Giant Thighs - For all you holiday travelers

[GWarner]

Just turn up your speakers and play the song on this page!

http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=75&sid=394918

Enjoy!

[utopiomania]

They have to do this. As a traveller by air it is a better option to have your dick checked out
in bublic, than to have a sick muslim creep blowing the plane you are on to pieces in mid air.

The thing that makes me angry though, is why they refuse to spend some money so that they
can check you out in a more dignified setting?

The last time I was on an adventure to another part of the world, an old fart was chacking out
my 'you know what' in public at Heathrow.? That sucked.

They could have done that in a more private setting, but that was probably too expensive for
them, so to the hell with dignity and customers.

[GWarner]

I don't mind the public setting because everyone else around you is also subject to the same setting and I've noticed that most people don't even bother to watch someone getting a pat-down, if they are looking in the same direction it's only because they are waiting for a signal from the officer for them to proceed.

What's really interesting is the people that get ooggled at the most are the ones making a big stink over it, if you just stay quiet and cooperate, it's over in seconds and nobody will care.

For those people claiming that it's an invasion of privacy, that's only true if they know who you are. Your identity was checked before you entered the security screening area and then they tell you to put your ID and boarding pass away until they ask for it. And they won't ask for it unless you are found carrying something suspicious so as long as you are "clean" you'll go through the body scan and/or pat-down anonymously.

At least that's been my experience. My only complaint is that the body scan takes longer than the old sensor gateway you simply walked through so the whole process of getting through security takes a bit more time.

[blueznl]

I'll take that security check over being bombed out of the sky.

What makes things more annoying are other issues and delays... Especially long queues because half the boots are unmanned to save money.

As for security, I've been flying from some 'weird' airports in far-away countries, and I must say security there was downright poor...

[utopiomania]

At Heathrow, they took my watch from me to check it out, because they thought
it could conceal a bøømb.

Luckily, the Swiss watchmakers had put a window on the back of it, so that the
security guys could verify that it only contained small, well, Swiss made thingaymobs
ticking away inside.

I appreciate the way they take their jobs seriously.

[the.weavster]

According to a paper by Arizona State University physics professor Peter Rez the risk of being blown up in an airplane by a terrorist is 1 in 30 million which compares with a 1 in 20 million chance of dying from radiation for each scan.

Some other University professors have concerns the health damage these machines may cause has not been properly assessed and have written an open letter saying so: http://www.npr.org/assets/news/2010/05/17/concern.pdf

Personally I'd be happier to walk through security properly naked than go through one of those scanners, I even thought about starting my own airline - Air Au Naturel

Humans are a bizarre species having got so hung up on their natural state, don't you think?

[srod]

Personally I'd be happier to walk through security properly naked than go through one of those scanners, I even thought about starting my own airline - Air Au Naturel

Humans are a bizarre species having got so hung up on their natural state, don't you think?

I am more than happy to wander naked through an airport; but what with the 6-pack and perfectly toned body, I'd just bring things to a crashing halt to the extent that planes would drop from the sky. It just wouldn't be fair on the other passengers.

Aye, somewhere under this beer belly is a 6-pack desperate to get out!

[GWarner]

According to a paper by Arizona State University physics professor Peter Rez the risk of being blown up in an airplane by a terrorist is 1 in 30 million which compares with a 1 in 20 million chance of dying from radiation for each scan.

The odds of winning the lottery is something like 1 in 2 million yet people all over the world continue to win them.

The problem with those odds are that you'll be on the same plane as the guy who's turn it is to be blown up in an airplane by a terrorist.

I will take the scanner any day over the risk of having a suicide terrorist on the same plane that I'm on.

Besides, right now they are only doing scans of randomly selected passengers because the scanners take to long to run everybody through them.

[the.weavster]

I will take the scanner any day over the risk of having a suicide terrorist on the same plane that I'm on.

Would you opt to have your children irradiated or touched up? I'm not joking when I say I'd rather be properly naked.

Besides, right now they are only doing scans of randomly selected passengers because the scanners take to long to run everybody through them.

Which renders the whole charade rather pointless doesn't it?

[blueznl]

Well, no. It's the same thing with regular detectors: they also pinpoint people at random for manual checks. The existence or checks deters a number of potential threats. Indeed some will slip through, but better this than nothing.

You see, the problem is suicide bombers, I'm all in favor of the death penalty but in their case it just doesn't seem to work...

[the.weavster]

When you get on a train or a bus or go to the shopping mall there are no scans or checks but if you're next to a suicide bomber who lets one go you'll be just as dead as if you were 30,000 feet up.

In the UK we've already seen our right to free speech compromised and our right to protest compromised in the name of the 'war against terror', our last government even tried to prevent Geert Wilders from coming to the UK stating his presence would be a "threat to one of the fundamental interests of society", whether you agree with him or not he is a democratically elected representative of a fellow EU member nation and it's an outrage that our government wanted to silence him.

I'd rather live in a free country and take my chances than under an authoritarian regime where the state can do what the hell it likes to you in the pretence of protecting you.

[GWarner]

I'd rather live in a free country and take my chances than under an authoritarian regime where the state can do what the hell it likes to you in the pretence of protecting you.

Fine. I'll fly on the plane that has all the security screenings to keep or deter the crazies from getting on board and you can fly with all the crazies on the plane that has no security. Darwinism at its best!

And unless you live all by yourself on an island you own, freedom as you describe it doesn't exist. In society there will always be laws that dictate how you should act in or der to be acceptable to the rest of the society and with each such law enoacted a little bit of your freedom disappears.