View Story | 611 comments
Comments: Expand Shrink Hide (Always) | Indented Flat (Always)
by saildude on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 11:55:27 AM PDT
[ Parent ]
My last flight I was flagged because of a gift I was bringing for a friend's daughter.
Yep, they wanded me, and searched my luggage, because the gift I was bringing was a bright orange alarm clock with a cat's face, shaped like an old-fashioned alarm clock (with orange "bells" on the top.)
When I asked why I was flagged, the screener told me that "old-fashioned alarm clock" was on the list of suspicious articles.
"But it meows!" I said. "Just let me push the button and show you."
"No! You can't touch it until we've finished examining it."
I was good humored about the whole thing, but really -- where the hell would terrorists even find an old-fashioned bell alarm clock these days?
And surely an orange cat clock -- that meows -- would be even lower on their list of articles in which to stash a bomb, unless those particular terrorists were into kitsch.
But lucky thing I was laughing through the whole process -- and made the clock meow as soon as I could.
Lord knows if I'd been pissed off, or afraid I'd miss my flight -- I might have been strip searched over a clock that meows.
by judybrowni on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 12:10:39 PM PDT
A couple of years ago, I traveled for the holidays and a relative gave me an ornate Christmas snow globe as a gift. Several days later, at the airport preparing to depart for home, I was not permitted to bring globe in my carry-on, because TSA couldn't tell what liquid was in it. I had to re-trace my steps back to the ticket counter and check the bag. If I hadn't have arrived super-early, I would have missed my flight.
by eightlivesleft on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 12:26:19 PM PDT
6-pack of jellies and jams on her carry-on.......when she pointed out they were not liquid, they told her she could return to the check-in counter if she wanted to bring them with her....but she was running late
I hope they had some nice confiscated bread back in the TSA break room
by surferal on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 12:36:59 PM PDT
I've had both confiscated. Seriously.
by qwerty on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 01:48:02 PM PDT
and hummus is terrorist comfort food (along with falafel)
"seize this, honkus!"
by memofromturner on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 02:38:21 PM PDT
or C-4, or so have been told. Same thing with chocolate bars with foil wrappings.
Impeachment is a duty, not an option that can be taken off the table.
by bushondrugs on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 08:12:56 PM PDT
I walk around with a strip of generic cheeses strapped to my chest...
Never, never brave me, nor my fury tempt: Downy wings, but wroth they beat; Tempest even in reason's seat.
by GreyHawk on Thu Jan 03, 2008 at 02:54:14 AM PDT
How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb? Two. one to hold the giraffe and one to fill the tub with fluorescent toys.
by Clive all hat no horse Rodeo on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 03:13:58 PM PDT
A six hour flight with no snack? And a Tim Allen movie? It may not be defined as torture under the Geneva Conventions, but I argue it should be!
by qwerty on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 03:27:10 PM PDT
I'm off on vacation in 10 days. Two hour stop in HK airport, just enough time to get a couple of Guiness' (blood thinner) before 8 1/2 hours overnight to Brizvegas.
I can't sleep in those seats (I'm 6'3, 265lb), so that's torture too, no...
:)
by Clive all hat no horse Rodeo on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 08:21:40 PM PDT
In the past six years I've been questioned/harassed about the following:
That's just off the top of my head. In the meantime I have (accidentally) flown with a Swiss Army knife twice and a keychain knife (which, to be fair, looks a fair amount like a key) twice, and once with a large bottle of water (my wife did too).
by elakazal on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 11:45:04 PM PDT
I had my carry-on bag searched because I had three ornamental glass globes packed in it.
Apparently that's the latest in terrorist accoutrements.
No laws but Liberty. No king but Conscience.
by oldjohnbrown on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 11:44:59 PM PDT
there is a legitimate basis for that one. Older alarm clocks have a mechanical action (i.e. the hammer that hits the little bells) which can be used as a trigger on a bomb. It's significantly simpler to engineer something with a mechanical action -- hammer hits explosive, explosive goes boom -- than to learn enough about circuits to do the same thing with electronics.
Or so I understand. It sounds like your clock was actually an electronic one anyway, unless they somehow made bells that meow. But that's my understanding of the rule, and for once it sorta makes sense. As opposed to, say, facial expressions.
If we eliminate the slippery slope argument, pretty soon we'll eliminate all argument and everybody will agree.
by m3 on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 12:28:54 PM PDT
or one of their consultants was watching an old bugs bunny episode where a bomb-throwing anarchist in a black coat has a bundle of dynamite wired to an old-fashioned alarm clock.
you decide which is more likely.
l'audace! l'audace! toujours l'audace!
by zeke L on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 12:48:04 PM PDT
where you see the ticking bomb.
seriously any device with an audio output makes for a wonderful bomb detonator.
Say a cell phone, where you plug into the headphone jack, and the jack feeds the ring tone, which trips the igniter, and what makes this simple is that you don't have to align the mechanics to a switch.
George Bush is Living proof of the axiom "Never send a boy to do a man's job" E -2.25 S -4.10
by nathguy on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 01:18:54 PM PDT
on google images
I have every one of those parts that you see in that picture in my junk drawer. I think it would be a pain to build a bomb with a mechanical clock when we have things like cell phones that are so handy for the purpose. People who work with electronics are going to have a lot more trouble flying if the search/prohibited items approach the TSA is taking isn't improved a little.
by unterhausen on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 01:18:47 PM PDT
for b0mbs. Maybe in the Wild Wild West (old TV show) or some other Rube Goldsberg-landia.
Electronic watches, cell phones, radio devices or other more reliable means are used these days. A loud ticking real alarm clock? That's just so obvious...
I mean, until a few weeks ago, people were allowed to walk through without removing their hats. And hats have a lot more space for concealing something than SHOES.... The concept that... oh @#*%(& it.
by YucatanMan on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 01:25:47 PM PDT
the big black ball with the word BOMB printed I like to carry in airports would get right past the screeners, eh? They're trained to look for kitties of mass destruction clocks.
There has to be an invisible sun / That gives us hope when the whole day's done -Police
by rightiswrong on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 01:21:47 PM PDT
Just sayin'
"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."- Voltaire - [François Marie Arouet] (1694-1778)
by markthshark on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 02:49:55 PM PDT
Oops, so am I!
In loving memory: Sophie, June 1, 1993-January 17, 2005. My huckleberry friend.
by Paul in Berkeley on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 04:03:07 PM PDT
My having had a hip replacement this summer, I am now subjected to a full wanding and pat down every time I go through security. So I'm a would-be criminal because I had surgery. At least at SeaTac they kept an eye on my stuff--purse, laptop. At O'Hare, anyone could have walked off with my belonging. I feel SO much safer knowing that they pull people like me (late middle-aged business-type female) out of line for special treatment. Patrick Smith from Slate has written some on this whole thing in Ask the Pilot.
Compass -7.63, -7.49
by cinnamon68 on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 05:38:24 PM PDT
wide narrow
View Story | 611 comments