[ale]dell laptop keyboard - OT airport security

[Jeff Lightner]

Years ago I used to carry a briefcase full of cat 5 cables with a break
out box, tools and RJ45/DB25 modular connectors.  Usually I checked that
through but the day before my flight back from LA they had blown up
someone's bag on the tarmac.   This was during an alert caused by a
thread from the Unabomber.   

Due to this I carried the briefcase through security.  They told me to
put it on the scanner and I said "No, you're going to want to see this."
They put it through the scanner anyway then said "Yeah, you're right -
we need to see it."

Back then I regularly also carried my Leatherman Tool because it was
great for pushing pins on the DB/25.   That had a knife blade, pliers
and multiple screw drivers along with can/bottle opener and file.   The
one I have now is longer and has two knife blades.  

Oddly enough I was just at the Carlos Museum at Emory last weekend and
they confiscated it while I was in the exhibits.  They didn't have metal
detectors but I answered the question truthfully when they asked if I
had a pocket knife.  It made me wonder whether they think people that
would use pocket knives to damage exhibits or attack other patrons would
be honest enough to answer in the affirmative.

-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Jim
Popovitch
Sent: Friday, August 31, 2007 10:23 PM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [ale] dell laptop keyboard

On Fri, 2007-08-31 at 19:31 -0400, William Bagwell wrote:
> On Thursday 30 August 2007, Jim Popovitch wrote:
> >snips
> > Getting the
> > phillips head through airport security proved tricky, but legal.
> 
> Sigh, I remember the good old days... 
> 
> Very early 80s, I made a series of three round trips between Atlanta
and El 
> Paso. The engineer I was traveling with (I was a technician at the
time) 
> had a small assortment of tools in his brief case. Only once, of the
six 
> times, through security were the tools even noticed. He was simply
asked 
> to produce a business card and then allowed through with no further 
> questions.

My solution was to call it, and it was (albeit a bit large), an eye
glass screw driver.  You have all most likely seen this type of screw
driver, you can usually get them in a set of 5 or 6, in a clear and blue
plastic case, usually used for work on small devices.  I believe the set
is sold at Radio Shack.  Note: I did first check to make sure the
screwdriver would fit my eye glasses.

-Jim P.



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