I was planning on attacking some recent comments on facebook supporting quackery but since it's 2:30am I'm going to keep this short and simple. Instead of tearing down someone else's ideas on health I'm going to briefly discuss what has worked for me. Why you ask? I suppose it's because I frequently get asked questions like, "how do you stay in such good shape?" "what do you eat?" "how often do you go to the gym etc...." Well, I don't mean to brag and I don't mean to boast but for 36 years old, I'm fitter than most! But all rimes aside, without further ado here are my proscriptive ideas on health:

I look at physical health as a necessary balance between 3 key elements: nutrition, sleep, and physical exercise. Think of these three constituents as 3 legs on the table of health. If any one is out of proportion with the others the table will be off balance. And obviously if any element is completely missing, the table of health falls.

Lets look at the first leg--nutrition. Many people underestimate the importance of correct nutrition in general and over estimate the importance of the particulars. Let me explain. I know many people who are obsessed with getting the right amount of magic vitamin x, or new "superfood" y, or this great "all natural" (so it must be good for you) herbal supplement that will make you live forever. People--These are just fads. Another way for supplement companies to empty your wallet.

What people really need to focus on is their calories in vs. calories out. It's very simple, all the magical herbs and supplements in the world will not stop you from gaining unwanted weight if you don't deal with this basic equation first. Here's the way it works: if you consume more calories than you burn, you're going to put on weight. If you burn more than you consume you will lose weight. Sounds simple right? But so many people get it wrong. They focus on the minutia of magical supplements and such and ignore the big picture while eating donuts. As a side note, you don't always want to consume less than you burn. If you are already at your ideal weight or underweight than you will want to adjust you caloric intake accordingly.

People ask me all the time how to lose weight. I always begin by citing this equation. Then I say, you can chose: you can continue the same caloric intake and exercise alot more, or you can eat alot less--the net result is the same. I say this just to illustrate a point, actually the correct thing to do is to both consume fewer calories and burn more. You'll achieve your goal faster.

Next level of importance in nutrition is macro-nutrition. It's not enough just to count calories, it is also important where those calories are coming from. Your body needs a certain amount of protein to function properly and you also need energy from carbohydrates and fats to live. There have been many fad diets in the area of macro-nutrition, some saying to get all your calories from protein and fat, some say mostly from carbs and so on. (Not so) surprisingly recent medical studies (I'll look for them later if you're really interested) have shown that when attempting weight loss, the respective ratios of macro-nutrients don't really matter. The only thing that was a factor in success was the calories in vs. calories burned equation. That's not to say that the proportions are not important but rather that for those who are interested in weight loss you should stop obsessing over details and just eat less (and/or do more!).

So what's the magical ratio? Depending on your lifestyle and metabolism it will vary from person to person. You need to experiment and see what works for you but I recommend something close to these values: Protein 20-30%, Carbohydrates 50-60%, Fats 15-25%. When it comes to carbohydrates it's really important that most of them are whole grain complex carbs. If you're not sure what carbs are good, use the "don't eat white carbs" rule. (I just made that name myself!). I.E. avoid white sugar, white bread, white rice, potatoes. And regarding fats everyone knows to avoid saturated fats...stick to vegetable fats when possible (avocado, olive oil).

But what about vitamins and super magical herbs, and this amazing new plant from the most remote rainforest in the world? Forget it. You can get everything you need from a balanced diet of whole foods.

But what if I'm sooo hungry and I overeat? Here's how you can reduce food consumption without feeling hungry (as a wrestler who had to cut weight for competition I'm an expert on this!). Before your main meal eat a HUGE salad and whatever vegetables you want because they have almost no caloric value but are high in nutrition (except potatoes!). Your stomach will start to send signals to the brain that it's full. Next eat the protein portion of your meal. Protein causes your body to release chemicals that make you feel satiated. Next eat the carbs and fats. Now you're done! Yum! and so am I. It's almost 3:30am....I'm gonna have to continue this later. Time for me to work on the sleep leg!

Hello all! I apologize for my lengthy absence. I would love to provide a compelling reason for which I have written almost nothing in the last 3 months but I'm saving those excuses for when I start school in September. Yup. I've been accepted as a General Graduate student for September although planning on entering the Ethics and Public Policy program starting in December...but I digress.

I'd like to take this blog entry as a chance to update everyone on events that have transpired in the last three months. 1. A butterfly landed on a flower. 2. Many children were born (especially in Africa) 3. The season has changed from Spring to Summer in the northern hemisphere... 4. ....forget it, this is going to take forever; howz zabout I stick to what's happened in my life. After all this is MY blog. Me! Me! Me! Me!

Let me try that again: First and foremost and relevant to this blog is that I have been accepted into UNLV (University of Las Vegas/Nevada) as a general graduate student. I couldn't apply directly to my program because I could only get 1 of the 3 required letters of recommendation from past professors. Not that I was a bad student but I received my bachelors in 2000 and oddly most of my professors could not remember my brilliant essays from 10 years ago, and I have no clue where most of them are (the essays, not the professors). Note to anyone hoping to attend grad school: do it sooner than later.

Anyway, after completing my first semester I should be able to transfer into my program which is "Ethics and Policy Studies".

Unfortunately, UNLV does not have a Philosophy graduate program. However, this program has many of it's core courses in the Philosophy dept. and with a clever selection of electives on my part will basically be a Philosophy degree even though the program is overseen by the PoliSci dept. Anywho, I just need to get started on anything academic before my brain completely atrophies, makes the sound of something rolling around an empty tin can, and falls out of my ear. Strangely, despite popular misconceptions, working as an "exotic (i'm exotic!) male entertainer" is not the most intellectually stimulating job.

Ok, next on the list is I finally bought a house. I really can't compare the feeling of happiness that comes with purchasing a home--I mean the feeling at the very end when you finally get the key--not the hellish process of looking, bidding, losing, looking again, dealing with paperwork for the loan, getting stuff notarized, signing and sending faxes every couple of days, thinking every things finalized, then, no, you still are missing paper "x", and so on...I think you get the general idea. Anyway, in the end it was all worth it and things actually turned out better than anticipated. I'll spare you most of the details but I would like to break part of the process down because it will be extremely useful for anyone who might be considering buying a house in US and A.

The house I bought was an REO, meaning it was house that went into foreclosure and was repossessed by the bank. The bank then put the house on the market. Several people bid pushing the price above the asking price. I ended up bidding 15,000 above asking price to enter into contract, which was fine because it was still a great deal. Upon entering into contract my lending institution sends out an independent property appraiser. The property appraiser valued my house at 18,000 below the contract price. Here's were the fun starts.

Because of all the money mortgage lenders have lost recently, no lender will finance a loan that is above the appraised value of the house. Essentially, this means that the seller now has a choice: they can sell me the house at 18,000 below the contract price (3,000 below the original asking price) or they can pull the house off the market. Seeing as the housing market in Las Vegas isn't going up any time soon the selling bank elected to sell at the appraised value despite the contract price being 18,000 higher. I received the news of this decision on May 5...and it was a truely joyous day....some might even call it frabjous. So, the take home lesson here is that if you are considering buying a house in a weak market in the US and A, don't worry about bidding high because in the end you'll only pay the appraised value.

Well, those are the two major events. As a last bit of news today I finally broke down and spent 800.00 to get the air conditioning fixed on my car. Unfortunately, A/C is not a luxury item in Las Vegas but a necessity. I was ok April and May using old skool A/C (windows down) but driving on the freeway got pretty crazy with all the papers in my car blowing around...and speaking of crazy, you should've seen my hair when I got out of the car!

And now we're approaching July when temperatures reach heights unknown to many parts of the world. Today was 38 C and it can reach 50 C some days in July/August...getting stuck in traffic with no A/C at those temperatures is about as fun as locking yourself in a sauna with all your clothes on...well, actually it's the same thing just exchange the soothing eucalyptus steam and relaxing new age music for toxic fumes and the "wicked" bass from the car audiophile idiot next to you.

By the by, shout out to my sister Chana and Jenny McGoogly-Eye (indirectly) for inspiring me to blog again.

Thursday March 24 2010

There's something I need to get off my chest. Nothing bad. Just something I want to announce: I love hydrogen peroxide. Yup. I do. Let me explain:

My whole life, despite being a very diligent and zealous brusher of teef, my teef were never quite pearly white. It might have had something to do with my diet or all the tea I drink daily, nevertheless, no matter how much or how many times a day I brushed I could never get my teef to be white. I know a lot of people do whitening at the dentist but that costs a lot and there has to be another way!

About 18 months ago I asked my friend (who was very pearly white teef) how he got his teef so white. He informed me that he rinsed for one minute everyday with hydrogen peroxide. Well, I never! "What a preposterous idea!" I thought. This is certainly just a case of confirmation bias, he probably already has naturally white teef. So for the subsequent 18 months I went on with my usual oral hygiene habits and with predictably no change in the aesthetic appearance of my teef.

As a further aside I'd like to note two things: 1. that my work environment is one in which we are rewarded for superficial traits, pearly white teef being one of them, and so it is to my benefit to fret like an old woman over the colour of the bones in my mouth. 2. My work environment rewards aesthetic qualities rather than those of the intellect and consequentially not everyone I work with has highly developed critical thinking skills (gasp!). The effect of this skewing of development is there is a high degree of credulity when it comes to magic beauty lotions and potions (amongst other things) and an alarming lack of familiarity with the clinical trial literature on said lotions and potions.

OK, enough...you get the point...back to my new found love, hydrogen peroxide, and my teef. I guess by now you can probably figure out where I'm going with this...a few weeks ago, on a whim I tried rinsing for a week with hydrogen peroxide and....rinsing with hydrogen peroxide for a minute every day has whitened my teef! I can hear the hoards of scientists shrieking that I'm only one data point, the sample size is only one, I didn't set up any controls or placebo group and the evidence is only anecdotal but...if you want whiter teef and want to avoid paying for it at your dentist...try it! 2 months worth of the stuff will only cost you about a dollar!

In order to bolster my claim and soothe the skeptics howling for evidence that rinsing with hydrogen peroxide whitens teef I did a little google research. Here are some of the results:

The highly regarded hubpages.com says:

Hydrogen peroxide is a weak acid with oxidizing properties which act like a bleaching agent when used in teeth whitening solutions. It's also often found in tooth pastes, disinfectants, and mouth washes.

I know what you're thinking bleach is basic and H2O2 is acidic so why the comparison? I don't know but we get the point, right? Also from the same website:

It's important to note that hydrogen peroxide teeth whitening is considered to be safe and effective by the American Dental Association.

Ah! Ha! Vindication at last! I suppose if I were a real keener I'd go the American (or Canadian) Dental website and verify this, come to think of it, why didn't I start there?...too late!

During the course of my massive research project I also found some funny (not intentionally) frequently suggested folk methods of teef whitening that I don't recommend but you may try at your leisure and report the results back to me:

INGREDIENTS: water baking soda and strawberries

INSTRUCTIONS: First you take 4 strawberries and cut off the stem then you take 1/4 a cup of water and 1/2 a cup of baking soda, then you put it all in a blender and blend on low until it becomes slightly pastie,then brush your teeth with it and re brush with youre regular toothpaste. !!!!WARNING!!!!! it taste horrible but works.

Shannon Jamison

Sugar Land, Texas

Take some foil and fold it to form to your teeth. Take alittle toothpaste and bakingsoda and mix together really well. Put some of the mixture into the foil and place on your teeth. Leave on for one hour everyday. Brush teeth normally afterwards. You will notice whiter teeth in just a few days.

The strawberries were amusing but I don't know quite how to respond to the second one. I'll begin by saying I'm not surprised it was submitted from Texas. Lets assume for a moment that this actually works..."leave on for one HOUR EVERYDAY"!!!! An hour? Everyday? Allz I can say is, it better darn work! Who the crap is going to walk around their house every day with a home made tin foil tray in their mouth, drooling toothpaste and baking soda all over themselves for an HOUR? ...Unemployed people who live alone...maybe.

If it weren't for the sincerity of the introduction I would have discounted this next one as a joke:

I`m not sure what information you need personally but I live in Japan. I teach English here and heard a great home remedy from one of my students.

Gather ashes from a fire (a wood fire) and dip a wet toothbrush into the soot. Simply brush with the soot. Brush with toothpaste after to get the minty taste. The Crystals in the ashe really make your teeth whiter right away! Try it! It works wonders.

...Personally, I don't think you're fit to be in charge of young malleable minds...and personally I think it's probably going to take more that a little minty toothpaste to get the taste of ashes out of my mouth--you cretin!

Following on the heals of the ash-hole the next entry comes from Canada--I have to admire his technical knowledge:

Country of Remedy: Canada

Ingredients: Wood Ash
Instructions: This is an update to the suggestion to brush with wood ash. The reason wood ash whitens your teeth is because it contains potassium hydroxide (aka lye). However, only hard wood ash contains significant concentrations of potassium hydroxide, soft wood ash does not.Before lye was available commercially, soap was made by leeching the potassium hydroxide from hard wood ash and then combining it with tallow (rendered animal fat).
You may want to exercise caution when using hard wood ash too often as a tooth whitening agent. The harshness of the potassium hydroxide could significantly damage your teeth over time.

So remember, if you're going to brush your teef with ash from hardwoods, please exercise caution.

Some people suggested brushing with lemon juice. I like this response and it also addresses the very popular strawberry method.

The reason that lemon juice "works" is that it causes the teeth to lose calcium (which gives teeth some of their off-white color). Calcium is a major component of healthy teeth, and once it is lost, your teeth become very susceptible to decay. DO NOT use lemon juice for whitening.If you choose to brush with strawberries, be sure to brush your teeth IMMEDIATELY afterwards with fluoride toothpaste and also FLOSS. The sugar and acid in the strawberry will harm your teeth more than it will help if

you don't immediately brush your teeth with regular toothpaste. Also be cautious of brushing too vigourously as the strawberry seeds could damage the gums (or even the teeth).The best home methods are baking soda or hydrogen peroxide. Try to
stick with these. Remember that these are not a substitute for brushing with
fluoride toothpaste -- you must brush with fluoride toothpaste after ANY whitening method to prevent tooth decay.

Well everybody...I hope this helps you sort through the very complex intricacies of toof whitening. Please share with me your own folk remedies so I can ridicule them!

Thurs March 11 2010

Ahoy!hoy! I'll just say this. It's much easier to write a blog entry a day when you're not working, sleeping at your brothers place with not much to fill your time except eat, sleep, and throw out the occasional chum on fb. I'm back in Vegas and frantically trying to get my taxes done so I can apply for a mortgage and find a house to buy all before the end of April.

For those of you too busy watching Team Canada rumble over the world in Olympic curling to be up-to-date on the US housing situation, I'll fill you in. Basically, because most people point their fingers at the US housing sector as a major cause of the economic crisis and (hopefully) future cure for the crisis, the US and A government enacted tax legislation to stimulate demand in the housing market (I feel like I'm back in econ 101, writing a paper). In fact the US and A government is offering 2 significant incentives. The first is that any first time home buyer get an $8,000.00 tax rebate. Second, first time home buyers also qualify for a government backed loan for which they only have to put 3.5% down. Do the maff. Notice that the median price of a home (in the West) is about $200, 000.00 (less in Vegas). What's that down payment work out to? Hmmm...the number seems remarkably close to that of the tax rebate. In other words, if anyone buys a house before the end of April (tax credit deadline), the down payment if refunded by the government. Will a deal like this ever come along in my lifetime? Unlikely.

The next section I will name "Why I am soooooo Smart...S-M-R-T". There's one little problem most people have, especially in Vegas: they don't pay very much tax because they don't claim a lot of their tips. The problem with this is that loan officers are very strict since the sub-prime meltdown so now when you apply for a loan, the way the officer verifies your income by looking at your previous 2 years of tax returns and the amount of taxable income you claimed. This is the amount you can borrow against. They don't care what your gross was pre-deductions, they only care about the taxable income. Many people in Vegas also go the route of reporting income, but over inflating their expenses to pay less tax. The problem with this is now they can't borrow any money. So why am I so smrt? Because I paid MORE taxes than I had to! As far as I know it's not illegal to pay extra tax, and now after two years of doing this I can apply for a nice sized mortgage. Especially my 2009 return I knew that I'd be getting $8,000.00 back, so why not pay extra so I can get the better loan? I'll get that money back in a few months anyway. And that is why I am soooooo smart, S-M-R-T!

Monday February 1 2010

It's amazing how quickly humans can adapt. This is a double edged sword--it is a good thing when times are tough and you learn to do without usual comforts and cherish the simple things in life. It can work against you when you become accustomed to a standard of living above the basic, and then those comforts are taken away from you.

I remember, in my first European tour in 2008 feeling guilty that I was sleeping in a hotel while travelling. Up until 2008 I'd always travelled under the most Spartan conditions, sleeping outside or in youth hostels and enjoyed it. I don't think I had ever even stepped foot in a 5 star hotel, let along stayed in one. Over the course of the 3 month tour I gradually learned to accept my environment and the fact that I didn't need to carry my belonging on my back everywhere. I won't say that I got used to it, but, by the end of the tour I didn't feel awkward.

Now I'm in my second year of touring and somehow I've come to expect a certain level of comfort. But what happens when you are stripped of those comforts and told to make do with less? We work hard, and life on the road is hard on the body, especially when you are dancing 2 hours a night and going to the gym with only a few days off a month. We are now touring the UK and have been moved from the mostly five star hotels we get in Continental Europe to three star hotels in the UK. Strange. In my backpacking days I would have considered a 3 star hotel the height of luxury, and five star hotels only a dream. Buy now, for some reason I find myself feeling resentful toward this demotion.

So now, on top of doing laundry in the sink (we are expected to do our own laundry which no simple task when you are on the road every day) and a much smaller breakfast buffet (they actually charge extra for hard boiled eggs), we have a lower standard of living. The rooms have one bed and one cot. Part of me thinks I'm just being a baby and should be happy with what I have. But then there is another part of me that sympathizes with what another dancer said tonight "when I'm working on tour, I shouldn't have to feel like I'm backpacking."

I suppose in the end, thanks to the great human capacity to adapt, we will all do so, and then when we move back to 5 star hotels in the next leg of the tour we will enjoy it all the more. Maybe even fell a bit out of place.

Today was our first show in the UK. For better of for worse, it was everything I thought it would be. Anybody remember the Simpson's episode with "the British book of smiles"? Lets just say that most stereotypes are to a certain degree grounded in reality. I also noted that the women aren't shy about expressing themselves (once again, for better or for worse). If I had a quid for every time somebody's mother or grandmother grabbed my ass during photo session I could retire right now. Furthermore, I'm still deliberating on whether it is better to tour in countries where you don't understand the language and consequently what the women are saying, or otherwise. This is going to be an interesting month, that I know. For some strange reason everywhere I go I want to blurt out in a cheezy british accent "top of the mo'nin' to ya govn'a".

The British are both wonderful and wonderfully annoying. When I went to the gym this morning these two woman were just standing on their elliptical trainers talking away. They weren't even exercising. I wanted to tackle them. Rationally, I know that there are probably people in every country that do the same thing, but for some reason, when you're in a foreign country everything you experience that annoys you gets generalized as behaviour typical to the natives. Like nobody in Canada is ever annoying! I'm sure there are even Canadians who say "top of the mo'nin' to ya govn'a!". Funny how the brain works.

One thing I do really like here that I have noticed in contrast to Germany is how friendly and cheerful everyone is. Everybody wants to know where you're from and says welcome to our town etc... People here seem genuinely interested in where your from and are eager to help or suggest thing to see and do.

Sunday January 31 2010

We've been driving for two days and have finally arrived in England from Munich. We are in some small town about 15 minutes drive outside of London. In typical Chippendales fashion we are in a hotel miles from anything. As we drove into "town" our bus driver accidentally went to a different location of the same "Premier Inn". After being on the road for 2 straight days, about 9 hours each day, we were over-joyed to see that what we thought was our hotel was close to many amenities: a gym, restaurants, and even a movie theatre...and the movies weren't dubbed in German! As we pulled into the parking lot all of us were excitedly making our fantasy plans: "First I'm going to a movie, then the gym, then dinner....no, wait. I'll go to the gym first so I don't have to worry about it, then eat, then the movie..." Before anyone could finalize their fantasy plans, we learned that this was the wrong location. It turned out our Premier Inn was on the side of the freeway somewhere without a single other building in sight. Great. No gym, no food, just a room with a toilet that barely flushes. By the way, don't let the name of the hotel fool you, surprisingly it seems the name is just a marketing ploy...I'm quite sure this is not "premier" accommodation.

This is a frequent lament of the guys on tour. Sometimes we can go over a week without staying in a single hotel that is within a country mile of other buildings. Somehow, we are expected to stay in shape with no gym; eat healthy without access to food; and purchase toiletries when there are no stores. I'm not kidding when I say we get put in the sticks a lot. Many times I've peered out my hotel window only to see cows grazing, or open fields. Maybe, it would be great if we were on vacation but as I mentioned we have practical needs such as the gym, food, and toothpaste. On the bright side, if I ever want to take a relaxing vacation in Europe, I know where to get away from it all in just about every country.

Random Anecdotes:

On Friday we did a media event/promo for a big spa near Munich. Events like this are typical: we go to the spa and they take pictures for their promotional material. They also invite other media which creates a win-win situation for Chippendales and the spa (or whatever business we are promoting) because both companies get free exposure. To get an idea of what it's like to do a photo shoot please refer to the scene in Zoolander when the photographer is telling Derrick "you're a monkey Derrick! Dance monkey!" Of course, because there are several photographers from different magazines, each one is trying to out do the other in telling us to dance like monkeys. After the promo we got to use all the spa facilities for free, including an open tab on the bar and restaurant. Because there was no show on Friday it means we have to pay for our own food...so guess who hung out at the restaurant for most of the time!? Aside from sampling much of the menu I did manage to use some of the many saunas. I actually have come to enjoy sitting in a sauna. Prior to touring in Europe I didn't think much of it but...now I like it. Mmm...sauna.

While I was sitting poolside at the restaurant for my second meal (the other guys were off getting facials--and they wonder why people ask if they're gay...) this older lady swam up next to my table and asked me for an autograph. At least that's what I inferred from the stream of German words coming out of her mouth and her frantic arm waiving. Hoping to politely deter I told her I would be happy to if she would kindly give me a pen and paper--unlikely to happen considering she was in the water. My plan didn't work outa I had planned. About 5 minutes later she appeared standing at my table with a paper and pen in hand. So I dutifully signed the paper and posed for some picture that her granddaughter took. The funny part was that this woman who didn't speak 1 word of English was entirely uninhibited by the fact that I barely speak German. She talked and talked and talked! And then I (I'm only inferring from her subsequent actions) she wanted to confirm that I take my clothes of for a living. After pointing at me she proceeded to do a little dance and "air-strip". At this point everyone in the restaurant and in the pool were keenly watching. Meanwhile, my food is sitting in front of me. Anyone who knows me knows that next to computers, obstructing my eating can make me mildly irritable...tralala la! I didn't know what to do because she wouldn't stop talking and I had no idea what she was saying and my food in front of me. So then out nowhere a lamp fell from the ceiling and knocked her unconscious. Ok, not really, but the real end of this little story is anti-climactic so I thought I'd throw that in there; actually, after a few more pictures she went back into the pool.

Wednesday January 27 2010

Wednesday January 27 2010

First of all, I obviously wasn't able to comply with my new schedule. Band rehearsal ended up being post-poned for 30min but I didn't know how long it was going to actually be when I started waiting. One of the guys in the band had to do a media interview so we couldn't start until it was done. Usually they like to do several takes so the duration of interviews is always unknown. While waiting I practised my stick toss. Then I was supposed to do a "meet and greet" after rehearsal, so I got ready and waited...and waited. I guess it got cancelled because the next thing I heard was 20min to curtain. Maybe tomorrow will go according to plan...HA!

Disclaimer: Before anyone gets all huffy about what I'm going to write, I want to say that this is a thought experiment. Policies that I find logically compelling I have trouble with on other grounds. Besides, this is my blog, and if you don't like it, go write your own! (or leave me angry comments...as you please!) One more thing: please feel free to exchange the word "freedom fighter" with "terrorist" depending the side for whom you feel the most political sympathy.

I listened to a really interesting interview on my favourite podcast "Skeptics' Guide to the Universe". It was about racial profiling for airport security. Although I'm not an airport security expert (big shock, I know) I'd always leaned toward racial and geographical profiling in this context. I know, I know, racial profiling is not something one should publicly support unless you are spend your afternoons in rocking chairs swatting flies and telling any newcomers to your neighbourhood "we don' like yur kahd 'round here". However, in the context of airport security there seems to be an intuitively strong case for it. If a given group that is identifiable racially and/or geographically openly declares that they will attempt acts of terrorism against you, does it not make intuitive sense to screen people that fit this profile a little more carefully than others? I know it's not fair for the largely innocent members of this group to be screened more that non-group members but who said security had to be fair?

The interviewee was an international airport security expert and he asserted unequivocally that racial profiling does not work for airport security. Airport security is much more effective when secondary screening is random. Apparently, this isn't even a debate amongst security experts. That's food for thought. The reason racial or geographic profiling doesn't work is because the terrorists already know what security is looking for, so they will send someone who doesn't meet the profile. For example, when Chechnian terrorists blew up two planes both bombers were women. The terrorists knew that Russian security rarely gives secondary screening to female passengers, so the obvious thing to do was to recruit women. Security will never see what it is not looking for and it is not difficult for the freedom fighters to know what airport security is looking for. When secondary security screening is done randomly, there is no way for the freedom fighters to anticipate who will be screen and on what grounds.

Basically, the way airport security operates now, almost by definition, cannot work because they are always fighting the last battle. When terrorists knew that shoes wouldn't be screened, they put da' bomb in da' shoe. When carry-ons were screened for solid explosives, the terrorists used liquids. When security started screening shoes, terrorists put da' bomb in da' underwear, and so on.

According to the security expert the solution is to take the resources (money and people) that are being wasted in "security theatre" and put it it intelligence gathering and the training of all airport employees to be able to do security interviews and learn to recognize suspicious behaviour. When it comes to profiling, behaviour profiling will yield better results so airport employees should be trained to be able to profile based on behaviour.

Why am I writing about airport security? A couple of reasons I guess. First is that I travel a lot so I directly suffer the consequences of onerous airport "security". Second, prior to listening to the interview I thought that racial profiling for airport security made sense from a logical point of view, although I was never quite comfortable with it's unintended side effects. Listening to the interview showed me my logic was flawed and I learned something new. Contrary to many people I actually enjoy when a belief I hold methodically proven with evidence. I like the feeling I get when I can discard an erroneous point of view. Third, I wrote this as a practice for when I'm back in school and I have to be able to assimilate and reproduce what a professor has said during a lecture. Finally, I thought that I there may be a chance that I am not the only one in my circle of friends who isn't a security expert and might also benefit from listening to what an expert has to say on the topic.

In the end, however, I agree with the security expert's arguments for measures that would lead to actual airport security but regarding racial profiling I'm not entirely convinced that it needs to be discarded entirely. I agree that racial profiling on it's own is not the best security method but I'm still unsure why his method would have to exclude racial profiling. I still think that from a purely logical point of view, in cases where there is a racially and/or geographically identifiable group that overtly promises to attempt terrorist acts, there is a reasonable case for profiling. Here's an grossly oversimplified example to illustrate the principle: Imagine you lived in a country where everybody had 5 eyes and there was a country of people with 3 eyes. A group of people from your country, because they harbour grievances against the 3-eyed people, openly declare on behalf of all 5-eyed people (but without consulting you) that they will attempt acts of violence against 3-eyed people. Would it not be reasonable for the 3-eyed people to regard any 5-eyed person with suspicion? How can the 3-eyed people reasonably discern who are the terrorists among the 5-eyed people in their airports? I suppose they could conduct lengthy interviews with each passenger, regardless of the number of eyes: it would be effective and fair, but security wait lines would take even longer than now. Or you can just secondarily screen all people with 5 eyes.

It sounds good in the over simplified example and establishes the principle but racial profiling on it's own might not translate too in the complex real world of US airport security. First of all, there are several examples of home grown, white terrorists (McVeigh, Unibomber), so if you are only secondarily screening Arabs, the home grown crazies can easily slip through. Also, and this may come as a shock to most of you, Americans are largely ignorant when it comes to distinguishing between Hindus, Arabs, Israelis, Turks, and other darker skinned people or knowing who their political allies are. An Israeli friend of mine that I work with told me a funny/sad story that happened shortly after 9/11. He was talking to a group of girls who were either in the military or who's husbands were in the military. They asked him were he was from because he has an accent. When he told them "Israel" one of them yelled "you better get the fuck away from us before I try to kick you ass"! Yup, somehow the "subtle" political distinction between the Israelis and Arabs escaped her keen military mind....(by the way, for my American friends reading this---the Israelis are your friends!) Anyway, you'd probably have better luck training airport security personnel methods of behavioural profiling rather than trying to undo a life time of ignorance :)

So, where am I going with all this unnecessary rambling? I'm not sure. Maybe something like this: scanning bags, shoes, etc.. has benefits, but by itself it's not the best solution. It probably acts more as a deterrent to the average crazy person than to the well organized, highly motivated terrorist. Behavioural profiling and intelligence gathering are the security expert's methods of choice but it's going to be years before current staff are adequately trained and intelligence networks put in place. Racial profiling is far from perfect but if there are members of an identifiable group that overtly announce their violent intentions, it is not unreasonable to check people that fit the profile.

As one of my heros, Mark Crislip says, please post your comments and hate mail below, I'd love to hear from you"!