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TSA Limits Lithium Batteries on Airplanes
yali writes "The U.S. Transportation and Security Administration has issued new rules limiting travel with lithium batteries. As of January 1, no spare lithium batteries are allowed in checked luggage. Batteries carried in the cabin are subject to limitations on per-battery and total lithium content, and spare batteries must have the terminals covered. If you're returning home from the holidays with new toys, be sure to check out the new restrictions before you pack."
There must be a contest at the TSA to come up with the most ridiculous ideas for restrictions. Winners get a tote bag, mug and an "I is stoppin' der terrarists" t-shirt.
And as usual, there is no explanation as to *why* lithium batteries are now illegal to carry.
Obviously, they don't want terrorists buying black market Sony batteries that will explode during the flight.
which leads me to wonder if the per capita risk of hijacking is any different now versus what it was back then.
And that makes me wonder what the risk of hijacking would be if carrying guns was allowed (even encouraged?) on airplanes. I'd love to see a terrorist managing to take control of a plane for more than 5 minutes if other passengers had guns.
You just got troll'd!
Because of the risk of an in-flight hazard, humans should no longer be allowed on aircraft. Airlines will, however, continue to fly your luggage anywhere you please, provided it contains no shoes, liquids, or lithium batteries.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
To blow up an airplane
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
Rulemakers like the TSA need to be forced to explain the rationales for every decision.
But, before they're allowed to get all legalese on us, there should also be a brevity requirement. Like the Nutrition Facts on the side of your average can of soup, probably one of the best examples I can think of where a government requirement *didn't* turn into 4 paragraphs of fine print, but rather is presented in a way Joe Sixpack can understand.
I'd like to see something like:
TSA Security Facts
--------------
Restriction: No lithium batteries.
Applies to Flights: International
Rationale: We don't have a clue but we read something bad about them in Newsweek.
Since: 2007
Terrorist Plots Known to Use This Method: 0
"Microsoft killed my company, I hold a personal grudge. I don't use Microsoft products and neither should you."-JWZ
Obviously they needed to be banned. Lithium batteries are much, much more dangerous than 3oz of water outside of a plastic baggie.
And for that matter, people bleed to death of papercuts all the time. Paper must be banned from airlines. Similarly, Cheeseburgers, umbrellas during lightning storms, and those shoes with little wheels in them must be stopped. On airplanes.
Other things that should never be brought on an airplane include: step ladders, Christmas lights, and Chuck Norris. Gambling is a very serious addiction, and as such fliers are hereby banned from setting foot inside of Las Vegas McCarron Airport.
Thank you for your attention, and thank you for flying with the TSA. The TSA: Drawing on our imagination to creatively protect America from imagined harm.
The ______ Agenda
We knew that you would eventually get it in the end.
I'm going to guess that if that were the case 9/11 might have looked something like this:
http://www.scottbieser.com/sept11.html
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." Col. Jeff Cooper
OK, we'll only allow "Ich luge" bullets.
I am not a crackpot.
- RG>
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
...and I'm secretly hoping in a year or so all personal aboard any airplane must be naked, including the flight attendents. :D
Hey by all means disobey the seatbelt regulations bud, I'm not gonna get on your case about it. Please disobey it, also disobey some speed limits while you're at it for good measure.
I like basketball!!1!
Umm... you want to put out a _lithium_ fire using _water_ ?
> what's wrong with the pacific ocean? Surely if you've got a fire, ditching in water is perfect! Do I get a job in airline management now?
No, but you could maybe get a job in chemistry - just take a small piece of lithium, set fire to it and then throw it in a big bucket of water to put that fire out... should be "perfect", right ?
PS: if the penny hasn't dropped yet: "DON'T try this at home kids".
Little known fact; the ban on screwdrivers was initiated by the airlines who were afraid that economy passangers might remount the seats to have sufficient leg room.
Yeah, the 9/11 guys screwed things up for the "ordinary" political hijacker.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
function acceptable(luggage){
bigcount=0;
bigsum=0;
foreach (battery in luggage.carryon){
if (battery.capacity>100Wh){
bigcount++;
bigsum+=battery.capacity;
}
}
if (bigcount>2 || bigsum>300Wh){
return false;
}
foreach (battery in luggage.checked){
if (battery.capacity>100Wh || !battery.inDevice){
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
I guess the sun would sort of shine out of his ass, then, huh?
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