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Cancer Cluster Possibly Found Among TSA Workers
OverTheGeicoE writes "TSA employees at Logan International Airport believe they have identified a cancer cluster in their ranks, according to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and released by the Electronic Privacy Information Center. They have requested dosimetry to counter 'TSA's improperly non-monitored radiation threat.' So far, at least, they have not received it. The documents also reveal a paper from Johns Hopkins that essentially questions whether it is even safe to stand near an operating scanner, let alone inside one. Also, the National Institute of Standards and Technology says that the Dept. of Homeland Security 'mischaracterized' their work by telling USA Today that NIST affirmed the safety of the scanners when in fact NIST does not do product safety testing and never tested a scanner for safety."
This should stop now. Most people dont even realize that there is the possibility of danger of goin into one of these things. Those of us that are concerned get the ol pat down. Myself, I'm not even going to fly at all. F you TSA.
This is a classic government mistake, trying to eliminate a threat in one area causes needless problems in another area. Ever since 9/11 the airport security people have gotten a blank check. TSA seems willing to buy any new scanner invented, safety tests will be done later if ever. It's been a long time since we've heard of an airplane disruption on a domestic flight... do we really need to up the specs on this technology?
If you can't beat the system from without, beat it from within. We should throw as much support as possible behind this - get some lawyers in there, get some reporters over there, do whatever we can.
Not trolling but after what they did to this 95 year old woman http://news.travel.aol.com/2011/06/26/tsa-pats-down-elderly-woman-removes-adult-diaper-video/ I hope they all get cancer and die.
Shame on you TSA and shame on you President Obama for letting this happen to AMERICA.
How many people need to be deadly sick from this insanity to realized the non sense of a full body scanner.
Considering tons of material entering in each days in airport for restaurant, boutique and workers... I feel safe to say that someone can find another way to enter stuff behind the gate without having to carry it on himself!
Bad guy will always have the guns even if it's illegal!
Sounds like karma to me... no decent human being would be able to handle that job long-term. Only the most callous and sadistic stay.
Women are like electronics: you don't know how damaged they are until you try to turn them on.
But you see, security devices aren't regulated. Medical devices are regulated, but security devices aren't medical devices. Says so right on the label. Just take our word for it that this is safe.
Standing in the scanner for a short period exposes you to a small amount (Although it, by design, dumps all that radiation in a thin layer of skin, upping the effective dose for your skin...), and reflects the rest. Standing around the reflected radiation, for hours, and hours on end, for days, months, and years...
Hey, the shoe sizing fluoroscopes were such a great idea, too...
There is no safe level of radiation - there are simply levels that don't significantly increase risk. It may well be discovered that hanging out by XRay sources isn't as un-bad for your health as previously assumed (perhaps due to not actually testing..) I'm so glad my tax dollars paid for all this tech and will now pay all the large sums that will get awarded in the inevitable law suits.. Yay.
in assuming it's the scanners before having properly ruled out Voodoo.
Nullius in verba
I suppose it's time to get comfortable with the idea of intimate relations with TSA screeners. It wouldn't be so bad but for the lack of choice in who does the screening, the lack of cuddling afterwards and total absence of a commitment. It just makes the whole ordeal seem so tawdry.
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once
Even if you bought into the bullshit about the scanners being safe (despite little or no testing), doesn't it seem a little obvious that something was up when they wouldn't let TSA employees were those little radiation badges that change color to indicate when you've had too much exposure?
Not sure if trolling...
A cancer cluster is a geographic or demographic grouping in which cancer is found to occur at higher than expected (or "normal") levels.
Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
Did the survey adjust for the fact that these window-licking retards have been chewing on paint-chips and drinking from the toilet?
Can we make corrupt politicians, and anyone who voted for the Patriot Act work these machines for a few months every year?
They deserve it. Random text to pad out the comment.
The TSA has yet to catch a real terrorist, but has likely given at least some people cancer. All for security theater. And also all the abuse of authority they have done lately, such as making a 95 year old woman remove her Depends during a search: http://www.newsherald.com/news/mother-94767-search-adult.html , I almost don't feel bad for the affected agents.
But NIST does test for accuracy, and the other labs that test for safety would rely on that accuracy.
Counting on the manufacturer for safety testing. What could go wrong?
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
Nice troll. "Take one life to save one life." Remember, if this is a cancer cluster, and it is caused by something in the TSA environment, they're literally killing themselves so that you can feel a sense of security. And most would argue that you cannot prove the scanners are effective, thus you're trading their lives for imaginary safety. If you're willing to kill just to feel safe, wouldn't it be better if you just picked up a gun, went to $terroristsourcedujour and started shooting?
Canada: The US's more awesome sibling.
I actually talked about this with a TSA agent recently (during a pat-down). The trouble is that the X-ray "spot" in the scanners is actually fairly intense; the scanning machines are only safe if the spot in kept in motion., as it is supposed to be when in use. (The scanner is doing a raster scan, and looking for backscatter.) If there is any internal reflection, then someone outside the machine (i.e., a TSA agent) could get repeated exposures, which would not be good. The same might be true if people in the scanners had reflections from buttons or other metal items. It seems unlikely, but the only way to be sure is to measure it.
...What American would honestly let some terrorist hijack a plane in 2011? The only reason they succeeded on 9/11 was because no one knew what the hell was going on. Passengers would bum-rush them today, plain and simple.
Are you trying to claim the government will mischaracterize the truth in order to push a political agenda that is convenient?
That seems highly unlikely.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
I found the following link: http://www.sierradosimetry.com/pricelist.aspx
On this page is offered a dosimetric badge service costing $160/year. At that level, the user return their badge each month, receiving a new badge. They are given a monthly result reading, which should be higher time resolution than needed for this application.
If the TSA employees really care, maybe 16 of them could each pitch in $10 for one badge to be worn by the person who runs the machine...
As a frequent flyer it is fairly easy to avoid the scanners. Many smaller airports don't have them, and they are too slow for the majority of larger ones and are often turned off or majority of people waved around. Over time you learn where the scanners will not be used. The sad part is most TSA agents are normal people that need a job. They are forced to stand near devices that may be safe if operating properly, but over time normal wear and tear will increase the exposure. As is normal with a slow acting, long term effect problem, owned by the government, it won't be acknowledged until the majority of victims are dead. Like nuclear submarines, have the TSA agents where dosimeter badges every day for a year. Lets see if there is a problem.
Seriously, how likely is it that cancer would be completely uniformly distributed?
Given that most TSA staff appear to be ill-educated mouthbreathers whose primary diet consists of cigarettes, Coke and Funyuns, shouldn't they consider general lifestyle factors as well?
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
Ask yourself this question: Would you rather have Freedom or Security?
I choose freedom. Unfortunately I can't choose often enough because the majority in the US vote for Security, then act surprised when they lose Freedom.
While I have no doubt these machines are the bane of our personal freedom, and may even be dangerous its also possible that cancer clusters show up randomly. They do in areas near cellphone towers, unrelated to radiation, simply because clusters happen randomly too.
Hm, Hm, Hm... I thought all the Fukushima threads had established that low-dose radiation is far from harmful, and actually promoting your health? Where are the nuclear proponents now? All I see in this thread so far is decrying of the evil government raining down destruction by means of scanning machines. Cognitive dissonance, anyone?
Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
No, it's a group of people born in late June or the first two-thirds of July.
How long have these scanners been in place? How many TSA employees are there?
How many are smokers?* How many have been diagnosed with cancer? What sort of cancers are we talking about here?
It seems very early on for any meaningful pattern to have become visible.
_____
*- consider this shorthand for every common risk factor that might be relevant.
Right. Of course the scanners are useless, better to use you know proven security screening methods like ... profiling(behavioral and otherwise).
Om, nomnomnom...
Who are these people that do not love to live in a Police State? The last few I have seen where in Libia and Egypt. Perhaps you think of a few individual Americans. The majority I see are people waving the flag and singing the the national anthem just like they learned at school.
The beginning of indoctrination not to doubt government. Best way to do that is when they are young.
(I have Karma to burn)
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Individual effective dose is below Negligible Individual Dose (NID) if an individual is subjected to fewer that screenings in a year...
Uhh, why in the name of FSM is the data most pertinent to the public redacted? That's the kind of data that isn't "sensitive" unless it makes the program look bad. Basically, in my humble opinion, that's an admission of guild by the DHS that these backscatter devices are probably exceeding the NID within a short period of time.
OP says that the letter says it "questions whether it is even safe to stand near an operating scanner, let alone inside one."
Um, helps to read the fine linked document, which has been partially redacted, but still says "Individual effective dose per screening (frontal and rear) of a subject is , less than the 10 urem (0.10 uSv) limit. Further down a standard (NCRP 1993) is quoted which "recommends that members of the general public receive less than 1 mSv (0.1 rem) per year."
So, if these numbers are compared (who knows if they are reproducible) you are considered safe up to about 10,000 scans per year (1 mSv / 0.10 uSv).
The document does indicate there is a potential danger from X-ray beam overshoot "above and behind" the scanner. Yes, but note in the diagram this area BEGINS at 13.8 FEET above the ground, and RISES IN A CONE!!! So, you may be at risk if you're about 14 feet tall (or work in an office on the second floor?) standing behind the machine...
Clusters of cancer cases happen all the time. There are condominiums in Florida where the incidence of cancer is 10-100 times higher than the national average. But, when we consider what kind of people live in them (retirees from New York), then the incidence is the same as would be expected for old people. It is important to adjust for factors. Also, clusters can occur at random due to chance alone. If one selects 1000 high schools, then some of them will have an unusually high number of pediatric cancer cases due to chance.
This relates to a famous statistical problem, “How many people can be in the same room until there is a better than 50% chance that there will be at least one shared birthday?”
The best way to approach this problem is to calculate the compliment, “What is the probability that there are no shared birthdays?”
When there is one person in the room, the probability is 1.
When there are two people, the probability is 364/365, since there are 364 other birthdays to choose from.
When there are three people, the probability is (364/365) * (363/365).
And so on, until there are 22 people, at which point the product becomes .4927028. At that point, there is a less than 50% chance that there are no shared birthdays. By the same token, there is a better than 50% chance that there is at least one shared birthday.
What TSA doesn't want to tell their own agents and the flying public are the basics of ionizing radiation exposure.
The basic formula for radiation exposure is: time X radiation level X ratio of body exposure = total exposure.
Since the backscatter scanner's radiation exposure is focused mostly on the skin the ratio would be roughly 20 to 1 (1 being an entire body Gamma Ray or X-Ray exposure) as opposed to a normal chest X-ray that exposes mostly the chest but does expose the entire body to X-Rays which would probably be 3 to 1. That makes the X-ray about 7 times damaging to the skin.
The time of exposure is very short for any one individual in the backscatter scanner so this factor is very low per exposure. That means the TSA agents will get hundreds of exposures every day as opposed to a traveler that would get dozens of scans per year at most.
The next factor is radiation level. Clearly the radiation level per exposure is much higher in the scanner than outside of the backscatter scanner but backscatter X-rays tend to escape outside the scanner via openings so the exposure outside would NOT be negligible compared to the exposure inside. Let's say the TSA agent gets 1/20th of the exposure any one passenger gets.
This formula predicts that the average passenger will get a tiny amount of radiation it is mostly concentrated in the skin equal to that of several cross-county flights (extremely low) and that the TSA agents will receive hundreds of times that dose per year (not so low).
This all assumes that the backscatter scanner is in prefect working order, if not it may give a X-ray up to hundreds of times above normal. This is why all other X-Ray equipment is run and inspected by X-Ray technicians. At TSA checkpoints you will not find any such animal.
At any rate is will be the TSA agents that may get low but considerable radiation exposures passenger after passenger, day after day, week after week, thousands of significantly reduced exposures every week as each average passenger gets a higher dose a few times a year at most. 1/20th times thousands of exposures is still about a FEW HUNDRED times the backscatter X-ray exposure than what any average passenger would experience per year. It is very conceivable that TSA agents may have an elevated risk of skin cancers in the future and we may be seeing the first signs of this with the cancer cluster.
Look, cancer occurs everywhere, and people are lousy with seeing patterns that don't exist. The same sort of thing happened w/ Fukishima: it would take years for that to have _caused_ cancer in anyone, but if a month after the disaster someone you know gets diagnosed, you will assume it was *because* of the disaster. People read an article about how these machines are unsafe, and a month later their co-worker gets diagnosed; they assume it's because of the machine. But in neither case could there have been enough time for the proposed cause to have had that effect.
And the article says "TSA *employees* identified cancer clusters possibly linked to radiation exposure." The employees? Not, like, a doctor?
These machines should be tested for safety, and I hope they are... before an _actual_ cancer cluster is created.
Those who fail to understand communication protocols, are doomed to repeat them over port 80.
Backscatter X-ray machines do emit ionizing radiation. The competing millimeter wave scanners are not ionizing, but having flown through Boston Logan airport recently, the machines they were using certainly looked like backscatter, not millimeter wave, scanners.
I'm not sure how you're expecting to burn your karma. Truer words are seldom spoken and if/when I have kids, you'd better be damned sure that the first thing that they're taught to doubt will be any government.
"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
It could bring the whole TSA down if a few people get cancer.
Or not ... because the taxpayer will be funding it and they've always got *trillions* to spare.
No sig today...
If it is proven that these scanners are dangerous and must be removed, what will fill the 'fear theater' void?
I first imagined, "Body Cavity Checks For All!", but that != profit for Chertoff, et al. Maybe they'll do it for shits & giggles, anyway...
Imagination drew in bold strokes, instantly serving hopes and fears, while knowledge advanced by slow increments...
No, not trolling. Even thought I was trying to be funny, I really wanted to know.
Thanks.
PlusFive Slashdot reader for Android. Can post comments.
Wow, what a bunch of hogwash. The identified cancer cluster was identified as "an influx of TSA employees falling victim to various forms of cancer, strokes and heart disease". It is not limited to Boston - it is actually the ATL employees who first mentioned it. I'm sure the exposure over the last 12 months caused all this. Cancer pops up (as does heart disease) the moment you are exposed...
Read the sources, not the press releases.
It happens when people in government have direct relation to or stake in the success of the industries that produce these items and therefore push their purchase by and installation in as many locations as possible.
----------
Former Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff has been criticized for heavily promoting full-body scanners while not always fully disclosing that he is a lobbyist for one of the companies that makes the machines.[115][116] Other full-body scanner lobbyists with Government connections include:[117]
former TSA deputy administration Tom Blank
former assistant administrator for policy at the TSA, Chad Wolf
Kevin Patrick Kelly, "a former top staffer to Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who sits on the Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee"
Former Senator Al D'Amato
----------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_body_scanner#Full-body_scanner_lobbyists
If asked whether you prefer a pat-down, just say "Hell yeah, that's why I fly, else I wouldn't have any sex life anymore!"
If you can't avoid being miserable, at least make sure that you're not the only one suffering.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I loved flying back in the days when you got wings, playing cards and meals. The pilot was always giving kids tours of the cockpit.
Now it is all about squeezing the last dime out of flights and politically driven security theatre. Not much fun for anyone.
While I want someone to stick it to the TSA for the scanners I think it is unlikely they have a case.
There are simply not that many TSA agents in the world to produce a statistically significant cancer signal without exposure at the level that would produce visible signs of poisioning or at least easily spotted with portable dosimeters able to detect low energy x-rays.
It would have to be trivial for TSA to make an exposure case simply by measuring the environment in which they work.
What was done to that woman was atrocious. However condamning the rank and file TSA employees does nothing; they're just trying to make ends meet like everybody else, and in general they too loath what they have to do as a part of their job. People at the top that are responsible for all these nonsense are utterly indifferent to what happens, and until they're held accountable, nothing changes.
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
Mods need to stop marking funny things insightful. It messes with my head.
The thing is, if they are this incompetent with known technology, why in the hell are we trusted them with unproven technology whose risks are known unknowns?
Hands on your junk? Funny. I don't have "junk". I have a phallus. A cock. A penis. It goes by several different names, but never "junk". Maybe if you had a real phallus of your own, you would decide that the TSA couldn't fondle it any longer. Junk is what you have no use for, and you'd like to have hauled away to be recycled.
Oh, what's that you say? All those names are rather vulgar, and you'd rather not use them? Alright, you tell me which is more vulgar. 1) The proper terms for your anatomy, or 2) common laymen's terms for your anatomy, or 3) the fact that strange men and women can grope your anatomy at will?
Junk. Just grow a pair, alright?
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
The TSA had already been lobbying for rad badges, and been turned down because the badges would make people tend to believe the scanners weren't safe. :-)
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
But a self-identified cancer cluster is never really convincing. There was a recent situation in San Diego where parents believe that a school build on contaminated ground are causing a cancer cluster among the children of the community. But repeated reveal by the state (yae, it's a conspiracy!) has shown that not to be the case. Yes, dosimetry monitoring and actual analysis of cancer cases among TSA employee are in order. But I am not jumping to conclusion too quickly. As far as I understand, cancer causing radiation doesn't act this way, this fast.
The only possible interpretation of any research whatever in the 'social sciences' is: some do, some don't
I'm curious if that's the old Cancer (June 22nd to July 21st) or the new Cancer (July 20 to August 10)?
Some decades ago, X-ray machines were common. So common that you could go into a department store and get an X-ray to see how well your new shoes fit. Doctors routinely used continuous X-ray scanners (fluoroscopes) with dosages much higher and for much longer durations.
Once people started to suspect that X-rays could cause cancer, it was straightforward to find out. Not trivial, but straightforward. Follow a lot of people and look for a correlation between exposure and cancer. Lo and behold, there is an effect.
Once the effects were measured we could compare risks. One of the results was that the risk due to undiagnosed dental problems is far greater than the risk of cancer from an X-ray, so dental X-rays are a good trade-off.
Fast forward to modern times and we have scanners. There is no evidence to suggest that these devices are safe, or unsafe. The manufacturer has a *model* of what should happen with the dosages, and the consensus of opinion is that the devices are safe... except that the result is based on the model, not evidence. Pick different assumptions to get a different model and there may be a risk.
Some assumptions about the new technology are: a) The manufacturer is correctly reporting dosage, b) The radiation is blocked by the skin (or in reverse, the effects will concentrate in the skin), c) Exposures below a certain threshold pose no risk (versus, any exposure causes proportional risk)
To put this in perspective, it's instructional to look at the history of MRI machines. Despite the fact that there is no known mechanism for magnetic fields interacting with the body and causing problems (notwithstanding metal implants &c), the FDA cautiously required progressive testing of the machines before they were deployed for common use.
I approve of this sort of thing. It's one thing to believe that magnetic fields have no effect, but it's important to test things out before you try them on, for example, pregnant women.
In summary, there has been no testing of the TSA scanners whatsoever. Their entire claim to safety rests on their belief that they know how the radiation will affect living tissue, but they cannot back that up with evidence.
They are not scientists, and they have side-stepped the normal medical safety certification process that we take for granted.
Scientists make conclusions based on evidence, politicians make conclusions based on models.
You must be fun at parties!
you tell me which is more vulgar. 1) The proper terms for your anatomy, or 2) common laymen's terms for your anatomy, or 3) the fact that strange men and women can grope your anatomy at will?
4) strange men and women can grope your anatomy at will while you are rubbing your nipples
mmm... i have sudden urge to get me some frequent flyer miles....
"Don't let fools fool you. They are the clever ones."
Most right. This is no different than say airline pilots vs. passengers. Statistics show airline pilots have a higher incident of cancer which of course makes sense since they're getting the dosage every working day of their life vs. a passenger that has occasional dosage. So too, a screener is there every work day getting their dose of radiation standing around those things.
On a related note. Does anyone know how successful passengers have been in trying to carry their own personal dosimeter through one of those machines? Are there certain versions more likely to be permitted?
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once
>> Cancer Cluster Possibly Found Among TSA Workers
What a crying shame.
It's probably cancer of the anal sphincter. It's what happens when you assemble a critical mass of assholes.
What about the scanned people itself? They belong to another cancer cluster (maybe more significant?) or they are too busy to investigate that?
Anyway, this probably will end in protection for them, not for the passengers.
but wouldn't you think that someone that was the former head of a government security agency might know a bit about the needs of that agency and be able to start a company that can provide for those needs?
Yes, I know, it's common practice, but profiting from an industry that you have or had official power over is textbook corruption. Participating in a bidding process where you have special inside knowledge is corruption, and it doesn't get more special or inside than "I was head of the agency last week."
Chertoff belongs in jail.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
Cancers are bad news, but we might be on the brink of a major free energy breakthrough as a consolation. We just need to find Ossama Bin Laden's corpse and attache it to a dynamo for free energy.
Die a slow, painful death you wannabe SS child molesters.
Whether they are getting large amounts of radiation is up for debate, but whether they should be allowed to wear a radiation badge is not. As human beings they absolutely have the right to know what they are getting. The unknown promotes fear.
First of all, for someone making TSA wages, $160 is a significant investment.
Second of all, what are you going to do if it shows you're just about ready to glow in the dark?
Quit? If that was an option, you'd have done it long ago.
Tell your boss? Tell him what, that the unauthorized, unapproved device that you just violated national security with has thrown a spurious reading?
Tell your coworkers? "Honey, Bill says we have to get evicted this month because his armpatch turned green." I think you'd find your coworkers would rather call you a liar and a troublemaker than volunteer to become homeless.
Alert the media? "The TSA responded to blog reports today that Bill the TSA Guy has been fired for mental health issues, theft and sexual harassment charges. Mr. Bill has been committed for a 72-hour hold on suicide watch... [cut to coworker video] Bill was always a liar and a troublemaker..."
Youtube? "Defense contractor Quantum Dynamics, the maker of the badge in the "Bill the TSA Guy" video, reported today that the badge reading was in error and the result of user error, most likely the result of having been placed in a microwave oven...[cut to badge in microwave] See how the badge looks just like the one in Bill's video... [cut to coworker] Bill was always a liar and a troublemaker hanging around the microwave making popcorn when he should have been working..."
I've seen people die of cancer, and I've always said I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
Today I found out I meant it.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
While they irradiate all of the sheep who just go along with whatever they are told, they are also killing themselves! Fantastic. Only disgusting point is that they somehow think they are more entitled to protection than their victims, the American public.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Check out this site for a list of the TSA's accomplishments. It seems that their greatest accomplishment is spending billions and billions of dollars without any *real* accomplishments.
This site has a much better approach to listing the accomplishments of the TSA.
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
I second that, there is so much money going in and so many on the Homeland Security welfare teat that cutting it back and replacing it with real law enforcement would cost a lot of jobs and cut the revenue stream for a lot of security snakeoil salesman. It would be political suicide for anyone that does it, so don't expect it from a first term President.
The sheer stupidity of the situation with the machines is that no trustworthy third party examines the machines and declares them safe for use. It's a recipie for corruption or dangerous shortcuts, and the reason why not even a dentist could get away with the same thing with their x-ray machine.
That's a bit of a worry. I used to have to wear a dosimeter just because I worked in the same building as an industrial x-ray machine. The operators had a wear a dosimeter even though the machine was behind two brick walls with a foot of sand filling the space between the walls. You don't just throw the monitoring gear away because you think the sheilding is good enough, you keep it to confirm it is good enough. There were real time sensors with alarms as well but the role of the dosimeter badges was to monitor low level exposure to the wearer over time.
The older dosimeters were really just a bit of unexposed film and the density when it was developed at the end of the month would give you the level of exposure. That's simple and dirt cheap technology which does the job.
Lovely bit of logic, 9/11 was done with box-cutters and was a hijack. That can be stopped by determined passengers, maybe.
But an exploding bomb? The two examples given WERE successful UP to the point the bomb failed to explode. But if the bombs had been properly made, the passengers would not have been alive enough to tacke the bomber after the explosion.
The whole security thing is the problem you always have with security, as long as the security is effective, nothing seems to happen to show the need for the security.
Think of it like this, that really big guy at the door of that peaceful bar, what the fuck is he there for? It is not as if anybody is trying anything. Nope, because the guard is there.
Want to know what happens when security isn't present at airports? Go back in history and the decade of hijacks and bombings.
It is like saying an electric fence is a waste because none of the cows are trying to break through it...
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Is the document redacted to protect the scanner makers, or because we recently raised our allowable limits?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
While the rest of the group is going ZOMG, ZOMG, we're all gonna diie!!...
Wikipedia has a nice summary of cancer clusters. Sometimes you just happen to have a group of people in a particular occupation that have more cancers than you could expect at random. The sensible thing to do is to gather statistics from everyone else in the profession. While you are doing that, the sensible other thing to do is to get everyone in the occupation to wear radiation badges, because maybe they are getting a higher dose of radiation then they should. What happens most of the time is the cluster is not significant when viewed against more data. Of the 15% or so remaining cases, some may show some statistical correlation, but you can't work figure out a sensible cause and effect. Very rarely, if there is a particular rare cancer that shows up a lot, like scrotal cancer in Central London chimney-sweeps, then you get a good case that this causes that. In this case, the right things seem to be being done, there does not seem to be an exotic form of cancer, the correlation isn't very strong, and odds are this will all come to nothing conclusive.
We now return you to your scheduled programme. ZOMG, ZOMG, we're all gonna diiie!!
Somebody needs to mod this funny. Or insightful. Whatever.
Fukushima is crawling with technicians with proper radiation monitoring gear: geiger counters and sampling kits.
These machines had no monitoring whatsoever. Not only are the TSA people not issued dosimeters, they are discouraged from getting their own.
And, to make it worse, we're talking about machines that combine X rays and software. Do you know how often a bug in these machines might cause an overdose? Nobody knows what dosage they got. That is what is so scary.
"Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens," which means "Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain." (Talbot, in: The Maid of Orleans (German: Die Jungfrau von Orleans), a tragedy by Friedrich Schille
Nobody knows, because the TSA is not doing a fucking thing to investigate further.