Spiff

"Not allowed" = Honor System. Like I said, the x-ray cannot distinguish 80 proof from 190-200 proof.

Rubbing alcohol is Isopropanol and is usually 140 proof, which is the posted limit.

It's all a moot point. When it comes to alcohol proof, there might as well be a sign that reads "No Terrorism, please." because none of these alcohols is distinguishable from the others unless they are lit or drunk or analyzed with more sophisticated technology than the TSA employs.

muddy

And in which mall do people get to walk around carrying a machete in their hand? LOL

Just curious, do you think that the 911 hijackers didnt use boxcutters, or does this just not count in your mind as "using an edged weapon to hijack a plane"?

Spiff

Go to a sporting goods store or a sword shop.

Box cutters didn't cause 9/11. 9/11 happened because people cooperated with terrorists. I wish people would learn this lesson instead of falsely assuming that the weapon of the day was the root cause of the problem.

tazi

They used fear to hijack the planes and an established procedure to cooperate with hijackers along with easy access to the cockpit. Do we really need to hash this one out again????

rufflesinc

keep telling yourself that ...

cheers.

LessO2

It's all pretty simple for me. Since I am not trusted with liquids, or foods such as french fries with ketchup, I make it simple. I simply do not purchase them airside. Can't be too safe, y'know?

Fact is, I don't buy things airside anymore. Heck, I don't even park at the airport anymore.

Especially in this environment of capitalism trumping true security, I'll be damned if, outside of the taxes on the tickets, I'll give any more money to the airports.

eyecue

We do have people that can recognize the shape of the bottles and they have good luck with finding the high alcohol contents.

Spiff

Feel free to refute that point, amigo.

muddy

... guns don't kill people (nor do they hijack planes) ... people kill people and people hijack planes ... so why won't you advocate carrying guns onboard for the general public?

Im truly curious as to why you would advocate allowing a person armed with a sword or a machete on a plane, but not a person with a gun.

and for the record I never said the root cause was box cutters ...

mcjava

I don't' think SPIFF is advocating machetes on airplanes. He is only, for the umpteenth time, pointing out that guns are sufficiently powerful enough to not only overpower passengers but also get into the cockpit. A knife is only powerful enough to hurt or kill a couple passengers before the terrorist is overwhelmed by other passengers.

WHich did not happen on 9/11 because everyone did what the terrorists told them to do, as they had been trained to do.

Actually, I doubt if a terrorist could even succeed in getting to the cockpit with a gun. He might be able to succeed in downing the plane, but where's the drama in that, after 9/11? While TSA is dinking around, some terrorist is working very hard to find something to rival the impact of 9/11, and who here believes that involves trying to take over commercial aircraft again?

Spiff

Again, welcome to the Honor System.

Any bottle can be refilled with absolute ethanol. Its shape has nothing to do with it.

The only people the TSA has busted for high alcohol content past the checkpoint have been non-terrorists who carelessly brought > 140 proof alcohol to the checkpoint in its original and labeled bottle, or those stupid enough to not remove the label from an Everclear or Bacardi 151 bottle and replace it carefully with a Smirnoff or a Bacardi label.

Spiff

See mcjava's post. Sums it up nicely.

Xyzzy

Want to bring a weapon with you through the TSA checkpoint? Bring a laptop computer or two. They are heavy and can certainly cause injury if used to hit someone. Want a bit more density for that crushing blow? Pack a few extra batteries. Until such time as we are all strait-jacketed and tied to our seats, or until passengers are banned from flights completely, pretty much anything can serve a dual purpose and be used as a weapon.

PatrickHenry1775

People, not things, are dangerous. I often have a laptop and sharpened #2 pencils with me. I am a law-abiding American, so no problem with those items. A trained assassin could kill people with either of those items. I heard G. Gordon Liddy describe how to thrust a pencil up through the roof of the mouth and turn a person's brain into mush, similar to how biology students pith frogs in order to dissect out the gastrocnemius muscle for ennervation experiments.

docmonkey

Also, a newspaper and a book of matches, etc.