Beware, motorists. Houston’s newest revenue generators, er, I mean safety devices, will be running next week. Those controversial red-light cameras go into operation, but according to KTRK-TV the first thirty days will be a “warning period” for offenders. After that the $75-$150 citations start going out.

The trial period was supposed to start November 1, but the paperwork wasn’t all signed.

In case you were wondering, Channel 13 also provides the affected intersections.

The red light camera locations are at Travis at McGowen, Milam and McGowen, Milam and Jefferson and San Jacincto and Texas.

According to KPRC-TV, the city also has two additional “secret” intersections to be monitored by the cameras. If you are caught:

The ticket will include a picture of your car before running the red light, going through the red light and a close-up of your license plate.

The city hopes to have ten more intersections covered by year’s end. Cha-ching!

BONUS COVERAGE:
The informational site in the "red-light camera" link above actually spells out the reason traffic cameras are becoming more popular:

Additionally, they are a good source of government revenue. It doesn’t cost much to maintain the system once it’s installed, and it works 24 hours a day, seven days a week, systematically catching violators and sending out revenue-generating traffic tickets that are really hard to contest.

Readers can also find a very interesting 2002 look at Washington D.C.’s automated enforcement cash cow here.

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If you spend any time flying the country’s airways these days you know that air travel has become a rather tedious process. Lines at counters, lines at screenings, lines for boarding, lines, lines, lines. Now a new security screening machine made in Israel could slow things down even further. What is it?

…the two-stage GK-1 voice analyzer requires that passengers don headphones at a console and answer "yes" or "no" into a microphone to questions about whether they are planning something illicit. The software will almost always pick up uncontrollable tremors in the voice that give away liars or those with something to hide, say its designers at Israeli firm Nemesysco.

That’s right, it is a voice-analyzing lie detector test. The machine was put through its paces in Russia, and seemed to produce results.

"In our trial, 500 passengers went through the test, and then each was subjected to full traditional searches," said Chief Executive Officer Amir Liberman. "The one person found to be planning something illegal was the one who failed our test."

Should we be impressed that the machine picked the person out or alarmed that 1 in 500 Russian airline passengers was planning something illegal? The machine is expected to cost $10-30,000, and adds a 30-75 second stop to the screening process. Unless, of course, one fails the test, which will trigger additional searches and questioning.

If the machine is not successful in the airline business, there are probably numerous other applications if the cost could be brought down. Imagine a RINO hunt with this baby at your side.

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Courtesy AP: "Dewhurst announces re-election campaign"

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It’s Friday!

• Michael Yon has a new dispatch.  It’s not about the battle, but coming home.  Very nice, please read.
• Cindy Sheehan plans to tour Europe (could she stay there?)
• Since it is so cold outside, I thought it would be a good time to pull out the "shave the yeti" site.  It’s fun! Make sure you completely shave him……

Have a great day!