The Glade 4.0

Residue from the powder, though, is easily detectable with swabs that security personnel often use to wipe off briefcases, luggage and other personal items taken through checkpoints. Prof. Oxley has done research indicating PETN residue can be detected in human hair.

I never did see the answer... do PETN detonators show up on the scans?

I don't see any in the US at your link, maybe I'm missing them.

Ah, I see the disconnect. You believe anecdotal evidence means something.

To borrow a current meme...

Youtube ... really?

I'm sorry, but video evidence of the scanner bot detecting the bomb, and the bomb subsequently blowing up using the components the scanner didn't detect is the exact opposite of "anecdotal".

Evidence, which may itself be true and verifiable, used to deduce a conclusion which does not follow from it, usually by generalizing from an insufficient amount of evidence.

Why don't you just watch the video, and you'll see how foolish you sound.

Nope, it's anecdotal. Too many variables, too little evidence. One data point does not a proof make. There are several tests used to search folks - scanner, swab and physical search. You have to consider the whole, not claim that because some single part doesn't detect everything that not of it's effective.

I learned long ago to not argue with folks that believe everything they see on the internet.

The expression anecdotal evidence has two distinct meanings.

(1) Evidence in the form of an anecdote or hearsay is called anecdotal if there is doubt about its veracity; the evidence itself is considered untrustworthy.

(2) Evidence, which may itself be true and verifiable, used to deduce a conclusion which does not follow from it, usually by generalizing from an insufficient amount of evidence. For example "my grandfather smoked like a chimney and died healthy in a car crash at the age of 99" does not disprove the proposition that "smoking markedly increases the probability of cancer and heart disease at a relatively early age". In this case, the evidence may itself be true, but does not warrant the conclusion.

You're absolutely right about one thing - I'm not going to watch a youtube clip someone presents as evidence.

They are. Not that I have a freaking clue what correlation you're trying to assert, but still.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_te ... _incidents

In comic strips the person on the left always speaks first. - George Carlin

You're Right means you can stay home and be assured that none of the above happen. If you VOLUNTARILY participate in an activity that results in you being searched that is because you choose to do so. If I didn't want to be frisked I would not go to football games, baseball games, certain bars, or hang around the courthouse and guess what, I wouldn't be searched. This same rule applies to flying. If I choose to fly then I must submit to the rules. Just as I can exercise the right to bear arms all day until I choose to go into a bank, bar or government building.

Q:What is really being seen by these machines?
A:Bruce Schneier: In theory, it sees stuff that isn't part of the body. So if you've got a stapler in your pocket, it will show up. The thought is that it will see stuff that a metal detector won't detect, like a ceramic knife. But this doesn't seem to be borne out by reality.

Q:The machines have shown up in the wake of the so-called underwear bomber, who tried to blow up a plane with chemicals stored in his briefs. Would this technology have stopped him?
A:The guys who make the machines have said, "We wouldn't have caught that."

Q:So what kind of attack will this prevent, that otherwise might be successful?
A:There are two kinds of hijackers. There's the lone nutcase, like someone who will bring a gun onto a plane because, dammit, they're going to take the whole plane down with them. Any pre-9-11 airport security would catch a person like that.
The second kind is the well-planned, well-financed Al Qaeda-like plot. And nothing can be done to stop someone like that.

Q:Has there been a case since 9/11 of an attempted hijacker being thwarted by airport security?
A:None that we've heard of. The TSA will say, "Oh, we're not allowed to talk about successes." That's actually bullsh*t. They talk about successes all the time. If they did catch someone, especially during the Bush years, you could be damned sure we'd know about it. And the fact that we didn't means that there weren't any. Because the threat was imaginary. It's not much of a threat. As excess deaths go, it's just way down in the noise. More than 40,000 people die each year in car crashes. It's 9/11 every month. The threat is really overblown.

Q:Do you think there's been an over-reaction, on the part of the government and the press, to the underwear bomber?
A:That case was really instructive. Nobody was injured, and the plane landed safely. It was a success! And it was pre 9-11 security that made it a success. Because we screen for superficial guns and bombs, he had to resort to a syringe and 90 minutes in the bathroom with a bomb that didn't work. This is what success looks like. Stop bellyaching!

Q:What's the motive behind introducing this new level of security?
A:It's politics. You have to be seen as doing something, even if nothing is the smart thing to do. You can't be seen as doing nothing.

Q:Does it surprise you that at last, after several escalations in the TSA's level of intrusiveness, the public seems to have finally rebelled?
A:Back in 2005, when this full-body scanner technology was first being proposed, I wrote that I thought this would be the straw that broke the camel's back, because it would unite conservatives and liberals. Nobody wants their daughter groped or shown naked.

Q:Is privacy being violated, in your estimation?
A:You go get groped and you tell me.

Q:Have you had a pat-down?
A:Yes, actually, just a couple of days ago.

Q:Is this security theater?
A:100 percent. It won't catch anybody.

Bruce Schneier born January 15, 1963,is an American cryptographer, computer security specialist, and writer. He is the author of several books on computer security and cryptography, and is the founder and chief technology officer of BT Counterpane, formerly Counterpane Internet Security, Inc. He received his master's degree in computer science from the American University in Washington, DC in 1988.[2]

In comic strips the person on the left always speaks first. - George Carlin

The bomb that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab reportedly tried to set off as his flight neared Detroit on Christmas could have been detected using existing screening technologies, had they only been used.