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furrbearThis is why we call it "Security Theatre." Putting it in a clear plastic baggie magically makes it safe:
Mind you, I had packed the stuff safely. It was in three separate jars: one of charcoal, one of sulphur, and one of saltpetre (potassium nitrate). Each jar was labeled: Charcoal, Sulphur, Saltpetre. I had also thoroughly wet down each powder with tap water. No ignition was possible. As a good citizen, I had packed the resulting pastes into a quart-sized "3-1-1" plastic bag, along with my shampoo and hand cream. This bag I took out of my messenger bag and put on top of my bin of belongings, turned so that the labels were easy for the TSA inspector to read.All right then, we should all feel really secure when we fly. See, all you have to do is make sure that the gunpowder is in a plastic baggie. Full story at link above.
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no subject
Date: 2008-12-30 04:31 am (UTC)*sputter*
The TSA should be so thankful I am not currently the Benevolent Supreme Overlord. Otherwise, after that I would be tempted to dissolve the TSA.
In a vat of acid.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-30 06:38 am (UTC)TSA is NOT very serious about real security. Kabuki, yes. Security, not so much.
Since PanAm 103 european carriers have refused to transport baggage if it can't be matched to a passenger. It's a simple procedure. It can be annoying if there's a glitch and the flight is delayed because of a no match, but much less intrusive than the shoes xraying and pat downs we have to put up with. Making me take my shoes off is useless if they don't bother to bag/passenger match or screen luggage and allow something nasty to be checked as luggage.
I recall 10-12 years ago having bags swabbed at Frankfurt and being questioned. I work in a greenhouse. Nitrate fertilizer traces SHOULD concern security people. My occupation listed on my passport as Nurseryman made things a lot simpler.
That kind of vigilance would make me safer, not just feel safer.
**packing up soapbox**
no subject
Date: 2008-12-30 09:13 am (UTC)I suppose this isn't a good time to mention that when I put my CPAP through the X-ray machine in Seattle before my other carryons AND notified the screener than I was putting through a CPAP ... he had the unmitigated stupidity to get tweaked because my CPAP bag didn't have a CPAP in it?
He ran my CPAP bag through twice more, just to be sure.
Jeeeezuzfucking-h-christ.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-30 11:10 am (UTC)Most hunters know to mail their ammo or powder ahead.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-30 05:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-30 06:09 pm (UTC)Well, that routine is absolutely no less true now. I don't believe they have done ANYTHING to actually improve security: it's all been ridiculous, reactionary crap that just annoys passengers. Hassling passengers when they're not screening cargo is just ridiculous.
ONE asshole who put something naughty in his shoes, and now everybody has to take their shoes off forever and anon. A marginal plot with "liquid explosives" and we get the teeny bottle plastic bag bullshit. Never mind that really effective liquid explosives are either unstable as hell (nitroglycerine) or otherwise easily detectable. Nor that with the "exceptions" - like for contact lens solutions - the limits really don't mean anythng anyway.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-04 07:55 am (UTC)The stories I could tell about things I saw go through the X-ray and security screenings, because the guards were either:
A. Busy in conversation with their colleagues
B. Obviously tired and/or overworked
c. Not concentrating
D. Not trained well enough
E. All of the above
Scary!