LOL! The Meg Ryan TSA defense....

[n2doc]

aka the When Harry Met Sally defense....

(edit for right reference...)

[BrklynLiberal]

1. lol. ..At least as good as "Don't touch my junk."

[nessa]

2. LOL. (nt)

.

[txlibdem]

3. Hilarious

Now that's the way to make THEM feel just as uncomfortable as you are (if you are that is). Personally, I might be tempted to do something like that just to "F" with them but I don't care about the pat-downs and will gladly go through the machine. I'm not embarrassed about my penis size or the size of my gut.

The TSA employees have a job: keeping underwear bombers off the plane that I'm about to ride on, so I support their good faith efforts wholeheartedly. Having a happy ending would be nice, though...

[ingac70]

5. That "machine"....

gives an unknown skin dose of ionizing radiation. I'd rather be molested than take my chances with cancer.


http://www.npr.org/assets/news/2010/05/17/concern.pdf

[txlibdem]

10. That's your right

Aint freedom grand? Feel free to choose whichever line makes you more comfortable. Just remember that your underwear bomb does not entitle you to skate free through the check line. It's all fair game as far as I am concerned.

I would like to see much more study done on the short term and long term effects of the body scanners, that much I agree with you about. I am just a little more realistic in my wariness of them. Your cell phone is within an inch of your brain and other soft tissues. Your computer puts out so much radiation that the CIA can sit in a van parked on the street in front of any building and record every key pressed by any and all persons inside a skyscraper (or building of any size). If you fly in an airplane you are getting many times the radiation dose of land-bound citizens. If you live within 1/2 mile of a highway or freeway your children have a many times greater chance of getting asthma. If you have any piece of modern electronics you are exposed to radiation of varying frequencies. The only thing this machine is doing is putting out a different frequency than your TV or WiFi internet. I don't fall for fear mongering before the facts are in. Prove that these scanners are harmful (or even potentially harmful) then we'll be able to weigh their benefits against their dangers.

[ingac70]

11. Ever had a chest x-ray?

They put a lead shield over you gonads for a reason. And that is a distributed radiation, not concentrated at the skin. From the letter....

"The majority of energy is delivered to the skin and the underlying tissue. Thus, while the dose would be safe if it were distributed throughout the volume of the entire body, the dose to the skin may be dangerously high. The X-ray dose from these devices has often been compared in the media to the cosmic ray exposure inherent to airplane travel or that of a chest X-ray. However, this comparison is very misleading: both the air travel cosmic ray exposure and chest X- rays have much higher X-ray energies and the health consequences are appropriately understood in terms of the whole body volume dose. In contrast, these new airport scanners are largely depositing their energy into the skin and immediately adjacent tissue, and since this is such a small fraction of body weight/vol, possibly by one to two orders of magnitude, the real dose to the skin is now high. In addition, it appears that real independent safety data do not exist. A search, ultimately finding top FDA radiation physics staff, suggests that the relevant radiation quantity, the Flux has not been characterized. Instead an indirect test (Air Kerma) was made that emphasized the whole body exposure value, and thus it appears that the danger is low when compared to cosmic rays during airplane travel and a chest X-ray dose."

Sorry, but I know better than to believe consumer electronics are not different than an x-ray.

[txlibdem]

13. There are two different machines

One is a low-dose x-ray but the other is millimeter wave. A millimeter wave scanner is a whole body imaging device used for airport security screening. It is one of two common technologies of Full body scanner used for body imaging; the competing technology is backscatter X-ray.

[ingac70]

14. And backscatter is what they are concerned with.

It is a cheaper technology, used at more locations.

By the way....

"Tests by scientists...showed the millimetre wave scanners picked up shrapnel and heavy wax and metal, but plastic, chemicals and liquids were missed.

If a material is low density, such as powder, liquid or thin plastic – as well as the passenger's clothing – the millimetre waves pass through and the object is not shown on screen. High- density material such as metal knives, guns and dense plastic such as C4 explosive reflect the millimetre waves and leave an image of the object."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/are-planned-airport-scanners-just-a-scam-1856175.html

Just dandy.

[txlibdem]

15. Ya learn somethin' new ever' day

I did not know that the millimeter wave detectors would be unable to detect PETN (used by the Christmas Day mad bomber).

It's like the government wants to do everything it can to make us believe they know what they're doing but, when the rubber hits the road, they don't know a damn thing. Hmmm.

[ProfessorGAC]

16. I Was Skeptical About It

I was trying to figure how a wavelength that long would adequately identify chemicals. IR would pick it up, but wouldn't go through the body, so it would be useless. If they're relying on phototransmittance, they need a high enough frequency so the MeV level per photon to pass through the parts they don't care about. (Meaning the human body.)
GAC

[txlibdem]

17. What if they equipped them with chemical detectors

I saw something a while back about a chemical detector that blows air from the bottom of the chamber and the air exits past chemical detectors. I'll look for the video and post back.

So it would make the machine more expensive and more complex but maybe that's a better solution than the x-ray machine...

[ProfessorGAC]

18. A Highly Sensitive Mass Spec Would Do That

They do require a lot of care and cleaning, and it would have to have someone to separate out different organics. Maybe like a headspace GC with an MS detector. I don't know how sensitive it would have to be, though. It would be a pretty high volume of air, so the concentration would be very, very low. (Proabably no more than single digit PPT.)

It's a cool idaa, if someone could make it reliably work.
GAC

[sabrina 1]

19. It's about money, haven't you figured that out yet?

This battle over these scanners has been going on for at least six years. Even Bush couldn't get them past the smell test. It took a Democratic administration to get that dirty job done, and I'm sure many will be richly rewarded for the success, as our elected officials always are, after they leave office.

They have been opposed throughout the civilized world. The EU declared that they 'do not enhance security', the British Parliament stated that they are in violation of Britain's child molestation laws, and public health officials and scientists have reported that the danger to the public is not minor and definitely poses a public health threat especially to those exposed on fairly regular basis.

For six years they tried to get them installed, the money is immense, Michael Chertoff stands to make a fortune and no matter how many times they were turned down, they keep coming back. The 'fear' and 'war' profiteers are not easily deterred as we well know.

So, just as Bush was 'lucky' with 9/11 giving him his phony excuse for war in Iraq, Rapiscan and their parent company, lucked out with the 'underwear bomber' All of a sudden, they had a fantastic commercial for their product, and who in the public was going to dig more deeply than 'Underwear Bomber? OMG! Naked scanners needed'. You would almost the guy was an actor, the commercial produced and directed by Rapiscan or something. But that would be a CT. Still how lucky could they get? Chertoff was all over the place, salivating at how close he now was to the pot of gold after all these years.

And once again, things that Republicans can't get done for their overlords, Democrats step in and get the job done.

It's about money. Even terror was the result of greed. Greed for the resources of other nations necessitating the installation of brutal dictators wherever our 'interests' required it, generated hatred for the U.S. Empire even if its citizens remained ignorant of the wrongs done to others by their government.

If there were no invasions, backing of evil dictators, theft of resources by the Empire etc. etc. there would be no terrorists. But the Profiteers are not worried about terror, in fact, resourceful as always, they turned terror and fear of terror into an even more profitable business than just the theft of resources.

Soon, before it's too late, I hope the American public tell them where to take their 'politics of fear' and I would like to see a Rapiscan image of a demonstration of that with any one of them as the model.

When the people stop being scared when the government says 'boo' their gravy train will end and we will be able to travel freely once again. But I'm not hopeful, they are very good at what they do and the population appears not to be very courageous on the whole.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Ok..had to laugh at that.

except..it was not the Sleepless in Seattle movie, I think.

It was when Harry Met Sally, I do believe, she was the table across from Billy Crystal.

video clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-bsf2x-aeE

[BrklynLiberal]

6. You are right! I did not even realize until you mentioned it....

Guess it was the Meg Ryan connection.....

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. Actually I appreciated the chance to find and watch the clip again.

both were very enjoyable movies, perfect for Meg Ryan.
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BrklynLiberal]

12. i remember reading that the woman who said "I'll have what she ordered." was

Rob Reiner's Mom...

[n2doc]

8. ok, corrected

At least I remembered something right...

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. No worries....a minor issue, and a good cartoon, doc.

I always look for your postings, with appreciation.
:hi: