Two unrelated things...

[seawasp]

1) This TSA thing? Really really really annoying. I had THOUGHT they were using millimeter-wave devices, which at least would have no PHYSICAL danger associated with them, but apparently the predominant devices are using low-power *x-rays*. They're also apparently being sold by a company which is either owned or at least advised by the former head of DHS. Can you say "Conflict of Interest", boys and girls? Oh, and no, I see no good reason for any of this ludicrous security theater. When I was a kid, you went to the airport, you walked out the gate door and got on board. I see no particular reason I shouldn't be able to do that today. If people want to blow up a plane, they can still do it. If you want to hijack a plane, 9/11 completely shot your chances; now no one will assume they'll live if they co-operate so you'll just end up dead in a mob scene. So let's get rid of the stupidity and get back to travelling like people. Let's certainly NOT introduce screening which amounts to total privacy invasion and/or molestation, especially with regards to the significant percentage of people who have reason to have ISSUES with that sort of thing. 

2) Anyone else have LJ removing Friend links from your list? Someone new added me, so I went in to add him... and in the process found at least two people who had been DE-friended, which I certainly hadn't done, nor would ever have done unless those people had basically told me to.

Comments

[othercat.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure I may not ride a plane ever again because of what I'm hearing about TSA. I hate being touched. >_

[k-kinnison.livejournal.com]

QUite honestly I doubt TSA could ever really defeat a serious domestic Terrorist plot. These are people working a menial unthankful job with not much more then a high school diploma. Most of what they do is making the ignorant feel like something is being done and deter inept wanna-be terrorists.

Last terrorist couldn't even set off a diaper bomb because he pissed in his pants before setting it off.

[melchar.livejournal.com]

One of the big problems is that the TSA is hiring on the cheap - so their protests about safety/etc do not stand up to reality.

The x-ray machines have to be calibrated carefully so they ARE safe - even by their own standards - but are being used by minimum wage guys who bang the machines around and do not recalibrate them hourly [heck, if they are recalibrated MONTHLY it would be astounding]. My mom is an x-ray tech and is horrified by what she's just heard about this foolishness.

Then those pictures that are supposed to be not saved/purged by day's end - are SO not being erased. When congress-critters asked about it they were able to look at more than 20,000 'before' scan pics - and then the scans of those people [mainly pretty girls] without any problem at all - so the promises of privacy are so much rubbish.

My main complaint is how useless it all is. They TSA has testified to Congress that they are only screening 20% of the cargo for domestic flights!! THAT is where the danger is. Now that the pilot cabin doors are reinforced, the cabin interiors are pretty much safe. At this point, anyone who acts up will be beaten to death by their fellow passengers.

[chaotic-nipple.livejournal.com]

The radiation dose from a back-scatter x-ray machine is about equivalent to 3 minutes of flight time at 30,000 feet. Even people passing through them several times a day are never going to get enough to significantly raise their cancer risks. Assuming the things work properly, that is. IANAP, but my understanding is that such machines are fragile enough that any significant increase in the radiation strength will either cause them to crash, or damage them to the point they'd need to be removed from service and repaired. Which wouldn't be much of a consolation to the person zapped at that moment. Who will have to get frisked afterward. :-/

[seawasp]

Is it IDENTICAL to the dose at 30k feet, or is it just at the same level but a different frequency distribution? A lot of what could trigger problems comes from radiation at JUST the right frequency hitting and breaking protein bonds. If the backscatter machine happens to hit the right (or rather, wrong) frequency, it could be doing MUCH more skin-surface damage (like UV light) than the base exposure would indicate.

The lack of maintenance is of course another issue.

I just think it's ALL stupid.

[chaotic-nipple.livejournal.com]

Is it IDENTICAL to the dose at 30k feet, or is it just at the same level but a different frequency distribution?

That, I don't know. The internet has proven unhelpful in that regard.

I just think it's ALL stupid.

I agree. If a terrorist wanted to do some real damage, all they'd have to do is sneak a bomb into the screening area. with all those snaky lines of passengers, packed into such a small area, they'd kill a lot more people that they would if they'd managed to get a bomb onto a plane.

[muirecan.livejournal.com]

Hmm, yes Security Theater, that is a good description of what the TSA does. Frankly they don't make me feel safer or more trusting of flying. If anything they actively make me feel less safe because I think to many people in charge thing the appearance of doing something is more important than actually doing something effective about security.

I would feel safer if they handed everyone boarding a plane tasers. And that wouldn't be all that much safer because some people are just crazy and handing them a taser would be a bad idea and yet it would still be more effective than the TSA Security Theater we are currently subjected to. Generally low educated, poorly trained people being put in charge of security does not fill me with a warm tingling sense of being secure.

If I thought that the TSA acted in any way as a deterrent to terrorists I might change my mind but since I don't think that. ...