I was reading an article in a farm magazine today about satellite pictures and crop insurance claims. Seems that insurance companies are now able to use satellite pictures to prove fraud in some cases.
The article is here: http://www.progressivefarmer.com/farmer/magazine/article/0,14730,269952,00.html
So I got to thinking – how long will it be before OSHA starts using this technology?
For instance – You run roofing crews. One day you get a registered letter from OSHA. Inside are pictures of your guys working on a roof you did a month or so ago. They’re satellite photos of your guys working without fall protection devices, along with a letter saying you owe them a $10,000 fine.
I’m not generally the paranoid type – Just got to thinking about it and wondered if it was possible………….
I have the body of a God.
Unfortunately it’s Buddha.
Replies
Of course you're paranoid,
But are you paranoid enough?
Hey now -
Just because I said that before don't mean it applies to me!!!
How do you know you're leading a really pathetic life?
When a nymphomaniac tells you: "Let's just be friends."
Just think of all the black helicopter maintenance $$$ they'll save, all for the benefit of the taxpayers
Satellite resolution used to be a very deep secret, now maybe less so, but the rumours I hear is that it's somewhere in the 6" to a yard range, not enough to resolve harnesses and cables. And of course they can't cover the whole planet at that resolution, they'd have to know where your job site was, and order the satellite to get it. And to do that at really high resolution, they'd have to have a bird in an orbit that comes fairly close. These satellites are only a couple hundred miles up, so beyond a 400 mile wide band, they're shooting at less than 45 degrees from horizontal. It's not as easy as it looks.
-- J.S.
And lets not forget that these birds are going to be busy for a few years targeting terrorist suspects.
my worry would be that when the thing is all done and they've got twice as many birds flying - they'll still need something to snoop on.Excellence is its own reward!
Ah, yes. But on the bright side, those birds don't live forever. Using them against terrorists brings up another interesting bird fact: When they want to get an old one out of the way so they can put up another, they issue it a command to either drop down out of orbit and burn up (for low earth orbits, like the KH series of spy satellites) or wander off into space in ever higher orbit (for more quickly getting them out of the way from high orbits, like geosynchronous communications satellites). One thing the terrorists might like to know is what codes to send to de-oribt the satellites we use against them. Years ago before our current heightened security consciousness, a friend of mine got to visit a master control facility for some comms birds. He said it was the tightest security he'd ever seen.
-- J.S.
Even better resolution than you imagine John, but you are right on in having to know where to look. The film used to have to be recovered to get the best resolution, it's all digital now. Of course, if you do your roof with cloud cover, the IR resolution may not be good enough for OSHA gestapo work.
In the vein of de-orbit, let's hope Pakistan's nukes and missiles never fall into crazy hands. Do a search on google or hotbot for "starfish" and "nuclear test" to see what happened to a number of early satellites - was all classified at one time.
And now we've no doubt used enough key phrases for some auto search spider in the Pentagon to bring this thread to the attention of some junior level intelligence officer for a quick review to determine if we are terrorists talking under cover of these imaginary scenarios and ids
Excellence is its own reward!
Oh gawd, I gotta go to work to forget about this. I saw a black helicopter the other day.Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
John,
I heard that the resolution was good enough to read a newspaper headline but not the fine print.
Maybe just an urban legend, or I'm getting fiction confused w/ reality!
I did have some one call me once from the NSA and tell me that the last row of shingles I had put on was 1/4 out of line with the ridge!!!!
TDo not try this at home!
I am a trained professional!
"I did have some one call me once from the NSA and tell me that the last row of shingles I had put on was 1/4 out of line with the ridge!!!"
Interesting idea - Using satellite pics for quality control on roofing jobs???
Bumpersticker: "So many pedestrians, so little time."
> I heard that the resolution was good enough to read a newspaper headline but not the fine print.
That's my eyesight they were talking about. ;-)
-- J.S.
What a lousy job that would be. Having to look at plumbers cracks by the thousands to check for safety harnesses.
"Having to look at plumbers cracks by the thousands to check for safety harnesses."
Never thought about that. But eventually you could graduate to a better job - Like making sure cheerleaders were doing their tumbling runs safely when practicing outside. Or making sure sunbathers at the beach weren't exposed to excess U.V rays................
I had to give up sunbathing on the beach - People from Greenpeace kept coming by and trying to push me back in the awter.