Useful Links

**MichaelB** · 01-28-2011, 11:46 AM

This gets better every day. I am glad this happened in London, though. No offense to the Brits on the forum, but we do need someone else in the world to share in the farce this has become.

Quote:

The crouching, camouflaged figure is most certainly armed. But few would say he was dangerous.
Security officials disagreed however when he passed through a scanner at Gatwick Airport.

His three-inch, plastic toy gun was branded a ‘firearm’ and banned from a transatlantic flight.
Airport bans toy soldier's three-inch rifle from plane... because it's a safety threat | Mail Online

harley · 01-31-2011, 08:35 AM

TSA shuts door on private airport screening program - CNN.com

Ronstar · 01-31-2011, 04:37 PM

I'm still slightly po'd by the TSA agent that announced "take off your belts and shoes and put them in the plastic bin". I took off my shoes and put them in the bin. He came over to me and said "I said take off your belt". I was wearing a sweater that covered my waistline and I told him " I'm not wearing a belt" and lifted my sweater for proof. He then directed me to the whole body scanner line. These people are unreal.

travelover · 01-31-2011, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronstar

I'm still slightly po'd by the TSA agent that announced "take off your belts and shoes and put them in the plastic bin". I took off my shoes and put them in the bin. He came over to me and said "I said take off your belt". I was wearing a sweater that covered my waistline and I told him " I'm not wearing a belt" and lifted my sweater for proof. He then directed me to the whole body scanner line. These people are unreal.

Maybe it was his way of telling you that he thought you were hot.

harley · 02-02-2011, 09:05 AM

Well, this is progress. I assume RF scans are less dangerous than x-rays. And the generic body shapes are a vast improvement. It just goes to show that public ridicule is the mother of invention. TSA unveils 'generic' body scans - USATODAY.com

M Paquette · 02-02-2011, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley

Well, this is progress. I assume RF scans are less dangerous than x-rays. And the generic body shapes are a vast improvement. It just goes to show that public ridicule is the mother of invention. TSA unveils 'generic' body scans - USATODAY.com

Sort of. The machines the TSA has approved are old 1990s designs. The rest of the world went with something a bit more modern. These newer systems have been installed outside the US for some time.

There are now millimeter wave RF scanners that, rather than looking like Dr. Evil's phone booth, are compact units that look like a small worklight on a stand, with a simple display on the back that indicates pass/fail, and what area needs to be searched. These are being deployed to scan people waiting in security lines unobtrusively. The first generation of these came out in 2003, and the current products are mature second generation designs, unlike those selected by the TSA/lobbyists.

M Paquette · 02-02-2011, 12:52 PM

I suspect the TSA just doesn't like the look of the compact millimeter wave scanners. Their huge plexiglas booth RF scanners are designed to convey a certain impression to those under the ever-vigilant eye of the TSA inspectors...

ls99 · 02-02-2011, 07:34 PM

Heh, the could still have a menacing looking booth, with a Van De Graf generator gently humming away throwing 3' lightning bolts.

It is all in the image.

**MichaelB** · 03-14-2011, 07:33 AM

TSA to retest airport body scanners for radiation - USATODAY.com

From Friday's USA Today.

Quote:

The Transportation Security Administration announced Friday that it would retest every full-body X-ray scanner that emits ionizing radiation — 247 machines at 38 airports — after maintenance records on some of the devices showed radiation levels 10 times higher than expected.

The TSA says that the records reflect math mistakes and that all the machines are safe. Indeed, even the highest readings listed on some of the records — the numbers that the TSA says were mistakes — appear to be many times less than what the agency says a person absorbs through one day of natural background radiation.

And so the saga continues ...

M Paquette · 03-14-2011, 10:32 AM

Quote:

The Transportation Security Administration announced Friday that it would retest every full-body X-ray scanner that emits ionizing radiation — 247 machines at 38 airports — after maintenance records on some of the devices showed radiation levels 10 times higher than expected.

Well, golly! Surprise, surprise, surprise! Who would think that hiring folks at $10/hour to run radiology equipment, with no health physics training (like, for example, that dental assistant doing your bite-wings has received) could possibly go wrong?

Quote:

The TSA says that the records reflect math mistakes and that all the machines are safe. Indeed, even the highest readings listed on some of the records — the numbers that the TSA says were mistakes — appear to be many times less than what the agency says a person absorbs through one day of natural background radiation.

Yeah, math errors! That's the ticket! Math errors...

Meanwhile, people with actual experience in calculating radiation dosages say things like:

Quote:

David Brenner, the head of Columbia University’s Centre for Radiological Research, says the concentration on the skin – one of the most radiation-sensitive organs of the body – means the radiation dose is actually 20 times higher than the official estimate.
Dr Brenner says the most likely risk from the airport scanners is a type of skin cancer called basal cell carcinoma, which mainly occurs on the head and neck and is usually curable.
The researcher was consulted to write guidelines for the security scanners in 2002 but said he would not have signed the report had he known the devices were going to be used so widely.
"There really is no other technology around where we're planning to X-ray such an enormous number of individuals," he said. “While individual risks will be extremely small, the population risk has the potential to be significant.”
The research also shows children are more vulnerable to radiation damage, because they have more cells dividing at any one time than when fully grown and a radiation-induced mutation can lead to cancer in adulthood.

I bet he gets an appointment with Dr. Jellyfinger for every future flight he takes.

BigNick · 06-07-2011, 08:07 AM

I'm just back from a visit to the US and I have to report that I'm bitterly disappointed.

You see, I checked in at Seattle for my return flight, and I had the easiest security experience of my life.

I took my laptop out of my backpack, put both on the conveyor, took off my shoes, walked through the metal detector, put on my shoes, picked up my stuff, and walked away.

Total time: 1 minute. No queue at all (this was at the extreme left-hand end of the terminal; for some reason, very few people use that security lane). No backscatter, no "enhanced patdown" (yes, I had my kilt on). No patdown at all, as I passed the metal detector test.

I was getting all set to protest, but there was nothing to protest about. The staff were friendly and helpful at all times.

What did I do wrong?

REWahoo · 06-07-2011, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigNick

What did I do wrong?

You didn't wear your most flattering kilt?

Sarah in SC · 06-07-2011, 09:08 AM

Get some coffee, REW--he said he WAS wearing his kilt!
I think they were scared you'd pull some kind of Braveheart on them.

I just went through pretty routine security on both ends of a trip from here to Vermont. Boring, short lines.

Well, there was some brief entertainment when I took my camera bag out of my roller bag and a bra fell out of my bag. To my utter mortification, the young cute TSA man doesn't just call my attention to it, but instead reaches down, picks it up in two fingers, and dangles it in midair before calling me back to retrieve it!

sigh...

REWahoo · 06-07-2011, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC

Well, there was some brief entertainment when I took my camera bag out of my roller bag and a bra fell out of my bag. To my utter mortification, the young cute TSA man doesn't just call my attention to it, but instead reaches down, picks it up in two fingers, and dangles it in midair before calling me back to retrieve it!

sigh...

Ya shoulda packed a bigger one...

HFWR · 06-07-2011, 10:24 AM

Udder mortification?

rescueme · 06-07-2011, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC

...reaches down, picks it up in two fingers, and dangles it in midair before calling me back to retrieve it!

You're lucky he didn't keep it:

YouTube - ‪Over the Shoulder Boulder Holder‬&rlm;

TromboneAl · 06-09-2011, 05:50 PM

It will be at least ten more posts before we've milked this one dry.

harley · 06-13-2011, 09:04 AM

It's not just the TSA getting into the annoying of citizens game. Random and often multiple stops each day have pleasure boaters considering selling their boats and finding new hobbies. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/11/ny...ters.html?_r=1

I particularly like this passage.

Quote:

“We get a lot of complaints, but maritime safety and security has taken on a whole new direction since 9/11 — we’re more proactive, we’re more vigilant,” said Lt. James Luciano, who oversees the Westchester County Police Department’s marine unit. “Before 9/11, you could access buildings more easily than you can today. Look at airport security.”

as if that was something to aspire to.