Man, they can't decide between to loose or too harsh. Two months ago I flew from Texas to LA with a pocket knife in my back pocket. I completely forgot that I had it (it's there all the time). I was even stopped and randomly searched. Didn't find out I had it until I was leaving LAX in the taxi.

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Q u o t e:
Interesting story. I understand how an Ipod could fall from one's belt unnoticed, but how would you not hear it clatter in the toilet?

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You really want to get into the ugly details?

Wow.. go you!

w00t, political debate (on WoW GENERAL, of course)! This is going to be fun! =p

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Q u o t e:

The cost to society for this vigilance -- the thousands of people who must take the time to make sure everyone is safe,

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Well if I remember correctly, that's their job. We've already been paying for these people to be here, they just happen to actually be doing something rather than sitting around playing with themselves.

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Q u o t e:

the billions of dollars in expenditures,

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Yep

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Q u o t e:

the countless man-hours

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Again that's their job and they're already being paid to be there.

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Q u o t e:
of detainment and airport slowdowns

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That's how security works and, in the vast majority of cases, is only a minor inconvenience (obviously not the case with you :p)

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Q u o t e:

-- is a high price to pay.

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It is a high price, no one is debating that. What is debatable is whether it's WORTH paying, which, in my opinion, it is (yours may be different naturally).

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Q u o t e:

And is likely what some terrorists wanted all along.

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True, any economic slowdown or fear wrought from their actions will give them a sick, orgasmic high, but I'm sure spreading our ideology into the Middle East was not what they had in mind =p

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Q u o t e:

And I saw little vigilance, and a lot of apathy. Of the five hours of detainment, almost four of it was waiting ... waiting as some agency waited for some other agency to do something or other. I was not seeing any sort of efficiency or expedience in their work.

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It's hard to say whether or not they were sluggish or moving as fast as possible as customs procedures take a great deal of time (though I really don't know about Canada :p).

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Q u o t e:

Why should one Customs official be able to decide for himself what does or does not go into Canada, despite what the law says? Why should I not take him up on this indiscretion? People who work for the government, any government, are necessarily public servants, and are bound by more strict rules than those that work in the private sector. Their conduct on the job is open to the scrutiny of the entire public, to ensure that they are fairly representing a government for the people, by the people.

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You're right except for one little thing. It was my assumption that you are not (and please correct me if I'm wrong) a Canadian citizen. They are public servants for CANADIAN citizens, really they don't have to treat you with any kind of respect or fairness if you are not a citizen of their country.

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Q u o t e:

This isn't the price of vigilance-----it's the price of extreme paranoia.

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Matter of interpretation.

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Q u o t e:

There are a number of problems in the world that deserve this sort of "vigilance." Among them include human slavery,

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If by human slavery you mean sex trafficking, a good start would be to abolish the U.N. whose troops are a major cause of this.

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Q u o t e:

the AIDS epidemic,

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Interesting news on this for those who are interested. (redundancy ftw)

Apparently researchers have found out about an interesting gene that some people of European descent inherit. During the time of the bubonic plague, researchers say that some people had a specific gene that made them immune to the effects of the disease. If someone inherited this gene from both parents then they were completely immune to the plague. If they inherited it from one parent then they were resistant to the plague and could catch it but would usually recover.

Researchers believe that this same gene is providing immunity to the AIDs virus. Researchers brought in several homosexual men who leader HIGHLY promiscuous lifestyles yet have never caught AIDs or HIV. They found that these men have lost 30-40 people in their lives to the disease but report that they emulated the same sexual behavior of their friends who have contracted the disease. Researchers are looking into a way to use this gene to help others fight AIDs.

Don't know about you, but it seems we're making plenty of leeway into this ; )

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Q u o t e:

and the proliferation of nuclear weapons which are poised to turn entire nations of men, women, and children into ash and glowing fertilizer .

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This is one of the reasons we've started fighting the war on terror. This is not an issue which the government takes lightly :p

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Q u o t e:

FIVE HOURS, oh poor you! I had to wait FIVE HOURS! This is unacceptable! Surely my rights to not be detained no matter how suspicious my activities appear to be on the surface have been violated!

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OK, you are a complete waste of oxygen. IF Stupid had not identified that it was in fact his IPOD in the toilet BEFORE they landed then detaining the group would have been needed.

#1. He did tell the stewardess what the item was prior to landing..she simply did not act on that information. Her mistake not his.

#2. He informed the police immediately what the item was. Their mistake for not listening or scaling their investigation to the truth behind what had happened. Every situation needs to be wieghed for its merit, this is lost on most beaurocracies today. Process , procedure, rules. The focus is not on the Humanity behind an event, it is all about those Gov't official covering their asses, not the truth. In Canadian law most of the defintions of behavior and social rules use the terminology of " resaonable action" Reasonable awareness" " acts of a reasonable person" It is sad that those that are employed to uphold the law, be they customs or police officers, are unaware of not only the spirit of the law, but the essence of humanity the law is meant to defend.

#3. Liberty is the only mark of a Free man. There are many reasons that I would agree with detaining the entire group, possibly for even longer than 5 hours, this situation does not warrant it.

#4. Once a person openly identifies or implicates themselves in a situation like this, it should be accepted for the possiblity of the truth. In todays terror driven travel industry what SANE person implicates themselves when travelling to a foreign country? He would absolutely crazy to do so.

Stupid, I hope you enjoyed your trip afterwards, and I hope you have a chance to spit on the custom official that reviewed your computers content, he was probably seeking porn and bookmarks he could use himself!

ps. Posting in a legendary thread!!!

I am Canadian, I am proud of my country, but ashamed that our government like all others, cannot see ther truth behind events like this. Middle level officials are powerless in every govt, seems our all have ADD too.

OH
MY
GOD
lol that was some funny stuff but you lost your iPod to the tolit? that blows.

Good luck trying to fly anywhere ever again because this definitely got you on the Do-Not-Fly list. All though it doesn't take much to get on it. You can just have a name similiar to another person who is on it and they will flag you.

Sorry to hear what happen to you, but at least they didn't hold you for longer. This really is not funny but rather sad for our society.

Whoa Verdalor, could you possibly wave that flag any harder?

Didn't think so.

This reminds me of the time I was going to England to an IRC meet-up (yes, I'm a geek.)

Long story short, Stansted Immigration was suspicious of my story (which I can sort of understand) and I ended up getting detained for two hours and missed the last train to Sheffield.

routine plane bomb threat
questioning leads to new toy:
cop gets used ipod

Yeah, Canadian customs guys are all stupid %!###@#s. They've let a BUNCH of arab/muslim terrorists through to Washington, but they go crazy and interrogate 12 yr olds and accuse them of drug smuggling. 5 years ago I rode a train into Vancouver, and their drug sniffing puppy (i say puppy because it WAS a puppy) sniffed my sweatshirt and walked away. The customs guy then proceeded to accuse me of smuggling drugs and bringing contraband into his worthless country. He interrogated me (I WAS 12 YEARS OLD) for about half an hour before letting me go.

First reply to the first legendary thread on the servers. Do I win something?
Another Haiku perhaps?

<3 stupid :-p

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Q u o t e:
Well if I remember correctly, that's their job. We've already been paying for these people to be here, they just happen to actually be doing something rather than sitting around playing with themselves.

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If we had a less paranoid security policy, we wouldn't need to pay quite so many people, and they wouldn't be holding TSA jobs in the first place.

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Q u o t e:
That's how security works and, in the vast majority of cases, is only a minor inconvenience (obviously not the case with you :p)

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And in the vast majority of cases, Americans are Christian ... so let's go put up those ten commandments in our courtrooms. :P

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Q u o t e:
It is a high price, no one is debating that. What is debatable is whether it's WORTH paying, which, in my opinion, it is (yours may be different naturally).

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Crux of the matter. =]

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Q u o t e:
True, any economic slowdown or fear wrought from their actions will give them a sick, orgasmic high, but I'm sure spreading our ideology into the Middle East was not what they had in mind =p

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Don't get me started on that. Whatever happened to lassiez-faire? Is there some reason we need to bring democracy and commercialization wherever we go? Why don't we just leave countries alone unless they pose a clear and present threat to Americans?

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Q u o t e:
It's hard to say whether or not they were sluggish or moving as fast as possible as customs procedures take a great deal of time (though I really don't know about Canada :p).

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I'm not faulting the people as much as I'm faulting the procedures. I understand that they were just doing their job. I think the procedures are all wrong.

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Q u o t e:
You're right except for one little thing. It was my assumption that you are not (and please correct me if I'm wrong) a Canadian citizen. They are public servants for CANADIAN citizens, really they don't have to treat you with any kind of respect or fairness if you are not a citizen of their country.

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I do not think highly of a country that treats its noncitizens so different from its citizens. It's hypocritical. The U.S. tries noncitizens in tribunals where the basic protection afforded to defendants in the U.S. do not apply. What does that say about the U.S. government? I want a government that understands WHY its citizens are granted the rights they have, instead of one that views these rights as a nuisance, and thus strives to rob anyone they can of these rights.

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Q u o t e:
If by human slavery you mean sex trafficking, a good start would be to abolish the U.N. whose troops are a major cause of this.

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The U.N., like any large, ungoverned body of people, is plenty hypocritical.

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Q u o t e:
First reply to the first legendary thread on the servers. Do I win something?
Another Haiku perhaps?

<3 stupid :-p

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Very well.

Full transcendence gear?
Your avatar is silly.
You're a shadow priest.

This thread delivers.

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Q u o t e:
Now THIS is a legendary thread. And I'm inclined to post in it. GG

Can I get a Haiku maybe?

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Alexsyner --

That's your real name?
If so, we have in common
our public first names.

Interesting read! lol

there are some that say
"orcs are too Stupid to fly"
just soured Apples

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Q u o t e:
Hey Stupid, were on the same server! Now make me a haiku!

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Thoras --

Does EoN raid much?
Many kill me in Blackrock.
Never seen you though.

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Q u o t e:


Very well.

Full transcendence gear?
Your avatar is silly.
You're a shadow priest.

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Not anymore. But thanks for reminding me, meany.

/lament.