TSA Behavior Detection Officers

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Newsweek published an article online yesterday titled Smile…Or Else. It’s about TSA employees who have been trained and will be stationed at airports to look for microexpressions in an attempt to thwart potential danger.

Patti Davis, the author, gives her opinion without taking the time to educate herself in the theory of microexpressions. Instead, she spouts off like an uneducated fool afraid of what she doesn’t know. I would expect more from Newsweek magazine.

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Davis writes a brief description of microexpressions, but obviously doesn’t understand the meaning of the word “concealed” and how it applies to microexpressions:

In the study of “micro-expressions”—yes, it is actually a field of study and there are some who are arrogant enough to call it a science—it has been decided that when people wish to conceal emotions, the truth of their feelings is revealed in facial flashes. These experts have determined that fear and disgust are the key things to look for because they can hint of deception.

Davis seems to think that if you have a bad day and are not happy — or perhaps are flying to a funeral for a family member, the Behavior Detection Officers are going to nab you.

…what about the woman who is getting on a plane to see a dying relative? Or the man who is traveling to another state to see a cancer specialist in a last bid for extending his life? What about the guy who just had a fight with his spouse and now worries that a plane crash would mean their last words were in anger? We’ve all had the experience of having a bad day, being in a rotten mood—especially at the airport, which has become a modern-day chamber or [sic] horrors. On those days, doesn’t it seem like everyone we meet looks sour and unpleasant?

Davis does not connect the dots that the people she just described have no reason to conceal emotions.

If a woman is getting on a plane to see a dying friend, she will likely feel sadness. She isn’t going to try and act like this is the happiest day of her life now, is she? She has no reason to conceal anything.

Take as well the man who is traveling to another state to see a cancer specialist in a last bid to extend his life. He, too, will have genuine feelings of sadness and perhaps fear, but he also has no reason to conceal his feelings either. We can pretty much bet this man has only one thing on his mind: survival. He is not going to be role-playing some deceptive scheme.

As for the poor guy who had a fight with his wife before boarding the plane and is afraid of crashing, he isn’t going to put on an act either. He will likely be silent in his thoughts and regrets, and those emotions, whether he is consciously aware of it or not, will be displayed on his face in a natural progressive order. He won’t leak out expressions in micro-bursts that are inconsistent with what he is feeling, for Pete’s sake.

These are not people who would tip off someone who can read and is properly trained in seeing microexpressions but Davis didn’t do her homework.

All people feel and express emotions on their face pretty continuously during waking hours. That is normal and nothing that should set off a TSA officer. You should be able to smile, cry, pout, weep and even be afraid without worry that you are going to set off well-trained personnel.

Then what are these Behavior Detection Officers looking for? Do you really have something to worry about? It’s not likely.

Someone who sees microexpressions will be looking for the guy who is showing inconsistencies in emotions, and behavior. For example, he will look for a guy who is acting jovial, yet strangely preoccupied and flashes an expression of disgust or fear across his face simultaneously.

I am happy to report the average person will not be this complex. They likely won’t have the conflicting behaviors and emotions that cause microexpressions. It is only the guy who is trying to conceal his true feelings that will leak clues, unconsciously. Microexpressions are not voluntary behaviors.

It is the inconsistent micro-burst expressions lasting 1/25th of a second that should set off the TSA Behavior Detection Officers.

If I offered you the lottery to make a microexpression right now on demand, I can stand with 100% confident that you couldn’t do it. It’s not that simple, folks.

As with all things new and not understood, fear and anger are common defenses until the unknown becomes familiar, and the value of something new becomes recognized.

Comedians

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My husband loves the show Last Comic Standing. He can’t get enough of it, and I am not surprised. As a life partner, I am far from comedic. I am way too serious in life — so hence I understand his need for comic relief.

Since we’ve started watching the Last Comic Standing, I’ve really taken an interest in the comics. There is something very predictive about these people. They, as a collective group, share traits about them that make them unique.

Read more I never realized this before, but if you put a group of people in a room and asked me to pick out the “natural” comics after a one-line introduction from them – I can do it. I tested myself during the Last Comic Standing auditions, and low and behold, I was spot on choosing 9 out of 10 people who that made it to the final audition rounds.

I don’t know how I do it, or what I see in them that identifies them — but I see something. It perplexes me and makes me curious so I naturally sent out to understand what makes a comedian a natural-born comedian.

What I found is that true comics who are naturally gifted see the world very different than I do. When I look at life, I try to find the reasoning behind what people do. When a natural-born comedian looks at life, he sees the absurdity in the normalities of life. It’s kind of bizarre.

Where I would only see functionality, comedians see the irrationality behind the functionality. They see the absurd without a purpose, the backwards, the twisted normalcies that we all take at face value. I suspect they see it everywhere and all around them, on a routine basis. It’s not something they have to search out.

If I had to exist in the world of a comic, I would be blinder than a bat without radar. I don’t see those oddities, or absurdities. I just don’t have a mind for it. I have a mind for human behavior and deception, not humor, but I can spot a natural comedian.

How can you determine a natural comedian? Well, I can’t identify traits for you because that would take more study, but I can tell you how to pass/fail them really quickly. That’s easy.

You do the challenge faced by the comics on the show last night. You parade before them a group of beautiful ladies who happen to be from Deal or No Deal. You tell them they must tell each of these ladies jokes — and he who makes the most women laugh, wins. Then you let them write their comedy routines.

But instead of putting them into a booth with a beautiful lady, they switch out three of the ladies at the end for a drag queen, a nun and a clown. A real drag queen, a real nun and a real clown.

The truly gifted, natural born comedian will see the absurdities in every situation as they have a lifetime of seeing the absurd to use as material. They will get people laughing — regardless of their preparation or their audience. In a strange twist, they will be able to relate to everyone much like myself.

The ones who can’t survive or muster laughter are the self-taught talents — the ones who must work solely from a script because they have to work at finding funny things to talk about unlike the natural talent who sees funny things all over the place.

If you want my opinion, these are the natural born comedic talents on Last Comic Standing this season below. Just sadly they are not all going to the finals for various reasons unrelated to their talent:

DEBRA DIGIOVANNI
MATT KIRSHEN
AMY SCHUMER
LAVELL CRAWFORD
JON REEP

These are truly funny people! Hats off to them.

On a side note, Debra Digiovanni paralleled herself to me as someone who is quite similar to Rachel Ray. I bet they have a lot of similarities in their personalities, behaviors and attributes.

Quote of the Day

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Somewhere between the brilliant
white light of truth
and the bitter darkness of deceit
is a place where many of us
live our lives
in the shadows.

– Anonymous

Kate and Gerry McCann: New Developments

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New developments have come out this week on the Madeleine McCann case, and it is drawing a lot of visitors to my post on Madeleine McCann’s parents. People are very suspicious of the McCanns.

People have been suspicious of the McCanns from day one and only I know that because I see the searches that land people on my blog. I have seen the following searches nearly every day since the story broke nearly 100 days ago: “McCann parents guilty”, “McCann lies”, “McCann parents under suspicion”.

People have speculated and wondered if perhaps the McCanns accidentally killed Madeleine, or if she died accidentally, and the McCanns tried to cover it up.

Read more News reports are now saying that a specially trained sniffer dog came from Britain and found blood invisible to the naked eye on the wall in the room near where Madeleine was last seen alive. They also say someone appeared to try and wipe up the blood specks. DNA is being run on the specks to determine if, in fact, it is Madeleine’s blood.

Local newspapers in the area have also allegedly reported that detectives now believe that Madeleine died in the room and was not abducted.

With that, I wanted to see if I could see the McCanns speak about the newest developments. I wanted to see if their behavior is indicative of lies, one more time — because if they are covering something up, right now the stakes couldn’t be any higher.

If they are lying, the pressure should be at an all time high for the McCanns. With that, I would have the best chance to see deception, if I am going to see it.

I found video of Gerry and Kate McCann talking about the latest developments here.

If the McCanns are found to be involved in the death of their daughter, I will be absolutely dumbfounded.

When I watch the video of Gerry and Kate McCann talk, everything the McCann’s do and say is consistent with honesty. I do not see one red flag in this video or the other video I watched and wrote about earlier.

I see two people who are calm, cool and collected. I see two people who are in pain but who are pushing on, holding on to hope. I do not see any signs of anxiety, fear, stress or worry that they are being looked at closely.

I stand confident that the McCanns had nothing to do with their daughter’s disappearance even in the face of blood found on the wall in the holiday apartment where Madeleine was last seen alive.

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To read my latest thoughts
on the McCanns, click here.
_______________________

Paige Birgfeld & Howard (Ron) Beigler

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Paige Birgfeld disappeared on June 28th of this year and has not been seen since. You may have seen the story on ABC’s Family Secrets last night.

Birgfeld was a mother of three, held down odd jobs to support her family, and was twice divorced. Life wasn’t coming easy for Birgfeld who ironically lived in a million dollar home.

When she disappeared, it didn’t take people long to point the finger at her ex-husband, Rob Dixon. Birgfeld had posted her fears online in a Pampered Chef forum that she was afraid of her ex-husband who was moving within a four hour drive of her and the children.

But Birgfeld had domestic disputes with both of her husbands, and before she disappeared the last known person to publicly speak of seeing Birgfeld alive was her first husband, Howard (Ron) Beigler.

Police have said that both husbands are talking with police and are cooperating, but neither has been ruled out as a suspect.

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The story then takes another interesting turn. Police discovered that Birgfeld was leading a secret life as an escort by the name of “Carrie”. It appears she told different people different things about what she did. Her first husband, Beigler, seems adamant that police will find that she didn’t sleep with any of her customers (you can see part of his conversations online by following the link above). He believes she only gave topless massages with no physical contact.

I think Beigler is in denial, personally. You don’t live in a million dollar home by simply giving topless massages. Money doesn’t come that easy.

I suspect Birgfeld lied to Beigler because they were rekindling their romance recently, or simply because she just couldn’t confess to what she was doing to an ex-husband, knowing it would get him potentially angry or upset.

But when Beigler said to ABC’s John Quinones, “I’m not the least bit worried about them coming after me for this,” I believed him. I believe Beigler is being honest. I don’t believe he has a worry about being looked at closer.

Police also have another person-of-interest in this case, a person named Lester Ralph Jones who they say knew Birgfeld intimately. They have searched Jones’ home twice.

You have to wonder if Jones was a client of “Carrie” and was perhaps one of the people in her book for that night, or one of the last people she called before she disappeared.

I would still like to see Dixon and Jones speak. If anyone see them talking online — point me to the videos!