I know I’m on vacation, but this seems important: for the first time, the Department of Homeland Security has deemed an entire state of matter to be a national security risk.
I know I’m on vacation, but this seems important: for the first time, the Department of Homeland Security has deemed an entire state of matter to be a national security risk.
Comments
54 responses to “Liquid”
Don’t forget that DHMO can be converted to the very hazardous form known as Ice-9.
Grant beat me to it, but mine is nicer. Search Zazzle.com for Terror Diagram if link doesn’t work.
Spelling mistake now fixed.
Anyone who would like can use the red-yellow-orange diagram in anyway they please, no attribution necessary.
In fact, I don’t want to explain it to anyone from the Department of Homeland Security, so make that “no attribution preferred.”
Gavin
Just wait until they figure out polywater.
[…] Liquid terror, and hair gel and ipods. […]
[…] I agree: anybody thinking that banning liquids from carry-on baggage is a valid long-term safety precaution is, frankly, stupid. […]
[…] Physicist Sean Carroll’s Cosmic Variance spoofs the high state of terror alert presently being accorded to liquids. Rapped on the Head by Creationists is a devastating and hilarious indictment of the whole “intelligent design” movement, worth quoting: […]
Anticipating Terrorism
The best article, which I read last weekend on the London thwarted terrorist plot came from Bruce Schneier. He argues that we haven’t learned to think ahead of the terrorists and that we are only reacting to their every move
[…] […]
[…] This one has become an instant blog classic. I’m all for safe air travel, but the authorities have got to find some sort of sensible balance, and soon. Otherwise we’ll all be travelling naked, sedated and strapped down. Or not at all. I mean, spectacles but not their cases? Ridiculous. […]
I’m geeky, but not enough to want that on a t-shirt.
Comedians lamented the loss of Dan Quayle, you know, because he made their jobs so easy. Doonesbury had whole comics with verbatim quotes. But you know, you have to watch what you wish for.
I’m hoping that one day, comedians will start writing their own material.
Critical point?
[…]Have we reached a critical point?
[…] So, after new terrorist attempts, we are now at a point where an entire state of matter poses an international security risk. We have become witness to the fact that security measurements are in fact degrading shadow plays to create the impression that something is done. This time so obvious that it becomes a giant laugh, and people are mostly concerned about what will follow the inevitable moment when people will have to fly naked chained to their seat…I propose hitting travellers over the head with a brick and piling them in the cargo bay (well I would prefer that way of flying anyway). So while all liquids have to be collected (by pouring them all into one container!), I have another question: What difference did it make that noone was hurt this time? Not much, did it? So I have a nice plot for a thriller in my head right now: Some terrorist boss plans attacks, and has some front men who believe they are supposed to execute them. But in fact they only have to plan and play out the preparations, because just then the boss uses his channels to inform the police. He never gets caught, only the front men. But the world panics and his goals are reached anyway…until one day some front men act autonomously and execute a plan… I can only say: As long as the authorities react as they did in the London case, almost all the goals of the terrorists have been reached. Go and read newspapers. Read serious blogs. Be informed, have an opinion, don’t panic and be angry when your rights are cut in the name of safety. […]
[…] UPDATE. Three brilliant things to add: a good editorial about security and terrorism, a great blog post about fear, and the shocking truth that the TSA has outlawed an entire state of matter. {via} Filed under: politics, current events, quotes, blogs, videos | […]
[…] Very funny graphic borrowed from Cosmic Variance: […]
[…] The DHS declares an entire state of matter a security risk: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/08/12/liquid/ […]
The DHMO Song
Mark A. Mandel, © 1997_to the tune of “Battle Hymn of the Republic”
There’s a chemical that poses deadly danger to us all
If we don’t eliminate it, we are headed for a fall
But our governments refuse to see the writing on the wall
They’re going to let us die!
CHORUS (after every verse):
Ban dihydrogen monoxide!
Ban dihydrogen monoxide!
Ban dihydrogen monoxide
Before it kills us all!
Dihydrogen monoxide is a chemical to fear
Uncounted thousands die of inhalation every year
Yet the FDA allows it in our burgers, beans, and beer
And never questions why!
In gaseous form it’s subtle, without color, taste, or smell
But it’s part of acid rain, and it’s a greenhouse gas as well
It’s also found in car exhaust, which makes our cities Hell
And dirties up the sky!
It’s widely used by industry, and agriculture too
They dump it on the ground or in the river when they’re through
And from the ecosystem it gets into me and you
Which they dare not deny!
You’ll find dihydrogen monoxide everywhere you go
In rivers, oceans, lakes, and streams, in air and soil and snow
Its quantitative formula is simply H2O —
You’ll get it if you try!
This verse contributed by Gary McGath]
How far DHMO has spread no one can safely tell.
They’ve found it on Europa, and it’s on our Moon as well.
It may well turn our Solar System to a living hell!
It’s filling up the sky!
This verse contributed by Erik Von Halle
It kills the little children in the safety of their pools,
It make the politicians always sound like fools,
Linked to Hypothermia a death that kills and cools
It’s going to kill us all.
[…] From a humourous viewpoint, it seems that an entire state of matter has been declared a security risk: Liquid | Cosmic Variance. […]
[…] And Sean at Cosmic Variance has this clever take on the whole thing: [F]or the first time, the Department of Homeland Security has deemed an entire state of matter to be a national security risk. […]
[…] an entire state of matter is now suspect. with diagrams! […]
the museum of hoaxes had a piece on this last month… “beware of hydrogen in the water”.. some of the comments on the administration’s take on this hypothetical threat are worth the time to go to the site:
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/comments/4270
[…] At least some people have a sense of humor. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/08/12/liquid/ […]
the reality of chemistry is that it’s trivial to find two relatively harmless compounds that can be mixed to form a high explosive.
at university I knew someone who was quite adept at making Lead Azide, a high explosive in power form made by mixing two solutions, sodium azide and lead nitrate. Although toxic, you could probably taste the ingredients without flinching or dying on the spot! Lead azide was abandoned in mining as it was so dangerous that nitroglycerine was much safer!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_azide
these days, you’ll probably find that trying to buy any azide compound will get funny looks at any industrial supplier!