part more than the “work” part. Today, she has asked that I get laundry done, put away the dishes in the dishwasher, and fix the ice dispenser in the freezer.

Uh, you DO know that my workday begins at 8:30, right?

By Divemedic, ago

Sue Them, Then Sue Them Again

If you have a child in the Orange County, Florida School system, you need to sue the school for violating the law. They are refusing to remove the book “Lawn Boy” from school libraries, despite the fact that it contains child grooming pornography like this:

What if I told you I touched another guy’s dick? What if I told you I sucked it? I was ten years old, but it’s true. I put Doug Goebbels’ dick in my mouth. I was in fourth grade, it was no big deal. He sucked mine too. And you know what, it wasn’t terrible.

excerpt from Lawn Boy

Offensive? You bet. Even worse when you realize your kids are reading it. I’ve posted about this book before. Now supporters are claiming that the law is racist because the characters in the books are not white, so the mean Ron DeSantis is trying to ban books about POC children.

By Divemedic, ago

My Proposal

Democrats have proposed a 1,000% tax on all “assault weapons” and magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammo. That would make an AR15 cost $5,500 to $33,000. I didn’t realize that we were taxing Constitutional rights. Let’s try a few others:

  • a $10,000 tax for each person who wishes to register as a Democrat.
  • You can only vote for one Democrat each election. Each vote for a Democrat candidate after that will cost you $500. No cash? No vote.
  • In fact, only people who pay income taxes can vote. If you don’t pay any income taxes, you don’t get a say in how things are run. Skin in the game, and all that.
  • $2,500 fee for your first jury trial. Guilty or not, that fee doubles for each subsequent trial. Can’t pay? You get a bench trial.

What’s that you say? People can’t be taxed for exercising their rights?

Exactly.

By Divemedic, ago