• sramder@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    85
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    4 months ago

    Never fails to amuse me that in order to fight to “threat” of binary explosives i.e. two liquids that explode when mixed together…

    • polonius-rex@kbin.run
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      50
      ·
      4 months ago

      by definition this occurs before security, so anybody that wanted to could just bring a regular explosive

        • SoJB@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          36
          ·
          4 months ago

          Generally speaking, police dogs are trained to alert on command and are not used for actual investigation.

          Yes, SAR dogs exist and properly trained dogs exist as well. However, the overwhelming evidence shows dogs are not a reliable tool when used by police.

          Welcome to the downfall of an empire.

          • TriPolarBearz@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            23
            ·
            4 months ago

            Cop: say woof.

            Dog: what, right now?

            Cop: yeah.

            Dog: but I don’t smell anything…

            Cop: I’ll give you a treat.

            Dog: woof woof woof!

        • sramder@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          8
          ·
          4 months ago

          Most of the airports in the US have some sort or chemical detector too. I always get my hands swapped going through PDX because I brought so scary looking circuit boards with my carryon 5 years ago.

            • sramder@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              6
              ·
              4 months ago

              It’s been a few years, but they are white round pads, probably 3 inches wide. I’m not sure what’s on the pad, probably a solvent of some kind.

              The pads go in a machine about the size of an larger microwave oven which I believe uses NMR to scan for nitrates and other kinds of explosive residue.

              It was a pair of highschool level sumo robots, lots of wires and motors and gears.

      • sramder@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        4 months ago

        Yeah, but just like an M-80 so the whole checkpoint is splattered with drink and hand lotion.

    • CaptainBlagbird@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      4 months ago

      Not a big enough target for terrorists.
      Imagine having planned the next 9/11 but then instead you have to just blow up part of an airport instead 😒

      • sramder@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        4 months ago

        IDK Boeing is doing a good enough job in the air, maybe it’s time to move on to ground based targets.

        TSA would just set up a checkpoint-checkpoint and add a few hours to our departures… yeah, I think this is going to work for everyone!

    • lud@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      4 months ago

      The risk is explosive so mixing them with other fluids is probably not a problem.

    • dev_null@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      4 months ago

      They are not dangerous, that’s not the reason they are not allowed.

  • LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    44
    ·
    4 months ago

    Oh darn guess I’ll have to pour my separate bottles of bleach and ammonia in there since they’re not allowed past security checkpoint.

    • 0^2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      4 months ago

      Thinking the same thing. Oh shoot! I need to pour my bromine out! Proceeds to dump 1 gallon of fuming bromine into liquid receptacle.

    • Nomecks@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      Calgary has a liquor store in the domestic terminal after security. Not a duty free, a liquor store. Just in case you want a 5th during take off.

      • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        4 months ago

        My hometown has that as well. We’ve got some of the cheapest booze in the country because of how our taxes work

      • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        4 months ago

        When I was flying out of Orlando for a work trip last year I was really struggling to find somewhere selling coffee after security. I finally found it tucked in the back of a concerningly well-stocked bar

  • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘@infosec.pub
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    26
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    But, if they’re explosive, wouldn’t emptying your explosive with a soup of everyone else’s explosives, be a bad idea? Unless… is all this “security theater” just for show??

    E: grammar

    • dev_null@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      The point isn’t that liquids are explosive, the point is that water messes up the explosives detection. It’s “liquids are not allowed, because water is a false positive for explosives and we want to avoid the false positive”.

      That’s why it’s starting to get allowed in many airports - they updated their detectors to newer technology where water is no longer a false positive.

      Nobody thinks your bottle of water is a bomb.

      • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        4 months ago

        That makes sense and would almost reassure me if they didn’t have a 95% failure rate in tests. The data is super old but I can’t find anything to suggest it’s improved since then.

      • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘@infosec.pub
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        4 months ago

        According to several TSA agents in my travels to and around the US, at least, when I asked why my water had to be discarded, they all said variations of the same thing, “it could be an explosive”. And the news broadcasts I’ve seen when this measure was first implemented were telling people that these “new types of explosives” look like water and are hidden inside water bottles, and the water can even be sipped on without harm to the person from the heavier-than-water liquid explosive. So, while it may have been a lie, it was one that approved the measures. “False positives” were never communicated.

  • jaybone@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    14
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    4 months ago

    When the terrorists empty their liquid explosives into there, you’ll get to smell like piss while the flesh burns off of your bones.

  • WhatsHerBucket@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    4 months ago

    I guess they finally got tired of cleaning up the mess people left behind when they had to throw away their drinks.

  • SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    4 months ago

    I’m imagining them having to change out the bag or… I guess bag-less bin…?

    Unless this goes into a drain which is… equally super weird, actually, because it isn’t sink-shaped or anything… so now I’m imagining this super tall trash can with like a weak little drain at the bottom full of straws and bottle caps and stuff.

    • TensileSpark@lemmy.today
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      I am actually a janitor at an airport and these have little hoses on the back that we just put into the drain in the janitor closet. They smell like rotten eggs and midew at the same time and are the single most disgusting thing I have ever had to clean.

      Most of them have either a grate on top to prevent trash getting in or a separate chamber on the inside that filters out solids.