On our flight home from the East coast on Sunday, Mary & I had aisles across like we always do. In the seat in front of Mary (my seat's surf-seat) was a postmodernage cyber-warrior guy with the rectangular glasses, a laptop running XP with three different browser icons on the desktop and the mousse-tousled hairdo.
During the half-hour wait in the runway before taking off, when we weren't allowed to use electronics, this guy was writing careful notes in one of those Moleskine notebooks. The cover had been decorated, completely covered with stickers. Didn't seem to be much more to the design concept than must have adhesive backing.
So I'm reading a magazine or something; next time I glance over at this guy, he's using a single-edged razorblade to pry up a sticker and reposition it just so, right where it belongs. So I guess there was more to the sticker composition than I was aware of....
That task completed, he put the blade into a little plastic wallet and put it away. I'm looking around the plane..did anybody else see this? No, just me. Hmmm.
It's been a long day of travel after a very difficult trip, and I really don't want to queer this flight, so I guess I'll just keep my mouth shut. Guy seems harmless; once we're airborne he powers up his laptop and starts browsing this morning's boingboing, so he's probably a kindred soul at some level, although first time he gets up for a stroll, it makes me a little nervous. But then he comes back to his seat with an Airline biscotti. If I was going to blow up a plane, I don't think I'd be chowing down on grade 'D' gourmet snackies right beforehand.
So what's the story with this guy? He was very nonchalant about bringing a razorblade aboard the airplane and using it in front of God and His Flight Atterndants and everybody. How did THAT get past the metal detectors, while (I've been led to believe) the eyelets in my sneakers would send the TSA into CODE RED URAL BASILISK/DEFCON 5 ALERT? Why would he want to risk the consequences of getting caught, for the sake of repositioning a sticker, right now, can't wait until we're off the plane? Or the risk of somebody seeing him on the plane like I did, but snitching and having the ensuing onboard freakout screw up a planeload of peoples' lives for the next day or so?
In the aisle next to his seat, I notice the cardboard packaging from the razor blade. I pick it up on my way back from the head, and write him a little note on it, then paste it onto the back of one of my cards. The note says, Dude, WTF?
I figure he might be able to explain a few things to me. My card has my email on it, so he'd be able to respond. Thing is, I don't want to give it to him in flight and freak him out. I was hoping to catch up with him once we were safely on the ground, at baggage, but he wasn't there.
So StickrDude, if you happen to see this, please get in touch. A comment at this blog would be appreciated. WTF?
34 comments:
Do you think he might have confused the meaning of 'WTF?' with another possible interpretation?
Moleskine notebooks are the ultimate in trendy douchebag gear.
No wonder he was stupid enough to risk arrest over sticker re-positioning.
What a tool.
dude wheres the food? wtf was used before the internet you know. i don't see him getting it confused.
Moleskine notebooks are the ultimate in trendy douchebag gear.
Wait, lemme get this straight... You're insulting people based on their favorite notebook?! Wow.
I could be wrong, but from the paper sleeve, and the description of a single-blade razor, it totally looks like yer bona-fide, A-1, honest-to-goodness, Made-in-America Boxcutter Blade!!!
Maybe he was the world's most awesomely cool Air Marshal?
Great story, thanks! Hope he reads this and clues us all in!
Should we really be congratulating someone for sneaking a weapon onto an airliner?
Reminds me of the recent Bruce Schneier Wired article on airline security (or the apparent lack of). I wonder how you would have reacted if he hadn't been reading Boing Boing, but Al Jazeera :)
"Moleskine notebooks are the ultimate in trendy douchebag gear"
only a douchebag would make that kind of comment.
metal detectors have sensitivity levels.
at low sensitivity chains and razorblades go through no problemo
So now some TSA/DHS employee is going to see this post, cross-refence your name to subpoena the passenger list from the airline, and ship this guy off to Gitmo.
I hope they have stickers in Cuba.
on a london airport i even got on an international flight without ever passing a metal detector or taking my coat off
"Moleskine notebooks are the ultimate in trendy douchebag gear"
--"only a douchebag would make that kind of comment."
obviously, moleskine-toting douchebags are easily offended...
Maybe he was a mole and that was his uncle.
The man's a genius, can't have sticker's in the wrong place!
it's a fucking razor blade, who cares. jesus christ, get over it. yeah dude, you're really brave and a concerned citizen and shit not for getting this guy kicked off the flight after making an emergency stop. you fucking scared little pussies afraid of every little fucking thing need to just straight up relax.
I accidently flew last summer with a fullsize swiss army knife in my purse. That bag even went through an xray machine. I was in the boarding area when I realized - at that point I just kept my mouth and my bag shut.
totally. its not all that dangerous as long as you dont actally feel threatend and do anything stupid like hand over the controls to the plane because your scared of getting scratched. a half in deep cut would only make me angry, and onece that has happened all your work getting past security would have been in vain
Really crazy stuff to think about, I flew coast to coast with a 3 1/2" blade lockback Kershaw in my pocket, pre Sept. 11 and nobody ever batted an eye. 5 separate airports. They just had me take it out, put it in the dish and pick it up on the other side of the metal detector. Now they panic about nail clippers without the nail file. And the reality is that there are plenty of improvised weapons that everone carries on with them every day that can be as dangerous. All you need is an edge or a point and force.
don't you guys hear about the TSA recinding the nailfile and small knife restrictions on planes, watch the news people. nothing to see here this guy was just ahead of all you trendy doucebags
FACK YOU MAN
I was on a flight to CA and I was selected for "random additional screening" due to the fact that I was wearing a flack jacket. The screeners were very polite and only really seemed worried about the fact that I had three laptop computers with me. When I made it to my destination and began unpacking I found a bag of pot inside a yellow capsule (kinder egg) in one of the suitcases that the staff had nearly torn to shreds. No one is going to catch everything and it's nearly impossible to keep anything unsafe off a plane... no matter how hard you're looking. (though they did get two zippos from me, which I broke because the TSA sells confiscated items on eBay) The idea is to scare people into acting like rational, civilized people, and not try to blow things up because they might get caught... wait... I don't think they care. Oh well. Life goes on.
also, besides having pot in my checked luggage, I had a seriously diesel LED flashlight (easily compared to my 2 D Mag Lite) So they let me have the item which I might easily bludgeon someone with and the illegal drugs (which I don't use anymore) but the lighters were too much. Because they were on a list.... It's not about safety, it's about perception.
Think that's bad.. I flew with an exacto knife once, it was rattling around in a hardware container in my backpack, full of stuff I'd tossed in at the last minute. You probabaly could hold up a plane with one of those- it's basically a scalpel marketed to hobbyists.
Got screened at Seattle airport. Got bored of waiting around so went back out in the public area to smoke a cigarette. Walked straight past open, non-security gate into the departure lounge without even so much as a batted eyelid from the two guards on the door. Considering I went outside where the pick-up area is, I could have met anyone and picked-up anything and walked it straight back into the supposed secure area. All the hullaballoo you 'Mericans make about national security etc is just a joke.
I did it without trying to and I did it twice.
Let's see... It's been how many years since a handful of idiots hijacked a plane. It's happened how many times since then? What about before then? How often was a hijacking in the news? What makes anyone think that they will try to use a plane again? The whole point is to catch other off gaurd, not to repeat the same thing over and over. And all this BS about National Security is a hoax to keep people living in fear. First it was fear of Germans, then it was fear of Communists, now its fear of Arabs or whatever, it doesnt matter so long as the US gov't can scare the shit out of you and convince you that taking away your freedoms is a good thing that will keep you safe. Safe from what? An nail-clipper? I'd love to see what happens to the guy who tries to hijakc a plane with a nail clipper or an exacto. The pilot and the co-pilot usualy have Navy/Airforce experience, so they'd likely beat the shit out of the guy if he threatend them... I mean he could take an airline stewardess hostage but what good will that do? Lets see, 300 passengers, 5 'terrorists' with exacto knifes... who's gonna win? Don't even get me started on the Constitutional implications of random searches in NYC subways, another fear induced measure of control.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." ~Benjamin Franklin
"Men fight for freedom, then they begin to accumulate laws to take it away from themselves."
"
Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance." ~Woodrow Wilson
you had paste?
And all this BS about National Security is a hoax to keep people living in fear.
All this BS about security is a response to 3000+ people having thier lives snuffed out. What would you have the government do? Nothing? Airline screening is like drinking from a firehose anyway. Can't catch everything.
If you want to blame someone blame the Islamic scourge that started this whole mess.
All this BS about security is a response to 3000+ people having thier lives snuffed out. What would you have the government do? Nothing? Airline screening is like drinking from a firehose anyway. Can't catch everything.
If you want to blame someone blame the Islamic scourge that started this whole mess.
BLAME CANADA! er... ISLAM!
All this BS about security is a response to 3000+ people having thier lives snuffed out. What would you have the government do? Nothing? Airline screening is like drinking from a firehose anyway. Can't catch everything.
If you want to blame someone blame the Islamic scourge that started this whole mess.
Not trying to be a soulless rationalist, but, uh, 696,947 people in the US died of heart disease in 2002. You can, to this day, carry a double-double onto an airplane without any hassle.
mmmm ... Double-Double, Animal style!
Wow! I know this is burning through my 15 minutes of alloted fame, but I always wanted to be remembered for my sticker obsessions. Fascinating to come across my external self echoed back through BoingBoing. A few points to add an interior perspective on this observation:
0- The razor blade is my "Brooklyn swiss army knife", useful in cutting all kinds of Gordian knots or aggressive plastic packaging. I usually do remember to ditch the current blade before I get on a plane. The news about 'allowing scissors and small blades' had reached me, but it was forgetfulness that caused me to carry the blade on board. The TSA hall monitors are not necessarily going to be as well-read as I am. But I have, in the past 2 years, at least once or twice forgotten to toss the blade du jour, and it was not detected.
1- Not a Moleskine, as I prefer handsized notebooks (9 x 14 cm, Clairefontaine), sold in Berkeley at Inkstone.
2- It's a stretch to say that I've never met a sticker I didn't like. My notebooks are usually covered with stickers that encrypt details about the 80 day span during which they were used.
I am going to stay anonymous on this comment string, but the 3 words, irksomely Arbuckle mime, currently gets lucky enough to link to my book blog, which is just a step away from my home page.
Or we could Google, you know, your NAME.
The settings on blogger comments toggle too easily between anonymous and revealed identity, and there's no option for un-doing the drop of a fig leaf.
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