Interesting People mailing list archives
re TSA overreaction to Delta incident
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 2009 13:57:50 -0500
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Kevin G. Barkes" <kgbarkes () gmail com> Date: December 27, 2009 1:31:36 PM EST To: dave () farber net Subject: RE: [IP] re TSA overreaction to Delta incident
"Although transportation officials had not announced new security measures yet, Air Canada said the Transportation Security Agency would make significant changes to the way passengers are able to move about on aircraft. During the final hour of flight, *customers will have to remain seated*Wouldn't this technically prevent the very action that saved this flight? If people are told to remain seated -- especially over the PA system by a flight attendent who does not have line of sight to a potential attacker -- that can only serve to increase the passivity of passengers under attack. Would make a for a fun headline though --- Heroic passenger now in violation of TSA's new rulesAh, but it's entirely consistent with TSA's improv-based security theater.Remember the shoe bomber? He tried to detonate pentaerythritol tetranitrate(PETN) hidden in his shoe by lighting a fuse with a match.Overnight we were putting our shoes on the scanning belts. But initially, we only had to remove our leather shoes and sandals. We *didn't* have to take off our athletic shoes. You know, the type of footwear the *shoe bomberactually wore.*Turns out shoe type is irrelevant. A chemical test is needed to identifyPETN. The substance is essentially undetectable by scanners- which is probably why the pants bomber was able to get *his* PETN-based device through security, eight years after the shoe bomber made his attempt. So, how's the shoe scanning working out, fellas? And the shoe bomber's matches? TSA immediately responded by banningcigarette lighters, but *not* matchbooks. Airport security seized about 22,000 lighters a day. In the meantime, you could carry on safety matches, thereby giving you 20 tries to ignite your undetectable explosive device.I suspect the government has secretly retained Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker- the guys responsible for the classic film "Airplane"- asconsultants. Airport worker: "Maybe we oughta turn on the search lights now." Robert Stack: "No... That's just what they'll be expecting us to do!" Regards, KGB ----- Kevin G. Barkes Email: kgbarkes () yahoo com KGB Report: http://www.kgbreport.com Commentwear by KGB: http://www.commentwear.com National Temperature Index: http://nationaltemperatureindex.com DCL Dialogue on line: http://www.dcldialogue.com Random Quotations Generator: http://www.goodquotations.com Over 13,000 searchable quotations.-----Original Message----- From: Dave Farber [mailto:dave () farber net] Sent: Sunday, December 27, 2009 10:18 AM To: ip Subject: [IP] re TSA overreaction to Delta incident Begin forwarded message: From: Saikat Guha <saikat () cs cornell edu> Date: December 26, 2009 11:21:57 PM EST To: <mailto:dave () farber net> dave () farber net Cc: ip <ip () v2 listbox com> Subject: Re: [IP] TSA overreaction to Delta incident On Sat, Dec 26, 2009 at 7:23 PM, Dave Farber <dave () farber net> wrote: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/us/27plane.html -- Saikat Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now> <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/> <http://www.listbox.com>
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Current thread:
- re TSA overreaction to Delta incident Dave Farber (Dec 26)
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- re TSA overreaction to Delta incident Dave Farber (Dec 27)
- re TSA overreaction to Delta incident Dave Farber (Dec 27)
- re TSA overreaction to Delta incident Dave Farber (Dec 27)