(Which horse-shit is correct.) 
**xtisme ** got what I meant. There some people out there that are dangerous just breathing. But no weapon ever acted by itself. Purposefully or accidentally, a human agent was involved in its usage.
Good, it appears the voices are staying silent. Pshew! Thanks for the reference.
In other words, what I just said. 
The big problem I have with your point, silenus, is that it’s used to rationalize arguments against gun control, because it says that weapons are not in and of themselves dangerous.
I’m sorry, but anything that can be picked up by a six year old and used to kill seventeen people is dangerous. For that matter, something that can be picked up by a six year old and used to kill one person is dangerous.
Whether or not you then want to outlaw that thing is a different argument, and one I’m not going to get in to here. But claiming that weapons are not dangerous, only people are dangerous, is a bullshit argument.
Hi, Cheesesteak. Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I don’t think I ever said a rock couldn’t be a weapon. My point was that these lists are somewhat silly, because almost anything can be a weapon. I’m more concerned about bombs than whether the passenger in 32C can intimidate his neighbor. Half a brick is more deadly than a paperback, sure, but a hefty hardback is surely more deadly than a small souvenir pebble. Plus, with a good academic tome, I can also bore my opponents to sleep in case they’re out of whacking range.
I got a package from a large gemstone dealer in Thailand, via Fedex Global, with about one-eighth of the box amputated and stuck back on with bright yellow tape saying, “OPENED FOR THE PROTECTION OF US CUSTOMS AND BORDER GUARDS”.
Well, OK I guess, so long as they put everything back, I thought. I slit through the tape and the box fell apart.
They had slashed a folded sheet of tissue paper.
They had chopped through a couple of inches of bubble wrap.
They had slit a sandwich-sized baggie.
They finally worked their way down to a small white plastic box with clear plastic lid, containing…
Three small white packets, about the size of my last finger joint. Bubble wrap squeezed together and plastered shut with clear packing tape.
Inviolate.
Crack cocaine? Blood diamonds? Testicular tissue from the butchered last member of some endangered species? Samples of some exotic explosive? Plutonium? “Guess it’s stones, just like the papers say. Stick it all back together and let it go.”
I’m still bemused. But the stones are what I ordered, two scapolites and a spinel, with no (yet) known destructive capacity. 
On the one hand, my older sister is a geologist and I have often brought back rocks from foreign parts. Admittedly, I they were never bigger than about 4cm squared.
On the other hand, having travelled far and wide throughout my life thus far, American airports always seemed to be some of the slackest, most poorly run airports (from a traveller’s perspective, probably not from a pilot’s perspective but I don’t know) in the developed world. Even post 9/11, I managed to get stuck somewhere I shouldn’t have been by mistake due to the mayhem changing flights at LAX - luckily I am not a terrorist.
I for one welcome any increases in security in US airports.
Airports had become little more than giant flying-bus stations.
Actually, what we may have here is an instance of a Homeland Security minion with foresight:
- hears the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey cue up *
I think you’re all missing it. It’s not about using the rock to take over the plane. There must be a conspiracy afoot (still secret) about taking rocks from India. If everyone brings a rock, before you know it, there won’t be an India left, and everyone there will be ass-deep in water. Now, those in the Ganges will probably be fine, but what about everyone else? Not to mention that all those rocks in the US can unbalance the world. Then the terrorists will really have won.
And if you think I’m kidding, consider the ban on taking laval from Hawaii. Same thing, smaller scale.
I for one am glad that security is on top of the rock menace.
Sorry, people. Wrong movie. Taking rocks from India is “Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom”. :smack:
And as we saw in Armageddon and Deep Impact, a single rock is capable of destroying all life on Earth. So rocks, in principle, are deadly and everything else is just an argument about details.
Seriously, I have said all along that we don’t need security to be stricter, we need security to be more intelligent. And the OP describes illustrates that point.
By the way, Cheesesteak, to be absolutely accurate, it was not “A guy with a rock.” It was a five foot tall, 95 lb, sixty year old lady, with a rock.
Whew, good thing they disarmed her, you know. All that ninja kung rock stuff, and the deep dark martial arts of the stone warriors.
Be honest, please. If you saw a little tiny old lady, with a little tiny rock in her hand, just how frightened would you be, personally? I mean are you likely to be incontinant from fear? Break into a sweat? Tremble helplessly? Tell us of they great fear, please.
Tris
Just be glad that the OP doesn’t collect snakes. shudder
I want this motherfucking rock OFF this motherfucking plane!