Monday, June 02, 2008

Security Theatre Knows No Border. Or Other Limit, Either

First, it was our very own TSA pants-wetting over penknives and gun-shaped keychain charms; then Canada's airplane-security geniuses got multi-level axle-wrapped over a tiny solid silver six-gun on a necklace. And now? Now, sharp-eyed screeners in that place where Great Britain once was* have kept us all safe -- safe, y'hear me? -- from a well-tummied IT boffin wearing a T-Shirt printed with a drawing of a robot holding a gun-like object.

He could have killed us all with his mind! Or maybe a router! Eeeeee!

I feel so much safer now.

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* Sun done set, chums. Sorry. Breaks my heart, too. --Can we start droppin' 'em Liberators with the little comic-book instructions now, can we can we?

9 comments:

Dr. StrangeGun said...

Phew. Killing someone with a router would be just *messy*.

Even a plunge router is only going to get ~1-2" in, and you've got spray to deal with.

OH you meant.....

Comrade Misfit said...

YGBSM.

Good thing the guy wasn't wearing a Yosemite Sam t-short...

The Captain said...

When Joe Foss is hassled for carrying his Medal of Honor through an airport security checkpoint because it could be used as a weapon, none of this surprises me.

Chuck Pergiel said...

I might be offended that this T-shirt might offend someone. And if anybody is ever actually offended, I will be too. Of course now someone will complain that the are intimidated by the threat of my being offended. I think I am going to buy a "Pulp Fiction" T-Shirt for my next plane flight.

BobG said...

Good thing he wasn't wearing any of the ones on this site; they probably would have arrested and body-searched him.

Anonymous said...

At least they're paying attention at those checkpoints. There are some organizations that do a much poorer job of it, and I'm not talking TSA.

Killed by a router; good one. You've been watching too much Looney Toons if you know what I mean.

Less said...

This is a bit longer of a post, but here goes...

In a previous life, I was possibly more nerdy than I already am: I was a chemistry major. I attended a Chicago university and was actually president of the local student American Chemical Society student chapter.

Due to my wit and charm, I managed to get '68 Nobel Prize winner Dudley Herschbach to come out and give a talk at my university in 2001. Prof. Herschbach is very sharp and has a fantastic sense of humor and gives a fantastic talk about education, reaction dynamics, etc...

Anyway, after the talk, at dinner, he relayed his TSA experience on the way over to Chicago. Being a Nobel Prize winner, he carries the rather large gold coin with him in his breast pocket. The TSA flagged him for additional search and found the coin.

The TSA stooge asks, "What is this?!" to which Herschbach replies, "Um... It's a Nobel Prize...".

The TSA stooge doesn't believe him, even though Herschbach shows him the engraving which, very clearly, states Herschbach's name and "Alfred Nobel" on the other side... Finally, the supervisor realizes it isn't a hoax (man in tweed, Harvard ID, etc...) and apologizes.

Sigh... Just remember, they vote.

phlegmfatale said...

Um, I have shoes more lethal than those other things. I was really hoping you were just pulling our legs. The stupid people are winning.

Anonymous said...

This has nothing to do with security. Its about conditioning the public to comply future "control measurs" will likly be more easily accepted. You will be assimilated comrad.