Althouse: "At the heart of laptop ban debate, officials ask which is worse: Bombs or accidental battery fires?"

May 19, 2017

"At the heart of laptop ban debate, officials ask which is worse: Bombs or accidental battery fires?"

Noted.

28 comments:

DrSquid said...: Bombs. No doubt about it.; 5/19/17, 8:11 AM
rhhardin said...: Google suggestion of the day

No results found for "in june 1944 a vast invasion was launched against northern".

Did you mean: "in june 1944 avast invasion was launched against northern"; 5/19/17, 8:46 AM
rhhardin said...: Phrase from W1AW qualifying run, I guess at 25wpm, wondering what book they're citing.; 5/19/17, 8:48 AM
Lucien said...: Commercial airline travel is so ridiculously safe that essentially no one dies when traveling by air. A lot of people fly, however, so imposing small costs on every one of them for security theater or other bureaucratic purposes adds up. (There's no need to turn the whole plane around because someone went to the bathroom at the wrong time.); 5/19/17, 8:56 AM
Original Mike said...: Who will be responsible for all the stolen laptops and tablets? The airlines?; 5/19/17, 9:55 AM
Michael said...: A bomb going off in the baggage compartment, or a fire, would be uncontainable. In the cabin it is possible the damage could be gotten under control.; 5/19/17, 9:55 AM
Ann Althouse said...: If I can't have my laptop, I'm not going.

And I won't check it in luggage.

But I'm not the relevant audience, because I already don't want to fly.

It just gives me one more reason to reject the dreadful experience.

By the way, I always get singled out for a special search.; 5/19/17, 10:02 AM
Kevin said...: Bombs or battery fires? These are the choices?

I remember when America used to be great. Maybe someone will come along and make it great again...; 5/19/17, 10:02 AM
James K said...: Who will be responsible for all the stolen laptops and tablets? The airlines?

I was worried about that, but from a news story I saw, it looks as though they have a special procedure and packaging for laptops if they take them from passengers' carry-ons. All bets are off if you just put a laptop in your checked luggage.

The bigger problem is what what I do on an 8-hour flight without my laptop? There's got to be a better way--in other words, figure out how to detect laptop bombs ASAP.; 5/19/17, 10:12 AM
Kevin said...: By the way, I always get singled out for a special search.

That's how the pat-downs go. Muslim. Blonde. Muslim. Blonde...; 5/19/17, 10:12 AM
Original Mike said...: "The bigger problem is what what I do on an 8-hour flight without my laptop? "

I fly the 17 hour Dallas to Sydney flight. I am soooooo dreading this.; 5/19/17, 10:15 AM
cubanbob said...: We can go back to the old days, planes flying at 5,000 feet and not pressurized. If the bomb goes off less chance of catastrophic failure. Of course the ride comfort will be reduced with more weather disturbances but hey, all for the sake of safety.; 5/19/17, 10:15 AM
Original Mike said...: "...from a news story I saw, it looks as though they have a special procedure and packaging for laptops if they take them from passengers' carry-ons."

Taken from them at the TSA checkpoint? How could they possibly get them to the correct plane?; 5/19/17, 10:17 AM
cubanbob said...: Blogger Ann Althouse said...
If I can't have my laptop, I'm not going.

And I won't check it in luggage.

But I'm not the relevant audience, because I already don't want to fly.

It just gives me one more reason to reject the dreadful experience.

By the way, I always get singled out for a special search.

5/19/17, 10:02 AM"

Try TSA Pre-cleared or Global Entry.; 5/19/17, 10:17 AM
khesanh0802 said...: Have we all forgotten how to read a book?; 5/19/17, 10:57 AM
Walter S. said...: The real danger, the way we're going, is that rioting business travelers will demolish all of the world's airports. I can't understand why it hasn't happened already.; 5/19/17, 10:57 AM
Original Mike said...: I could survive the trip without my iPad. My biggest problem with the ban would be I put lots of trip related stuff on my iPad. Not only travel documents, but lots and lots and lots astronomy related material on the objects I plan to observe. Hundres of hours go into making this material. I also have an indispensable observing app on the iPad. To arrive at my southern hemisphere destination and find that my iPad was gone will obviate the entire reason for the trip.; 5/19/17, 11:24 AM
Original Mike said...: I read an article that said an alternative would be to have the traveller turn on the device in the TSA security line to prove it's not a bomb. Can't see that working for a laptop; it takes too long to boot. But tablets come up right away.; 5/19/17, 11:27 AM
wholelottasplainin said...: If terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan can detonate roadside IED's using cell phones, they sure as hell can do the same with a laptop bomb in the luggage compartment.

It's kabuki theater, and I vote Noh.; 5/19/17, 11:28 AM
Original Mike said...: "If terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan can detonate roadside IED's using cell phones, they sure as hell can do the same with a laptop bomb in the luggage compartment."

Good point.; 5/19/17, 11:40 AM
Oso Negro said...: @CubanBob - TSA pre-cleared and Global Entry did not save me from homosexual assault at the hands of the TSA as I was flying out to Istanbul two weeks ago.; 5/19/17, 12:24 PM
wwww said...: accidental fires. There's been too many instances of tablets exploding or starting fires on planes. They can be put out if we can see the fire. Would have a great chance of fire if every tablet and laptop on every flight is stored in the cargo hold.; 5/19/17, 12:33 PM
JohnAnnArbor said...: Relevant cartoon.; 5/19/17, 1:21 PM
James K said...: Taken from them at the TSA checkpoint? How could they possibly get them to the correct plane?

From what I saw, they were putting each confiscated device in a box with a label, presumably like a baggage claim label. It seemed impossibly labor-intensive and would cause tremendous delays in security lines, but what else can they do? If you have no checked baggage and a laptop in your carry-on, they have to have a mechanism for getting it checked.; 5/19/17, 1:29 PM
Michael said...: Althouse

You will be pleased to know that most airplanes are now equipped with usb or electrical plugs. In all classes of service on most airlines.

With Pre-Check and Global Entry you zip by the crowds. Settle in to first class and a glass or two of wine and a sleeping pill and, presto, you are in Paris or London or Rome.

When you whittle away the things that bother you about flying you are left with your irrational fear.; 5/19/17, 1:54 PM
GRW3 said...: I weaned myself from taking computers to Europe when I broke down and got an iPhone 3. I wanted a little more readability so I got the small iPad as a companion. I'm kind of hoping if they do this there will be a Global Entry holder exception. It is making me think about getting the bigger iPhone instead of the really small one. Putting Laptops in the baggage compartment is a bad idea.; 5/19/17, 2:33 PM
Mark said...: So, everyone now is allowed to talk about the laptop ban -- everyone except for Trump? When Trump mentions it, he's disclosing highly classified information for which he should be impeached, drawn and quartered, but for the rest its all A-OK?; 5/19/17, 3:10 PM
jaed said...: If you have no checked baggage and a laptop in your carry-on, they have to have a mechanism for getting it checked.

Isn't the normal procedure to be ordered to throw it in a trash bin, and for some TSA employee to subsequently steal it?; 5/19/17, 6:23 PM