[Phys-l] Correction: Apparatus competition entrant ... Re: physics teacher evacuates the airport??

[Bernard Cleyet <bernardcleyet@redshift.com>]

Here's more detail, which I fond as the original link 404'd.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110804/NEWS01/708049897

bc also wonders why querying the owner wasn't sufficient.

p.s. OTOH, perhaps they wanted to justify their existence!   and when will all this nonsense expand to ships and trains -- (Busses and trams)  A great way to reduce unemployment.


Story:  The last time I was on the tube from Heathrow I had a huge rucksack near the door a few yards from where I was sitting.  A later entrant, sl. panicked, asked whose it was,  "Don't panic it's mine."  This was soon after a London bombing.



On Aug 3, 2011, at 9:58 PM, John Clement wrote:

> The news reports were so coy.  Why didn't they say what the object was?  I
> have taken electronic modules for high energy experiments through airport
> security with no problems.
>
> I am curious as to what type of thing could provoke such a reaction.  Surely
> they could have checked to see if the person who had it was a legitimate
> meeting attendee and first asked about what the item might be.  I really
> think they do not use common sense in many of their screenings.  I can
> remember them asking me to remove a jacket, but they allowed business men to
> go through in their suit jackets.  If I were a terrorist I would dress just
> like a business man.
>
> John M. Clement
> Houston, TX
>
>
> > Apparently you were right:
> > http://www.kmtv.com/news/toprotator/126740443.html
> > It's good to see physics back in the news, although it would have been
> > better to not having been related to a scare like this.
> >
> > 2011/8/3 Dewey Dykstra <ddykstra@boisestate.edu>
> >
> > > A bit of interesting fluff...  (off topic)
> > >
> > > I have been listening to the local news (in Omaha) this 
> > evening.  It seems
> > > that there was some kind of device detected in luggage that 
> > triggered a TSA
> > > alert.  The airport (Eppley) was evacuated and flights 
> > delayed while it was
> > > investigated.  One local channel had a caption describing 
> > the event and
> > > indicated it was due to a "physics experiment."  Could it 
> > have involved one
> > > of our colleagues going home from the AAPT meeting??