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Airport Security Is Killing Us

businessweek.com

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Re: Airport Security Is Killing Us

#41

Post by jQueryIsAwesome »

ry0ohki wrote: post #28

Odds of dying from fireworks: 1 in 652,046 Odds of dying from lightning strike: 1 in 134,906 Odds of being legally executed: 1 in 111,179 Odds of dying from contact with bees/wasps: 1 in 79,842 Odds of being shot: 1 in 6,609 Odds of dying from a fall 1 in 163 Odds of dying in a terrorist attack: 1 in 3,500,000 Maybe we should switch the TSA to bee patrol. (Source: http://www.nsc.org/NSC%20Picture%20Library/News/web_g…

Odds of developing cancer: 1 in 3

Lets convert it to a cancer awareness foundation; where they touch you for actually important reasons.

Source: http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancerbasics/lifetime-probabili...

Re: Airport Security Is Killing Us

#42

Post by Domenic_S »

engtech wrote: post #20
anu_gupta wrote: post #13

Tangentially - the thing that most surprised me about this article was reading that over 150,000 Americans have been murdered in less than a decade. I find that number utterly staggering. Wikipedia says that the homicide rate in the US is 4.2 per 100,000, which is more than 2.5 times the rate in Canada and 3.5 times the rate in the UK.

If you find that staggering, then absolutely avoid looking at Japan homicide stats. Japan is 0.4 per 100,000. Japan has had the strictest gun control in the world for the longest time, and has a homicide rate to match. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentiona...

Suicide rate in Japan is 23.7 per 100,000, double that of most developed countries.

Also, Japan's murder stats are rigged -- if the police don't know who the killer is it isn't a murder, it's an "abandoned body". See Freakonomics for more on this.

Re: Airport Security Is Killing Us

#43

Post by mtgx »

seiji wrote: post #4

What is the answer though? Can you imagine a politician running under a "massively downsize the TSA" banner? Would any existing Washington elected official take up the cause? They can't even repeal the comically silly shoe removal procedure (unless you're under 12 or over 75, because no terr'ist would ever foot kerplode those demographic stereotypes).

Yes, a senator is doing that actually. In fact he wants to abolish it, not just downsize it. If you care about this, support him:

http://rt.com/usa/news/senator-rand-paul-tsa-536/

Re: Airport Security Is Killing Us

#44

Post by swohns »

ry0ohki wrote: post #28

Odds of dying from fireworks: 1 in 652,046 Odds of dying from lightning strike: 1 in 134,906 Odds of being legally executed: 1 in 111,179 Odds of dying from contact with bees/wasps: 1 in 79,842 Odds of being shot: 1 in 6,609 Odds of dying from a fall 1 in 163 Odds of dying in a terrorist attack: 1 in 3,500,000 Maybe we should switch the TSA to bee patrol. (Source: http://www.nsc.org/NSC%20Picture%20Library/News/web_g…

The numbers themselves aren't the real takeaway, it's how preventable these deaths are.

Re: Airport Security Is Killing Us

#45

Post by adrr »

[deleted] wrote: post #26
joonix wrote: post #2

I opt-out of the x-ray scanner every single time, and so should you. It really doesn't take much longer to go through the process. Show up 3 minutes earlier if you have to. You're rushing to the gate, for what? To sit there longer? Boarding with the crowds is stressful anyways. The most relaxed way to board is at the very end -- there's no more line, I just walk right into the plane, most people are seated, and just…

[deleted]

Thats with a properly working scanner. The scanner can produce lethal amounts of radiation and you're one software glitch from getting this dose. Its happened in past. Scary thing is these devices aren't under the same rules as medical devices which has checks and procedures in place to prevent malfunctions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therac-25

Re: Airport Security Is Killing Us

#46

Post by qq66 »

ry0ohki wrote: post #28

Odds of dying from fireworks: 1 in 652,046 Odds of dying from lightning strike: 1 in 134,906 Odds of being legally executed: 1 in 111,179 Odds of dying from contact with bees/wasps: 1 in 79,842 Odds of being shot: 1 in 6,609 Odds of dying from a fall 1 in 163 Odds of dying in a terrorist attack: 1 in 3,500,000 Maybe we should switch the TSA to bee patrol. (Source: http://www.nsc.org/NSC%20Picture%20Library/News/web_g…

Not all of these are comparable, since some of them are at least partially avoidable. For example, I'm sure the odds of dying from fireworks are much higher than the number listed if you use fireworks, and much less if you don't. And the chances of being legally executed are much higher if you murder someone than if you don't.

Re: Airport Security Is Killing Us

#47

Post by jpxxx »

[deleted] wrote: post #26
joonix wrote: post #2

I opt-out of the x-ray scanner every single time, and so should you. It really doesn't take much longer to go through the process. Show up 3 minutes earlier if you have to. You're rushing to the gate, for what? To sit there longer? Boarding with the crowds is stressful anyways. The most relaxed way to board is at the very end -- there's no more line, I just walk right into the plane, most people are seated, and just…

[deleted]

Read your own article. Nobody beyond the scanner manufacturers have confirmed those radiation doses.

There is no transparency in this process whatsoever, there is a very real health risk since There Is No Consequence-Free Exposure To Ionizing Radiation, and these machines are not operated by trained medical professionals.

Horrible accidents have happened in vastly more regulated instances.

Re: Airport Security Is Killing Us

#48

Post by epoxyhockey »

[deleted] wrote: post #26
joonix wrote: post #2

I opt-out of the x-ray scanner every single time, and so should you. It really doesn't take much longer to go through the process. Show up 3 minutes earlier if you have to. You're rushing to the gate, for what? To sit there longer? Boarding with the crowds is stressful anyways. The most relaxed way to board is at the very end -- there's no more line, I just walk right into the plane, most people are seated, and just…

[deleted]

We've already been through this discussion countless times. The radiation you are exposed to is concentrated in the outer layer of your skin. All of the comparisons that you mention are when radiation is applied to the whole body mass. Also, do you really want the outer layer of your reproductive parts to be dosed with ionizing radiation? Why not opt out? Are you scared of sticking up for your reproductive organs.. and your rights?

Re: Airport Security Is Killing Us

#49

Post by aneth4 »

jpxxx wrote: post #38

A quibble, because this whole fucking disgusting thing fills me with limitless rage: TSA agents do not perform 'pat-downs'. Pat-downs are very quick checks to see if any obvious weapons are being concealed on someone's body. Police will do these before putting a suspect into a police vehicle, for instance. TSA employees do what are called 'custody searches', designed to find contraband material on detainees. These ar…

> Custody searches in this context are forbidden by the fourth amendment, by the way, regardless of what the TSA's legal team may claim.

As is x-raying baggage and body-scans.

Fourth amendment rights don't apply to the same extent when you are on private property, when there are balancing security concerns, when you enter a courthouse, when you enter a school, etc. You know the deal when you enter these places and you have a choice whether to enter them.

The idea that you have the same fourth amendment rights boarding a plan as you do in your house or car is ridiculous.

I'm not saying I agree with TSA searches, only that your normal forth amendment standard does not apply.

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