On Wednesday 29 Oct 2008 3:17:35 pm Eugen Leitl wrote: > Have you ever considered a career in politics?
Exactly! I think you hit the nail on the head. Looking at shampoo bottles may be a completely useless exercise, but as long as there are no more terrorist attacks on the US mainland everyone can say that searching for shampoo bottles and Charles' spinning are effective counter-terorism measures. If it works politically, it works and damn what "proof" means. This is a fundametal difference betwen politics and reality. Superstitious Hindus who break coconuts before an event are also depending on a similar belief in the efficacy of some measures in achieving certain goals. They don't give a hoot about arguments like "small sample size" and "conclusions from available data" If people in the US are complaining about silly security measures or the need to keep spinning in bed, the only way that is going to change is for someone to actually successfully conduct a terrorist attack proving that shampoo bottles and bed-spinning are not effective. Silly tricks like that chap who beat security and made an ass of himself hoping to get arrested only prove (politcally) that shampoo bottle checking and bed spinning must be effective. Until a terrorist attack actually occurs... It's ironic. The only way into a politcians head is to use his own logic against him. Using sense will not work. Till then keep spinning in bed and leaving your shampoo bottles at home. shiv
