i don't know how many of you drive along major interstate, but, in going back and forth to Chestertown, i travel along I-95. over the last 6 months, a slightly disturbing thing has happened. cropping up at 5-15 mile intervals are large LED-type screens. they are ominous, big and bulky and seemed to appear almost out of nowhere (kind of like the boxes for USA Today back when that rag started).
now, in and of themselves, i wouldn't have a problem with these things. however, the message on them is more than a little disturbing: "report suspicious activity: call 800-TIPS" or some number that indicates one would be calling the department of homeland security or donald rumsfeld or something.
these things were, at least to my recollection, first used to notify drivers of "amber alerts," which was a fairly quick and effective way of getting the word out that a child was missing. this new usage is, um, alarming.
it reminds me a little too much of big brother, a little too much of a police state and a little, well, unwelcoming.
anyone else have any thoughts on this?
gotohellifyouhatefreedom,
volansky
ps if you type "Rumsfeld" into the yahoo search engine, one of the optional searches that comes up is "Rumsfeld angry". funny, right?
5 comments:
Sounds like some type of ITS (Intelligent Transportation System) architecture and used for advance warnings on events, construction, accidents, etc. -- to help with your navigation choices. http://itsdeployment2.ed.ornl.gov/technology_overview/
Stop hating freedom.
RUMSFELD ANGRY! RUMSFELD SMASH!
I couldn't help myself.
They're all around DC Michele. You need to drive to the Western Shore more often.
wherearemypants,
bob
Aw, but Rumsfeld looks so happy in that picture....so frighteningly happy...
You know, it used to be that if you typed "George W Bush isn't stupid" into google search, the thing at the top that pps up when you misspell something would say "did you mean George W Bush is stupid"?
No joke. But it doesn't anymore. Oh well.
I never liked those signs.
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