There has never another devastating attack on US soil ever since that tragic day. Surely, people have heard about the train bombing that killed almost 200 people in Spain a couple of years ago or a similar one in involving a bus and subway attack in London last year. But no one could forget the plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights from the UK bound for the US.



This proves that there are people out there that are still willing to go to great lengths to sow fear in modern world. The only way to combat that threat will be to use other techniques that are considered to be controversial such as wiretapping.

What is wiretapping? This is a method of surveillance used to listen in on the conversations of a group of people. Bugs can be planted in the room while a van is recording everything that is happening inside.

The machine used to make this happen is like a giant tape recorder. Not only does it record everything but it can also tell the identities of those involved using a machine called the spectrum audio analyzer.

Why is this so controversial? Simply because President Bush approved this measure to be done in the United States without due process. This meant getting a court order mandating the military, the FBI or the Department of Home Land Security to conduct such activities.

Bypassing the judicial system and spying on its own citizens is considered by many to be unconstitutional. It is a breach of privacy and a violation of civil liberties especially concerning that of free speech.

But wiretapping has been used for a long period of time. Back in the 60's and 70's, the FBI used a primitive device to listen on activities of those involved in organized crime. This also played a role in the Watergate Scandal that forced President Nixon to resign from public office.

When Osama Bin Laden or a member of Al Queda releases a tape to the media, government analysts use a spectrum audio analyzer software to check if the recoding is authentic.

The war on terror goes on until the alleged masterminds and the people who continue to fund these plots are brought to justice. The use of such software and other techniques are just a means to an end so another attack will never happen.

Color blindness is something that can happen at a young age or later on develops as the person ages. Someone who has this deficiency will not be able to distinguish one color from another or may not be able to see an image clearly on a background.

This could be genetic or is caused by an injury in the optic nerve or retina. The person may not be able to distinguish between red and green in the beginning or blue from yellow and studies have shown that this can get worse over time.

However, there are more patients who get this deficiency because of heredity and it happens more often to men than women. Some people may be partial meaning, the individual will not be able to discern some colors while this could be complete for others but such cases are very rare.

The part of the eye that allows people to distinguish one color from the other is the photoreceptor. Those who don't have problems identifying the pigments are known as trichromats while those that do are called anomalous trichromats.

Color blindness also affects how someone sees a graphic image. A normal person may see a number in the background while those who have this problem don't. The sad part is that there is still no treatment or cure for this deficiency.

Since many only suffer from mild symptoms of this problem, scientists have come up with a way to make this work. This is done by using a spectrum graphic analyzer that can aid the person in seeing things better.

The first thing this machine will do is transform more than 16 million colors into a smaller figure to about 256. This is also used in graphic pictures on television and any other object that the person sees.

Then, the individual will have to learn the colors and in time get to see an object more or less the way someone with normal vision can.

This device is the first step of many that will be taken to help those who are suffering from color blindness. Hopefully a surgical procedure can be developed just like how doctors are able to help patients with cataracts see again.

Spectrum graphic analyzers are not only used to help patients who are color blind. This is also used to record video and audio. The individual can download this into the computer and then review the recorded footage.