http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/11/8/133958/154/travel/Opting-Out+of+a+Full-Body+Scan%3F+Get+Ready+for+the+TSA%27s+New+Molestation+Pat-Down

A report from November last year? A little late to the party, eh?

As a frequent flier, I've gone through all the normal levels of TSA scrutiny, including the new scanners and the "enhanced" pat downs. Didn't consider any of it overly intrusive or offensive.

Earlier this month at SeaTac, a young guy behind me was telling his buddies how the scanners have "gamma radiation" and that the machine can sterilize them, and no way he was going to go through it . . .

If only he had stayed in school long enough to understand radiation . . . he might have understood that he was exposed to multiple times more radiation while he was snowboarding at the slopes the past weekend, than he would ever get by multiple passes through the new scanners.

Sterilization of such and individual would be a loss, how? I would have told him that if he got angry enough after the scan, he could become the Incredible Hulk.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Those scanners are no big deal. Maybe it it will give travelers an incentive to get in shape; so they don't have to be ashamed going though those machines and lowering health care costs at the same time.

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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

I think the scanners will prove to be "no big deal" in the long run. Don't know that for a fact yet, and (as one who has had dozens of skin cancers dealt with) I worry more than a little bit about subjecting my skin to the dosing.

Granted, the TOTAL dose of radiation received is minimal; concern is that the process that makes these machines do what the do (see through your clothes, but not your skin) means that your SKIN is collecting most (nearly all) of that dosing.

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1961 220b: first project car - sold.
2000 CLK 430: first modern Benz - sold.
2001 CLK 55: OMG the torque!!! - sold
1972 280SE 4.5: Baby Gustav
1991 300TE 4Matic: Gretel the Snow Bunny - sold
1978 300SD: Katz the Free Man - given away
1980 Redhead: Darling Wife

Didn't thought about that; that could be a problem. I was talking about privacy. I think the real question is are those machines really affective?

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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

So what happens when the plane takes off and you get a larger dose of radiation up in the air?

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

How about installing a bank vault door between the cock pit and the passenger area complete with a rest room so the pilots do not have to exit the cockpit. Simple, easy and VERY secure,,,but that's just not our style is it?

No, we'd rather have voyeurs looking beneath our clothes or going places our wives or husbands haven't been in years. I feel safer already.

My (limited, since I ain't a radiation expert, but not zero, since I have held certifications for handling radioactive sources in the past) understanding is that the exposure from sunlight (and chest x-rays, dental x-rays, etc) affects the skin - but doesn't stop there, so some significant portion of the radiation passes through your skin and is absorbed by other organs (or passes all the way through you).

Back-scatter machines are unique in the way they target the x-rays, causing the skin to be the primary (some reports) or sole (other reports) collector of the radiation.

Skin is the single biggest organ I've got. It's the one organ I've got where I KNOW I'm at an elevated risk of developing cancers. If I knew that the back scatter x-ray wasn't going to appreciably increase my risk, I'd not object to getting one on medical grounds (that they're not terribly effective at doing what they're supposedly there to do is another matter all together).

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1961 220b: first project car - sold.
2000 CLK 430: first modern Benz - sold.
2001 CLK 55: OMG the torque!!! - sold
1972 280SE 4.5: Baby Gustav
1991 300TE 4Matic: Gretel the Snow Bunny - sold
1978 300SD: Katz the Free Man - given away
1980 Redhead: Darling Wife

If your wife hasn't been there for years I think you have a bigger problem.

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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

It could explain much about temperment and point of view . . .

Sounds like you are saying a finger from your partner up the rear makes you a liberal...

Unfortunately, the bank vault door becomes a bit superfluous when some twit smuggles a shoe bomb on board.

If it were up to me, I'd administer sleeping gas to all passengers. That way the pilots and flight attendants could enjoy a nice peaceful, uneventful flight. Just before landing, they'd be gradually taken off the sleeping gas so they could return to the land of the living. Everyone, including the nut jobs would be comatose during the flight.

If found with shoe bombs, knives, etc etc, they would be strapped into a special ejection seat without a parachute.

So, you'd rather be groped and strip search while unconcious . . . makes sense.