Your seat belts are designed to handle the deceleration induced by hitting a brick wall, they will be just fine at the loads presented by this strange contraption. Whatever problems there are, this is not one of them.

The exact details of “how” are unimportant, because the sight will be quiet spectacular.

“have variable-pitch (i.e., the pilot has the ability to direct the fan’s thrust by rotating the fans around their long axis)“

I concede defeat. Although I admit that the security theater still does not appear to serve a useful purpose, your superior grammar skills have proved once and for all that I am not qualified to comment on the subject. Let’s break for lunch. Would you like some glue? I hear it’s delicious.

The question isn’t whether it yielded improvement, it’s whether the improvement was worth it’s direct and indirect costs. Which is to say, for the same money (both spent directly on TSA and lost productivity of the people we harrassed) was the TSA the best improvement possible?

That’s silly. Of course there are security concerns outside of 9/11, and there has been aviation security concerns about as long as there has been aviation. I don’t know this for a fact, but I’m willing to bet the wright flyer was kept in a barn with a padlock on it.

Well that’s stupid. People at airport probably need drugs more than the rest of us.

Maybe a better metric would be how many people did they succesfully screen out vs the 73 they did not.

I believe I already suggested the derek zoolander center for kids as a better alternative to the current security system. Hijackings are rare, our chances of dying in one are negligable, and resources would be better spent on a long list of problems that hurt far more people. Spend the money on health insurance for…

Actually, the answers are common knowledge and easily available.

Even if I accept that ISIS is 100% funded by our taxes (which is clearly the work of whatever people you don’t like) they are still not going to provide detailed, reliable identifying information.

Hey, I can play this game too.

Yep. The 95% fail rate at detecting bombs is damning. This does not appear to be.

Yeah, that’s a crappy situation with no easy solution. You can’t exaclt ask ISIS operatives submit their fingerprints and SS numbers.

At this point, it’s more of a caricature than an illusion, wouldn’t you say?

While I really hate defending the TSA, there might be less to this than it looks, for 2 reasons

Jeebuz, if you going to start a fight, take your helmet off first.

Is that the same shell gas station that is on that glorious ferrari shell commercial?

This is my nomination, but really, consider any of the hardcore soviet offroading trucks. While america went about criss-crossing its land with interstates, the soviets set about building trucks that could go thru anything the great russian wilderness could throw at it, all while built by drunks on a bender.

Like many others, I am saddened by the near extinction of manual transmissions. I don’t just want a manual in my super awesome sports car. I’d like one in my commuter box, my pickup, and my minivan. I don’t care if automatics become better than manuals in every single way, I still want my stick and three pedals. And…