The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

lanmind · 2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Steve The Cynic:
All together now: It doesn't matter if it's a string of digits. If you aren't going to use it for mathematical purposes, it isn't a number. It's not a PIN, nor an SSN. It's a PIDS or an SSDS. Personal Identification Digit String, Social Security Digit String, etc. And for a ZIP code or "code postal" (the name where I live (northern France) for the local equivalent), we don't even have the excuse of a name that contains the word "number".
And if it isn't a number, don't take short cuts and store it in a data type meant for storing numbers.

Bah.

Back to work...

I bet a lot of people think you're an insufferable jackass.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

This is offtopic but I find it pretty obscene that less than two weeks before September 11 people on here are complaining about necessary security checks at airports.

And yes I do hope these checks get expanded to railways too and eventually private auto-mobiles, because as far as I am concerned things are still pretty much insecure. I've always said the next attack will be a train or big car driven into a famous building. I hate to be proven right, but I think it's inevitable: Have you noticed there are ZERO baggage checks at train stations? How mad is that. I refuse to travel until they fix this and you should do too.

BTW it's a complete myth that you can get a cavity search just because you "smell funny". The dogs they use are properly trained and don't screw about. If you smell "funny" to them it's not because you forgot to wash it's because you are a crack head end-of-story. 90% of the time this is the case.

Look I am not saying the TSA are perfect or even defending them, but the world is now a different place. Besides you'll be the first ones jumping on the blame game train if the terrorists come back.

lanmind · 2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Sebastian Buchannon:
I find it pretty obscene that less than two weeks before September 11 people on here are complaining about necessary security checks at airports.

I agree with the sentiment in theory, but in practice, nothing the TSA does provides anything other than the appearance of good security - and only as long as you don't look too long or too hard.

cellocgw · 2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Sebastian Buchannon:
This is offtopic but I find it pretty obscene that less than two weeks before September 11 people on here are complaining about necessary security checks at airports.
And yes I do hope these checks get expanded to railways too and eventually private auto-mobiles, because as far as I am concerned things are still pretty much insecure. I've always said the next attack will be a train or big car driven into a famous building. I hate to be proven right, but I think it's inevitable: Have you noticed there are ZERO baggage checks at train stations? How mad is that. I refuse to travel until they fix this and you should do too.

BTW it's a complete myth that you can get a cavity search just because you "smell funny". The dogs they use are properly trained and don't screw about. If you smell "funny" to them it's not because you forgot to wash it's because you are a crack head end-of-story. 90% of the time this is the case.

Look I am not saying the TSA are perfect or even defending them, but the world is now a different place. Besides you'll be the first ones jumping on the blame game train if the terrorists come back.

And how many bombs have been set off in USA trains and busses? You're either an amateur troll or a professional moron.
BTW if "the terrorists" "come back" I'll do the proper thing: ignore them. You simply have no concept of the intent of a terrorist.

D-Coder · 2012-08-30 Reply Admin

cellocgw:
Loren Pechtel:
Bridget:
Helmet:
Everybody now ....
"That's amazing! I've got the same combination on my luggage!"

People still use luggage locks? I was under the impression that with the TSA that's just asking for trouble.

You get the type that the TSA can open with master keys.

All a luggage lock accomplishes is makes it more likely the bad guy will go after someone else's bag instead of yours, thus such a lock is still useful.

In case you hadn't noticed, the TSA are the bad guys.

Yes, it was so much better when private firms handled security, and anyone could get on a plane with knives and whatnot.</sarcasm>

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

"BTW if "the terrorists" "come back" I'll do the proper thing: ignore them."

That's actually illegal.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Sebastian Buchannon:
This is offtopic but I find it pretty obscene that less than two weeks before September 11 people on here are complaining about necessary security checks at airports.
And yes I do hope these checks get expanded to railways too and eventually private auto-mobiles, because as far as I am concerned things are still pretty much insecure. I've always said the next attack will be a train or big car driven into a famous building. I hate to be proven right, but I think it's inevitable: Have you noticed there are ZERO baggage checks at train stations? How mad is that. I refuse to travel until they fix this and you should do too.

BTW it's a complete myth that you can get a cavity search just because you "smell funny". The dogs they use are properly trained and don't screw about. If you smell "funny" to them it's not because you forgot to wash it's because you are a crack head end-of-story. 90% of the time this is the case.

Look I am not saying the TSA are perfect or even defending them, but the world is now a different place. Besides you'll be the first ones jumping on the blame game train if the terrorists come back.

Your chance of dying from too many doughnuts is about 10,000 times higher than your chance of dying from terrorism, even before the ridiculous TSA goons.

FOAD already. And take your friends with you. Please.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Sebastian Buchannon:
This is offtopic but I find it pretty obscene that less than two weeks before September 11 people on here are complaining about necessary security checks at airports.
And yes I do hope these checks get expanded to railways too and eventually private auto-mobiles, because as far as I am concerned things are still pretty much insecure. I've always said the next attack will be a train or big car driven into a famous building. I hate to be proven right, but I think it's inevitable: Have you noticed there are ZERO baggage checks at train stations? How mad is that. I refuse to travel until they fix this and you should do too.

BTW it's a complete myth that you can get a cavity search just because you "smell funny". The dogs they use are properly trained and don't screw about. If you smell "funny" to them it's not because you forgot to wash it's because you are a crack head end-of-story. 90% of the time this is the case.

Look I am not saying the TSA are perfect or even defending them, but the world is now a different place. Besides you'll be the first ones jumping on the blame game train if the terrorists come back.

If you are terrified into irrational action, the terrorists have won. That's why they're called that.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Oh sure people lets just let anyone onto a plane without checking them. Perhaps they can even fly the planes for a while. Get real.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Sebastian Buchannon:
..misc trollpuke..

Bootlicker.

There are fetish clubs for people like you. Go take your perversions there.

PedanticCurmudgeon · 2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Tom:
Sebastian Buchannon:
..misc trollpuke..
Bootlicker.
There are fetish clubs for people like you. Go take your perversions there.

Wow, 5 bites in less than 15 minutes! A masterful troll, sir. 9/10.

Addendum (2012-08-30 13:59): EDIT: Since the arguments continue after the original troll has buggered off, I'm raising my rating to 10/10.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Okay lets just drop the subject and agree to disagree before this discussion takes up the entire thread. But I still maintain you are all wrong.

ThingGuy McGuyThing · 2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Sebastian Buchannon:
...Rant that perfectly walks the line of Poe's Law...

Trolling. This is how it's done, people.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Maybe they need to report the average PIN or the standard deviation on PINs.

Coyne · 2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Steve The Cynic:
And if it isn't a number, don't take short cuts and store it in a data type meant for storing numbers.

I'm quite sure that the offenders from todays' and yesterday's WTF's would shout in unison (in the vein of, well, you know):

"Strings? Strings? We don't need no steenking strings!"

Because, you know, some people just never get it. What would we do for good WTF humor without them?

Gurth · 2012-08-30 Reply Admin

cellocgw:
Sebastian Buchannon:
I've always said the next attack will be a train or big car driven into a famous building. I hate to be proven right, but I think it's inevitable: Have you noticed there are ZERO baggage checks at train stations? How mad is that. I refuse to travel until they fix this and you should do too.
You simply have no concept of the intent of a terrorist.

Mostly what he makes clear is that the terrorists have already won.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Sebastian Buchannon:
And yes I do hope these checks get expanded to railways too and eventually private auto-mobiles, because as far as I am concerned things are still pretty much insecure. I've always said the next attack will be a train or big car driven into a famous building. I hate to be proven right, but I think it's inevitable: Have you noticed there are ZERO baggage checks at train stations? How mad is that. I refuse to travel until they fix this and you should do too.

He talked about driving a train into a famous building and people are believing him? The only famous buildings trains can drive into are famous train stations.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Sanity:
Sebastian Buchannon:
And yes I do hope these checks get expanded to railways too and eventually private auto-mobiles, because as far as I am concerned things are still pretty much insecure. I've always said the next attack will be a train or big car driven into a famous building. I hate to be proven right, but I think it's inevitable: Have you noticed there are ZERO baggage checks at train stations? How mad is that. I refuse to travel until they fix this and you should do too.

He talked about driving a train into a famous building and people are believing him? The only famous buildings trains can drive into are famous train stations.

He also talked about dog sniffs. In double-blind testing, the dogs "alerted" whenever their handlers were suspicious, not when there was actually anything to sniff.

PedanticCurmudgeon · 2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Mutton Jeff:
Sanity:
Sebastian Buchannon:
And yes I do hope these checks get expanded to railways too and eventually private auto-mobiles, because as far as I am concerned things are still pretty much insecure. I've always said the next attack will be a train or big car driven into a famous building. I hate to be proven right, but I think it's inevitable: Have you noticed there are ZERO baggage checks at train stations? How mad is that. I refuse to travel until they fix this and you should do too.

He talked about driving a train into a famous building and people are believing him? The only famous buildings trains can drive into are famous train stations.

He also talked about dog sniffs. In double-blind testing, the dogs "alerted" whenever their handlers were suspicious, not when there was actually anything to sniff.

So, in other words, the dog sniffs work as designed.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

At a previous employer, the "joke" (in quotes because it really wasn't) was that if your key fob stopped working to let you into the facility, that meant you were about to be laid off or fired. So on the day they went to a new system without telling the non-IT employees, all the old keyfobs stopped working, and more than one employee was a bit freaked out.

This was the same place where HR didn't know how to throw a retirement party for the VP of Sales because nobody had ever worked for the company long enough to retire...

Yes, Silicon Valley.

No, I don't miss working there.

CAPTCHA: consequat

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Steve The Cynic:
All together now: It doesn't matter if it's a string of digits. If you aren't going to use it for mathematical purposes, it isn't a number. It's not a PIN, nor an SSN. It's a PIDS or an SSDS. Personal Identification Digit String, Social Security Digit String, etc. And for a ZIP code or "code postal" (the name where I live (northern France) for the local equivalent), we don't even have the excuse of a name that contains the word "number".
And if it isn't a number, don't take short cuts and store it in a data type meant for storing numbers.

Bah.

Back to work...

Convince all the major DBMSs to add a "digit string" data type. (Maybe initially just an alias to something like char with a collation of Latin1_General_BIN [MSSQL].) Otherwise, all the uninformed devs who don't understand collation will only see that sorts and comparisons on (var)chars "take too much longer" than same on numerics.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Sanity:
Sebastian Buchannon:
And yes I do hope these checks get expanded to railways too and eventually private auto-mobiles, because as far as I am concerned things are still pretty much insecure. I've always said the next attack will be a train or big car driven into a famous building. I hate to be proven right, but I think it's inevitable: Have you noticed there are ZERO baggage checks at train stations? How mad is that. I refuse to travel until they fix this and you should do too.

He talked about driving a train into a famous building and people are believing him? The only famous buildings trains can drive into are famous train stations.

FEATURED COMMENT.

pauly · 2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Accalia.de.Elementia:
PedanticCurmudgeon:
Bridget:
Helmet:
Everybody now ....
"That's amazing! I've got the same combination on my luggage!"

People still fly? I was under the impression that with the TSA that's just asking for trouble.
FTFY

Yeah, we still fly. Until we solve the problem of quantum indeterminacy direct matter teleportation is never going to be practical.

Actually, this paper (www.fas.org/sgp/eprint/teleport.pdf) details a method that doesn't rely on quantum weirdness to teleport. Alters spacetime geometry.

Jump to page 11. This problem with teleportation is already solved on paper. This "traversable wormhole" simply requires "negative energy" equivalent to about –0.709 the mass of Jupiter. Or –1.3469e27 kg. I guess we haven't figured that one out yet.

That only makes a wormhole 1 meter in size. But you can move through it like the portals in Portal. Trololololol

pauly · 2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Steve The Cynic:
Anon:
Well in that case they knew it would be a 5 digit number, why make the indexing slower by using a string?
Um, because it was a string, not a number?
Here, have a "Shazzam!" (that's like a "Whoosh!", but for when a serious subject escapes you). A PIN isn't a number. They may have "known" it was a 5 digit number, but they were wrong.

But this door lock keypad mechanism probably is an embedded system. Not all embedded system have a file system to store a string. They should store them as doubles though.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

braulio104:
At a previous employer, the "joke" (in quotes because it really wasn't) was that if your key fob stopped working to let you into the facility, that meant you were about to be laid off or fired. So on the day they went to a new system without telling the non-IT employees, all the old keyfobs stopped working, and more than one employee was a bit freaked out.
This was the same place where HR didn't know how to throw a retirement party for the VP of Sales because nobody had ever worked for the company long enough to retire...

Yes, Silicon Valley.

No, I don't miss working there.

CAPTCHA: consequat

This might have been a joke in your company, but this is more or less the way a big multi-national's local branch performed a massive layoff: on a Monday morning they held up everyone at the main gate, then asked people to procede in lines to the turnstiles. Those allowed entrance by the turnstile were still employees, those refused entrance were asked to wait until security brought them their personal belongings from their desks.

Captcha: saluto. Saluto the flaggo!

pauly · 2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Steve The Cynic:
PedanticCurmudgeon:
Actually, the TSA has taken an interest in rail travel under what they're calling a pilot program. They've done random searches of people departing trains, and at highway rest stops. My theory is that they're testing our willingness to put up with arbitrary searches.
My one real encounter with TSA madness was in New York in 2006, and I fought down the very real urge to park my butt on the floor at the search/scan desk at JFK while I put my shoes and belt back on. I thought better of this cunning plan, and wandered about 30 feet into the concourse beyond before doing it.
Of course, trying to leave the US via Honolulu airport on 15 September 2001 wasn't such fun. Did you know that there's nothing whatsoever to do there in the middle of the night? I didn't, until I had to wait an extra six hours for my flight to arrive...

LOL. I don't sit on the floor, but I take about 4 to 5 minutes to put my shoes back on, put my laptop back in the bag, put my belt on. I'm very slow and meticulous looking. Especially when bagging the laptop. Like I've got OCD or something.

I've never had a word said to me or a single dirty look given. Odd.

Nagesh · 2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Accalia.de.Elementia:
PedanticCurmudgeon:
Bridget:
Helmet:
Everybody now ....
"That's amazing! I've got the same combination on my luggage!"

People still fly? I was under the impression that with the TSA that's just asking for trouble.
FTFY

Yeah, we still fly. Until we solve the problem of quantum indeterminacy direct matter teleportation is never going to be practical.

Advance techniques in Yoga will one day enable people to teleport self at will. Till then we must stick to airline reservation systems developed by first rate programmers in third world countries.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Sebastian Buchannon:
This is offtopic but I find it pretty obscene that less than two weeks before September 11 people on here are complaining about necessary security checks at airports.
And yes I do hope these checks get expanded to railways too and eventually private auto-mobiles, because as far as I am concerned things are still pretty much insecure. I've always said the next attack will be a train or big car driven into a famous building. I hate to be proven right, but I think it's inevitable: Have you noticed there are ZERO baggage checks at train stations? How mad is that. I refuse to travel until they fix this and you should do too.

BTW it's a complete myth that you can get a cavity search just because you "smell funny". The dogs they use are properly trained and don't screw about. If you smell "funny" to them it's not because you forgot to wash it's because you are a crack head end-of-story. 90% of the time this is the case.

Look I am not saying the TSA are perfect or even defending them, but the world is now a different place. Besides you'll be the first ones jumping on the blame game train if the terrorists come back.

LOL. Did you not hear the news? 9/11 was an inside job. Your government lied to you.

Coyne · 2012-08-30 Reply Admin

ted:
Sebastian Buchannon:
This is offtopic but I find it pretty obscene that less than two weeks before September 11 people on here are complaining about necessary security checks at airports.
And yes I do hope these checks get expanded to railways too and eventually private auto-mobiles, because as far as I am concerned things are still pretty much insecure. I've always said the next attack will be a train or big car driven into a famous building. I hate to be proven right, but I think it's inevitable: Have you noticed there are ZERO baggage checks at train stations? How mad is that. I refuse to travel until they fix this and you should do too.

BTW it's a complete myth that you can get a cavity search just because you "smell funny". The dogs they use are properly trained and don't screw about. If you smell "funny" to them it's not because you forgot to wash it's because you are a crack head end-of-story. 90% of the time this is the case.

Look I am not saying the TSA are perfect or even defending them, but the world is now a different place. Besides you'll be the first ones jumping on the blame game train if the terrorists come back.

LOL. Did you not hear the news? 9/11 was an inside job. Your government lied to you.

I thought it was a false flag operation.

So many theories, who can keep them straight?

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

MP79:
I hope alex hasn't done the same thing or else the 32768th commentor is going to be annoyed :p

388615 is greater than any 5-digit number, you know.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Pista:
...a massive layoff: on a Monday morning they held up everyone at the main gate, then asked people to procede in lines to the turnstiles. Those allowed entrance by the turnstile were still employees

My friend told of a corporate headquarters with a public address system. One afternoon the announcements started coming: "Jill Smith, please report to Mike's office." 5 minutes later Jill returns to her desk, packs her stuff and goes. "Fred Jones, please report to Mike's office." Same thing goes on and on all afternoon, and of course everyone in the whole place knew as each victim made their walk of shame. Naturally nobody remaining could concentrate on their work. Hell, half of them were busy copying or deleting files.

Friend said he didn't get the axe that day, but he moved on as soon as he could anyway. Can't say I blame him.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

fa2k:
Yes! And while we're at it, let's use strings in IP headers. After all, we aren't doing math with them. In fact, we should encode IP headers in XML, just to be sure.

IP addresses ARE strings... IPv4 uses 4-octet strings to represent addresses, IPv6 uses 16-octet strings. Standard fixed-length strings.

Though, to be completely correct, we do math on IP addresses all the time - your computer routinely ANDs the IP address with the subnet mask in order to decide the proper interface to send the IP packet out on. And routers routinely do it all the time for the same reason - to determine the next hop.

It's always been an annoyance that IP addresses aren't aligned in packets (IPv6 fixes this), because it means having to move data around in order to do math operations on them.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Coyne:
ted:
LOL. Did you not hear the news? 9/11 was an inside job. Your government lied to you.

I thought it was a false flag operation.

So many theories, who can keep them straight?

Huh, aren't those pretty much the same?

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

near-miss = hit

what the fuck?

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

At least they return an error message when you input an invalid number. Imaging the hell that would result if they accepted the number but only use the low 18 bits of the number. you might never have a usable PIN.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

sum1 was a stupdi idot when they make that programming for pen input.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

esse:
MP79:
I hope alex hasn't done the same thing or else the 32768th commentor is going to be annoyed :p

388615 is greater than any 5-digit number, you know.

f u

derari · 2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Steve The Cynic:
If you aren't going to use it for mathematical purposes, it isn't a number.

I fully agree, except for one exception: surrogate primary keys. Please don't use strings as primary keys.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

derari:
Steve The Cynic:
If you aren't going to use it for mathematical purposes, it isn't a number.
I fully agree, except for one exception: surrogate primary keys. Please don't use strings as primary keys.

But I thought the hot new thing was to use Globally Unique GUID IDs for primary keys!

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Ozz:
I no longer fly because I work as a firearms instructor on the side. Virtually everything I have will have traces of explosives on it. I prefer to drive anyway - as a concealed carry license holder I don't like to disarm...

Of course, the explosives they're looking for are typically not powder-based. I doubt they'd bat an eye at it.

-mike

nonpartisan · 2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Ozz:
I no longer fly because I work as a firearms instructor on the side. Virtually everything I have will have traces of explosives on it. I prefer to drive anyway - as a concealed carry license holder I don't like to disarm...

Went to Cisco Live! this year. The Mythbusters did the closing keynote. After Adam helped create avalanches by throwing explosives out of a helicopter, his hands were covered in explosive residue despite washing them.

So when the TSA agent asked Adam if he'd been working with high explosives, Adam said "yes." And they let him through, no further questions asked.

ShatteredArm · 2012-08-30 Reply Admin

asdf:
near-miss = hit
what the fuck?

Near-miss = miss that is near [the target] Nearly-miss = something that is nearly a miss (i.e., a hit)

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Steve The Cynic:
All together now: It doesn't matter if it's a string of digits. If you aren't going to use it for mathematical purposes, it isn't a number. It's not a PIN, nor an SSN. It's a PIDS or an SSDS. Personal Identification Digit String, Social Security Digit String, etc. And for a ZIP code or "code postal" (the name where I live (northern France) for the local equivalent), we don't even have the excuse of a name that contains the word "number".
And if it isn't a number, don't take short cuts and store it in a data type meant for storing numbers.

Bah.

Back to work...

On the off chance you're having a go at the "store it as a string" people (which it sort of sounds like you are), I think in this case that's a better solution - or at least an array of digits....

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

braulio104:
At a previous employer, the "joke" (in quotes because it really wasn't) was that if your key fob stopped working to let you into the facility, that meant you were about to be laid off or fired. So on the day they went to a new system without telling the non-IT employees, all the old keyfobs stopped working, and more than one employee was a bit freaked out.
This was the same place where HR didn't know how to throw a retirement party for the VP of Sales because nobody had ever worked for the company long enough to retire...

Yes, Silicon Valley.

No, I don't miss working there.

CAPTCHA: consequat

There was a rumour at one three letter acronymn which looked like someone's name in posessive form (which was taken over by a two letter acronymn) that there had been a time of mass layoffs that were basically implemented by evacuating the building using the fire alarm, and then informing employees "If your pass still works to get back in the building, you still have a job with us".

The same company built an office in the town I was in at the time, and the Department of Motor Vehicles decided to use some of their building. It was kind of amusing seeing the signs on the DMV that appeared they had moved to Ed's House.....(punctuation added)

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Loren Pechtel:
Bridget:
Helmet:
Everybody now ....
"That's amazing! I've got the same combination on my luggage!"

People still use luggage locks? I was under the impression that with the TSA that's just asking for trouble.

You get the type that the TSA can open with master keys.

All a luggage lock accomplishes is makes it more likely the bad guy will go after someone else's bag instead of yours, thus such a lock is still useful.

Depends what the bad guy is doing....

Suppose I want to ship contraband overseas, and I want to do it in someone else's bag. If I can pick a lock on someone's bag (and guarantee my friend at the other end can do the same) then it makes sense to choose a secure bag. Not only does it deter the small time thief who wants to take stuff OUT, but if something goes awry and we miss our shipment at the other end the target complaining to authorities "I didn't put it there" doesn't hold much water with a locked bag - because the authorities will naturally take the attitude that noone (other than the authorities - who have little interest in PLANTING stuff) could have tampered with a locked bag).

I've found it far more effective to tangle the zips with vast quantities of string and ribbon. It's normally pretty obvious when someone has tampered with it. There's also those little one-use plastic security tags you can get that you have to break to open, but they are coloured and numbered so that it's unlikely (I don't think impossible, because the number series tend to be reasonably short) some random walking around in the airport would happen to have one in the same colour and with the same number as yours....of course, the authorities still might...

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

robert:
The alarm didn't go off late. Bill just hit "snooze" a few times to many that morning.
Why do people always blame technology for their own fuck-ups?

I didn't invent this whole idea of fiddling the clocks for Daylight Savings - and I wouldn't really call DS technology.....

I've heard the farmers in Australia are upset because the cows don't change their habits for Daylight Savings.

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Sebastian Buchannon:
This is offtopic but I find it pretty obscene that less than two weeks before September 11 people on here are complaining about necessary security checks at airports.
And yes I do hope these checks get expanded to railways too and eventually private auto-mobiles, because as far as I am concerned things are still pretty much insecure. I've always said the next attack will be a train or big car driven into a famous building. I hate to be proven right, but I think it's inevitable: Have you noticed there are ZERO baggage checks at train stations? How mad is that. I refuse to travel until they fix this and you should do too.

BTW it's a complete myth that you can get a cavity search just because you "smell funny". The dogs they use are properly trained and don't screw about. If you smell "funny" to them it's not because you forgot to wash it's because you are a crack head end-of-story. 90% of the time this is the case.

Look I am not saying the TSA are perfect or even defending them, but the world is now a different place. Besides you'll be the first ones jumping on the blame game train if the terrorists come back.

That's right. The whole world should be forced to use small smart cars. Big cars are far too dangerous in the wrong hands....or did you mean a bus?

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

cellocgw:
Sebastian Buchannon:
This is offtopic but I find it pretty obscene that less than two weeks before September 11 people on here are complaining about necessary security checks at airports.
And yes I do hope these checks get expanded to railways too and eventually private auto-mobiles, because as far as I am concerned things are still pretty much insecure. I've always said the next attack will be a train or big car driven into a famous building. I hate to be proven right, but I think it's inevitable: Have you noticed there are ZERO baggage checks at train stations? How mad is that. I refuse to travel until they fix this and you should do too.

BTW it's a complete myth that you can get a cavity search just because you "smell funny". The dogs they use are properly trained and don't screw about. If you smell "funny" to them it's not because you forgot to wash it's because you are a crack head end-of-story. 90% of the time this is the case.

Look I am not saying the TSA are perfect or even defending them, but the world is now a different place. Besides you'll be the first ones jumping on the blame game train if the terrorists come back.

And how many bombs have been set off in USA trains and busses? You're either an amateur troll or a professional moron.
BTW if "the terrorists" "come back" I'll do the proper thing: ignore them. You simply have no concept of the intent of a terrorist.

Interesting point. How many bombs have been set off in a plane in the USA?

Not a lot. Probably about none, I should think.

In fact (and I think this is the OP's point) pre-911 noone had really considered a plane deliberately aimed at a building to be a threat. As a result of what happened the world has gone security crazy (or at least, likes to give the impression of security - I think most people agree security screening has very limited success). Any future attacks, however, are likely to be equally unexpected and will not necessarliy target planes (Sarin gas attacks in Japan's subway, the London Bus Bomobings etc). One of the problems with a lot of these sort of attacks is that they are planned independently, so unlike a single mass-murderer there is unlikely to be much pattern between how attacks are planned and implemented.

I think you would have to be incredibly naive to so readily dismiss the possibility that future incidents could come from rail or road travel as much as from air travel - and there's nothing to say they would even relate to travel. Mass gatherings that often have limited security (like sporting events or rock concerts) could also be targeted in the future...Or perhaps an online attack that aims to take out key infrastructure to simply cause panic, looting and general riot....

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

esse:
MP79:
I hope alex hasn't done the same thing or else the 32768th commentor is going to be annoyed :p

388615 is greater than any 5-digit number, you know.

1 x 2 = 3, but only for large values of 2....

2012-08-30 Reply Admin

Sebastian Buchannon:
This is offtopic but I find it pretty obscene that less than two weeks before September 11 people on here are complaining about necessary security checks at airports.
And yes I do hope these checks get expanded to railways too and eventually private auto-mobiles, because as far as I am concerned things are still pretty much insecure. I've always said the next attack will be a train or big car driven into a famous building. I hate to be proven right, but I think it's inevitable: Have you noticed there are ZERO baggage checks at train stations? How mad is that. I refuse to travel until they fix this and you should do too.

BTW it's a complete myth that you can get a cavity search just because you "smell funny". The dogs they use are properly trained and don't screw about. If you smell "funny" to them it's not because you forgot to wash it's because you are a crack head end-of-story. 90% of the time this is the case.

Look I am not saying the TSA are perfect or even defending them, but the world is now a different place. Besides you'll be the first ones jumping on the blame game train if the terrorists come back.

I find it pretty obscene that there has not been at least fifteen bombs a day in every single major city in the US for the last 11 years. In fact, it's pretty obscene that there are still americans still alive in the world.

PIN Panic

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