J.K. Rowling challenges airport security

[Kadie]

J.K. Rowling challenges airport security
5 minutes ago


LONDON - British author J.K. Rowling says she won an argument with airport security officials in New York to carry the manuscript of the final " Harry Potter" book as carryon baggage.

Had security agents not relented, she said on her Web site, she might not have flown, she said in a posting dated Wednesday.

"I don't know what I would have done if they hadn't — sailed home probably," she wrote.

snip...
"The heightened security restrictions on the airlines made the journey back from New York interesting, as I refused to be parted from the manuscript of book seven.

"A large part of it is handwritten and there was no copy of anything I had done while in the U.S."

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060914/ap_en_ot/britain_rowling_4

[NewWaveChick1981]

1. I'll bet the Homeland Security guards just wanted to read Book 7...

...and tell all their friends what happens. :P How inane.... It's not liquid or explosive or sharp. :eyes:

[Sydnie]

5. We obviously need to fear paper cuts and graphite poisoning now

How stupid is that?

[shain from kane]

11. And being stabbed by a pencil. No. 2's plan is to use No. 2 pencils to

hijack an airplane. Immortality!

[MADem]

2. What, did they think she'd attack the crew with PAPER CUTS?

What arbitrary nonsense was THAT? It wasn't written in HAIR GEL, after all!

[Sydnie]

6. You beat me to it. LOL

Paper cuts! :mad:

[shain from kane]

8. Don't you fear death from a thousand paper cuts? Be very afraid. No one

could have predicted that these terrorists would use something as apparently harmless as paper to bring down an empire.

[KansDem]

16. Maybe it was the WhiteOut?

WhiteOut™ is a liquid and was invented by Mike Nesmith's mother (Mike of "The Monkees" fame). So perhaps with this knowledge, airport security was suspicious: after all, rock and roll represents everything Bush is against, so perhaps Homeland Security didn't want a Monkee to make a monkey out of the monkey...

[Coventina]

3. WTF? Paper isn't allowed on planes now?

I'm dreading my December trip to New York more and more.....

Good for Ms. Rowling for standing up to the bullies!

You go girl! I can't wait for your book!!

[shain from kane]

4. Banned book? n/t

[melissinha]

7. "No carryons" is ridiculous

I mean come on, can't people have somthing else to read besides SkyMall? Particularly the much anticipated manuscript for Book 7!!!!!

[rodeodance]

9. "They let me take it on, thankfully, bound up in elastic bands."

Eventually, she added, "They let me take it on, thankfully, bound up in elastic bands."

Rowling said she was still considering two possible titles for the last of the boy wizard's adventures.

"I was quite happy with one of them until the other one struck me while I was taking a shower in New York," she wrote.

"They would both be appropriate, so I think I'll have to wait until I'm further into the book to decide which one works best."

[longship]

21. Aha! It wasn't the paper, it was the rubber bands!!!

Every Jr. High School teacher can tell you that rubber bands are weapons of mass destruction.

[sandnsea]

26. Hey - they can put your eye out!! n/t

[shain from kane]

28. An essential ingredient of a zip gun. From Wikipedia ---

"The most basic zip gun consists of a short length of steel tubing, into which a cartridge is placed. The cartridge is then held in place by an endcap, with a small diameter hole drilled in the rear to allow access to the primer. A nail or other thin object is then placed in the hole to act as a firing pin. A spring or rubber band can be used to propel a hammer against the rear of the firing pin, in order to fire the cartridge. Zip guns generally use .22 Long Rifle ammunition, due to its low cost, easy availability, and most importantly, its low operating pressure. Use of a larger, more powerful cartridge would require heavier tubing with thicker walls to withstand higher pressures. Since zip guns almost never have rifling, the bullets invariably tumble en route to the target, allowing even a non-expanding bullet to produce significant damage (see terminal ballistics). Shotgun shells are often used in zip guns as well. Shotguns operate at low pressures, and produce far more energy than handgun cartridges."

[Dora]

10. Can you imagine the $ value of that manuscript?

Priceless. Not only to her, but to her publishers (cough, Scholastic in the U.S.).

I suspect the airline had a call from her lawyer explaining the potential ramifications of their idiocy.

People have no respect for words. :eyes:

[MADem]

12. *Cough" Order from other publishers and pay the freight!!!

Sleep well at night!!!!

[annabanana]

13. I don't understand.. Had the restrictions been tightened

to "NO carry-on" temporarily? What was their excuse to ban this on the flight.
(Don't you just love all the news you get with "TheNews"?)

[Fredda Weinberg]

15. In the UK, yes n/t

[alarimer]

32. That's a fucking stupid rule

How the hell do you pass the time on a long flight? Stupid fucking security moronic bullshit.

[liberal N proud]

14. Demonstrates just how absurd our security is

This underlines the fact that Airport Security is nothing but a facade to make the passengers feel like they are being protected.

[Wally101]

19. Nitpick...

The no carry-on rule is for flights to and from the U.K., not intra-U.S. Our security agents were abiding by their standards.

Mark

[fishwax]

27. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[benEzra]

30. Exactly. (n/t)

[northzax]

17. the only billionaire

flying commercial left, I suppose. I think if I was flying across the Pond and had unlimited resouces, it would be worth a private jet, just to avoid the annoying hassles.

[Brian Stevens]

18. It don't make sense.

She's a billionare. Why won't she charter a private plane, or buy one and hire a personal pilot?

[KyndCulture]

20. The sheer value of that manuscript!!

Even if those were their orders... I believe she would have taken a charter if they wouldn't let her board.

[Lars39]

22. Thank you, J.K. Rowling for using your 'celebrity' to highlight

how restrictive the US has become. :thumbsup:

[Cha]

23. "Restrictive" but not safe..nothing's

safe with bush behind the button.

What other security measures are they taking besides hassling airline passengers unnecessarily and spying on Democrats?

Ports? Nuclear facillities? Body Armour for our Soldiers?

[Lars39]

24. The only security measures they're taking is collective CYA.

:(

[Cha]

25. Touche!

With the corporate media's assistance..otherwise they couldn't even do that.

[Retrograde]

29. How big IS this manuscript?

I know her books have been getting longer, but...

I flew from SFO to Philadelphia yesterday with a briefcase (containing laptop) and medium sized purse as carryons. No problems.

And hasn't this woman heard of photocopying machines?

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

31. Screw Her. BS on this being a security issue

Something about her story doesn't fly(pun intended)

What security reason would they have to restrict a paper manuscript?

I guarantee this is a wholly self caused issue. She thinks since she is famous (I wouldn't recognize her if you said she was in the room) she can skirt the rules that everyone else has to follow. The only thing that comes to mind is that she had two large carry ons and the manuscript. The checkpoint will send you back if you are trying to get too much through, b/c it is an FAA regulation about how much carry-on you can take.

I doubt this was a security issue and more of a too much carry-on issue. If she made a fuss over them not letting her bring more stuff through than others, then screw her. I travel every week, and hate it when idiots try to stuff so much in the overhead that it keeps me from getting my (within the limit) stuff up there.

If she wanted to fly back with the manuscript in hand, then fine, check something to bring you within the carry on limit.

[Reverend_Smitty]

33. Because US/UK flights still have that stupid no carry on whatsoever rule

I think you are allowed to bring essential medications and little else in a clear plastic bag on flights to the UK. A "temporary" rule that was enacted after the hair gel bombers were caught...who knows how long temporary actually means. On domestic flights you are still allowed all the non-liquid things you are talking about

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

34. Okay my bad

Is it only flights originating from the UK or is it going both ways?

If both ways, my apologies to Ms Rowling.

[Reverend_Smitty]

37. I believe it is both ways

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

35. security noticed some dangling participles and action verbs

[Lisa]

36. imagine if it had gone missing in checked baggage ...

We'd have another Hemingway situation!
http://www.pub.umich.edu/daily/1999/sep/09-28-99/news/news12.html



"Rowling said she was still considering two possible titles for the last of the boy wizard's adventures.
"I was quite happy with one of them until the other one struck me while I was taking a shower in New York," she wrote."



By the way, I really hope that the title of Book 7 will NOT be "Harry Potter and the Low-Flow Showerhead of Doom".

[lovuian]

38. JK Rowling the Witch writer harrassing her makes lots of sense

Her final book... You got to be kidding

Good for Rowling standing firm

Tourism is dead in American

[sofa king]

39. Doesn't she fly a broom?