sieze my laptop?

of course.. you could always hide a memory stick of a secondary harddrive in some laptops.. and just not have it hooked up to the Power. They would have to take the machine apart to find it

mad_machine wrote: of course.. you could always hide a memory stick of a secondary harddrive in some laptops.. and just not have it hooked up to the Power. They would have to take the machine apart to find it

you don't honestly think that would stop them do you?

I seem to remember an episode of NCIS where someone hid a bunch of SD cards in condom packages (complete with the condoms). There is an idea for hiding your information

On a recent trip to Montreal, I was standing in line behind some poor guy listening to a TSA moron telling him: "With that goatee, you look like a Muslim. You really should think about that. " Poor Guy: "Really??" TSA Moron: "Oh yeah."

Let me tell you, I felt so much safer as I put my shoes in the plastic bin at 5 a.m. after hearing that. This, 3 weeks after they pulled my 78 year old mother out of line for extra-special attention before a flight to the UK. Must've been that doggone fanny pack...

Of course the Customs people saved us all recently when my son's GF tried to bring - wait for it - GUMMI BEARS (Gasp!) from Germany but they got her! She also had 4, 4 ounce bottles of Fanta (orange) that she boarded with in Germany. Once she got to the US they found 'em on her person (3 oz rule), put her in the holding room and then asked her: "What is this stuff?" Granted the label was in German but written rather prominently on the back was "Product of the Coca Cola Company."

It gets better. They told her she had to dump it. Since it was a gift for my son (he loves Fanta) the only way she could keep it was to buy a laptop-type bag ($25), and then check it with her luggage - US Scarelines claimed there was no way they could find the luggage she already checked to include it, so they then charged her $25 to check a second bag.

Can't imagine what they would have done to her had she had a laptop...they probably would have done an extraordinary rendition to a Turkish prison until she told them all about the Hummel she bought or something....

Its like we are protected by a cross between the Keystone Kops and the Knights Who Say Nii...

JohnSSC wrote: Its like we are protected by a cross between the Keystone Kops and the Knights Who Say Nii...

I wish that what you just said wasn't true, but, it is

JohnSSC wrote: On a recent trip to Montreal, I was standing in line behind some poor guy listening to a TSA moron telling him: "With that goatee, you look like a Muslim. You really should think about that. " Poor Guy: "Really??" TSA Moron: "Oh yeah."

You just reminded me of a commentary I read some 25 years ago in the paper. I forget the columnist now, but it was back when they were still scared of people hijacking planes to Cuba and such.

Basically, he had a beard. He was told by the security at the airlines at the time that if they had something on their face that made them look suspecious, they would shave it off.

I can only guess the beard made him look more like a leftest Castro backer than an intellictual english professor.

You know its kind of funny, I posted this issue on several other boards to warn others about this issue. Two out of the four have locked the threads for being "political" the two that did not lock the threads down were another car forum and a photography forum. Funny how that works.

rebelgtp wrote: Funny how that works.

Indeed. As infuriating as half yous guyz are in political discussions , I am still DAMN glad we can have them...

Unlike on some of my motorcycle boards I shan't mention...

wonder if atta and his september buddies were clean shaven or not..

A family friend who works at Sun was showing me the latest technology they're going to be marketing. Basically, it's a dumb networked laptop. Aside for some RAM, it has no data storage ability and only works remotely. I don't think it even has a CPU.

You get a secure log-in device, and your workspace and everything is stored on a remote server. With ubiquitous high-speed internet it's easy to do now.

If the device gets lost, stolen, or taken, it contains no data and is useless. He said the basic idea has been very popular with the U.S. military for a while.

I'll bet Google is funding that sort of thing right now. With their ability to store all your information online right now, as well as online word processing and e-mail, it's only one small step to not even needing software on your PC.

Of course, while I applaud all this from the anti-Micro-crap standpoint, it does bring up a concern for when homeland security decides to just access the whole works without you knowing.

They are taking the laptop and you never get it back no matter what they tell you.

Look at all those beards!

ignorant wrote: wonder if atta and his september buddies were clean shaven or not..

They were all clean-shaven - at least the ones who we could later see in the airport security footage.

One of my co-workers at my previous employer has a sister who is a TSA security screener. When the July plot was uncovered (and bravo for that - a great piece of work) and the new guidelines were unveiled (you know, the 3 oz rule for liquids) her sister (the TSA employee) declared there was NO WAY she was coming in to work on the first day of that mess! So a bazillion people are held up and just when they needed her the most, off she went shopping! How patriotic!

What did she do? She called in sick and went shopping at the outlet malls! Another victory for "privatization" and "free markets" giving the contracts to the "lowest bidder."

I say take all those retiring SEALS, Green Berets, etc and pay THEM to maintain security at airports. Wonder how long it would be before my 78 year old mother wouldn't be walking around with her shoes off or that the teensy problem they have here in Pittsburgh where you have folks with high-powered rifles on the airport grounds hunting deer.

Now, if I can get on the property with a 30.06, hunt, shoot, dress, and then remove multiple deer without getting caught, I wonder what an ambitious person with some military training could do with say, an RPG or a Stinger missile or two...

Meanwhile, Miss Outlet Mall is examining my mom's Propets - if she feels up to it.

What a joke.

PS - I guess it pays to look at all the pretty pictures before posting...

JohnSSC wrote: What did she do? She called in sick and went shopping at the outlet malls! Another victory for "privatization" and "free markets" giving the contracts to the "lowest bidder."

You do realize that TSA is government employees, right? The Republicans wanted to use private security companies, but that was one of the compromises they gave in order to push it through. I believe it was Daschle who uttered the phrase "You can't professionalize until you federalize".

My sister-in-law works for the government, and I wish she'd never talk about her work. It's everything you fear about government employees, but more so. It's as if there's a contest to see who can get away with doing the least amount of "work".

I've mentioned this before, but:

Fly general aviation into the local international airport here (which is fairly large). You will park at a separate terminal that no one is monitoring. You will then be picked up by a single, unarmed, person in a van. They will drive you across the tarmac, under the walkways for most of the terminals, and drop you off at the back entrance of whatever terminal you like.

How many people do you think it would take to overpower that driver?

How much explosives do you think you could pack into a private airplane, and transfer quickly into a van?

Salanis, are we talking a cesna or a mooney?

Take your pick.

The 172 is ubiquitous. We could say one of those, for good measure.

Hell, bring something like a Piper Aztec, and you can probably fit as much crap in the plane as the van could carry.

DILYSI Dave wrote:

JohnSSC wrote: What did she do? She called in sick and went shopping at the outlet malls! Another victory for "privatization" and "free markets" giving the contracts to the "lowest bidder."

You do realize that TSA is government employees, right? The Republicans wanted to use private security companies, but that was one of the compromises they gave in order to push it through. I believe it was Daschle who uttered the phrase "You can't professionalize until you federalize".

Thanks for sharing that little fact with JohnSSC, Dave.

Perhaps this may help him understand that much of what he hates about Bush, et al, was also enabled with great assistance from the "other side".

Naaaah

tsa ganstaz.. w3rd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7AWw7t5zj0

NSFW.. poopy words but funny

Obviously, I stand corrected on the TSA issue. Also obviously, this is all Tom Daschle's fault as he was the Republican Majority Leader at the time - right?

Look: boneheaded is boneheaded. Neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party have a corner on that market. My point is that the whole airport insecurity thing is ridiculous.

And yes, I have gone for the "joy ride" alone in the little bus at O'Hare and was thinking the same thing myself about just how little it would take to have some REAL fun...

Glasses, beard, receding hairline, I see why I'm always the random search guy. Thanks TSA for keeping us safe from four eyed mad men.