Airport Security
 

This seems like it's a big deal all of a sudden.

I mean, again.

America's banning beverages? Britain's banning laptops? Craziness!

So anyway, I should like to know what people think of all that.

Those terrorists might pour some overly hot coffee in the pilots laps! BEWARE!

Those terrorists might set their screen resolution really, really high and blind the pilots!

Thoughts: Overtly and bordering(Or further) pointlessly precautious.

Just tone it down a little bit, airports.

Everything liquid, from handlotions to KY Jelly, and more liquidy, cannot be taken on the plane right now, if I'm to understand it.

Some british folk tried to smuggle liquid explosives. They were caught. Now, everyone's banning liquids. that includes your bottles of water, people.

Just some background, in case you live somewhere where you wouldn't know about this.


I personally, both agree with why it was done, and HATE that is was done. I've flown several times; and it costs so much for a damn bottle of water, I usually fill 4-5 bottles from the tap to save money. Now, My already expensive plane trip won't let me bring water.

this doesn't even INCLUDE my hair care products, so I'm right pissy about it, since I will have to catch a plane sometime in the next 8 months to visit some people.

...and for those who wonder, I am still in the hospital. just got the computer back.

I'm just hoping that drink services are upped a bit to make up for it.

I mean, I can pass through security easly since I have my military ID, but I've read that some airports is making people check all bags, and if you need to bring on anything, it had to be in a clear plastic bag.

My brother went through Heathrow and he says that the media is overblowing it. Sure, there were bomb dogs and armed guards, but, then again, it is Heathrow. He went through Heathrow on August 10th, and on a flight back to the US, so, eh.

What amuses me is that I found two typos in the message telling us what was banned. They were saying that "jucies" were banned and "hair get" was banned also.

A lot of people are getting a little uptight about the restrictions... in some cases I see why.. things like having to get medical certificates for your insulin at very short notice for example... because without proper medical verification diabetics can't take liquid insulin on flights with them.

BBC's list of what can be taken on board.

It'll die down eventually, they're already saying that here, at least, the security is not sustainable

Still it's good that they managed to prevent a potential disaster. I dread to think of what it would be like for the families of those flying if it hadn't been prevented.

The only part of this that especially worries me is the prospect of being required to check laptops or other electronics.

Mainly because ever since they started having unwarranted, de rigeur searching through all checked items, well, whoever the hell they have checking things will pretty much just up and steal any valuable shit you might have happened to have been stupid enough to check. I note this only in that my sister checked probably half her DVD collection that she keeps in a binder not long back, and well, she opened up her bag after she landed and well guess what, she didn't have those DVDs anymore. And the airline's response, well, that more or less amounted to 'ha ha ha, fuck you'.

My family was talking about this topic this morning. When my mother went to Arizona, someone ripped off an expensive bottle of perfume from her suitcase. My mother isn't exactly Bill Gates, so it's not as if she could afford to buy another bottle. When she contacted the airline about it, they never did get back to her. When she contacted Homeland Security about it, they directed her back to the local airport.

It doesn't make me feel very secure knowing that our privacy is being violated by people who are willing to steal anything of value in our luggage. In fact, it makes me think that the people that are supposed to be searching our luggage to PROTECT us are too busy robbing us blind to notice really dangerous stuff going on.

Oh, and I see a flaw in the idea of confiscating items that could be used as parts of a bomb. In the article I read about banning liquids on planes, I saw that the reason behind it was that several members of a terrorist cell could get together in the rest room and put together a bomb. Unless the hypothetical tourists were flying first class, I don't see how that could happen, since the average coach rest room can barely accommodate two people. Besides, what well-trained flight attendant worth her wages wouldn't notice more than one person going into a rest room with their carry-on luggage?

Since my brother-in-law travels a lot for his job, we were speculating on how far the banning of things would go. Since human beings are clever and resourceful individuals, it's entirely possible that we'll all be flying naked without any source of distraction (other than everyone else's naked flesh) because the MacGyver terrorists will be able to build bombs out of everything...but it may not even end there. If Homeland Security suspects that terrorists can build bombs out of spleens, flights will be limited to only those who have had splenectomies.

When does the friggin' insanity END?

Okay, no fluids going through security. I can dig that. I can understand that. If the terrorists were making liquid bombs, and there are more out there, that is a perfectly plausible and justified reaction. Not that many complaints from me.

And, you know what? They are just as right to ban people from buying fluids on the other side. For all we know, the terrorists could have hidden a bottle in their pants, and no one would have noticed. Then, on the other side, they could produce the bottle in a bathroom or something, never drink from it and forge a receipt to cover up their ne'erdowell actions. Security Cameras? P'shaw. Those crafty terrorists could make the cameras think they had a /cat/ in their bag. You know what? No fluids on flights either. Those terrorists could claim their non-fizzy coke was bought on the airline.

(Translation: That's fucking stupid. We're going to be on a plane for 9 hours going across the atlantic ocean. A hot, stuffy plane. Let's let people dehydrate and go into heat stroke! Yay! As long as WE hurt the people, the terrorists can't hurt them.)

In fact, if you love freedom, know what you should do? Not bring electronics on planes. Never mind that nine hour flights are mind-numbingly-boring, or that a good deal of business travellers have corporate information on them that could cause immense economical damage, or that they could break or be stolen if checked.

(Translation: This is also fucking stupid. We've had the laptop scare before. You have bomb-sniffing dogs. You can scan them. Not taking them on doesn't solve a thing. Unless of course, you're trying to encourage corporate espionage. In that case, you get Darth's two thumbs up!)

In fact, I also have this to say: Nothing that has anything squishy in it. In fact...you may have taken your miniature dachshund, and loaded him with C4. This isn't an official ruling, but the CATSA people will do it anyways. Domestic Flight you say? Those terrorists could use the small airplane to fly twice as far as planned and bomb...er...um...the Parliament Building!

(Translation: That totally speaks for itself. I can't make this shit up. My mom was going to Saskatoon to see her parents. She was taking our miniature dachshund along. Everything had been pre-approved. She gets to the gate. The CATSA officer says "Sorry ma'am, you can't take the dog." "Why not?" "Security reasons ma'am." "Well, I have a perm-" "Ma'am, are you challenging my authority?")




There's a line between taking precautions and protecting your populace, and guarding against near-impossibilities.

Yeah, okay, I can maybe understand the no dog thing, but that's only because I have an image in my mind of a CATbomb and don't know where I got it from. Plus I'm allergic to dogs and don't wish to share the plane with one.

No laptops? Stupid. And how the hell do you make a bomb out of water?