> Maybe PETN is dangerous, but aren't 12" razor blades
> also dangerous?
>
> Time for some mythbusting!
>
> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/11/
> adam-savage-tsa-saw-my-junk-missed-12-razor-blades.ars
>
> (NSFW, but the URL says it all)
Well, if a potential hijacker pulled out a knife these days I'd bet passengers would throw themselves on him and subdue or kill him, assuming anybody who actually managed to hijack a plane these days would be intent on crashing it anyway. Whereas, if he could successfully detonate a bomb it would be too late for the other passengers to stop him. So I'd say PETN on a plane is _far_ more dangerous than a knife on a plane.
I find this popular uproar about body scanners weird. We've had >9% unemployment in the U.S. all year long, and no one seems to give a damn, but let some airport personnel have the potential to look at a body scan and the news media are full of people in an outrage. It's like getting all upset about a stubbed toe when, also, your house is on fire. I realize a sensible person can be concerned about more than one thing at a time, but people appear to be a hundred times more upset about this trivial business than about the national economic disaster. Honest to God, I think it's a deliberate distraction.
yrs wdk