Cute Creature from the Black Lagoon (link roundup)

Creature from the Black Lagoon by Jimmy Pickering. It's one of several creatures that will be on display at the upcoming skellyopolis show.

And a few more links:

1. One defense of the TSA's security procedures: forcing terrorists to try something new makes them try something they haven't perfected. (Like shoe bombs, or thigh incendiaries.)

2. How CNN (and other media outlets) get away with paying for exclusive interviews, while claiming that they don't pay for interviews.

3. Trap-Jaw and Beastman are best friends forever.

*Previously: The Creature from the Black Lagoon STD warning.

*Buy Creature from the Black Lagoon toys at eBay.

Macintosh papercraft (link roundup)

Macintosh paper toy by Mads Hindhede, based on Marshall Alexander's Foldskool Heroes template.

And a few more links:

1. South Korean woman defeated Japan's passport checks by purchasing a fingerprint and applying it to her own finger with clear tape. Via.

2. Download and print a simple, pretty 2009 calendar. Via.

3. Gallery of Time magazine's FIFTEEN Barack Obama covers. Shouldn't they just cut to the chase and call it Obama?

4. Absolutely horrifying story about what a death row inmate did to himself. Hard to believe it was physically possible. Via.

*Previously: Monstrous Apple computer.

*Buy the "CSI Fingerprint Examination Kit" at Amazon.

TSA can now look into your psyche

Clearly CNN has embraced its role as the new Onion. Here's a straightforwardly presented video about the TSA's new specially trained officers. They're called "Behavior Detection Officers," and TSA Spokesperson Andrea McCauley explains: "We're not just looking for things anymore. But, we're looking for actual people."

This post at the official TSA blog ads a bit more information about these specially trained "BDOs" and offers this example of their success:

Just recently at the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport, (CVG) two of my fellow BDOs spotted behaviors on a passenger and conducted secondary screening. They were unaware at the time the individual was an undercover “passenger” involved in covert testing. The concealed item was an unassembled weapon in a carry-on bag. The BDOs caught this right away, and when the testing was over, it was revealed that the passenger also had plastic explosive simulants in the cups of her bra. This was an excellent catch, and proof the behavior detection program works. If this were the real thing, we would have caught it.

Uh, kudos, I guess? Via.

Best sentence I've read about anticipating terrorist attacks

"Most targets are 'vulnerable' in that it is not very difficult to damage them, but invulnerable in that they can be rebuilt in fairly short order and at tolerable expense."

Click through to read more by John Mueller (pdf). Via.

5 sights the U.S. government won't let Google show you

Interesting list here.

Useful links round-up

9 better, cheaper ways to search Amazon. Link.

How to secure your computer, disks, and portable drives. Link.

2,000 free website templates. Link. I'm partial to this one.