So I'm sitting in Tulsa on Friday wating to board my flight when I hear my
name being called to approach the podium. The services manager needs to
ask me about the explosives that the TSA found in my luggage. I'm a little
confused as I certainly didn't recall packing any, so he explains that the
toy cowboy gun I'd bought for my son came with a pack of paper caps, which
contain gunpowder and so are considered as explosives.

I can't fault them on their logic, and clearly their procedures work which
is comforting to know I guess, but it seems a little extreme. On the
positive side, they decided not to enforce the $50,000 fine.

So I'm sitting in Tulsa on Friday wating to board my flight when I hear my
name being called to approach the podium. The services manager needs to ask
me about the explosives that the TSA found in my luggage. I'm a little
confused as I certainly didn't recall packing any, so he explains that the
toy cowboy gun I'd bought for my son came with a pack of paper caps, which
contain gunpowder and so are considered as explosives.

I can't fault them on their logic, and clearly their procedures work which
is comforting to know I guess, but it seems a little extreme.

I can't fault them on their logic, and clearly their procedures work
which is comforting to know I guess, but it seems a little extreme.

In message <h2tcrf$gh6$1@news.albasani.net> "Gerard Farrell"
gerardfarrell@lineone.net> was claimed to have wrote:

So I'm sitting in Tulsa on Friday wating to board my flight when I hear my
name being called to approach the podium. The services manager needs to ask
me about the explosives that the TSA found in my luggage. I'm a little
confused as I certainly didn't recall packing any, so he explains that the
toy cowboy gun I'd bought for my son came with a pack of paper caps, which
contain gunpowder and so are considered as explosives.

I can't fault them on their logic, and clearly their procedures work which
is comforting to know I guess, but it seems a little extreme.

I'm sorry...

I'm normally one to dump all over the TSA for every little bit of
mission creep or rights abuses, but honestly, what part of "no
explosives" did you misunderstand?

"No explosives" means "nothing that explodes"

In message <h2tcrf$gh6$1@news.albasani.net> "Gerard Farrell"
gerardfarrell@lineone.net> was claimed to have wrote:

So I'm sitting in Tulsa on Friday wating to board my flight when I hear my
name being called to approach the podium. The services manager needs to ask
me about the explosives that the TSA found in my luggage. I'm a little
confused as I certainly didn't recall packing any, so he explains that the
toy cowboy gun I'd bought for my son came with a pack of paper caps, which
contain gunpowder and so are considered as explosives.

I can't fault them on their logic, and clearly their procedures work which
is comforting to know I guess, but it seems a little extreme.

I'm sorry...

I'm normally one to dump all over the TSA for every little bit of
mission creep or rights abuses, but honestly, what part of "no
explosives" did you misunderstand?

"No explosives" means "nothing that explodes"

How about my nitroglycerine tablets?

In article <ika755lttg8g9lf7ge65jg74ooe81t0g7a@4ax.com>,
Hatunen <hatunen@cox.net> wrote:


How about my nitroglycerine tablets?

Interesting. I would think that the sensors should pick it up.
My bet is that there has to be a certain minimum concentration that even
a full bottle of pills wouldn't come near.

On Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:49:50 -0700, DevilsPGD
DeathToSpam@crazyhat.net> wrote:

In message <h2tcrf$gh6$1@news.albasani.net> "Gerard Farrell"
gerardfarrell@lineone.net> was claimed to have wrote:

So I'm sitting in Tulsa on Friday wating to board my flight when I hear
my
name being called to approach the podium. The services manager needs to
ask
me about the explosives that the TSA found in my luggage. I'm a little
confused as I certainly didn't recall packing any, so he explains that
the
toy cowboy gun I'd bought for my son came with a pack of paper caps,
which
contain gunpowder and so are considered as explosives.

I can't fault them on their logic, and clearly their procedures work
which
is comforting to know I guess, but it seems a little extreme.

I'm sorry...

I'm normally one to dump all over the TSA for every little bit of
mission creep or rights abuses, but honestly, what part of "no
explosives" did you misunderstand?

"No explosives" means "nothing that explodes"

How about my nitroglycerine tablets?

How about my nitroglycerine tablets?

On Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:49:50 -0700, DevilsPGD
DeathToSpam@crazyhat.net> wrote:

In message <h2tcrf$gh6$1@news.albasani.net> "Gerard Farrell"
gerardfarrell@lineone.net> was claimed to have wrote:

So I'm sitting in Tulsa on Friday wating to board my flight when I hear my
name being called to approach the podium. The services manager needs to ask
me about the explosives that the TSA found in my luggage. I'm a little
confused as I certainly didn't recall packing any, so he explains that the
toy cowboy gun I'd bought for my son came with a pack of paper caps, which
contain gunpowder and so are considered as explosives.

I can't fault them on their logic, and clearly their procedures work which
is comforting to know I guess, but it seems a little extreme.

I'm sorry...

I'm normally one to dump all over the TSA for every little bit of
mission creep or rights abuses, but honestly, what part of "no
explosives" did you misunderstand?

"No explosives" means "nothing that explodes"

How about my nitroglycerine tablets?

On Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:46:09 -0400, Kurt Ullman
kurtullman@yahoo.com> wrote:

In article <ika755lttg8g9lf7ge65jg74ooe81t0g7a@4ax.com>,
Hatunen <hatunen@cox.net> wrote:


How about my nitroglycerine tablets?

Interesting. I would think that the sensors should pick it up.
My bet is that there has to be a certain minimum concentration that even
a full bottle of pills wouldn't come near.

A full bottle of pills measures about 17mm diameter by 37mm long
and has a very tight cap (lest the pills oxidize to impotence) so
it presents a rather small sensor or canine nose target.

Hatunen wrote:
On Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:46:09 -0400, Kurt Ullman
kurtullman@yahoo.com> wrote:

In article <ika755lttg8g9lf7ge65jg74ooe81t0g7a@4ax.com>,
Hatunen <hatunen@cox.net> wrote:


How about my nitroglycerine tablets?

Interesting. I would think that the sensors should pick it up.
My bet is that there has to be a certain minimum concentration that
even a full bottle of pills wouldn't come near.

A full bottle of pills measures about 17mm diameter by 37mm long
and has a very tight cap (lest the pills oxidize to impotence) so
it presents a rather small sensor or canine nose target.

Not much of an explosive hazard, either - nitroglycerin tablets
are typically under 1 mg each, so even a bottle of 100 would
be less than a tenth of a gram of nitroglycerine. Even if it weren't
in a dilute, inert form which can't explode, 0.1g of nitro isn't
enough to simulate the explosive force of a good sneeze.
(Nitroglycerine is estimated to have an explosive force
roughly 13 times that of a similar volume of gunpowder.)

In article <q3d755hpave1ft6u7b8ufvvu07104kbn9c@4ax.com>,
Hatunen <hatunen@cox.net> wrote:

On Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:46:09 -0400, Kurt Ullman
kurtullman@yahoo.com> wrote:

In article <ika755lttg8g9lf7ge65jg74ooe81t0g7a@4ax.com>,
Hatunen <hatunen@cox.net> wrote:


How about my nitroglycerine tablets?

Interesting. I would think that the sensors should pick it up.
My bet is that there has to be a certain minimum concentration that even
a full bottle of pills wouldn't come near.

A full bottle of pills measures about 17mm diameter by 37mm long
and has a very tight cap (lest the pills oxidize to impotence) so
it presents a rather small sensor or canine nose target.

I can also tell you from personal experience that they won't explode.
A bomb tech I worked with years ago wondered the same thing. Finagled
some expired nitro tabs from a local pharmacy, packed them in a standard
medicine bottle and put in a blasting cap. Nothing of any interest
happened (other than about what you expect a blasting cap to do to a RX
bottle).
The boy wasn't tied down all that tight.

In message <ika755lttg8g9lf7ge65jg74ooe81t0g7a@4ax.com> Hatunen
hatunen@cox.net> was claimed to have wrote:

On Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:49:50 -0700, DevilsPGD
DeathToSpam@crazyhat.net> wrote:

In message <h2tcrf$gh6$1@news.albasani.net> "Gerard Farrell"
gerardfarrell@lineone.net> was claimed to have wrote:

So I'm sitting in Tulsa on Friday wating to board my flight when I hear my
name being called to approach the podium. The services manager needs to ask
me about the explosives that the TSA found in my luggage. I'm a little
confused as I certainly didn't recall packing any, so he explains that the
toy cowboy gun I'd bought for my son came with a pack of paper caps, which
contain gunpowder and so are considered as explosives.

I can't fault them on their logic, and clearly their procedures work which
is comforting to know I guess, but it seems a little extreme.

I'm sorry...

I'm normally one to dump all over the TSA for every little bit of
mission creep or rights abuses, but honestly, what part of "no
explosives" did you misunderstand?

"No explosives" means "nothing that explodes"

How about my nitroglycerine tablets?

Those tend to be stabilized (in other words, pure nitroglycerine isn't
stable enough handle and definitely not to consume) and packaged so as
to not be explosive.

They also do trip explosive sensors in some cases, but a quick
inspection will reveal that they're not in the "things that explode"
category and you'll be permitted to proceed.

 Hatunen <hatu...@cox.net> wrote:

How about my nitroglycerine tablets?

  Interesting. I would think that the sensors should pick it up.
My bet is that there has to be a certain minimum concentration
that even a full bottle of pills wouldn't come near.

toy gun caps is not in the "things that explode" category either
except by some weird stretch of the definition of "explode".

toy gun caps is not in the "things that explode" category either
except by some weird stretch of the definition of "explode".

toy gun caps is not in the "things that explode" category either
except by some weird stretch of the definition of "explode".

Its more likely that the baggage inspection was simply an X-Ray and it
saw the outline of the toy handgun. Further investigation found the
caps.