InstaScans

[Deleted]

There has been talk on the boob tube about "InstaScans" at airport security check points. Apparently, they provide such a detailed image of what's under the clothes that privacy issues are a concern. As a lifelong exhibitionist, that part doesn't really bother me because I figure my gonads are pretty much average, especially the middle one, but what does concern me is that there is no mention of the dangers of being exposed to x-ray radiation which is what I believe these scanners are using.

[ohwell]

Also think of the people with ICDs or Pacemakers that can't be X-rayed. Yet, something has to be done. We have acted in the past as though criminals should not be punished, only their victims.

[ScarlettP]

The article I saw said that it's not an X-ray machine. It uses low level microwave signals similar to cell phones.

But then, we know that cell phones kill honey bees. So, there you go.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the correction, Scarlettp.

I'll have to investigate more, eh?

[Deleted]

Right you are, m'dear.

According to the TSA.gov (link):

"Millimeter wave technology beams millimeter wave radio frequency (RF) energy in the advanced imaging spectrum over the body's surface at high speed from two antennas simultaneously as they rotate around the body.

The energy reflected back from the body or other objects on the body is used to construct a three-dimensional image.

The three-dimensional image, with facial features blurred for privacy, is displayed on a remote monitor for analysis.

Backscatter

Backscatter technology uses low level X-ray to create a two-sided image.

TSA is testing backscatter with an algorithm applied to the entire image to further protect passenger privacy."



It's worth taking a look at the link (above) to get mo'bettuh information about the millimeter and x-ray stuff along with images of what Massa TSA sees.

[Jay]

www.slate.com/id/2239935

"
It's getting to the point where the twin news stories more or less write themselves. No sooner is the fanatical and homicidal Muslim arrested than it turns out that he (it won't be long until it is also she) has been known to the authorities for a long time. But somehow the watch list, the tipoff, the many worried reports from colleagues and relatives, the placing of the name on a "central repository of information" don't prevent the suspect from boarding a plane, changing planes, or bringing whatever he cares to bring onto a plane. This is now a tradition that stretches back to several of the murderers who boarded civilian aircraft on Sept. 11, 2001, having called attention to themselves by either a) being on watch lists already or b) weird behavior at heartland American flight schools. They didn't even bother to change their names.

~~~~~

But flick your eye across the page, or down it, and you will instantly see a different imperative for the innocent. "New Restrictions Quickly Added for Travelers," reads the inevitable headline just below the report on the notoriety of Abdulmutallab, whose own father had been sufficiently alarmed to report his son to the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, some time ago. (By the way, I make a safe prediction: Nobody in that embassy or anywhere else in our national security system will lose his or her job as a consequence of this most recent disgrace.)

~~~~~

In my boyhood, there were signs on English buses that declared, in bold letters, "No Spitting." At a tender age, I was able to work out that most people don't need to be told this, while those who do feel a desire to expectorate on public transport will require more discouragement than a mere sign. But I'd be wasting my time pointing this out to our majestic and sleepless protectors, who now boldly propose to prevent airline passengers from getting out of their seats for the last hour of any flight. Abdulmutallab made his bid in the last hour of his flight, after all. Yes, that ought to do it. It's also incredibly, nay, almost diabolically clever of our guardians to let it be known what the precise time limit will be. Oh, and by the way, any passenger courageous or resourceful enough to stand up and fight back will also have broken the brave new law.

For some years after 9/11, passengers were forbidden to get up and use the lavatory on the Washington-New York shuttle. Zero tolerance! I suppose it must eventually have occurred to somebody that this ban would not deter a person who was willing to die, so the rule was scrapped. But now the principle has been revisited for international flights.

~~~~~

But now fresh idiocies are in store. Nothing in your lap during final approach. Do you feel safer? If you were a suicide-killer, would you feel thwarted or deterred?

Why do we fail to detect or defeat the guilty, and why do we do so well at collective punishment of the innocent? The answer to the first question is: Because we can't—or won't. The answer to the second question is: Because we can. The fault here is not just with our endlessly incompetent security services, who give the benefit of the doubt to people who should have been arrested long ago or at least had their visas and travel rights revoked. It is also with a public opinion that sheepishly bleats to be made to "feel safe." The demand to satisfy that sad illusion can be met with relative ease if you pay enough people to stand around and stare significantly at the citizens' toothpaste. My impression as a frequent traveler is that intelligent Americans fail to protest at this inanity in case it is they who attract attention and end up on a no-fly list instead. Perfect.
"

.....

www.slate.com/id/2239935

[dabone]

Great, get a scan and get your dna ripped apart.

How Terahertz Waves Tear Apart DNA
A new model of the way the THz waves interact with DNA explains how the damage is done and why evidence has been so hard to gather

www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24331/


later,
dabone

[LimitedRecourse]

Even worse than the "They were on our radar..." failings is the immediate "Poor terror suspects was depressed and lonely..." stories the left wing media trots out to try and make us feel sorry for a POS that tried to kill hundreds of poeple, or shot a dozen or so innocents.

[Jay]

Dec 31, 2009 10:23:52 GMT -5 dabone said:

Great, get a scan and get your dna ripped apart.

Eeeek! I'd rather get a pat-down!

Dec 31, 2009 11:24:44 GMT -5 LimitedRecourse said:

Even worse than the "They were on our radar..." failings is the immediate "Poor terror suspects was depressed and lonely..." stories the left wing media trots out to try and make us feel sorry for a POS that tried to kill hundreds of poeple, or shot a dozen or so innocents.

I certainly don't feel sorry for that scumbag...

[Deleted]

> I'd rather get a pat-down!

If I read that TSA article right, you have the right to refuse the scan and get the pat down instead.





Hmmm. I may have to go flying on some of my "lonely" days.

[ScarlettP]

* Pats Yoda *

[Deleted]

Ahhhhh.

Thanks, Miss Scawlett.

I needed that.




Off we go, into the wild blue yonderrrrrr.

[pictureman]

"Hey, fella, is that a bomb in your shorts or are you just glad to see us?"

[gridbug]

Don't like it? I hope you like roadtrips

But the rare chance of running afoul of a terrorist is a LOT scarier than some millimeter wave that nobody ever saw. These sorts of security decisions are generally made on an emotional level instead of rational. Scared people want something that makes them feel safer, and big expensive sensors do that.

[pictureman]

Yoda: if those are your eyes, I think I'm in love...

[ohwell]

Oh, please, pat me down. Then give me something to stay down for.

I never fly.

[Deleted]

> if those are your eyes, I think I'm in love...


Nope. Not mine.

My eyes



are of a different sort.

[ScarlettP]

^^ What happens after flying to much and going through to many instascans. ^^

[Mr. Manners]

Gentle reader,

I, for one, am fed up with airport security. It seems like whenever I am lucky enough to land First Class upgrade the screeners take perverse pleasure in delaying me as long as possible while if I am booked in "steerage" with the rest of the sardines I breeze right through. Well on my latest return flight to Atlanta I was lucky enough to snag a First Class upgrade when I checked in on line 24 hours ahead of departure. This allowed me to prepare for the inevitable long delay I was going to be put through at security the next day. I ate garlic, pinto beans, whole wheat cereal, cabbage, and cheese in preparation for my ordeal. When they pulled my laptop and carry on out of the x-ray machine and began to go though them I started passing the gas I had carefully cultivated over the previous 24 hours. As the smell permeated the area they began to search faster. I began to poot faster. The race was on; who would finish first? One of the screeners must have called for a supervisor as one suddenly appeared, took one whiff, and then disappeared as quickly as she could. I guess the screeners finally had enough as my laptop and carry on were returned to me in record time and I was asked to move along.

Sometimes a small measure of olfactory civil disobedience can go a long way.

Respectfully,

Mr. Manners

[Deleted]

> Sometimes a small measure of olfactory civil disobedience can go a long way.


Amen, brother!



It works for me at city commission meetings.

[LimitedRecourse]

Makes the "Getting-a-ticket" experience even more fun.

[ScarlettP]

OMG! Mr Manners, I think I love you.

[Jay]

I'm glad I wasn't around...

[daworm]

Interesting...

[Police Moderator]

I refuse to fly in an airplane. If God wanted me to fly, He'd have given me wings.

If I have to fly to get there, I figure I don't need to be there.

[ScarlettP]

I have only made ONE round trip commercial flight in my life. Also took one chartered single engine job round trip from Augusta to Chattanooga and back with a former employer. That was scary as heck! Both flights were WAY before 9-11. I haven't even picked anyone up at the airport in the last 10 years. It was enough of a hassle then. I just can't imagine flying now.

[Deleted]

> I refuse to fly in an airplane. If God wanted me to fly, He'd have given me wings.

What a wuss.




This from a guy who finds flying to be great fun but jumping out to be much more so.

[ScarlettP]

I knew you were crazy, Yoda.

[Deleted]

What were your first 2,496 clues?

[Jay]

Skydiving: I bet it's the ultimate thrill!