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kottke.org posts about tsa

A TSA agent spills his secrets

evan-roth-tsa.jpg

Mental Floss has an interesting article disclosing the secrets of TSA agents. Among them: Your cat is like a terrorist, if they refer to you as “very nice,” you are not, and they handle their professional status like the mob.

TSOs undergo regular training and performance reviews where they’re expected to simulate a screening in a private room for supervisors. After two years, the probationary period is over, and employees are generally set. “They’d call it being a ‘made’ man or woman,” Harrington says, referring to the mafia term for acceptance. “It’s really hard to get fired at that point. The only way to lose your job would be to commit a crime.”

Image via Evan Roth’s TSA Communication project.


TSA travel tip: cheesecake is not a

TSA travel tip: cheesecake is not a gel. “So, as you’re traveling for the holidays, if you should feel the urge to surprise a loved one with a piece of cheesecake or some other gelatinous food product and are questioned by the TSA, make sure you remind them about the ‘LaGuardia Cheesecake Precedent of October 2006’ and claim your right to bring that cheesecake on the plane with you.” Consider this a companion piece to the security theater article from earlier in the week.


The inept security theater at the airport. “

The inept security theater at the airport. “For theater on a grand scale, you can’t do better than the audience-participation dramas performed at airports, under the direction of the Transportation Security Administration.”


The best thing about mailing lists

You know the best thing about mailing lists? It’s the stupid people. It’s the people that say “this is the way it works because I’m an expert, and I’ve been on the web since Lynx 1.0” and then they do something like post twice to the list with HTML code and an image imbedded in the message. Priceless. It’s *so* perfect.

Oh, so what you meant to say was, “I’m a clueless dolt who can’t even use my email client.”

Actions speak louder than words.