Sorry Kids

Real life intruded again.  I was going to write a lyrical review of the City Exclusive Le Labo Gaiac 10.  Le Labo is having all the city exclusives come out in November for one month available for purchase by those of us who don’t live in the host city.  They starting today are sampling them through their website and at their stores at $10 per sample.  Not the best bargain I can think of, but at least you can live with them for a few days to see whether you love it enough to pop for the full bottle.  I stopped by and picked up Gaiac 10 and spritzed before running off to a city event touring the police station and just walked in the door.

So, Gaiac 10 is nice, more about it later.

We toured the SWAT team, the shooting range, the emergency preparedness center and the forensics lab.  Bottom line: you do not want to be a criminal in Beverly Hills.  Turns out that we’re a test-bed for all the new technology used by homeland security.  If you drive in your plates are scanned and for wants and warrants.  There are cameras all over taking high-quality video on the business streets.  The lab boys use all that stuff you see on CSI, including super-glue.

Big Brother?  Could be.  But here’s a story that was told to by a former mayor on how this can be used.  A resident of one of the local elder-care apartment houses called 911 to report that her husband, who has Alzheimer’s wandered off in the night while she was asleep.  She was frantic, as you can imagine.  Since the house was on the edge of the business triangle they were able to scan the past hours and see when he left and which direction we went in.  He stayed wandering around the center of town and they were able to find him, pick her up and get to him to return him safely home.

I’ll take the idea that they might be sitting in BHPD headquarters asking if all I ever do is drink Diet Coke on the patio at the Beverly Hills Market if they can do the above.

Next time: Perfume.  I promise.

  • Darryl says:

    Ehh, I’ve just gotten to the point where I assume any public place is under surveillance from something, somewhere – a traffic cam, the camera outside the bank’s front door, whatever. It’s not Big Brother until you’re being watched or listened to in your own home. (We’ve got at least another 10 years ’till that, right?)

    What makes me nervous is all the chip/GPS/WhateverTechnology on mobile devices, recording and storing your personal data – contacts, call histories, and hell, probably your dental records – while you merrily check Google Maps to get directions to that new Thai restaurant. And the stuff they’ve apparently got coming down the pike…hoo, boy. Time to start stockpiling tin foil.

  • tammy says:

    I just go straight to dread. The example with the elderly gentleman is a least a bright side to it.

    But thankfully, I have no children who will have to live under what this will morph in to.

    And I am so tempted by Gaiac 10…I am wondering if Gaiac is what makes me swoon so much over Kilian Pure Oud. I have yet to even remotely like any other oud.

    • Tom says:

      I wonder how many other cities and even private companies have this stuff and just don’t tell you? I know that my employer has had cameras on all the streets around their building and in most of the inside corridors for years.

      • Musette says:

        Oh, we do too – and I’m the one who okayed the installation! That’s the conundrum, isn’t it…:-? there are always logical reasons for surveillance. It’s more what Tammy and I are, I think, both considering: what this will morph into.

        Reminds me of when they were lobbying for the Lottery in IL – the whole thing was touted to go for education advancements (computers, etc)….well, it’s been…30 years? At this rate, every student in the State of IL should have their own classroom! never mind the computer /:) Instead there are deficits and school cuts to boggle the mind!

        Funny how that works…

        well, it’s a Brave New World. Just watch those Diet Cokes, baby! 😉

        xo >-)

  • Musette says:

    Tom –

    I approach that sort of surveillance with a combination of awe, appreciation and dread. History doesn’t give us much to be confident about, in terms of abuses, though the opportunity to be of true service, as in the case of the elderly man, is wonderful! Technology of any sort always brings that mix of emotions out for me. I think I have a bit of the Luddite in me!

    xo >-)

    • Tom says:

      I know, I usually do too. But it’s only in the business district (the cameras) and unfortunately this area is considered a target so they tend to over-prepare to be safe. Trust me having sharp-shooters eyeing the crowd I was in for the 9-11 memorial wasn’t something I enjoyed.