Shit, he ain’t even gonna get that far. They’re gonna take it away at the checkpoint entering the terminal. At best, they’ll put it with the rest of the luggage. More likely, it gets confiscated and trashed. No way they even let him get to the point of thinking about wiring shit together in his seat on the plane. The whole question is moot.
I used to be entertained by the obvious trolling, but it’s gotten old. Can we ban the chainyanking moron already?
Kind of. There’s really no answer other than “It’s a really bad idea”. But VCO3 is a crusader against The Man. The Man has a website that lists prohibited items, and electronic circuits/breadboards ain’t listed. So Damn The Man, there’s no written rule why he can’t take his stuff on the plane, but it’s still a bad idea.
Cite! There’s no cite for something being a bad idea, only common sense. So quite a few people, using the common sense angle, tried to convince our crusader that his was a bad idea. Didn’t work.
That’s where it gets sticky. Most people, when confronted with numerous crys of “bad idea” would just drop it. Most people aren’t Crusaders Against The Man. Not VCO3. He can’t tolerate sound advice. Goes against the crusader in him.
That’s why I still say the best advice I can give him is the advice I’ve already given him: Take the breadboard onto the plane. Go with his crusade.
That’s the only way to prove one way or another which path is the correct path.
But if he comes back and says he merrily assembled a breadboard circuit in an airline passenger cabin, you know what the reply will be? You bet. Of course there’ll be no way of knowing if he trys it and fails, either. Random confiscations occur daily and don’t make the news. We can only hope he resists The Man then as much as he resists advice now.
Now some people say that plunging into the jaws of almost certain defeat is “stupid”. Not me, I say that’s the job of a Crusader.
Or, what Bosstone said in a lot fewer words
It’s in the Bible, though, right?
I’m afraid you’re probably right. Too bad; VCO3 livens the place up a bit, which is nice. Ah, well…
VC’s next thread:
I find him entertaining. Some of his threads actually develop into interesting discussions. I wouldn’t want him as a neighbor, an acquaintance, or someone on my commute, but a message board is just about right.
I see your point but also note that most of those posting were not responding in a civil manner. I once had a similar post where people accused me of same due to my “hysterical” reactions to responses- my responses were due to the offensive nature of responses I was getting. If VCO3 is responding to “hey dude, bad idea” with a rant that’s one thing, its another to respond to “fuck you idiot” the same way- I don’t buy that you should sit with your tail between your legs and take shit just becasue you post something that the masses don’t agree with, unless you are just trying to annoy.
There have been posters banned in the past who were very good contributors to the board yet displayed an inexplicable and consistent inability to follow the rules. Collounsbury springs to mind as an example.
For an actual anecdotal experience. PRE-9/11 (1996 or so), I was flying to Canada on business. I had a small box with a couple smoke detectors and maybe a circuit board with components. I was detained for 45 minutes before the flight while they made sure the items I had were what I claimed them to be. If I had taken them out during the flight, I assume the plain clothed air marshal would have taken me right down.
I know. It’s always a shame; but such is life. Thus the “Ah, well…”
Were plain clothed air marshals common before 9/11?
Yeah. They’ve been around since the hijacking flurry in the 60s.
Me, actually.
I was sitting next to a knitter who happened to be a man and was working on a baby sweater on my last flight (over Thanksgiving). We had a long discussion about knitting in general and on planes. It was kind of nice.
In the interest of fighting more ignorance:
Knitting needles can and have been confiscated or denied on flights, by the way. They’re not allowed at all on flights within or from the EU, for example, and a screener having a bad day can refuse to allow them through even though they’re technically on the TSA’s allowed list (I just had a giggle when I realized they’re listed under “Makeup, Medication, Personal Items & Special Needs Devices”). There used to be a note on the TSA website–I can’t find it at the moment–indicating that even things on the “allowed” list could be denied at the screener’s discretion.
Didn’t they stop doing that at some point, though? I seem to recall some debate about restarting the air marshall program after 9/11. Maybe they were just reversing a scale back…
My girlfriend and I flew from New York to Italy last month. She had knitting needles in her carryon both inbound and outbound.
This. Is. SPARTA!
With apologies to lobstermobster for stealing her thang.
If we can believe wikipedia, numbers of marshall have varied wildly. Supposedly only 33 were active on 9/11, so - yeah, you’re right - they were scaled back.
Interesting story about knitting and airplanes. I was once sitting through a flight delay at Vancouver airport and I pulled out my knitting to pass the time. I was a late 20s professional on my way home to visit my family for Christmas.
Across from me, a late 60s grandmother type on her way to see her grandkids for Christmas pulled out the sweater she was knitting, and compared notes.
So then, the 20ish, long haired hippy snowboarded dude on his way home from a weekend in Whistler pulled out the scarf he was knitting, and asked if we could help him with his dropped stitch.
It was a really great moment. As a group of Canadians, we probably couldn’t have had less in common if we’d been sent by central casting, and yet we sat around and chatted about knitting techniques until our flight was called.
It took me a minute to realize that VCO3 had a body and I wasn’t just drop-kicking a box while a basketball named VCO3 watched.
Apart from that, it’s photo-realistic. You got me exactly.
Perhaps they’ve relaxed the rules. It has been about six months, but the last word I had about EU flights was that needles were verboten.
Learn something new every day.
