Comments on: TSA bans snowglobes. TSA, meet Archimedes.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Personally, I hate snow globes almost as much as I hate the TSA – so I find this to be a good thing. If we can’t get rid of TSA, at least we can reduce snow globe proliferation.

By: Angerwine

Angerwine — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The reasoning behind his ban may be faulty, but I think it is a blessing in disguise.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This is police-state stuff — and we shouldn’t put up with it whatsoever. Organize, people. These goons don’t know when to stop. They’ll just keep coming at us. It’s for the Rich, understand?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Thus brings an end to the sale of one of the most enduring tourist souvenirs in history.

By: Ideal Gnome

Ideal Gnome — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Quite an amusing song on the topic here:

http://www.last.fm/music/Atomic+Horsebox/_/Air+Guantanamo

Very funny!!!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Great article.
Btw, 2 weeks ago the London Gattwick security confiscated 2 snowglobes so I know how stupid this “security” measurement is. Oh yea, they also took away some toys for my nephew. It was a small soft plastic shield and “sword” which is some sort of replicas from the Tower of London. They said that although it is not metal or sharp or whatever, it can still be a bit scary. ROFL!! :D

By: gobo

gobo — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Last year, I was flying out of LAX with a small jar of the famous relish from Bob’s Big Boy. TSA guy found it in my bag and said, “This is a liquid, you have to discard this.” I said, “Actually it’s more of a solid, since it’s relish.” He turned it upside down, watched the red goo slide around inside the jar, and said, “Well, okay.”

Somehow the ambiguity of it all scared me more than getting away with flying with a liquid.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

As Anonymous (#82) responding to Flink (#43) and Daniel (#95) surmised, a conspiracy could easily be created whereby individuals each smuggling an innocuous component passed TSA and assembled it elsewhere. It wouldn’t have to be assembled on the plane. It could be in the airport bathroom. With regards to liquid, after their 22 friends got passed TSA with a measly 3oz container someone could walk onto a plane with a 2L bottle filled with whatever. Who knows, maybe there’s a group out there already passing items around to each other waiting for assembly at a later time. Or guns already assembled passed from person to person waiting for the next big event.
By the way, I found this blog because I almost missed my flight home from Vegas last week due to a few snow globes my wife and her friend packed in our carry-on.

By: loraksus

loraksus — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

“That’s why they just put them all in a lovely bomb proof Rubbermaid plastic trash receptacle”

Yes, one that just happens to be full of all sorts of happy things that would work pretty decently as shrapnel.

And happens to be located in a confined area where a good number of civilians standing around along with a large number of screening personnel and a majority of screening equipment.

*sigh*

Security theater, nothing more.

By: med1972

med1972 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Relevance? You expect TSA agents to take the time to calculate the volume of liquid in your snow globe?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

What annoys me is when they tell you you can’t take your bottle of water on the plane, and they fully acknowledge that it is, in fact, water. You can drink it, you can let them smell it. It’s clearly water…but no.

By: The Chemist

The Chemist — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I might understand if you were talking about allowing cellphone calls on flights (may that abomination never come to pass) but you’ll have to explain what’s so bad about snowglobes. I’m not really crazy about them, but mostly they just sit there.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

TSA officials can’t be bothered with the most basic concepts of logic (or law, or compassion for that matter). Why would you expect them to spend a few minutes analyzing your snowglobe’s volume?

By: med1972

med1972 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Very simple: snowglobes are filled with a liquid that, if it were to exceed 3oz in volume, might blow up a plane. It’s dumb, like the whole liquids ban thing, but it’s there and we cannot reasonably expect TSA agents to measure the volume of the liquid in a globe. Much easier to just deny. Put the damn thing in your checked luggage.

By: Jewels Vern

Jewels Vern — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I can’t imagine why any self respecting citizen still travels by air.

By: Whatnot

Whatnot — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Luckily, Charles Foster Kane can afford to charter a private jet.

By: Man On Pink Corner

Man On Pink Corner — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

In other news, volume is not measured in ounces.

By: taiki24

taiki24 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Damn! There goes my genius plan to blow up an airplane with a…………………. snowglobe…..

By: Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Of course it is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_ounce

By: Patrick Dodds

Patrick Dodds — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ah, god bless the TSA – small boys in long trousers.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

i had a hilarious conversation with the tsa in may of this year when i called them ask if i could bring a stuffed jackalope on the plane with me from san francisco to the netherlands where i live.

it took them a while to figure out what it was (ie. an imaginary animal composed of two real animals, courtesy of paxton gate) and i was told i couldn’t take it on the plane because of the antlers which are considered sharp objects…

By: oasisob1

oasisob1 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

@Jewels Vern: Those pesky oceans, combined with limits on the amount of time I may have to travel to a particular location (and back) on the other side of one such ocean, sort of forces the issue with me. We don’t always have a choice.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I am an avid snow globe collector (lame, I know, but fun!) and the TSA has never allowed me to carry a snow globe through security. Didn’t matter what size. They always just said “no”. I gave up trying a while ago. It’s a boon to snow globe sales at the airport near the gates.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Is this a word problem?

By: Man On Pink Corner

Man On Pink Corner — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Cory, the whole concept of fluid ounces as a measure of volume is only valid for water. If the snowglobe in question were actually known to be full of water, nobody would care about it to begin with.

By: Ted8305

Ted8305 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Why does the TSA still allow breast implants of greater than 3 fluid ounces? They don’t even check to make sure passengers’ bladders and bowels have been voided.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I recently returned from NYC after a glorious shopping trip and showing of the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Show via American Airlines. The Rockettes were the best. I purchased a Rockettes Snow Globe as a souvenir for myself. Thinking it was fragile I put it in my carry on to keep it safe. Well it was confiscated. My friend and I never even thought about the “liquid” in the snow globe as being not accepted through carry on. I know the individuals didn’t want to take it from me but that was the rules they followed. They suggested I run back to check-in to see if I could have it checked on the flight. I went to the counter and this was not possible. The agent could see my disappointment and did take my name, address and phone number suggesting she may have it sent to me. I was hopeful. That was Nov 27th at Laguardia Airport and I have not seen anything come yet. Lesson learned I guess. I just have to wonder what happened to it really!! Oh and to top it off, while I was at check in the 2nd time, my friend waited at the gate of our flight. It boarded early and when I returned the plane was still there but they said it was too late to board. We had to wait 3 more hours for the next flight to leave. Shelly, Cambridge, Ontario Canada

By: vyvyan

vyvyan — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Just did a quick math
3 US fluid ounces = 0.0887205887 litre = 88 ml.
radius of sphere = (0.0000887205887*3/(pi*4))^(1/3) = 0.0276680532 meter = 2.8 centimeter ~ 1.1 inches

A ball with 2.2 inch diameter is really small object, and most of snow globes will actually be larger. On the permissible volume, they have rules by their side but just saying that they can’t determine is plainly stupid. The should be send back to get primary schooling first.

PS: Sorry, I don’t feel at home with Imperial system.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Because it takes too long to cross the Atlantic Ocean by bus?

By: veggiespam

veggiespam — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

It has been this way since at least Sep 2006. I believe I read the TSA’s thinking was along the lines of the inability to take a sample of the liquid inside, as you could still bring tiny (3 fl oz) snow globes onto the plane. They usually do not take samples of your shampoo for bomb-worthiness, but they nevertheless have that option. Sealed globes remove that possibility.