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Checkpoint of the Future Coming Soon To Airports
cultiv8 writes with this excerpt from an AP story as carried by Yahoo: "Eye scanners and futuristic security tunnels may be standard in airports soon as the airline industry seeks to maintain safety while reducing the hassles of boarding a plane that deter some people from flying. The International Air Transport Association unveiled a mock-up Tuesday in Singapore of what it dubbed the 'Checkpoint of the Future,' where passengers separated by security risk would walk through one of three high-tech, 20-foot-long (6.1-meters-long) tunnels that can quickly scan shoes and carry-on luggage and check for liquids and explosives. ... In the IATA prototype, passengers would be categorized based on the results of a government risk assessment that is put into a chip in a passenger's passport or other identification. An eye scan would then match the passenger to the passport."
They got the idea from total recall then?
What's the cancer risk then? How much radiation do we need to absorb in the name of safety? Will people be restricted from flying too often to keep them safe from our invasive scans?
I'm one of the lucky ones: I don't have a job-related need to take an airplane, so I haven't flown for the last few years.
Seriously: the TSA has proven time and again that they can't be trusted with wiping their own ass, much less handling security, privacy, or customer relations.
I feel bad for the airlines, and I miss going places I can't drive, but I cannot stomach their security theatre, invasiveness, or sexual assaults.
Wealthy enough to own/charter your own plane.
i can see why the nerds might be upset.
Willing participants in a travel system that could just drive if they weren't so full of themselves that they thought they had to be somewhere in 90 minutes instead of 10 hours.
New Hampshire was one of the first states to reject "Real-ID", and to hell with the (then-threatened) restrictions on air travel. I was one of the people that campaigned actively for this; one of my friends was a co-sponsor of the bill that did the opt-out, not only from Real-ID, but from "any national identification card system that may follow"
If that sounds good to you, you should check us out: http://freestateproject.org//intro/real-id
Part of the Second American Revolution!
You mean all they have to do is blow up the tunnels. This is a fraud stacked on more fraud stacked on bullshit with bullshit sprinkles. Why the hell are we so afraid of our passenger airplanes being blown up? Holy shit, after all the school shootings in America you can still pretty much just walk in to a school, why are airlines so risky? Stupid stupid STUPID!
If I can just reach out with my words and touch a butthole, just one, it will all be worth it.
Don't be so naive. Anything more than a 9 hour drive and you're paying more for gas by driving, plus wasting a half day or more of vacation each way. And a majority of flyers are business, and therefore actually NEED to be there in a couple hours as opposed to the next day. Who would take an 8 hour drive instead of a 1 hour flight?
From TFA:
"Airlines are seeking ways to win back passengers put off by long and irritating airport security measures who have opted to travel instead by train, boat or car. IATA said Monday it expects the industry's profit this year to plummet to $4 billion from $18 billion last year."
It sounds like people have quit flying in droves since TSA implemented scanners and patdowns last year. Are there any other stories that could confirm this conclusion?
Except if they're programmed to. Thing is, they also can't be persuaded that you're right.
And if they're bringing out the human Scanners, I fear for my thoughts and everything else...
Hyperbole: I use it liberally!
wonder how fast this would die if the company that wants to get paid for this had to sell them at cost for no profit and the highest paid employee was not allowed to be any more than 20x the lowest paid employee with no other benefits or stock allowed.
Yes, it would.. you could put it in the cargo hold and have dinner with the captain
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
He would move, but he's been deemed 'High Risk' so his government won't let him travel.
Me, although not an 8 hour drive but an 8 hour train ride. I used to travel from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia a lot. The plane trip is ~30 minutes, while the train ride is about 6-7 hours. With all the BS in the terminal, and traffic at the airport, the plane ride turned into a ~4 hour affair. The seats are cramped, there were no outlets, not much of a view, especially sitting in the aisle.
On the train, the seats go almost all the way back, I can get up and walk around, there are outlets at every seat, there's a viewing car I can sit in and watch the countryside go by, a movie car, a dining car, and I can even get a private room with a fold out bed if I want. And hey, if you're a smoker you can light up a cigg at every stop! Sure it costs a little more but my god it's worth it, and this was before the days of full body scanners. Now... my god I'd never fly unless I was absolutely forced to.
Why on Earth would they try to blow up the plane if they have to go through such tight security? It's a lot easier to target the lines.
Excerpts from the last thoughts of Abdul Hassan Gamal ibn al Azad*: "I wait in line, my backpack concealing three kilograms of C4, surrounded by a layer of scrap metal and nails dipped in anti-coagulant rat poison. I wait for the line to get as long as possible to include the greatest number of people in the blast. I don't care if I die, 40 (or 42?) virgins will be my reward for fighting the Holy War in the name of the one god Allah. I trigger the detonator..."
Maybe less casualties than downing an Airbus, possibly more if the line is long and packed, and no need to risk going through security. The fact that the bomber dies first doesn't seem to be a problem when they're happy to die, and you can afford to use them like money ante poker chips, knowing you can always recruit five more for every one that's caught or killed. The checkpoints merely shifted the most vulnerable point from the air onto the ground, where the terrorists can do even more damage.
* Any semblance to living persons is purely coincidental.
Hyperbole: I use it liberally!
Because the military industrial complex saw the opportunity to sell expensive, unnecessary shit to an ignorant, fearful populace, and they're damn good at getting the government to give them money to waste. End result: The TSA, who has never once in its entire history prevented someone who tried to sneak a bomb on a plane from doing so. Exactly three people have tried to sneak bombs or bomb-making materials through the TSA's security since 9/11. All three have succeeded.
And does that assessment include the color of your skin? Because that's what it really sounds like they're talking about.
I know this is an unpopular opinion to have, but if statistics show that people with a certain color of skin have been more likely to blow up a plane in the past, why would you not use that? Just because it is not politically correct? I think it is stupid to ignore a statistic that could save lives just because some people might get offended.
Pattern recognition is a skill that we have developed over millions of years and it has kept us from becoming a footnote in history. Why should we throw that away?
I'm not saying we should anal probe every Saudi that gets on a plane, I'm just saying exercise whatever extra precaution the statistics bear up. And if other statistics are better indicators, obviously we should give them more weight.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
our jobs are such that we visit our clients across the country
That's that sense of self-importance thing, again. Grinding yourself in the gears of the machine for a few more shekels is a psychological issue.
Yeah, probably. I mean, it all depends on how often this needs to be done. If I'm doing that trip every week, obviously the time spent on a train/driving would really start to add up. But these days if I have to go to a conference once or twice a year I'll opt for the train. I can get a lot of work done in my sleeper room anyway.
Also it's not that much more expensive. Cheapest round trip flight I can find from Philadelphia to Seattle on Orbitz is $624. Cheapest round trip for Amtrak is $857. So $233 more for a train, or about 40% more. If you get a sleeper it is more, but then again you get all your meals free.
They do this because the TSA is so good at capturing terrorists with their fancy equipment. Just last week, keeping the average caught per week, they successfully captured 0 more terrorists! With specs like that, how can you possibly think of reducing their effectiveness by decreasing their technological advantages. Remember how proudly they displayed the Rifle they confiscated from the GI Joe doll! Three whole inches of plastic mayhem! This new technology might DOUBLE their effectiveness!
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
Unless you're only flying from tiny little airports, I'm surprised by that. Even a medium-sized airport is crazy.
Depending on how big your city is, getting to the airport is likely a 30 minute or so affair. They suggest you arrive at the airport at least 90 minutes before your flight ... that's two hours right there. then your 30 minute flight. Figure 20 minutes easily to get your bags, and then assume another 30 minutes to your destination.
I figure that's 3.5 hrs right there, give or take.
Hell, when I fly a longer haul flight ... the trip time to the airport, the recommended arrival time, and the time on the back end don't change. My usual flight is about 4h15 minutes ... and the trip takes me about 7.5 hrs door to door.
In all but the most tiny of regional airports, I can't see how you are getting away with only 2 hours including flight time. In my experience, there's pretty much 2 hrs minimum on the front end of the flight, and 1 hr on the backend ... regardless of the actual flight time.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
just what train did you find that only takes 2 days?
The secret Stonecutter train through the Earth's crust.
Thing dingbat that decided to roast his chestnuts was not an Arab.
That's racial profiling, and you're right, it does not work. Too many false positives, and overly susceptible to false negatives. What does work is behavioral profiling, and it seems to me the main reason it's not being used is that people (like you just have) confuse the two and assume all profiling is bad!
my only question is if you travel that route that much - why don't you just move?
by plane or by air or by anything to spend that much time just to move around seems a horrid waste of time/energy/money..
'...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
All you need to bypass such level of "security" is to find a willing participant with skin color which is not critical.
And you probably only need to do it once. Get all skin colors up to "critical level" and voila - everyone is a potential terrorist once more.
Or no one is, depending on your perspective.
Prioritizing according to clearly visible and easily circumventable markers is a poor security technique.
Might as well look only for people holding a stick of dynamite in one hand and a lit lighter in the other.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Exactly. In the past decade, how many millions of passengers flew without any intent of blowing up the planes or doing any other kind of harm? How many people boarded airplanes with the intent to do harm (hijack, blow up, or even just threaten)? I don't have the figures on hand but if 500,000,000 flew without intent to do harm and 500 flew intending to harm others, then the terrorist-to-passenger ratio is 0.0001%. And my guesstimate is likely on the high side.
When I fly I'm not scared of some terrorist killing us all. I'm scared of mechanical failure, weather-related issues and TSA overreaching causing inconvenience/loss of rights. The first is the responsibility of the airlines to prevent. The second is out of everyone's hands. The third is the government overreaching in a desperate attempt to be able to say "Hey, look! We're doing something!"
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
I've never been on a commuter train (just a historical one in Utah). That actually sounds like a really pleasant way to travel. Better even than driving yourself.
It's only pleasant if time really isn't a factor. It's great if you just want to treat the journey as part of the trip, rather than just the destination. One of the downsides is freight traffic seems to get some sort of priority. On one trip, excessive freight traffic added 4 hours to the journey. I was fine with it since I was in the observation car with 3G and a power outlet, but I can see how other people could find that frustrating.
You realize you get far more radiation while actually flying at high altitudes than you get from the scanners?
Tesla was a genius. Edison however was a overrated hack who liked to torture puppies.
You realize that not all radiation is the same right? For a simplistic view of photon radiation, there are high energy photons (x-rays and gamma-rays) with an absorption length of several meters of human tissue which distribute an even dose throughout your tissue and then there are relatively low-energy photons with an absorption length of about a millimeter of human tissue which are consequently absorbed predominantly by your skin, concentrating the dose there.
The TSA claims to be using the low-energy kind that concentrate the dose on your skin which would likely cause skin cancer. (I haven't looked up the absorption spectrum of melanin, but I think it drops off before we get to the soft x-ray region so dark skinned people may be just as susceptible as pasty white /.ers.)
He factored car traffic in. Considering most airports are on outskirts of the city (vs train terminals which tend to be near the center of the city), and the roads to them tend to be jammed most of the time, a 1h drive to the airport and 1h drive from the airport is a very probable estimate.
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2