Slashdot Mirror
$500,000 Prize for Faster Airport Security Checks
coondoggie writes "A security company is willing to fork over $500,000 in prize money to the person or company that comes up with an innovative
technology to speed airport security lines. The company making the offer, Clear, says the winning technology must meet a number of criteria including TSA approval and it must reduce inconvenience by, for example, allowing for no divesting of shoes or outer garments."
A company which is trying to rake in millions by providing a "You paid more so you can skip the line" service, which promised shoe scanners etc, has to resort to trying to give a (rather small, given the need to get TSA approval) prize purse to make their business model work?
Test your net with Netalyzr
I suggest...
Do Nothing.
It will be just as effective, and much cheaper.
When do I get my money?
Anywhere in Europe or Asia ought to work. No "divesting of shoes" anywhere I've traveled outside the USA.
This guy has the right idea.
Stop taking token (and largely meaningless) security actions as a way to both justify jobs at the TSA and to keep the American people in fear.
There ya go, no need to take shoes off or all that other ridiculousness.
Not treating paying customers like criminals and removing the reasons the American government gives other peoples to hate us? Nobody's going to attack you if they like you, right?
I used to carry a bottle of whiskey for snake bite. And two snakes. -Nefarious Wheel
I'll kick in a few bucks to the pot myself if it results in some actual time-saving.
Maybe if we get it up to $500,007 dollars, they'll get it here sooner.
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
Drop the current checks. No more stupid liquid rules, no shoe removals, no taking the laptop out of the bag. Go back to metal detector and X-ray machines if you like, but acknowledge that you cannot protect against EVERY POSSIBLE THREAT and focus on the most likely.
Over 50,000 die each year in the US on the highways. If the same "zero tolerance" rule was applied to cars, then all cars would be required by law to remain at speeds below 15mph, would be covered in big foam bumpers, and would require five point safety harnesses and helmets. To maintain the effectiveness of automobiles, we don't do this. As part of acknowledging that risk exists and that we're responsible for our lives, we make tradeoffs.
Absolute security is impossible. It also makes people complacent.
Nobody will ever succesfully hijack a plane the way those were in 2001, because we've all seen a possible outcome. The TSA is the embodiment of the old saying that generals always "plan for previous war".
Where do I collect my check? Or is the painfully obvious exempt?
I don't recall if I had to remove my shoes, but I do recall security procedures in the UK being at least as inconvenient as those in the US. One of the most rediculous was only being able to bring one piece of carry-on including your laptop (ie. you must choose between a laptop and a carry-on bag).
Time to dust off my plans for the automated-anal-probulator(tm)! Coming soon to an airport near you...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Easy. Nationwide concealed carry licenses with no restrictions on where to carry. Background check thru NCIC, then fingerprint check as well. People who have carry permits already (38 states have some provision IIRC) are involved in less crimes by percent than sworn police officers...
:)
In fact, I think I'll use my Florida permit next time I fly as my "state issued picture ID".
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
Like most government million-dollar prizes (such as for the next-generation of battery technology), the prize is a bonus. The government, or in this case the security company, also agrees to purchase X units at whatever it costs you to build (including start-up costs, and usually a profit margin of 6-10%). So, if you have a good idea, and invest your time in making it work, the company will end up giving you millions, but you know that $500,000 will be upfront as an interim reward.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
I have this new invention called freedom and peace of mind. It allows people to travel without being paranoid or fascist. It's amazing. It's costs nothing to implement and only requires everyone to pull that giant corncob out of their asses.
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
That seems an awfully small prize for technology that would likely be *much* more expensive to develop, and probably has a long-term economic value in the Billions of dollars. Heck, if I could develop such technology, I'd patent it and become a government contractor myself, and let Clear go rot. Or if I couldn't get investors to back me, I'd auction it off to the highest bidder. I'm sure *someone* other than Clear would be pretty interested in such tech too.
Naked airlines. No carry-on.
Where can I claim my prize?
[I can picture a world without war, without hate. I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it]
Apparently, Aperture Science (my favorite science company) has technology which can facilitate the speedy transferal of people and objects from point a to point b. You can read more about it during their next "Bring your daughter to work" day!
http://aperturescience.com/
How about the technology of praying people don't kill us? It would save a lot of money that could be better spent on decreasing the more frequently occurring forms of human death.
The "Security fees" tacked on to every single ticket purchased are enough to pay for a single screener, per passenger for a full hour. That's more than enough time for a full pat down search and manual search of luggage. Screw spending millions of scanner boondoggles.
I mean, they are paying for someone's idea or someone's implementation (equipment design and the like)? If the former, $500K sounds good; if the latter, $500K is pocket change: research ain't cheap.
Anyway, I have one idea: how about reverting back to the pre 9/11 era modus operandi? I mean, c'mon, it is not like a "hijack-and-ram-into-building" stunt is going to work again anyway... The only real worries should be bombs and guns on board, which we managed in an acceptable way back in the 90's.
Another idea is to stop messing with the political affairs in other countries. But that doesn't sound appealing to their prospective neocon customers, does it?
fp?
Institute a nude only polcy at the airport, and no carry on luggage allowed. Your ticket is duct taped to your chest, if you set the metal detector off they tazer you and throw you into a wood chipper.
I have nothing compelling to say
But the inner garments are fair game? Interesting. Very interesting.
Please don't use "umm" or "err" or "erm".
(see attached diagram)
The travelers arrive in the entrance hall here, and are carried along the corridor on a conveyor belt in extreme comfort and past murals depicting Mediterranean scenes, towards the rotating knives.
The last twenty feet of the corridor are heavily soundproofed.
The blood pours down these chutes and the mangled flesh slurps into these...
I like microcars
How about we end the Security Theater?
If containers of fluids are dangerous, why are they just thrown away next to the security lines? When the hell is a knife going to help you against a group of 50 angry people in a small enclosed space?
If you search the people getting on the plane, what about the luggage? If luggage handlers can steal stuff from luggage and sneak it out of the airport, what is to prevent that same person from sneaking a bomb into the plane, in place of the stuff they stole? If we are going to search the pilot, why not search the mechanic, and make sure he didn't sabotage the plane?
If you have a security check, then the line to get thorough the check becomes a target. It doesn't matter where you move that check, since it takes time to go through, you have a bunch of people there, and thus a suicide bomber would just blow themselves up there.
Why do Americans not care about their 4th amendment rights to not be searched, and why is simply wanting transportation sufficient cause or not unreasonable?
If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
How about a new form of lubricant?
combined with someone who has small hands, it's a sure fire winner
all I need now is a patent
Next to nothing, it's the best solution. But someone else has already suggested nothing, so I claim second prize.
Infuriate left and right
for the arrest; trial; and conviction of the world's biggest WAR CRIMINAL.
Of course, most Slashdot readers would prefer to keep their SUVs, mortgages, and politicians enslaved to the military-industrial-Congressional complex.
This reminds me of the classic engineering choice: "faster, better, cheaper: pick two". Based on the brief article, it seems they want all three, with "faster" being the priority. My guess is that "better" will be the one that suffers.
1. Replace TSA administration wit people who will approve step 2
2. Eliminate the facade that is security the check.
Thomas Galvin
Are people in other regions of the US seeing this recent development? For what it's worth, I was traveling with United.
My userid is prime!
I say we skip the current terrorist threat and jump straight to the next one. Christians are obviously going to be the next problem (look at them, how they congregate every Sunday, beady shifting eyes, you KNOW they're up to SOMETHING).
UP AGAINST THE WALL TERRORIST! NOW!
Or maybe let's celebrate our diversity and not use knee-jerk reactions as policy, eh?
what if you had a laptop in a carry-on bag?
It's probably insufficient money to buy you a congressman or two to introduce the necessary changes to the laws concerned.
Because changing the laws or TSA guidelines to drop these required checks would probably be the best way - or at least the way that makes the most sense. The checks at airports don't provide much real security - mostly, they are there to provide a (false) sense of security. According to several reports, the checks don't actually catch most real threats at all (and even very low-tech threats like knives slip through a lot of the time), and are just costing everyone involved a lot of time/money. Also see snake oil security.
Not that the EU is much better in this regard btw - the ridiculous bans on liquids on planes are still in place, even though the European Parliament wants to lift those (at some point).
Every expression is true, for a given value of 'true'
I flew out of Newark on January 2 (which I'd assume is a pretty busy day), and I think I was in line for... maybe two minutes. Over maybe half a dozen flights in the past year, I think 10 minutes is probably my longest wait (excluding customs lines on international flights).
Yeah, taking your shoes off sucks, and they can stop being paranoid about deodorant any time now as far as I'm concerned, but the actual waiting period seems very tolerable. A shoe-scanner and some Prozak for the TFA guys would take care of those two problems, and from there we're just waiting around for Minority Report body-scanners so I don't have to take off my belt anymore.
Real profiling. Until grandma and grandpa with that brace on his bad knee bombs us there's no need to 'randomly' pull them aside for a more in depth search. Tips from other countries that racially profile and do it well like Israel would help point us in the right direction. It's not all about racial profiling either. Just a mix of some good questions asked to people with other real security measures would be just as good if not better than what we have now.
I wonder what DP World is engaged in right now. After all, they have a vested interest in US security/transportation. :P
1. Walk through detector for both metal/explosives. Appendages like those found on drive through car washes "lick" the shoes.
2. Carry on scanned same way, with automated "tongues" sampling the residue on the bags.
3. KEY: Everyone, and I mean everyone, on board gets their own Taser. Its clipped into the seat in front of you, right next to the phone! Locked of course until released by the captain (or head flight attendant (the one with the dirty knees?? (had too))). These would be the newly developed "Taser in a shotgun shell" where the entire electronics package is delivered to the target, rather than the wires running from the gun to the target.
4. Profit!!!!
So you breeze through the detectors, which should catch 99% of the nasties coming through, and for the 1% they miss, you've got enough non-deadly force, non-going through the skin of the airplane causing explosive decompression, armed passengers to quell any threat.
Worst case scenario would be a Taser battle in coach!
I guess this is more of "an innovative use of existing technology" rather than "an innovative technology" other than the new "Taser in a shotgun shell", but it meets the criteria.
Where's my half mil?
Well they might look to find some solutions in the cattle industry. Of course we should not be treated like cattle. Here is the temporary solution, a computer system, you enter the name, and if you have at least 10 other 2nd generation Americans vouching for you, you fly through without a second glance and no searching. Of course that is not what it is all about. The master plan is about creating a FEAR and Control environment which creates division and disempowers the citizens making them subservient and easy to control like an indentured servitude. The spelling checker wanted to say disembowels the citizens. Maybe it was right. The permanent solution is to eliminate the fear in the minds of our enemies, as well as the fear in our minds of them. Let's create a world of prosperity and abundance for all where there is nothing to fear, that is the solution.
"an infinite player that has lost his finite mind" ~Infinite Play the Movie (it blends with reality)
Transfer responsibility from the feds to the individual airlines. That's it.
Let the airlines make whatever policies they wish, implement them as they wish. Anything from 'Come on aboard, no questions asked!' to strip searching and anal cavity inspections. The customers will reward the airline whose policy makes the most sense with lots of money.
The other side of the coin is that the airlines' insurers would work to make sure that the policies were effective. If your plane gets hijack, and flown into a building, your premiums go WAY up.
I can't tell if you're trying to be cute, or are asking a valid question. Here in the US we're used to our policy being: 1 piece of carry-on luggage, but 2 if the second is a laptop bag or a garment bag. So we can usually bring 2 pieces on the plane with us is we have a laptop bag.
I personally keep my laptop in a small laptop backpack along with everything I absolutely need: phone numbers, map, extra cash, etc. I also put a set of casual clothes in there just in case (usually very thin pants, a T-shirt, etc). I've also done this with the mini laptop briefcases as well. Then I bring a regular carryon with my real clothes and what-not.
- Tell TSA whiteshirts to "work faster"
- Add more lanes
- Actually use all the lanes you already have
Boom. Where's my $500,000 ?Do the checks at each gate before people board planes, rather than corralling everyone up at a few detectors. Costs more? yes. Goes faster? yes, because everyone already has to wait at the gate once you get past the "screening". Applies to current TSA rules? yes... people still wouldn't be able to get on the actual planes.
Please send me my $500k check, thanks!
stuff |
These limitations were lifted on January 7th. I flew from London Heathrow to Hong Kong (LHR-HKG) that day and had no problems getting my laptop and hand luggage on board.
"I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
You have to take the laptop out to go through the X-ray machine separately.
The whole thing is a farce- I know (hypothetically of course) of many cases when the scanners haven't spotted knives, lights, liquids, even bullets. Maybe they only spot those sorts of things with the "Evil bit" set??
A simple way to speed up the security queues is by giving more space for taking off coats/shoes/whatever and putting it back on again on the other side.
Then by abolishing the daft rule of "if a man is being searched, then no other men are allowed to go through the scanner" (Same for women). Why on earth not? If the next man "beeps" the scanner, then they can wait to be searched. Not difficult.
http://blog.grcm.net/
There are many people after this prize and you need to stand in line. To expedite processing please remove your shoes and place your keys and watch in the basket.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
And anyway - the majority of people boarding an airplane aren't going to blow it up.
The metal detectors in use are a relatively good way of detecting weapons. Use of other detectors to sniff out nitrate compounds is the best option. Of course - there are explosives that aren't based on nitrogen compounds - but they are rarer. Removal of any lighters and matches will also be a good step - but it's harder to detect.
And handle the transportation of tax-free alcohol differently - don't allow it as hand luggage - transport it in a way where it can be picked up at the destination instead. (it would actually be convenient not having to carry around the bottles everywhere...) Glass bottles are really awesome weapons and alcohol is flammable so you have it all... The limits on water bottles and soda is just stupid. You may be able to harm somebody with a plastic bottle - but you will get a plastic knife - or even metal knife along with the inflight meal which may prove a much better weapon. But don't resort to serve pee-warm soup in a cardboard cup just because of the risk the kitchenware may pose. A large cup of water and an emergency ration will do as well ;-)
And try to not annoy your passengers - flying feels more and more like cattle transportation...
Maybe everyone that's flying should resort to a complete body-shave, wear a skin-tight swimsuit and moccasins whenever passing through the security checkpoint and see how the security persons react... OK - maybe someone will consider that "indecent behavior" or something instead...
From a security point of view the security would be best if all persons were required to wear only airline-issued bodysuits before boarding, but that would sure cause one hell of an outrage. Get naked, drop your clothes and other items into a box and put on a bodysuit. No big difference from the prison system...
No wonder some people tries to get drunk before boarding...
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
because you can't remove what you don't have on... Money please.
Something about this topic really caused the worst of the worst at Slashdot to start posting stupid comments as quickly as possible.
The IQ here just hit zero.
the winning technology must meet a number of criteria including TSA approval and it must reduce inconvenience
Isnt that the problem? That those two conditions are mutually exclusive? If you have one, you automatically do not have the other.
Make that 500,049.
"Little is much when little you need."
As people tired, you would pull them out of line and send them onto planes so that they would not be slowing down the line. We already have separate lines for people with disabilities so that's not a problem.
Squirrel!
I'll graciously assume you want the same or better level of security. Another advantage of this proposal: Increased utilization of the airplane. Here you go.
The grass is always greener on the other side of the light cone.
a) We take this seriously.
b) The terrorists are nasty people and they're doing this to you, not us.
c)Keep the whole War On Terror in your face. A scared citizen is a controllable citizen.
If they had the space and could get away with it, they would make everyone strip and get the Rubber Glove.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Everyone get on the baggage belt and run through a bunch of X-Rays, Dogs, and a charged particle space that should trigger any bombs on your person.
Or have everyone travel naked. Ramsey and Trojan would benefit the most with the dire need of seat condoms using this method.
There are no loopholes. It's either legal or it's not.
Go take a flight on Southwest and tell me if thats still such a good idea.
Stop making people take off their shoes, and stop "inspecting" my bottle of fucking sublock, then discussing whether or not it's 0.5g over the allowed size limit.
Can I get my $500'000 now please?
Passify the passengers and wrap them in black plastic before the flight. Do the same to the pilot(Planes practicly fly themselves now'a'days) to remove the risk of assault or bodily harm.
wood chipper
Don't make me chug my coffee in the line waiting to go through the metal detector, thereby holding everyone else up.
Repeat after me:
My beverage is not a national security threat.
1. International and domestic terminals should not be in the same structure. Period. Preferably the airfields, aircraft support, etc. would be separate as well, Yes, this means building new airports, but given that citizens' inalienable rights are at stake here, guaranteeing safety without sacrificing liberty is essential.
:)
2. International terminals are subject to the fascist searches the current administration is so fond of -- aren't we all sick of hearing of this nebulous "war on terror" where there is no unidentifiable enemy? Sorry bush, I'm not falling for your social engineering tactics.
3. Given the common sense in #1 above, domestic flights are domestic and are not subject to such searches. For domestic flights, given that they are not leaving the country and are subject to _US_ law, citizens' right to bear arms shall not be infringed. Gee, I think I recall reading that right to bear arms shall not be infringed thing somewhere. The first time I read it, I understood what shall not be infringed meant. Why do politicians not get it? Anyway - if there is a good chance that 10% to 50% of citizens will be armed, how likely would a wannabe-terrorist be to attempt hijacking a domestic flight?
Sure, it doesn't solve the international flight problem, but that was why we segregated domestic and international terminals in #1, above. AA missiles can solve international flight problems.
Airport Security (Starring at Passengers): Who should we point it at first?
(Security Turns F-Ray on a Random Passenger):
Random Passenger: Ow! My Sperm!
Mod up a fleet a Roombas to carry minature bomb-sniffers or even spectral-analysis units (beam that data to a central CPU for the intense processing needed). Let Roombas approach shoes, sniff them and move on. Central CPU directs them back for another whiff if need be.
Load those Roombas with floor wax and you have the cleanest, safest airport in the county.
You may donate my winnings to the NASA program dedicated to robotic missions on Mars.
Hello sir, anything to declare?
Karem
When all is said and done, nothing changes...
Lock the God-D@mn Cabin door, and shoot the first co-pilot stupid enough to open it.
please send check to AIK
There should be money spent on eliminating fear through the creation of prosperity and abundance for all. No scarcity or lacking. I think it is obvious that if we took all the money spent and fear conflict and security we would be living in paradise, probably with FREE TRAVEL. The cost of fear is killing us. All we need to do is act collectively to create a fair and balanced energy exchange accounting system, with transparency so as not to lead anyone to temptation. This is in conjunction with Global Socratic Social Dialog so all Genius and Perspectives has a voice. The key is to use technology to create balance and a fair playing field. So we can all play, and not take the game so seriously.
"an infinite player that has lost his finite mind" ~Infinite Play the Movie (it blends with reality)
Allow everyone, as is indicated as one of our Constitutional RIGHTS, to carry a weapon. Anyone trying anything won't get very far anymore at that point.
Confucius say: "Man who associates with smarter men than himself is smarter than the men he associates with."
1. Take all the money spent buying security theatre (TSA salaries, machinery, Airport reconstruction) and place it into a fund. There's $5,000,000,000 to start with each and every year. 2. Use minimally invasive metal and bomb detectors to deter the obvious threats. 2. Should an aircraft go down as the result of Terrorist actions, pay everyone on board $1,000,000 from the fund. From just the TSA's budget, we could handle 5,000 deaths a year from terrorist actions on airplanes. How much are we willing to pay for each life saved? Ask an inner-city hospital. /frank
And the worms ate into his brain.
Use the knowledge you already have. It's not that tricky.
OCO is Loco
Give each passanger a parachute and there is no need to screen anyone. I'll have my 500,000 now. "Donations" from the parachute lobby are welcome
Well, yes and no.
I'm not a fan of show-business as security, and I do believe that the USA could clean up its act... a lot. So far from me to speak against that idea.
That said, believing that just because you're nice, everyone will treat you nicely... is a bit naive.
- Some people will hate you just because they're crazy and suffering from various delusions, and in their deranged mind you're the Antichrist. Sad to say, paranoid schiophrenia is very real.
- Some people are simply sociopaths and simply don't give a damn about how nice a person you are. They could hurt you worse than you can imagine on a full stomach, and still be perfectly able to look themselves in the mirror in the morning. Now probably most of those wouldn't kill themselves on a plane, but (A) some might manipulate others to, and (B) you never know, some did kill themselves just to take a bunch of innocents with them, as their grand finale and exit.
- Some are having a breakdown and just want to end it all, often in a way that gets themselves remembered. Often that means shooting a bunch of shoppers or co-workers, or blowing up a school.
- Some will hate you for having a different religion, or different political affiliation, or whatever.
Etc.
I humbly submit as anecdotal support:
1. Such things as the Bath School disaster. Exactly what wrong did those children, aged 7 to 12, do to that guy? What reason did he have to blow them up? Even in his madness of blaming the government for his money problems, the children didn't really star as having done him any wrong.
2. The Unabomber. It wasn't some foreigner blowing up Americans as some act of international revenge. He was born american, to parents born american. The whole bombing campaign had been to attract attention to his deranged theory that industrialization had been a disaster for the human race. And even there, the victims weren't, dunno, people which would have been the villains even by that theory, but simply innocents to attract public attention and get his manifesto published.
3. The fact that most violence is actually sectarian. Sure, it gets the world's attention when someone from abroad blows shit up in the USA, but actually most terrorism is aimed at sects of the same religion. And a lot more terrorism than is aimed at the "evil" westerners, is aimed at terrorizing their own countrimen and neighbours and scaring them off cooperating with said "evil" westerners or off adopting western customs and ideas.
So, to cut a long story short, I would say that _only_ being nice is actually a pretty piss-poor defense. Sure, be nice, it may make it a lot harder to motivate people to blow themselves on your plane, but do be prepared to deal with the ones which aren't deterred by your just being swell guys.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
I win!!!!
Here is my 2 cents. Fire 3/4 of the clowns in white shirts that play "security" at the airports. With the money saved train the rest how to use the x-ray machines and metal detectors and make sure they do use them. Add some random check (by random don't mean randomly chosen not very white looking people with strange names) and you are all set.
How many people remember that the metal detectors actually detected the box cutters in the 9/11 hijackers only to get them waved by security that wouldn't be bothered with anything?
Everyone knows that the prize is going to go to Halliburton, anyway,... ;-)
Yes, yes, and then we'll all hug and plant a tree that drops magical gumdrops as fruit. And the animals that eat this fruit will crap enough sunshine to power every house in the world. What a wonderful world that will be.
"I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
Mythbusters recently tested the myth that a person with no prior flight experience could be talked into landing a plane by themselves. It was tense (even though they were using a highly realistic simulator), but they finally proved that the myth was plausible (even though the situation has never come up in real life). One interesting point with this, though, was that their expert told them that all modern planes have such sophisticated computers that they can land themselves without any human help.
Assuming this is true (or so nearly true that a little R&D could make it true very soon), the best solution would be to strongly lock the pilot's cabin prior to boarding. Then, if a hijacker tried to take over the plane, the pilot could just press a "We've been hijacked" button and the plane would 1) send out an automated signal informing control towers of this fact, 2) divert course for the nearest airport, and 3) land the plane with no further assistance from the pilot.
This way, even if the hijackers managed to force their way into the cabin, they would be powerless to disable the "We've been hijacked" controls and the plane would land anyway.
This doesn't take into account a plane bomber, but it eliminates the possibility of another 9-11.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Here's my idea: everyone gets sedated at the the ticket counter. One by one, each individual is placed and secured into a plastic "pod" with locks on the outside. Each pod is put on a conveyor belt and x-rayed to look for explosive devices. Suspect pods are shaken and deposited into a holding tank to await questioning. A series of conveyor belts, tubes and mechanical arms sort and load non-suspect pods onto individual cargo planes. Pods arrive at destinations, are opened, and each passenger is awakened.
What could go wrong?
Get rid of the TSA! They're a drain on resources and violate my constitutional rights in the name of 'security'. Now, may I have my 500 grand please?
"I bow to no man" - Riddick
Have 2 lines, line A, is the current TSA security check line, line B, no other security check, but they do have to manually probe the inside of your ass for at least 10 minutes.
This would not only have the effect of making the security process more efficient (because some people would still probably pick line B) but would also contribute to a dramatic cut back in volume of complaints about the security procedures in line A.
Or just tazer everyone at the gate before they board. It probably wouldn't solve the security problem, but it would be really fun to watch. As a bonus, you could charge everyone a tazering surcharge on their ticket price to cover your overhead.
Unleash^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Humbly beg Chuck Norris to 'take care of' all our problems.
... that they now require you to put any external battery that has exposed pins in a plastic ziploc bag? And that as long as the battery is in the device it's considered harmless? Found this out when I travelled over Christmas break and took a spare laptop battery along with my laptop: they took it out of my baggage, the guy talked to his supervisor for about 5 min and then came back and told me that I can take it on the plane without putting it in a ziploc bag, but ONLY because it does not have any exposed pins and ONLY this time. Nobody was interested in the least in my laptop. Made my day.
TSA will routinely have only 1/2 or even 1/3 of the available screening stations in operation. I've noticed at major airports all over the country. When I flew out of Orlando a few weeks ago there was a 30+ minute wait to get through screening, with the line backed up far out of its designated area. When I finally got to the front, I saw that only two of the six available screening stations running. The rest were just sitting there, unused and shut off. I understand that sometimes people call in sick or equipment breaks down, but they were only using a third of their capacity. It appears that they are simply trying to save money on employees. If they're really too cheap to shell out $11/hour to hire some wantabe-cop and surly ex-highschool cafeteria workers to harass people and be rude to travelers, maybe they could just sell one of the six unused stations?
In addition to the annoyance of having to wait in line, it seems like an atrocious waste of taxpayer money to buy this screening equipment (which I'm sure was astronomically expensive), only to have it sit unused.
Let's look at a few of the points.
There are many more TSA idiocies, unfortunatly many of them I can not post. Suffice to say that they are utterly incompetent and do next to nothing to make our airplanes safer. My solution to speed security screening: abolish it altogether. Where's my prize?
What if a terrorist organization decided to put 15 members on a plane. Even if they did not bear any sort of weapon, 15 organized men could easily take control in such a tight space. You really need intelligence to combat violence effectively.
"Well, at least here you'll be treated with dignity. Now strip naked and get on the probulator." - Leela
Chums up, let's do this!
and tell John McCain that his experience as a prisoner of war does not qualify him as a arm-chair general.
Say hello for me to your College Republicans.
Sincerely,
K.
ROFL. Well spotted. Damn well spotted. You have my heartfelt congratulations. Doubly so for making it that far into that message. Gave me quite a chuckle. I could have sworn there was an "up" in there somewhere, but apparently not.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
A couple of years ago, the security lines at Atlanta had separate "shoe scanners" that you could use before going through the magnetic scanner to see if your shoes had metal in them and would set off the scanner. As I recall, the story was that they were invented by an Eagle Scout, and really just consisted of a scanning wand mounted in a box. Somebody eventually made them remove the devices because they weren't "approved." Shortly thereafter, everybody had to remove their shoes anyway.
I suppose they can potentially see more anomolies than just metal in your shoes when they go through the X-ray machine, but I always thought the little shoe scanner thing was a pretty good idea.
JRjr
I'll chip in a few bucks, too. Maybe we could get a PayPal account or something for donations. :-)
That sounds all good and nice on paper, but we have thousands of examples throughout history of why that won't work. Most obvious is the people who have found they can profit more easily by controlling the resources in a forced manner than by working to earn their keep honestly. A prime example is Somolia, which the UN sent tons of aid to in the 90's, only to have warlords seize the supplies as they were being distributed and use them as rewards for their militias.
Not to mention, the amount of practical detail in your post amounts to approximately a dainty fly's cough in a hurricane of real-world factors.
It's not just Americans. If you think our security is absurd, you've obviously never been through British or Israeli security of twenty-five years ago. Hell, not even our security has really changed that much in terms of intrusion and delay. You've had to throw your carry-on luggage through the X-Ray, walk through metal-detectors, get the magic-wand treatment and optional white glove treatment for the last quarter century at least (go rent "Airplane!" if your memory fails). Hell, in the mid-90's we had to do the ridiculous laptop/cellphone power-on test to "prove" it wasn't a bomb. Thank god that one has been pretty universally dropped.
Honestly, when I hear people piss and moan about TSA, I'm left wondering, did any of these people travel anywhere BEFORE 2001 or did they take Greyhound?
The actual TSA guidelines said it was _optional_ for the longest time (not sure after the shoe-bomber), but the same regulations stated you are required to follow the directions of TSA folks -- they had absolutely no incentive to let you pass without removing shoes.
If you aren't having to remove your shoes now then either a new regulation or new incentive was put in place. Maybe there is a speed incentive these days or maybe the gov't changed the regulation to be based on threat level...or maybe the airport gained some leverage over the process.
Either way, anyone that creates an "optional" enforcement regulation is just asking for misuse and/or clueless about management. it's about time they cleaned that one up. my personal fave is flying with dinnerware after one christmas...all i had was a carryon bag and my parents gave me tableware for christmas. There were no steak knives, so TSA let it through.
-b
Just don't let muslims fly...
Disclamer: Not flamebait, I am a muslim.
(1) Pull out of Iraq
(2) Take the several zillions of dollars a day we save, and invest in more lines and more workers,
until we have roughly 25 to 50 times the capacity.
(3) Lines that took an hour to move through now take two or three minutes.
(4) Because we have more people working, we can actually have BETTER security.
"TSA: Fighting you here, because they shoot back over there."
Eliminate the TSA, arm each passenger over the age of 18 and with no mental illness history with a .380 caliber handgun loaded with 2 rounds of low velocity ammunition. The weapon is turned in at the destination.
The beneficial side effects will include increased customer service, a reduction of "air rage", a nearly 0 likelyhood of more than 2 fatalities from a hijacking attempt (and 1 of those will be a "bad"guy), and general increase in civility and tolerance.
And no, I'm not joking...
If you believe what is currently going on in the commercial aviation industry is "security", then I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.
Never ascribe to malice or conspiracy that which can be adequately explained by ignorance or stupidity.
(at least) There is no large stack of bins to hassle with. The bins are on a conveyor, sitting sideways, behind the main conveyor. You grab a bin, put your laptop in, grab another, put your briefcase in, and so forth. As you free the bins from the back of the line, they recycle back to the beginning - automatically. No juggling a stack of bins, no sucking up line time, no struggling with cramped quarters w.r.t. bins and lines (ever fly out of San Jose?).
Pathological kinda promises Path + Logical - but instead, you get stuck with pathetic.
If passengers would bring only the bare essentials, we'd have shorter waits (and easier access to our overhead storage bins). Charge people to bring carryons that don't fit under their seats (such as a purse or a laptop). I've seen people bring carryons that are bigger than the bags I checked.
Oh, and finally, hire competent people to wear the white shirts, instead of the mouth-breathing type-A's they have now. One competent TSA employee could easily accomplish three current TSA employees work. Pay that one guy twice as much, and hire less, but more competent people.
Well
1) You don't have to have a separate queue of "people waiting to be searched" (which would potentially take up just as much space as the original one, but be in a different position.
2) They would have to figure out a better way of handling the baggage that rolls through the scanner now and keeping it with the person. Right now its a simple FIFO queue, which presents less opportunity for confusion, miss-grabbed bags, and theft.
This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
...at the '01 or '02 White House Press Corp dinner, at which he was speaking. He had suggested that airport security ask two questions:
1. "Are you going to blow up the plane?"
2. "Really?"
Ed R.Zahurak
You know, oblivion keeps looking better every day.
how hard is it to build a freaking plastic ramp that raises shoes UP into the scan zone!
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The problem is not the speed, but the humiliation, lack of concern for privacy, and the sheer irrelevance of the checks.
Show me your papers, please!
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
And while we are listing things we don't want to do anymore, can we PLEASE stop the ludicrous practice of taking all the laptops out of their bags!?
Same goes for phones and other battery operated devices.
-- -- Warning. Do not stare directly at the sun.
-Let everybody strip naked or let them go through an MRI 3T scanner bore, all metals are bound to be ripped out
-Chain everybody up by the neck and hands and put them on the belt
-Automatically anal probe anyone as they pass by. You only need one size of probe, XXL, everybody will fit after their first time flying.
-Let someone inspect teeth and feet and slap the butt as soon as they're done
-Stack everybody on the plane and strap them in using the chains. About 1.5 square foot per person will do.
-???
-Profit!
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
Easy, you just have to apply the spirit of the strict Muslim laws, related to stealing.
At check-in you simply chop down all hands and feet, effectively disabling all passengers from any temptations of executing a terrorist act by activating a detonating device or other weapons.
The special advantage of the method is that you have to apply only once to all travelers during their lifetime.
In the future, when one can enable bombs with mind-controlled devices, heads should be added to the compulsory chop list, of course.
it costs a buck-o-five.
Maybe they only spot those sorts of things with the "Evil bit" set??
Close enough. Reading an article by a security guy a few years ago they're only tested on specific known test items, and are thus heavily trained (by their cheap contractor/employer) to spot only those specific items.
So it's not the Evil bit, it's the TSA spot-check test bit. They dont get fired for not spotting something that could be a weapon, they get fired (and their employer fined) for not spotting the TSA test-weapon.
How to never pay for fast check-in:
1. Arrive at airport. Have someone with you that agrees to haul luggage.
2. Immediately seek out an abandoned wheelchair.
3. Get familiar with your wheelchair so as to appear as though you have operated one before.
4. Enter the back of the line, with a disgusted look on your face, appear as though you are struggling.
5. Wait for airport staff to come and help you. It usually only takes a few minutes before someone will offer to help you and the people you are with get through to the terminal quickly.
6. Pass through TSA's checks as though your gout is inflamed, and you cannot bear to even use crutches.
7. Enter terminal and find your gate.
8. Ditch the wheelchair.
OPTIONAL 9. Find a bathroom and change your shirt and/or shave your beard to avoid altercations with all of the suckers who waited in line at the check-in and TSA.
Spending Resources on Defense leaves Less to defend.
I looked into being a TSA screener and got quite a bit through the hiring process (before getting another tech job at higher pay), thinking it would be a good entry-level position into law enforcement while I worked on the physical fitness for the Civil Service exam. The biggest problem I found is that the starting pay (see usajobs.gov) is $26,000 + locality pay starting. I don't know about a lot of folks, but after college, and not wanting to live on Ramen noodles any longer, $26Gs isn't enough money ro recruit highly qualified candidates, and even more, keeping highly qualified candidates. Even worse, when I moved to California to get married, all the positions at local airports were part time.
You can't tell me the TSA is getting the best and brightest for that kind of pay, and even worse, not letting the workers do it full-time.
Get rid of the bottom 25% worst employees you've got (# of complains, attitude issues, problem children), and give the good employees 75% of the fired workers pay, and recruit "highly qualified" workers, and you'll solve a lot of the problems in attitude/customer service off the top. Implement alongside a few tweaks here and it should be a good balance.
Forgive my spelling from time to time. I'm often posting during short breaks.
Simply blow up one plane in-flight per week. Completely at random. Airport lines will be cleared in no time. Do I get $500,000?
I don't recall if I had to remove my shoes, but I do recall security procedures in the UK being at least as inconvenient as those in the US. One of the most rediculous was only being able to bring one piece of carry-on including your laptop (ie. you must choose between a laptop and a carry-on bag).
But better than thet, there's no consistency. Heathrow now allows two bags, but Gatwick only allows one. I've no idea what Stanstead allows.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
As another poster mentioned the restrictions on hand luggage have recently been lifted (at all bar a few airports) but there are still restrictions on carrying liquids onto a plane. Even water. This is particularly ridiculous when you discover that only applies to flights leaving UK airports, but can take what you want on coming home.
It also applies to medicines:
My mum has multiple sclerosis and the Rebif medication she takes is temperature/pressure sensitive meaning it must be taken on board the plane along with ice packs to keep it cool. The whole thing comes in a pack with quite long needles.When traveling before the liquid restriction she was only required to take a letter from a doctor to confirm that it was essential to carry the medicines on board, although from experience nobody bothered to read it. After the restriction on liquids was put in place she was refused the right to take it on board unless she "tasted" the substance in the ice packs to prove it was not dangerous. Which it is, but only for consumption.
Tastability, to my knowledge, is not an established indicator of a substances ability to combust.
Thankfully, being aware that the substance was toxic, she point blank refused. Eventually they relented and let her through making the whole unpleasant experience rather pointless. I'd have to question the sense - and legality - of coercing people to consume toxic substances as a means of "security".
Python coder | PyQt Applications | Writer
Just make it impossible to communicate anything from the plane to the cockpit, and make access to the cockpit from the plane impossible. My design is called "heavy fucking door you can't hear shit through."
Give two of the flight attendants access to an emergency landing request. All requests are created equal. Some dude has a stroke or some dude stabs someone - plane lands early either way.
Now there's no benefit to hijacking a plane, and no need for TSA. Which sucks, because I won't get my $500,000 because they'll never agree to cut 100% of their staff. Or whatever staff is left over to just help you walk through a metal detector.
Now there's zero incentive to use a weapon. It's impossible to make the pilots do anything, and it's impossible to control the plane on your own.
Amtrak doesn't have enough destinations. Expand it and the airport security bottlenecks will decrease.
Yes there is bus transportation, but once you travel by rail you will find it is much more pleasant than being packed like sardines in air travel coach class. Leave air travel to the time-challenged travelers.
Eternity: will that be smoking, or non-smoking? I Corinthians 6:9-10
Just build a damned high-power sub-molecular neutron scanner that looks for "evil" or dual-purposed items. If none found, passenger moves on. Whether or not any found, passenger picks up some rads, but so what. They'll probably pick up more radiation up at 40k feet than on the ground or in the airport.
Speaking of radiation, are there any laptop bags to protect laptops and data devices from long-haul radiation exposure? (hint: idea for someone with contacts and capitol... that doesn't include me... But, i reserve the right to go and seek this productization at ANY point if there is not an EXISTING-NOW product in commercialization...)
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
I loved your work on the White Album. Hell, you wrote a pretty decent Christmas tune in the day as well. Can you please tell your widow to stop making music? I think it's contributing to terrorism. Maybe if she stops making music we won't need all these security measures.
I spent some time in Israel for an archaeological dig and some SCUBA diving. While there I had my bags searched at pretty much all of the major shopping centers, transit centers, and large public places. Somewhat inconvenient, but nowhere near what we face here in the US. I never really felt as though it was as intrusive as what we have at our airport.
And at the Ben Gurion, in Israel, I went from being in line at the ticket counter to at the gate in under thirty minutes. This included one hand-search of my bags (only more intrusive than in the US because I had to stand there while they went through it, as opposed to here where we get a flyer put in our suitcases and some extra TSA tape on our opened-and-poorly-repacked boxes). Every item. Including SCUBA gear. And a security checkpoint after the check-in. They managed to be faster and more efficient and more thorough than they are here in the US.
It isn't the lack of technology that is making it hard on us (hand searches and little chemical swipes to check for explosive residue were Israel's low-tech and fast solution), but the clunky process and arbitrary regulations.
Flying nowadays is a fucking nightmare. That's terror as bad as terror gets. You do the maths, you'll see that the useless 'security' protocols that are in use are much more expensive than anything else.
Fuck wtc and every last one in it. People die all the time. Other people besides bankers matter too...
If fascism comes to America, it will be called patriotism. -- Unknown
Chaser's War on Everything: Airport Security
Let the private companies do what they feel is necessary to secure the safety of their passengers without the great inconvenience. They have investments to protect like their plans and customers but they realize that if they annoy their passengers too much they will choose another airline.
How about bright orange traveling jumpsuits and slippers. All belongs must be checked in. And all passengers must have pre-screened background checks, finger printing, and DNA samples. And all Arabs must ride in the back in a special bomb proofed section.
If we just treat everyone like a criminal, then we don't have to waste time processing them.
And this would apply to all politicians and law enforcement personnel.
Why not?
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Do only minimal metal detector tests to catch the odd gun or stinger missile, and instead focus your efforts around not letting the planes that do get taken over from doing any harm.
Keep all flights at least 50 miles from any major populated areas, and if one needs to land at an airport in a populated area have it escorted by a f-22 raptor on its tail with missiles locked in case the plane veers off course.
It's far more efficient to identify when terrorists have struck and do damage control than to try and screen millions of people per day. Besides, if a terrorist really wanted to get past your controls, he could just swallow some explosives in balloons and regurgitate em on the plane. There's no such thing as perfect security.
Smaller planes. If the planes aren't big enough to be particularly dramatic weapons, then you don't need all the security on the front end. Just get rid of the huge terminal model and switch to a lot of smaller, more spread out, boutique airports.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
Hand out guns at the door. Problem Solved. Where's my $500k?
Give pilots guns and train them not to open the door until they've landed. Make the cockpit door stronger if need be. Instructions to land in an emergency should only come from the ground, never from the cabin.
Here's your method to increase speed: Hire more people so you can have more security lines open. It's called parallelism, and is the core of the assembly line's speed.
Oh, wait. You probably mean come up with other tricks so you don't have to hire more people. n/m
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
points out:
The majority of car accidents could be avoided if only the drivers would drive more responsibly. About 40% of car accident fatalities occur because of a drunken driver. About 30% of the car accident fatalities can be attributed to driving above the speed limits and 33% and above because of reckless driving that causes the car to go off the road and result in an accident.
According to them the number of road deaths is "in excess of 40 000", which is just sad.
Take care of the drunken drivine, speeding and recklessness and you can take off the foam bumpers.
But I tend to agree that your example is how the government would handle the situation, it breaks my heart...
Seven Days with Ubuntu Unity
See me and my kind have super-sensitive awareness for those likely to cause trouble. I can spot a terrorist from 100yds. Make it so people can only get into the airport through a single security checkpoint (nearly there now) and they walk through the metal detectors. Give me a chair on an elevated platform, like a deer stand, about 50 ft. from the checkpoint exit. I'll look each person over with the scope on my
If guns make you nervous, which I guess they do since I've never seen a TSA agent with one, then just give me a CB and I'll notify you of anyone that looks suspicious. You take them down however you want. If I see any busty redheads, though, we might need a full body cavity search.
Let me know when me and my boys can start. Looks like our jobs with the border patrol are getting canned thanks to GW's fence.
UP AGAINST THE WALL TERRORIST! NOW! Typical whack against Christians. (Its not like you WONT find such things on
I'm willing to bet you would NEVER say such a thing about muslims.
Perhaps for one of two reasons. 1)Its politically Incorrect or 2)You'd get your head cut off. Or maybe let's celebrate our diversity and not use knee-jerk reactions as policy, eh? Ahh.. Another worshiper of 'diversity'.
Listen.. Diversity is a RESULT. Not a GOAL. I'd ask you to think about this concept, but I doubt you could handle it.
It's called a gun.
Monitor any security line at any airport. After each shift, pull the slowest, dumbest TSA drone aside and shoot them in the head, in front of all of the other TSA drones. Within a few days you'll see a dramatic improvement in the speed of the line.
Where do I go to collect my $500,000?
(Not looking forward to my cross-USA flights the next two weekends...)
Don't underestimate the power of The Source
Pass people inside X-Ray scanners .. Fast indeed !
Where is my cash ?
The TSA needs to stick to the critical job: Keeping dangerous items and substances off airplanes. Who gives a damed about the contents of laptops (unless its C4) or whether you paid duty on that fancy Rolex(?) you brought back from Hong Kong.
Have gnu, will travel.
Pre 9/11 - Just as an Air Force general was about to board a plane, his aide ran up and handed him a satchel. "What's this," asked the general? "It's a bomb, sir," came the deeply intoned reply. "Our analysts have concluded that the chances of a bomb on your plane are 2,458:1 whereas the chances of having TWO bombs on the plane are 2,750,000:1 - this should do the trick, sir!"
Why do I feel like TSA thinks that way?
Pathological kinda promises Path + Logical - but instead, you get stuck with pathetic.
Nuff said.
Personally, I don't think technology is the problem for airport security wait lines. I don't travel as much as a salesman, but I did 4 internations trips in 2007, and was on a plane about 15 or so times. During these flights I noticed something: Longer wait times occured in older airports - but the same technology and process was being used for all airports.
So what's the causing the long waits? What I noticed was that the older airports simply had less space; typically the older airport security troughs (or whatever you call the things they herd us through) had really short conveyor belts. So you'd get 2 or 3 people through the metal detector, and all of a sudden there were a half dozen people in about a 25 sq. ft. area, and the security guard couldn't wave anybody to come through the metal detector until the space cleared up.
The security check point when flying from Saskatchewan Canada into Minneapolis MN is a perfect example of this (several LAX security points are good exampls too): The line is configured such that it winds and weeaves and can hold 100s of people. There are multiple metal detectors and accompanying x-ray scanners... however, as soon as you pass through the detector you only have about 10 feet between you and the rest of the airport. What results is a lot of waiting for very few people to put their laptops back in their bags, put their jackets and belts back on, simply because there's no space to wave more people through.
Any airport security check point that's been recently built or renovated, from what I've seen, tends to have way more space post x-ray/metal-detector, thus allowing more people to get their stuff back on at a time and get the hell out and onto their next flight. Result: very little waiting.
Sure, we could design technology that doesn't require people to take off their shoes, but it goes beyond that. I think we simply need more space to put the stuff back (or repack) the stuff we had to remove prior to going through the checkpoint.
The solution is advanced flight customer checks and profiling. Where's my $500,000?
Seriously, mod this person up. Every time I've been through the airport, even on the holidays, there have been half the security lines open, MAX. Airports know EXACTLY how many people are coming through, how can they not forecast this demand? Oh, right, they're too cheap.
It seems i might have a novice idea here folks. Remove x-ray machines and metal detectors, and increase "man power." Bare with me a minute!
My experience has been this:
Show up at air port "on time" for international flights. Since i like to get the most "bang for my buck," I like to show up early to take advantage of all the time i can on my trip. Turns our airline staff doesn't show up 3 hours before international flights at 4 AM, they open 1 hour before the first international flight. But that's ok.
Then i head right over to the gate, and go through security. Security is still sleepy for whatever reason right (after all it is early!). They ask me to 'standard procedure etc etc' and i cooperate. They ask to remove my laptop from the case and i do. They ask "does this open?" pointing to the side bays and i say yes. They can't seem to figure it out and just skip it and continue. After glancing at it for maybe 7 seconds they instruct me to put it away.
I ask if i should take off my shoes and they say it's not necessary. Even though the sign in front of me says i am to take off my shoes.
I pass the metal detector with watch, keys, misc pocket items and wallet in the dish and surprise! No problems.
I get my laptop, carry on and person items and proceed to the boarding gate.
This is how it's gone for more than one of my flights. The scary part is i carry a spyder co knife that is 5 1/4" closed and 9 1/2" opened. This neatly fits in my wallet without adding any bulk and is even easily concealable in the wallet under a dollar or two. But since no one questions wallets then there can't be an issue.
How many times have "random security checks" been conducted to find them failing to identify any items on contraband lists?
Increase how many people inspect each passenger, have 1 person check the physical person, another their belongings, and another run it through existing x-ray machines just for looks. Because no matter how much technology you throw at this problem, people will always fail when they rely on senses other than their own.
It's really scary too that when you rely on technology, that many things that are not looked for will get through. Having a engineering/manufacturing background i can think of many dangerous things to get on board without being spotted. And although the "dangerous" people might not be aware of them, with enough time they'll have similar things at their disposal.
So, summing up what will actually increase security:
more people
better wages
multiple inspectors (1 gets overwhelmed very easily)
I hope i get it!
My abilities are only limited by my imagination
Fire all the TSA idiots.
You'll be flying throught that airport like O.J. on the way to his Hertz rent-a-car after killing his ex-wife and her boyfriend.
It's not like the TSA is needed anymore. The terrorists have already won. The Bill of Rights is dead and America is a police state.
Al-Queda and Usama bin Laden are laughing their asses off.
The American Illuminazis did all their work for them.
Wonder how much kick-back GWB gets from UBL?
Pretty simple. New airport, no security. Only planes with secure cockpits. Passengers sign liability waiver. Any attempt to hijack said aircraft triggers code from pilot to have auto-destruct mechanism activated.
Alternative: have the attendant button be a trigger. If 2/3s of the passengers push the button within 10 seconds, boom.
That's exactly wrong. Creation of abundance for all is what the current terrorists are fighting *against*. People are blowing themselves up to protect a specific way of life, a way of life that's threatened by rubbing against other cultures. You're not going to placate them by offering to radically change their way of life in some different way.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Simple, to keep track of people and why you're searching them.
Not long after 9/11, I was going through an airport in a smaller regional airport. They were woefully underprepared for their screening.
Bags would go through the x-ray, if they were accepted, you could take your bag and go. If not, they got queued up at a second location, and everyone had to wait as the bags were done one at a time. When I got to the head of the line, I was asked what someone might have seen in the x-ray to flag my bag. When I said I didn't have a clue, they opened the bag, gave a very cursory inspection, and waved me through. I was shocked, because they had no idea of why they were scrutinizing me. They didn't even really know which bag belonged to who -- you could have chosen to abandon your bag rather than wait. There was just a jumbled herd of travelers all clambering to get through the line.
They want to try to avoid situations where the first guy causes a big distraction allowing the second guy to get through with less scrutiny, or where they can't adequately monitor the whole process for every person.
When screening people for security, they need more queues. They don't need each queue trying to process several people at once. It makes them grossly less effective than a one-at-a-time model.
Searching multiple at the same time is error prone. Hell, if people are going through in a mix, you could end up getting searched for the beep someone else caused (or, from their perspective, the wrong person could get waved through in the confusion).
Cheers
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
If you want very good security and very little wait, here's what you do:
The checkpoint to each flight x-rays your carry on as you walk through a moderately sensitive metal detector.
After going through the metal detector, a police office (not a TSA goob) hands you your carry on, and a K9 unit standing by gives you a sniff.
You get to your gate, and your plane with 2 armed air marshals.
That ain't a bottle of Moxie(TM) in that brown paper bag in his right hand.
Feel safer, now?
Guaranteed! This comment 100% Anthrax free!
How about some sort of gyroscope-mobile? With or without the anal probe, it's up to you.
UTF-8: There and Back Again
To eliminate the lines and make flying so much more pleasant, I propose stackable people-pods, into which anaesthetized passengers can be stowed and loaded into the cargo hold. There would be no perceptable delays, and the flights would seem to pass in no time. In addition, turbulence would go unnoticed and there would be no surly flight attendants to contend with. Moreover, the cost of tickets would be much less, since the airlines would have no onboard passenger service (not that they have all that much now).
Increase the price of tickets to the point at which only a small number of people are prepared to pay that much to fly.
Elasticity of demand.
Where is my prize money, please?
When flying was expensive, only sensible, reasonable people did it. Now that the great unwashed can afford it, we have all manner of drunken, impatient, hysterical, violent oiks on the aeroplanes.
1) Stop scanning shoes. Dumb idea, useless time-waster.
2) Stop banning liquids. Nobody's built a binary explosive out of liquids, and as anyone with Chemistry 12 knows, you can explode 100ml of fluid just as easily as 300ml.
3) Stop turning on everyone's electronics, then telling them to turn them off again on the plane. Duh.
4) Hire screeners whose first language is English. That alone will speed things up a good 50%. Between having to ask the screeners to repeat themselves and them asking me to repeat myself, we waste a crapload of time. "Hello steady customer!"
Yeah, that should do it, I'm thinking.
"Apparatus dignosco occultus, satis non supernus."
a tricorder must be developed.
Balderdash!
I don't travel that much but every time I've done so in the past five years, it has taken a maximum of 15 minutes to get through security. On the contrary, the boarding and deboarding process always takes at least 20 minutes because people are shuffling in the aisles, taking their coats off/putting them on, stowing gigantic carry-ons, standing up after the plane lands and blocking the aisle before the doors are open...
I think the $500,000 should go to someone who speeds up the amount of time it takes to get on and off a plane. That's where the most time is wasted.
I my home state of Texas, when I use a concealed carry permit as ID in the airport, I get a pass on lots of things. Most people down here understand that the permit means I've been investigated and have demonstrated some self-discipline in a controlled setting. The checks I get are less extensive. The ticket agents move me through faster with less scrutiny. All that is perfectly logical.
I did run into one ticket agent (with Continental, a heavily accented guy who just didn't seem to "get it") who refused to accept it. I was traveling with my mom and sister who both pleaded with me to just move on because we were running late. To my shame, I did. I should have taken the time to get the guy's supervisor and have my say; I feel sure the ticket agent would have gotten a useful education from the confrontation.
Make everyone get high (as in smoked) before they enter the plane. By the time the plane is in the air, everyone is happy laughing to death, dizzy or sleeping. And any doped terrorist would be too lazy to leave his/her comfy chair to hijack the airplane. No matter how many knives or bombs they have.
Airlines will require to carry a huge load of chocolate, though.
Of course you could also use sleeping pills or any other drug for similar effects.
"The September 11 attacks inflicted casualties and material damages on a far greater scale than any other terrorist aggression in recent history. Lower Manhattan lost approximately 30 percent of its office space and a number of businesses ceased to exist. Close to 200,000 jobs were destroyed or relocated out of New York City, at least temporarily. The destruction of physical assets was estimated in the national accounts to amount to $14 billion for private businesses, $1.5 billion for state and local government enterprises and $0.7 billion for federal enterprises. Rescue, cleanup and related costs have been estimated to amount to at least $11 billion for a total direct cost of $27.2 billion."
/.er -- it'd be like continuing to charge the old flood insurance premiums to folks who rebuild their houses after Katrina in the same old place and without improving the security of the levee system in NoLa. Reasonable folks may agree or disagree on whether individual actions they're taking actually improve security, but the old security measures were poor and bound to allow an expensive problem sooner or later.
Profit loss, etc. caused by the destruction takes that measly $27B figure into real-money levels.
If you only set aside $5B each year to payoff damages caused by terrorist attacks, you really can't afford any. To put it in terms which might be better understood by a
It's called "bacon and a kiss airlines", you have to kiss a person of the same sex, and eat bacon, to prove you're not a muslim. Then you can board the plane with any items you want, no security checks of any kind.
meh
Mine included:
http://www.linkedin.com/answers/management/business-analytics/MGM_ANA/101713-5305562?browseIdx=1&sik=1199915466174&goback=.ama
Some of these are actually pretty good.
The security at the country's airports has a serious flaw that can allow a person with his carry-on's to completely bypass all searches. The heart of the problem is that once inside the security sandbox and any airport, you can enter the security sandbox at another airport without a search by entering it from the tarmac. All it takes is one point of failure at any airport in the country to allow a privilege escalation into any airport in the country.
It turns out there are ways to do this with essentially zero risk of detection. If the 9/11 hijackers were around today, they would have almost certainly been exposed to one of these holes during their flight training.
This would create the ultimate peer-pressure to behave.
I've got an invention that will work: the calculator. Simply calculate the chances of dying in a terrorist attack, let alone one on a plane, realize you don't need that much security, and reverse all the changes you've made over the last few years.
I don't think technology will help in this matter of getting more people through the lines. More parallel security lines is the best solution for this since like the freeway more freeway lanes will increase the amount the traffic as long all of the people are moving. Technology will assist in getting more accurate results from searches. Also getting more trained personnel so idiots don't bypass the security lines so we don't have to empty the terminal and re-screen everyone thus defeating any advances in technology may have helped.
While it's impossible to prevent every type of terrorist attack, it would be downright stupid to fail to prevent a type of attack we already know about. Removing and x-raying shoes, limiting liquids, etc, are the easiest ways to accomplish that right now.
I don't buy into the idea that since we can't prevent every attack, it is foolish to try to prevent some subset of attacks. Let's not let the perfect be the enemy of good.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
as a graduate of the School for Applied SCSI Voodoo;
I hereby propose waving a rubber chicken in front of the airplane before take-off. If it crashes, then you have a positive, if it doesnt.. when then you did the waving wrong somehow.
For the Pork Barrel crowd: it can be wholesome American rubber from the straights of Florida.
Seriously, have a few more people, and have them be slightly more efficient.
You don't need to see my boarding pass more than once. Any idiot can print one of those anyway.
Make the parts of the screening process independant of each other. There's no reason the boarding pass guy should be able to have ANY impact on the metal dection guy or the x-ray guy.
I'll gladly take my shoes and belt off if I don't have to stand in line for 45 minutes. As others have pointed out, you know EXACTLY how many planes are taking off today. Staff correctly. I'll pay $1 more per ticket.
Aren't the terrorists the original proposers of problems to reduce waiting time problems?
Mass casualties, less waiting in line (perhaps some waiting in triage).
My security system must needs include a newer, betterer selection of colors.
*adjusts eyepatch*
All squirrels will be exempt from TSA screening, of course.
See you space cowboy
screeners ask everybody going by, "Hey, where ya got the bomb today?"
anybody who points goes straight to gitmo.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
How about...Racial Profiling, that ought to keep those terrorists off the planes
Here's an idea: no carry-on luggage. Period.
Allow one purse and a briefcase or small backpack. That's it.
Security lines will be faster, and embarking/disembarking the plane will be a HELL of a lot faster without some 5" 2" businesswoman trying to wrestle an oversized wheelie bag, a briefcase, her coat and her purse into an overhead bin originally designed for just the coat.
I'd rather take the risk of a lost bag (which has happened exactly once) than spend an extra hour getting on and off the plane each and every time I fly.
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
Although I am a huge supporter of the RKBA and own several guns myself, I am not too keen on the possibility of discharging a handgun thru some douchebag on an airliner and the exiting slug possibly hitting something vital on the aircraft.
Instead, I think the airlines should issue a good old fashioned American-made baseball bat to each passenger as they board the plane, and if anyone starts any crap during the flight, the rest of the passengers would be considered legally immune from prosecution for whatever they might do to remedy the situation. Keep a good supply of paper towels and disinfectant spray cleaner on board so that the passengers can wipe the stains off the bats before turning them back in at the end of the flight.
Just do to people what they currently do to the carry-ons: X-ray them. We all lie down on a conveyor belt, get X-rayed, some underpaid bozo looks at our internal organs, and we're done. FAR less hassle than the current system.
I piss off bigots.
Screw the security line. I'll be fine if you let everyone bring blades, bombs, and shampoo if you just let us have parachutes for each seat.
Seriously, we're facing the possibility of falling tens of thousands of feet and we each get a FLOATING SEAT CUSHION?!?!
I will sleep soundly on a plane the day I can strap on a parachute. Bombers snuck on board? Open the doors and jump out. Engine falling off? Ice on the wings? Arrogant pilots? Exploding tanks? Terrorists? Parachute has me covered, baby. The disabled and children get ejection seats with attached parachutes.
At least with an airline-approved parachute, I won't have to risk the James Bond-style guided freefall into the enemy who actually HAS the parachute. I've never liked the odds that a skydiver would be hurtling past at precisely the same time I need to make a quick evacuation from an airliner.
Alternative idea: several very large parachutes for the plane itself.
How about actually addressing the real world political reasons that create "terror" in the first place?
You mean these virgins?
Build that real-time video "x-ray" walkway (http://warehouse.carlh.com/article_079/total_recall_05.jpg) from Total Recall (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100802/).
If the suicidal hijackers can't complete their mission because the Passengers stop them, then they attack is a failure.
Technology -- No Place For Wimps! Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Chatroom -- http://www.wemissjerry.org
At last check, there were about 28k commercial flights per day. If undercover marshalls (2) were on one in three flights, and could reasonably cover two flights per day, at 100k burderned annual salary and 200 working days per year, I get 1.7B per year. If we assume 40% management overhead for training, supervision, and scheduling, we're up to 2.4B. I'll add 8% profit, as I will be CEO of the new corporation, so that's 2.6B.
That's 2.4B below the current TSA budget. No more security checkpoints in the airport, and a one-in-three chance that any plane is going to have armed guards. All that at half the current cost.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Modern trains are apparently quite fast, and they can't be flown into buildings.
But if checked luggage had laptops in it, you could bet it would get lost a lot more often.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
You're absolutely Not Helping, and therefore you must be helping the Terrorists, and it's No-Fly Status for you for even suggesting such a thing!
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
The TSA people freaked briefly when Richard Reid the "Shoe-Bomber" allegedly tried to trash his plane, but they backed off on that quickly enough.
The main reason for shoe removal, other than keeping the sheep scared, was that lots of shoes have metal stiffeners in them, which set off the metal detectors if they're cranked up high, and it was slowing down the lines having to do secondary scans on people when their shoes set off the detectors.
So they started telling people that you should run your shoes through the X-Ray to avoid being delayed at the metal detector. Back when I was flying more often I generally dealt with this by wearing non-metallic shoes - either sneakers, or Tevas instead of Birkenstocks, or some of my hard-sole shoes that didn't have metals.
In many airports since then, they've started simply ordering everybody to take them off, and as usual, they'll lie about "That's always been the rule", or occasionally lie about "Been that way since 9/11/2001". Or they'll lie about "It's national policy, at all airports", when it's not. What *is* true is that TSA agents can order you to do anything they feel like, just because they feel like it, and cause you no end of harassment without any repercussions to themselves, and the employee paychecks are scaled for people who are good at Shouting rather than understanding principles of law and applying them correctly to each individual customer.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
1. MRI scanners in the doorways.
2. Track people everywhere and if someone isn't chipped kill 'em.
3. Make people strip naked and wear comfy bathrobes through the whole flight.
See... easy.
My idea doesn't pass first muster.
All baggage and personal items get inspected and travel as luggage. Every passenger boards the flight wearing airline provided bathrobe and slippers. All items used in flight are airline provided.
Inconvenient as hell. But pretty safe.
Wouldn't it just be easier to show up naked at the airport with just your ID and a credit card? For one thing, your shoes will already be off :-)
Stop improving the technology and just change the business process!
...we stop interfering with other peoples lives so much that they feel the need to come to our country and blow up hundreds of innocent people just to make us go the fuck away.
I'm waiting for someone to put a water bottle of bleach and water bottle of amonia in one of those bins or something. Or better yet, suicide bomb the security line, hundreds of people in a crowded space... what are they going to do, have a security queue for the security queue?
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Does it have to be a "secure" security check, or just one the US government will approve?
If it's the latter, can I just have a sign saying "Are you an Arab?" and if the answer is yes, you can't board.
Tada! Now, where do I claim my prize?
Where did you stop reading? Here, let me help:
"Allow one purse and a briefcase or small backpack. That's it."
Put your precious notebook in there.
Allow no carry-on LUGGAGE, as in wheelies, suitcases, night cases, garment bags, duffle bags, shoulder bags designed for clothing, etc..
Again, it's one of those situations where someone's "right" to attempt to carry everything on board delays and inconveniences everyone behind them. It was fine when just a few people did it, but now it's gotten out of control.
We did without carry-on luggage before. We can do it again.
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
Is an Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grid. It's guaranteed to get rid of any unauthorized bombs, and as a side bonus, dentists will love it.
!#@%*)anks for hanging up the phone, dear.
1st place. Fire the TSA!
2nd place. Fire the TSA!
3rd place. Fire the TSA!
Where's my check?
Better yet, put it in a suitcase - in cash.
Delivery instructions to follow.
RR
Simply put? Put security checks back where they were before 9/11. Everyone, not just Americans, but people everywhere, have learned from history in the most basic sense; that when someone whips out a knife or a gun, jump them and beat the shit out of them. Pilots, in the meanwhile, have sturdier doors, and at least in the US, Air Marshalls are flying on random flights (which isn't really much more than they did before). So in essense, we don't NEED those checks anymore.
Hell, someone could walk into the lobby area with a bomb vest and kill far more than could board a plane by simply being there, without aircraft ever being involved.
Or crap, just get everyone in the US hooked on PCP, that does away with natural senses of fear altogether, and when there's no fear, there's no terror, let alone terrorism.
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
Terahertz imaging is the obvious solution for this because it can see right through clothing, detecting plastic and metal objects, without the sacrifice in resolution that has plagued microwave-based imagers. Plus, many explosives, such as RDX (C-4) and dynamite, reflect a tell-tale signature that can be detected by time-domain spectroscopy. Additionally, a terahertz scanner could scan the entire room at one time, eliminating the need for the gateway arch you wait in line for today. Couple this technology together with a computer that will flag down any explosives or drugs that it may find and you have a winning system that beats anything else. The military is expecting major advances in Terahertz technology within three to five years. This has major implications for ground-based radar (think IEDs in Iraq), due to the technology's ability to "see" under six inches of damp soil (and deeper in dry, desert-like soil). Folks, this technology will win the war in Iraq and end all notions of the right to privacy. When you've got superman's x-ray vision, there aint no part of your body that will remain private. ~Andrew
Go after the Arabs and crazy people and leave everyone else alone. Think probability, not hurt feelings.
UP AGAINST THE WALL TERRORIST! NOW! Typical whack against Christians. (Its not like you WONT find such things on
I'm willing to bet you would NEVER say such a thing about muslims.
Perhaps for one of two reasons. 1)Its politically Incorrect or 2)You'd get your head cut off. Or maybe let's celebrate our diversity and not use knee-jerk reactions as policy, eh? Ahh.. Another worshiper of 'diversity'.
Listen.. Diversity is a RESULT. Not a GOAL. I'd ask you to think about this concept, but I doubt you could handle it. Ahhh... Another 'christian without a sense of humor'. Move along folks, nothing intelligent to see here.
SWM seeks new sig for a brief fling
Full body X-ray along these lines have been available for ages! I went through Gatwick nearly 5 years ago when they were trialling these :
http://www.rapiscansystems.com/sec1000.html
Seems like the only really feasible solution - having said that, according to their press blurb the TSA have trialled them already!
~Pev
If the passengers start killing each other in confusion, then the attack is a minor, and somewhat hilarious (I'm imagining it in a dark comedy style way, though in reality it would of course be tragic) victory.
which is totally what she said
Imagine if the couple in Glasgow had succeeded in driving into the terminal building... We'd have to carry our shoes from the taxi outside and walk barefoot to the check in desk.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Haha! - 18-stage pipeline and massive cache areas...
Acclair provides security and marketing solutions based on advanced neurometric technology. Acclair offers its members priority security checkpoint clearance using Brain Fingerprinting technology and opportunities to capitalize on their brain's neuro-activity using its Neurocapital(TM) System (a unique financial remuneration and amnesty process).
Estamos como estamos porquè somos como somos.
If the government refuses to negotiate and a handful of passengers are killed in the process of stopping the hijacking it's a tragedy and the people will be pissed at the government.
If the government negotiates and the plane crashes blows up or crashes into it's target it's a tragedy and the people will be pissed at the government.
It's a no win situation. People get pissed that the government is overreacting, but then will get even MORE pissed that the government didn't "do anything" when something actually does happen.
I've checked up and you're correct, it's an EU thing. Odd given the experience I had taking a flight from UK to Greece and back again: On the outward leg liquids were restricted as standard, but coming through security on the return leg I wasn't challenged when I walked through the checkpoint with a bottle. Mostly out of curiosity I stopped to ask: and got a big laugh from the security guard, followed by: "I don't care if you drink water".
Seemed quite a sensible position to take really.
Python coder | PyQt Applications | Writer
Correct me if I'm wrong, but at least on US soil, this is basically zero? Certainly zero fatalities, right?
I may have missed a case or two, but either way, terrorism is nowhere near as dangerous as say, driving, right?
Even if you live in Israel, a state that most would agree certainly does have a terrorism problem, you're still 10X more likely to die in a car accident than a terrorist attack.
And, anyway, the US government is currently doing exactly what al-queda et. al. want in Iraq, so there's no reason for terrorists to use limited resources in a wasteful way.
My prediction that I've been making since 2004 or so is, if the US starts making serious noise about getting out of Iraq, THEN we'll see another terror attack on US soil.
The plural form of "anecdote" is "anecdotes", not "evidence".