Re: OT - New TSA Procedures


Message posted by lone wolf on December 03, 2005 at 9:37:56 PST:

I've had the random explosive test twice since 9/11. It's not a very time consuming test for the screener as much as the hardware, so I don't quite buy the story from the TSA. If you haven't been screened for explosives, they wipe down your items with a pad, then place the pad in a machine to detect explosives. Common chemicals found in fertilizer will set it off.

Note that the LIon batteries in your notebook computer are equivalent to a stick on dynamite under the right conditions. There are safeguards in the batteries and notebook to prevent such explosions, but an evil-doer could get around them. Poorly engineered electronics have set LIon batteries on fire in real life (Apple being the most conspicuous culprit), and some "replacement" cell phone LIon batteries have exploded.

As an interesting side note, if you carry test equipment (specifically DVMs), the screeners are drawn by test probes with coiled wire, but not the probes with straight wire.

Regarding Katrina, since you brought up politics, you are free to study the timeline and make your own conclusions:
http://www.thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline
You might find the historic political affiliation of Ray Negin interesting too.


In Reply to: Re: OT - New TSA Procedures posted by Andre' M. Dall'au on December 03, 2005 at 4:51:39 PST:

Replies:



[ Discussion Forum Index ] [ FAQ ]