{"id":7724,"date":"2025-09-09T05:02:25","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T05:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/?p=7724"},"modified":"2025-09-09T05:02:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T05:02:25","slug":"tsa-surprise-and-cool-pix-from-the-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/09\/tsa-surprise-and-cool-pix-from-the-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"TSA Surprise and Cool Pix from the Flight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Greetings and Salutations!
Back home safe, a lil worse for the wear as I am<\/strong> 55 and NOT in my younger ‘lets bounce alllll over the place’ shape. I got in at 0100 after an interesting flight(s) home… not sure as to how grammatically correct that was\/is, but hey, I’m spent.

Now, it was a night flight, so I’ll put up the two pics in a minute. What was INTERESTING as all get out was how one goes through the TSA these days.

Gone apparently are the days of taking out ALL electronic devices and separating them for a scan. Also gone was the whole ‘remove the belt and shoes’ which TBH was a stupid reaction to that retarded Shoe Bomber asshole…

The ONLY issue I had?
Whelp… it’s a bit -complicated-

Back in 1999 I had one of my first post-Army jobs at a computer call center. This place had ALL sorts of different businesses we supported… I happened to work on\/for the Morgan Stanley Dean Whittier stock brokerage. It’s where I learned UNIX and how to get Sun System Terminals functional…

One of the other contracts was a team that was working on the first Facial Recognition systems… one of my bros was on that team… It’s where I learned about facial recognition and the ‘how it works’. One of the things is the number of nodal points, aka the identifiable pieces\/parts on your face. There are (as I recall) 68 primary points that are used to make an initial ID of someone. Then it further drills down… Mind you this was waaay back in 1999…

Eye location, separation between the eyes… cheekbones… ear size and location… You all pretty much know the drill.

So because of this, waaaay back in the day, I started grinning<\/strong>
in ALL of my ‘official photos’. Case in point, my Driver’s License:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And then my DotMil ID:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Redacted (of course) with painters tape.
So….
Because of that grin, I had some ‘minor issues’ with being ID’d. The way they do it now<\/strong> is that instead of a person, it’s a facial recognition system that takes a picture of you and compares it to your ID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The TSA uses\u00a01:1 facial matching technology, also known as Credential Authentication Technology (CAT-2), to verify passenger identities at security checkpoints by comparing a photo taken by a camera at the checkpoint to the photo on their ID document. The ID gets ‘fed’ into that slot in the lower right corner… Then the camera takes a picture, and usually<\/strong> it just takes a second or so to get your answer, Yea or Nay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In m case?
Yeeeeeah… Not so mucho.
Not once, not twice but three times<\/strong> the system failed to ID me and verify me…

It got to the point that they ran me through a couple of databases and didn’t get a ‘hit’ so to speak.

This is supposedly<\/strong> I couldn’t be found… that’s what I was told at least… I have NO idea as to the veracity of that, mind you… I will say that THANK GOD I had gotten there a full hour and a half before the flight as I’ve had ‘issues’ in the past as y’all are aware of, usually in the form of the dreaded “SSSS” marker on Ye Olde Boarding Pass. That stands for (from what I can tell) “Strip\/Spread ’em\/Smile\/Sit and Wait”

So either way, according to them, it was a ‘no joy’ situation. In both cases (coming AND going) that they had to get the Senior Supervisor over to conduct an “enhanced facial screening”.

I.E. the HMFIC (Head Motherfucker In Charge) came over, looked at my ID, then looked at me<\/strong>, and then<\/strong> I was cleared to fly. Of course it helped that I was grinning like a fucking deranged lunatic the whole time to match my ‘official photo’:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And nope.
I’m a dirty bastard today. It being Monday I didn’t get a chance to shower as I was soooo wasted in general from the hustle a bustle of the weekend. It’s one thing to grab up your wallet\/passport and basic bug-out bag\/party bag and bounce when you’re 25…

It’s a whole new level<\/strong> to be doing it at 55.

NOT that I’m complaining by far.
The only major bitch was the Long Term parking screwed me to the tune of $50 more or less. THAT pissed me off. I talked about it with Sapper and IF I decide that I’m hitting the friendly skies again anytime soon, that he’ll be dropping my ass off instead of me being porked for $25+ a day in parking fees.

And lastly
The two pix I shot on the plane. These are from the first leg of the trip. The plane itself was an Embraer ERJ-145 which is essentially a BIG commercial version of a Lear or such. The damned thing moved with a purpose I can tell you that…

We had for whatever reason, got stuck in Bristol for 30 plus minutes on the launch threshold of the runway. According to the stewardess (a very<\/strong> nice lady… a welcome change from the normal ugly assed attitude ones I’ve dealt with in the past… ugly physically as well as mentally if you will) Charlotte was and had been a MAJOR shitshow with various delays and ‘stuff’ all weekend long.

Despite the 30 minute ‘hold’, once we launched, let me tell you… I have a hunch that this<\/strong> particular pilot was a retired DotMil fighter jock. Like “F-18 or F-15” fighter jock. We landed on time<\/strong> anyways. I mean I’ve flown since I was 5 years old, with my first flight being a Pan AM 747 from Boston to Hawaii (non-stop as I recall… In fact this’s one of my earliest memories as I was like 5 at the time as stated).

And since then? I’d hazard a guess that no shit, I’ve probably<\/em> broken the million mile marker for flight miles since then. I mean just as a Contractor, I was doing the Iraq-to-The-States bounce multiple<\/strong> times a year.

Never mind when I had courier duty…

My point being I could feel<\/em> that this guy had ‘opened it up’ so to speak, rather than the ‘usual’ meandering flying. Either way, I took these from my widow at the back of the plane. The first one being a shot of the moon:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It was soooo bright it flared out the cameras as you can see… or maybe not<\/em><\/strong> see if you will. Now to my eyes, it was clear as a bell<\/strong> and hence why I snapped the pic. There was also no sign of that “Blood Moon Eclipse” everyone was talking about… one of my online Gab Frens said that we were in the wrong hemisphere to get a good look… either way tho, a good shot IMO.

The next one<\/strong> is really <\/em>cool however:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I really like<\/strong> this one.

I looked out the window at one point from my Kindle (on my phone… 1203 days of continual daily reading BTW) and realized that there was a great shot<\/strong> to be had. I had to scramble to get this shot and almost<\/em> missed it.

What I did get?
WOW!!! As you can see, the cloud cover and delineation between clouds\/clear sky was\/is sooooo cool! To me, the fact that WE had ZERO clouds at whatever altitude we were at, and yet below us, was a cloud cover so perfect and beautiful, it looks almost like a foamy sea washing up and over the lit community below…

Some things are just too cool and beautiful…

I especially love the red reflection on the leading edge of the wing… makes a beautiful contrast.

Sort of like this weekend.
It too, was awesome and mellow.

I was (for the most part) able to get my ‘timing and headspace’ readjusted. For a few hours here and there, I actually had peace and quiet<\/strong> without outside interference, nor any stressors being thrown at me unnecessarily.<\/strong>

The company I kept and the old frens I saw were completely awesome<\/strong> and I look forward to them visiting here<\/strong> at some point. Shortly. Hopefully before the end of the year, but before the holly-daze. I mean everyone<\/strong> should do a ‘Florida Trip’ at one point or another amiright?

Especially my former room-dawg from the 187th and his wife whom I hadn’t seen in nigh about 20+ years… their kids are all fully grown, and I think their youngest, Wyatt is in college right now as a Junior? (I love that name… it reminds me of ‘Weird Science’ hence my mentioning it) Either way, I’m not sure…. I do know they has a whole platoon sized element of kids… she being kid-cray-cray and then acting on that urge. Besides Wyatt, they’re all grown and “oot-and aboot”

It’s a good thing that my room-dawg went “Warrant” and reclassed to Patriot Puke back in the day and retired as a CW3. From what he could<\/em> tell me is he’s now a senior Civilian Contractor working on various Patriot Systems as a “technical advisor” making MAD<\/strong> bank. I’m really<\/em> happy for them both. Especially for her as when she met him, it was through me and she and I were huuuuge FWB and after<\/strong> they met? It was all over for the BCE…

Always the bridesmaid, never the bride LOL!!!

Those (like this weekend) were\/are some Great Times<\/strong>.

So that’s it for tonight…

Oops… minor interruption:

Sorry for the later-ish poast but someone really cool <\/em>from this weekend (the primary) called me while doing this debrief, and tied me up (figuratively) on the phone for 3+ hours… I was typing the whole time on and off, but ‘distractions’ and whatnot as you understand… anyway, the call was awesome.

And her? As stated before she’s really nice<\/em><\/strong> and cool as she has a LOT of similar likes and such that I have… leastways as she was telling me…

So since she was claiming GeekGirl status, I threw an intentional ‘test question’ to establish if she was for real, or a being a wannabe poseur. Money Talks and Bullshit Walks and all that Aye? So specifically, since we were talking Sci-Fi channel and various sci-fi shows, I asked her about one of my favorite shows from ‘back in the day’ (and TBH, since I have them all on MPEG, I –still<\/strong>– watch them regularly) and if she had ever watched it, that show being the BBCs ‘Doctor Who’ series? And her answer was sort of a shock…

I mean how many chicks know about ‘Doctor Who’, never mind that after? when I asked her which<\/strong> Doctor was her favorite? And her immediate <\/strong>answer was “There is only ONE Doctor and that’s Tom Baker!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Holy.
Shit.

Like I said, she’s a cool chick AND that her answer was a bit of a shocker.
Make that a Stunner actually.
Physically AND Mentally apparently
Kind of blew me away TBH…
More on that down the road (hopefully)

And like I said, sorry for the late post. I’ll try to do better in the future, provided I can stretch the time.
More Later
Big Country<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greetings and Salutations!Back home safe, a lil worse for the wear as I am 55 and NOT in my younger ‘lets bounce alllll over the place’ shape. I got in at 0100 after an interesting flight(s) home… not sure as to how grammatically correct that was\/is, but hey, I’m spent. Now, it was a night … Continue reading “TSA Surprise and Cool Pix from the Flight”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7724"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7737,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7724\/revisions\/7737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}