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Airport Security Prize Announced
Reservoir Hill writes "Verified Identity Pass, a firm that offers checkpoint services at airports, has announced a $500,000 award for any solution that will make airport security checks quicker and simpler for passengers. The cash prize will go to any individual, company or institution that can get customers through airport security 15% faster, at a cost of less than 25 cents per passenger, using technology or processes that will be approved by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Passengers must not need to remove their clothes or shoes, something that slows down processing significantly. "We're looking at moving things that are conceptual or in the lab to things that we can deploy," says company spokesman Jason Slibeck and added that over 150 individuals, start-ups, defense contractors and universities have shown an interest in the prize. One promising procedure is mass spectroscopy, which involves analyzing the mass-charge ratio of ions on a swab sample taken from a passenger's clothing or air collected from around them to spot traces of substances including explosives or drugs. The Pre-Registration Package Information Sheet is available online."
The summary says nothing about maintaining security. Just abolish it, or limit it to the bare minimum and then have an air-marshal on every plain to stop people with box-cutters.
Remove all Airport security. Lots more convenient, and probably about as secure.
Do I win?
The main problem with airport security is the people manning the checkpoints. Their goal is not to get you through in the quickest period of time. They are not professional, they do not care about the happiness of their customers and appear to get their kicks by making your life miserable with their "authority". If you complain about their behavior, is rectified or do you get a rectal exam for it? There should be bonus incentives for prompt and courteous service. Have random samples of folks that have been through security give feedback on their service. Run "tests" to ensure security. Make someone accountable for the service. Unfortunately, government agencies are never accountable for the service provided to citizens. Run it like a for profit business where the customer is the focus.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Stop the ridiculous liquid thing for a start.
Yes, there WAS a plot to do that. It was an epic fail from the start and there's no reasons to keep the restrictions in place.
Hey, I have a good one, everyone checks in *everything* and flies naked. Then we'll finally be safe.
The main purpose behind the security is to keep the population frightened and annoyed. A frightened populaton is easier to control. To claim the prize you need to demonstrate its effectiveness at keeping the population under control too.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
A few times now, I've travelled on a plane with heavy computer equipment. Every time, i've checked in the main boxes minus hard-discs which I've taken as hand-luggage. Sometimes in fact, it's been so heavy the baggage at the end it's needed to be checked in via the heavy/awkward baggage drop as it's approached the 40kg mark. The thing is, every time I've done this, I've always made sure they known there's a computer inside my bag because to my mind, solid steel casing encasing circuit boards with wires coming out of it is about as suspicious a package as you can get.
What gets me is that no one seems to give a shit about what's in there - not once have they even looked to check when it goes through the ex-ray machine; lighting it up like a Christmas tree. They just assume that because it's being checked in with me, it's safe? I don't know, this is just my experience.
The discs I'm taking on as hand-luggage is a different story. I've had to explain to person after person that they're "hard-discs for a kom-pooo-ta!" not in fact weapons of mas destruction, nor agents of deadly nerve gas.
Now to my mind, if you can get a 40kg bag checked into a plane without any/many checks because it's not hand-luggage, you're just asking for trouble. The bombs that went of in Madrid were mobile detonated....what if after boarding the plane you don't suddenly "get a headache" just before take-off (of course they wont take off with your bag still in the hold), nip outside and blow the lot to kingdom come once at a safe distance? Baggage handlers aren't known for their efficiency, and imagine doing it on a plane with 300 passengers.
My point is, to my mind, this is a huge hole. Most plane hijackers have been willing to sacrifice themselves too, so just getting a "computer" into the hold would be enough...
throw new NoSignatureException();
...from a perspective not saturated by fear is to revert to the policies and procedures in place on September 10, 2001
Back oh about 7 years ago, and for the previous half-century, the airlines were responsible for what happened on their flights. As a result, they chose to set their terms of doing business: they demanded that passengers agree not to carry weapons and submit to a search to prove they are not carrying weapons.
This was perfectly acceptable, as, as private entities, they are well within their rights to set whatever terms of doing business they wish, with very few exceptions. I.e., some requirements that are to onerous, or unreasonable disclaimers of liability are not enforceable, but the particular terms they chose don't fall under that category.
You still had your second amendment right, but you agreed to refrain from exercising it as part of the terms of the ticket.
Following September 11, 2001, Federal agencies took over the rule-making and enforcing, and were able to violate constitutionally protected rights because travelers had gotten used to the restrictions when they were made by an organization that actually had the authority to request them. That's why the second amendment stops at the airport gates.
Fortunately, you don't actually have to cross the airport gates to travel by air. Private charters, buddies, etc, can all fly without ever connecting to a terminal. You can, of course, take whatever you want with you on those flights (as long as the charter company or your friend don't object) GA, the best kept secret of the aviation industry.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
Hell, hand out box cutters to every passenger. Sure, some people are gonna get hurt but no planes will be hijacked ever again.
That's not an issue - the problem of airplanes being hijacked and used as weapons was solved at 10:03 AM on 2001-09-11 over a field in Shanksville, PA.
'Average' Americans figured out the security equation just more than an hour after the first plane hit Tower 1.
Everything since is a distraction.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
We haven't seen them, but sadly, this is only because the people in power have gotten smarter about hiding they. Now, they put these camps in Cuba, various European countries, etc. Sure, they're not rounding up every Muslim in the U.S. this time, but they are periodically treating folks who live in Muslim communities like criminals, and it is highly likely that there are people who in the U.S. internment camps like Gitmo who shouldn't be there.
It's the New American Way: reduce the head count and offshore everything.... *sigh*
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
I can tell you exactly what will happen. A quite hiss. You can not create a fiery disaster on a plane with a handgun, or a shot gun. Also, the person being shot at will die.
First of all, when you fire a weapon there is a good enough chance that you will miss the target and your bullet peirces the ceiling. Not to mention that the chances increase exponentially if you have never fired before and it increases 5 fold if its a shotgun.
All this ignoring the fact the O2 masks are useless. They ahve never saved a life. Any aircraft incident large enough to cause deployment means the aircraft will desend rapidly, preferably under control, but not always.
Now, assume the bullet hits the ceiling and almost immediately the aircraft will start de-pressurizing (venting oxygen too) which is a very bad thing (read Hypoxia). In general, commercial aircraft are pressurized at a maximum cabin altitude equivalent to about 8,000 feet, where it is possible to breathe normally without an oxygen mask. This is when the oxygen masks come in handy as you are venting oxygen into the atmosphere.
Since there is air at the altitude the plane is flying, and the fact that in about 90 seconds you will be at an altitude with sufficient air, they really aren't need.
Are you kidding me? Why do you think people who climb mountains carry oxygen masks? What is this air that you are talking about? The air is so thin at high altitudes you can hardly breathe. And no, the plane will not descend so rapidly if it was just a bullet hole. What makes you think the plane will descend within 90 sec? The ceiling hull will surely hold if its just a bullet hole.