I am two days late for this year’s anniversary, but this is just too impressive: Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944.

Make sure to click on the picture to see bigger versions.

(via Justin, thanks! Source: US or Canadian National Archives, via Wikipedia. Public Domain.)

A while ago, when I was flying to Idaho and had a layover in Salt Lake City, Utah, I was for the first time confronted with full-body scanners at an airport security checkpoint. It was at the time a pilot test, and there were signs saying I had the right to refuse the scanner. Appalled by the idea of doing a digital strip dance for the security officers, I refused, and while I the security officer didn’t appreciate the extra work, I had to wait in line shortly, received a quick pat-down, and was sent on my way.

Full-body scanners have since received a lot of attention, and were introduced in many airports, some mandatory for primary screening, others opt-out, and finally some only use it for secondary screening, that is, when the metal detector beeps, or similar.

Today I am pleased to read that the Idaho House voted in favor of a bill restricting the use of such scanners in the state (the bill would forbid using such scanners as primary screening method in airports). The bill is now moving to the Senate. While I may not agree with many views of American conservatives, (given I am European, probably not too shocking a statement), I agree with the assessment that full-body scanners entail an unreasonable strip search of people who haven’t given any indication that would warrant such treatment.

Now let’s hope the law passes, and that other states, and perhaps countries, follow suit.

Thanks for the link, Jenny!

A few days ago techtarget published a short interview about the OSU Open Source Lab, where I worked while studying at OSU:

“Lance Albertson, architect and systems administrator at the Oregon State University Open Source Lab, uses a sys admin staff of 18-21-year-old undergrads to manage servers for some high-profile, open-source projects (Linux Master Kernel, Linux Foundation, Apache Software Foundation, and Drupal to name a few). In this Q&A, Albertson talks about the challenges of using young sys admins and the lab’s plans to move from Cfengine to Puppet for systems management.”

(via slashdot).

I must say, the work I’ve seen student sys admins do at the OSL is outstanding, and I’ve met some of the sharpest people there I’ve ever worked with. Glad to hear they are still going strong.

Thanks for the link, Justin!

If you are an American expat, or something along those lines, and are in the mood for some Christmas music, you might have already taken a look at “iTunes Radio”, and had a hard time to find any, because even the ones carrying Christmas in their name don’t quite cut it…

A good trick is to go for the Adult Contemporary section:

… and select a soft rock station, such as “Soft Rock from St. Louis”, which is what we listened to today. These stations have a tendency to switch to Christmas music during the season, and should serve all your Christmas music needs, even if there’s no way you can receive it on your local radio tuner.

Have fun, and happy holidays.