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TSA Reminds You Not To Travel With Hand Grenades
coondoggie writes "Some of the travel recommendations posted on the Transportation Security Administration's blog seem stupefying obvious. This week's, entitled: 'Leave Your Grenades at Home' seemed like a no brainer, but alas. The TSA wrote about grenades in particular: Year to date, the agency's officers have discovered: 43 grenades in carry-on baggage and 40 grenades in checked baggage."
wait...even the Holy ones?
What about the foam ones? or the ones that are really balloons (but not filled up with anything yet)?
a majority of the confiscated grenades are fake, replicas or otherwise inert.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Link to the fucking TSA blog, not the idiotic morons at Network World: http://blog.tsa.gov/2013/09/tsa-travel-tips-tuesday-leave-your.html . Please do not click NW links, and if you must, be sure to have your ad blocker on.
The TSA:
1) Allows ex convicts to grope your children.
2) Takes and stores full 3d scanned naked images of you using tech for which the cancer-risk has not been adequately assessed.
3) Steals valuables from your luggage.
4) Costs taxpayers a fortune.
and in return:
5) Has foiled exactly zero terrorist plots.
6) Fails to make you safer in any way.
Just sayin'.
TSA finds average of 4 guns each day at airports, with number continuing to rise since 2007
If it is all just "security theater," the "patrons" seem a bit over-armed.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
So, TSA, how many of those grenades were actually real grenades as opposed to fake, dud, decoy, joke grenades? Do you still shut down the entire airport "out of abundance of caution" for a novelty cigarette lighter shaped like a grenade?
The answer is ..... RTFA.
Just out of curiosity, are you arguing with the "no grenades" policy?
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
No, some of the grenades were real. RTFA.
The US Postal Service would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone to get your letter bombs in the mail early this year.
Thank You,
Anything below 40 watts should be fine.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Reminder... No... Grenades. Thank you TSA.
What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public -Tommy Boy
No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the record for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. H.L Mencken
improperly attributed to him as:
No one ever went broke by underestimating the intelligence of the American Public
-I'm just sayin'
Lasers not in the company of sharks appear to be OK.
Have gnu, will travel.
Nah, that'd be a hand greenade.
I was thinking of getting some of that for my wife...
They're trying to make you feel some support or at least sympathy for their ruthlessly inefficient fascist system. Instead, ask them how many colostomy bags they've punctured during their sexually invasive searches, year-to-date.
You planning on winning the big race and shaking the presidents hand?
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
Back last century, returning to Australia from MacWorld Boston ('97 as it was the infamous Jobs' praising MS-IE),
I presented an empty 'pineapple' grenade, for inspection to the 'anti-hijacking' pre boarding security at Los Angeles.
I had unscrewed the fuse out of the body of the grenade and I presented the two pieces saying: "You may not like this..."
But once they saw the grenade was mounted on a small base board with a small plaque that read:
"Customer Service. Please take a number" with a square tag with the number "1" on the pull ring of the pin,
they laughed and waved me through...
Cryonics - Keep cool and carry on.
I'm not buying Girl-Scout Cookies from you.
Table-ized A.I.
To counter the snakes, of course.
Table-ized A.I.
No I'm arguing against security theatre. My daughter almost cost us a flight one day because she was wearing a necklace in the shape of a tiny, tiny gun. Because it was "gun shaped" they had to call their supervisor to see if we could be let on the airplane or not. I can imagine having a picture of a gun can also get you in trouble. I was mocking the TSA - I know damned well that even if a grenade isn't real they're going to treat it as if it was, call the bomb squad, shut down that part of the airport, etc. It doesn't matter if you tell them it's a toy or a cigarette lighter.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I carried on a mock EFP on a flight to L.A. The TSA didn't even open the bag. I was kind of appalled, because there was a lot of sharp steel in it even though there was no explosive. But then on my return trip they took my tiny little drill bits, because drill bits are forbidden.
Another time I tried to carry on a big knife by accident, but they found it. I would guess most of the confiscated guns are like that. Sam Kinison even had a routine about this.
I think its all bullshit, especially the millimeter wave stuff, its just a big money making scheme for L3 and their corrupt government patrons. If someone wanted to kill a bunch of people at an airport, the best place would be the queue at the security check. If I had my way we would fly unmolested and accept the risk. Locking the cockpit doors solves most of the problem, and most of the rest of it solved by having a population with some sense of honor, willing to fight back instead of just cowering and waiting to die. My wishful thinking isn't going to change the culture though.
Lasers not in the company of sharks appear to be OK.
Well duh. Sharks need more than 3 ounces of water. And if there's one thing I've learned from traveling, it's that more than 3 ounces of water is dangerous and only a terrorist would try to bring that though an airport checkpoint.
a majority of the confiscated grenades are fake, replicas or otherwise inert.
Except the ones that are not fakes...
Officers at Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) discovered a live 40mm high explosive grenade in a carry-on bag in 2012.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
I'm not one to agree with the TSA, but confiscating any grenade, even one that the owner insists is a dud, seems to be a good security policy.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
How many grenades they missed?
Rick B.
""The majority of these grenades were inert, replica, or novelty items"
Good job with security theater TSA.
They're trying to get you to let your guard down by being all cutesy. It's much like The TSA's PR shill, "Blogger Bob."
Don't let your guard down.
'Leave Your Grenades at Home'
It's all so darkly twisted and Kafkaesque. As a non American looking in I can't imagine that in a 100 years some history student reading his text book will ever know how twistedly, wickedly funny and scary and sad it all is.
Ahhh but water, much like the atom, will completely lose power when split.
That 6 oz. water container is hazardous and must be banned, but if split into 2 3oz bottles, the danger is gone.
This signature is false.
Ahhh but water, much like the atom, will completely lose power when split.
That 6 oz. water container is hazardous and must be banned, but if split into 2 3oz bottles, the danger is gone.
Yeah, but the last time I checked, you cant cut a shark in half and expect it to live. Pus they don't do to well in 6 oz of water either. ;-)
I honestly had no idea it was legal to have a real explosive grenade in the first place.
Fakes, Inerts, Props, Water Balloon, and Cap grenades, sure, but an actual real world blow up your face and splatter it on the wall grenade? I wonder what the rules are on those. For that matter, what the hell would you use it for? You can't hunt or fish with it (legally), and area effect explosives in close proximity and enclosed places is just another form of suicide, not to mention a sure fire way to trash what you might be trying to protect.
.
One.
The only way to stop a bad guy with a grenade on an airplane is a good guy with a grenade on an airplane.
Oh wait...
You are welcome on my lawn.
First of all, the summary here sucks. I thought at first that it was 83 grenades since 2001, it is actually a year-to-date total. Second, 83 grenades in total isn't that many considering how many airports we have in this country and how many people travel in a given day.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
I agree that sounds stupid. But we live in an era of stupidity, don't we?
Student suspended for shaping Pop-Tart into gun
And yet government keeps growing....
I hope your next flight goes better. Cheers.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Are they deterring attacks or are they simply a magic rock for keeping elephants out of the house?
Well duh. Sharks need more than 3 ounces of water.
The words of somebody who hasn't seen Sharknado!
Back in the 70s my father traveled from Aberdeen to London. In his baggage he had several kilos of explosives for an outdoor son et lumiere production he was the technical theater manager for. He was stopped by the security guard before boarding the plane. The guard asked "Sir what do you have in these bags" my father replied "explosives", the guard then replied "very funny sir" and waved him onto the plane. Times have changed... but it might surprise you what people think they can carry onto a plane.
how many real hand grenades in carry on?
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Well, how's a man supposed to go fishing without 'em?
Not really. It's also not a good policy to have in a free country.
Da derp dee derp da teedly derpee derpee dum. Rated PG-13.
"but a few were live smoke, flare, riot, and flash bang grenades"
not a single thing that people think a "hand grenade" is. the picture is full of replicas.
I was just wondering if TSA had actually prevented an explosion in an airplane!
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Not unless you paint it silver and change your name to Frankenstein.
as anyone who watched World War Z can confirm.
thegodmovie.com - watch it
How many of those grenades were toys?
blindly antisocialist = antisocial
If you want to get a grenade home from somewhere, you have to send it US postal service...oh wait...
You can buy anything on the internet except common sense.
It was not a regulatory problem, it was a gambling problem. There are not enough poor people in the world including children to account for the amount of money that was destroyed.
The "we were giving the poor people loans" excuse is just a right wing talking point. And that would be clear if the current administration would bring charges against those responsible. But they can't or won't do that.
...does that mean Snooki is on the no-fly list?
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
Christmas just won't be the same this year!
Pretend there is some witty statement here.
I typically have a bottle of water when I go through airport security. I present it to the screeners and explain that I have a medical requirement to stay hydrated due to oral steroid use.
Most often, they let it pass. Less often, they sniff it and let it pass. Even less often, they pour a bit on a sterile pad and do a chemical analysis. They've never taken it away.
Some 25 years ago, I was on booktour for Cuckoo's Egg. I visited Iowa City and spoke at Prairie Lights bookstore -- delightful people and a wonderful place! A haven for writers, readers, and hackers.
After my talk, I passed along a Klein bottle to an Iowa computer hacker who was fooling with unix. In turn, he gave me a Corn Grenade . I tossed it in my backpack, headed for my next stop, and next evening went to Ames Municipal Airport.
This was in pre-TSA days, but there was certainly airport security: the security guy at the Ames airport discovered the corn grenade in my carry on. Happily, he recognized what it was - a cool, brass, art sculpture which was completely inert. By that time into booktour, I was pretty inert. We chatted for a few minutes, and I took the commuter plane to Chicago.
I'd forgotten about my 3 pound brass friend when the plane landed at O'Hare. But the Chicago X-ray scanner found it, and all sorts of alarms went off. Natch, I was taken aside, given the third degree. Seems that corn grenades aren't recognized in the distant lands of northern Illinois. I had to explain all about corn grenades (and my book, and klein bottles...) Missed my flight, slept overnight in O'Hare, and wound up shipping the heavy lil' guy by UPS ground. Today, that brass ear of corn smiles at me from across my dining room, reminding me when I got hacked by a computer jock in Iowa City...
Lets not get started on the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide
Bin Laden, as head of al Qaida, declared war on the US in 1996. They attacked the US for years before the US took effective action.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
And I'll say to you now what I said either the day of or just days after the 9/11 attacks. You can win a war against a nation, but how do you win a war against an idea? What territory do you have to conquer? Which leaders do you have to depose? The War on Terrorism is a never-ending war because there is no scenario where it can be won, only lost. Exactly how many angry people do you think you'll have to kill before there won't be any more angry people?
From what I've read, bin Laden didn't take part in any typical terrorist attacks - he left the dying to other people. And now that he's dead, is Al Qaeda still around? Are they still a threat?
If you want to reduce terrorism, the idea is really simple: Give people something they're unwilling to lose. Give them the ability to live in reasonable wealth, have a home and family that they are confident won't be destroyed any day of the week, take away their hopelessness and misery, and for added security make it possible for them to be complacent in their lives. You'll still have some kooks that are so into their beliefs that they will be willing to be a part of some anti-establishment group, but even most of those won't be willing to die for their cause. Then you'll have what you see in the United States - huge swathes of people just living their lives, and if they have beliefs that are being affronted, the vast vast majority of them will do nothing more than talk about it. Clearly, from the goals I've listed, this isn't something that is achieved by any military action. At most, military action can lay the groundwork where such things can be achievable.
Sure I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?
They are worried about the critical mass.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.