
Terminal Cornucopia - Amadou
http://www.terminalcornucopia.com/
======
chimeracoder
> All of these findings have been reported to the Department of Homeland
> Security (TSA) to help them better detect these types of threats.

The threats that the TSA itself admits are non-existent?
([http://tsaoutofourpants.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/tsa-
admits-...](http://tsaoutofourpants.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/tsa-admits-in-
leaked-doc-no-evidence-of-terrorist-plots-against-aviation-in-us/))

The best I can see coming of this is that the TSA will start to ban braided
leather belts and condoms.

~~~
jlgreco
The more ludicrous the TSA gets with its bans, the better. In the long run
doing that will only make them look like clowns and make the general public
resent them more.

~~~
michaelt
I've been waiting for backlash against absurd restrictions to close the TSA
since 2001. Don't hold your breath.

~~~
ics
> Don't hold your breath.

Bad news ever since the TSA confiscated my toothpaste.[0]

[0] Yeah, it was actually a thing.

~~~
Amadou
At least they didn't make you drink your own breast milk.

[http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-08-08-breast...](http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-08-08-breast-
milk_x.htm)

~~~
altrego99
Interesting.

The woman already had the milk bottled. What's the harm in drinking some of it
to prove that it isn't any dangerous compound? I thought liquids from outside
weren't allowed in the planes, ideally they shouldn't have allowed her in with
it at all, though, but that's a different point.

> did she fail to see the connection to stopping terrorism The connection is
> that she could have been a terrorist, and a compound dissolved in the milk
> could be used to make a binary explosive.

~~~
silencio
Why is making her drink breast milk incredibly stupid? Because TSA already
have equipment to test liquids for explosives without having passengers sample
their own liquids.

Not to mention, breast milk has always been counted as medication, although
the rule to not make passengers sample their own liquid is probably new since
that incident.

Liquids from outside are allowed on planes depending on how you bring it in.
My dad travels with juice/gel exceeding 3oz (with a note from his doctor).
I've gotten a Costco-sized bottle of contact lens solution past TSA (so if you
want to know how to sneak in some vodka...) One winter I was traveling a
couple times a month with some terrible bronchitis+sinusitis issues and I had
a gallon sized bag full of cough syrups and inhalers. Whatever. The only two
things I remember TSA specifically tested from my bags from, at this point,
hundreds of flights, is one mega sized bottle of purple drank (if you split
liquid meds into a bunch of smaller but still bigger than 3oz bottles they
don't seem to care) and one bottle of shampoo.

Banning people from bringing liquids on board and halfheartedly enforcing the
3oz rule when they can be circumvented so easily even with TSA approval (see
TSA precheck!) is so incredibly dumb it baffles my mind.

Oooh ooh bonus points: I put something like 10 quarts worth of homemade jam in
my checked luggage on one flight and TSA didn't even look at them (and good
thing too, because they were all canned and I would have flipped out if the
seals were broken). I wonder what you could do with 10 quarts worth of jam-
consistency material in a bag. BTW hey TSA I'm not a terrorist, just someone
that doesn't like you very much for making me deal with those terrible
massages every time I try to get on a flight.

~~~
christianmann
> so if you want to know how to sneak in some vodka...

You can just take it in <100ml bottles inside a quart bag. Although you might
get in trouble if it's labeled as alcohol.

------
revelation
If there are LiIon batteries available, why bother will all this stuff?

Just short them out and throw them somewhere strategic. Takes all of a minute.

~~~
baddox
They generally just catch on fire and smoke a lot.

------
joshdance
I don't know how effective any of these techniques would be to a terrorist,
however cool and ingeniously constructed the weapons were. The whole security
TSA thing is mostly a show anyways.

~~~
malandrew
Taking over a plane with box cutters was mostly show as well. It only worked
in 2001 because people went along with terrorist theater.

If any would be terrorists tried the same tactic from 2001 today they would be
mauled in the cockpit. Prior to 2001, passengers assumed they would be
hostages and would come out unharmed if they cooperate. Now they assume they
are potential collateral damage. That's a huge difference.

The only thing they actually need to prevent getting past screening is
explosives. Every other method I can think of would not work fast enough
before the passengers take you out.

The only way to overpower an entire plane full of passengers is in numbers and
spread throughout the plane. Social Network Analysis can be guess if more than
N passengers not sitting together (i.e. not family or friends) are likely
acquaintances warranting greater scrutiny.

~~~
dsjoerg
I would hope the passengers on a plane would be so brave, but there is a real
collective action problem there for the passengers. Best case scenario, there
are enough brave people on board willing to selflessly risk death to --
hopefully -- save lives. Would I? Would you? You don't know what you're made
of until the moment comes, and I hope neither you nor I are ever tested in
this way.

Remember, _individually_ it's "rational" (in the game-theoretic sense) to let
the other brave folks take the risk, while you sit there nervously and think
about the kids/parents/pets who couldn't bear to be without you. And let
someone else be the hero.

Worse case scenario, nobody is brave, and everyone dies as a result.

~~~
hobs
Considering it has happened several times since 9/11 and people HAVE taken
action, I think you are wrong at this point.

[http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/29/world/asia/china-plane-
hijack-...](http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/29/world/asia/china-plane-hijack-
foiled/)
[http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=m...](http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=man-
attempts-to-hijack-thy-plane-in-istanbul-reports-say-2011-01-05)
[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-149289/Italian-
plane...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-149289/Italian-plane-hijack-
foiled.html)

etc etc etc

~~~
smoyer
It also happened on 9/11 - the plane that went down in Shanksville PA didn't
make it to its target because the passengers heard about the other three
planes and didn't care to run into a building at high speed.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_93](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_93)

~~~
hobs
Yeah, I knew about that particular example, but I felt that the parent could
have argued that it was a special case because they had foreknowledge of what
was happening, whereas these other cases they took initiative. In any case,
you are completely correct.

------
D9u
The real travesty here is that "General Aviation" flights (private aircraft)
face no such TSA screening as we see in "Commercial Aviation" flight
terminals.

So anyone who has the money to charter a private jet is also able to carry
whatever they want onto an aircraft, which illustrates the double standard
inherent in most tyrannical systems.

~~~
mgkimsal
have no fear - our theater is 100% reactionary. when an attack like this is
carried out _then_ we'll put in onerous theater procedures to slow things down
there as well.

Then... we'll wait for an attack on sea vessels. After people die that way,
we'll put more security theater there, without ever reducing or removing the
decade+ old theater imposed in other areas.

~~~
D9u
There already have been such attacks...

[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/us/19crash.html?_r=0](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/us/19crash.html?_r=0)

------
signed0
The BLUNDERBUSSness Class is by far the best:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsem22DkIjw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsem22DkIjw)

TL;DR: AXE body spray is super combustable!

~~~
wlian
Umm. I'm not the only one wondering where the elemental Lithium came from?
Right?

~~~
jlgreco
I believe some disposable batteries have elemental lithium foil in them
(opposed to rechargeable lithium- _ion_ batteries).

~~~
ktsmith
How do you take the batteries apart without crushing the foil, shorting them,
and causing a fire?

~~~
jlgreco
Carefully. ;)

People cooking up shitty meth apparently do it
([http://health.utah.gov/meth/html/ToxicologyofMeth/Lithium.ht...](http://health.utah.gov/meth/html/ToxicologyofMeth/Lithium.html))
but I don't know how they do it. They might be using tools that wouldn't be
available in an airport, but I'm not so sure of that.

~~~
icelancer
You can do it with a razor blade and a lot of patience, or as the author
shows, using a small pipe cutter that you could easily get into the airport
with a carry-on.

------
ajasmin
When I read 'Terminal' on Hacker News I don't think of the airport kind...

~~~
pyre
I also initially thought of a TTY, but there are too many definitions of the
word that could still fit with this site.

------
ck2
But why even try to get on a plane or through "security" to plague people with
mass terrorism?

Huge crowds are already caused by homeland security theater.

Are they still taking water bottles from people and throwing these "dangerous
materials" right into the trash next to everyone?

------
lhnz
That's nothing: break open many brands of low-quality leather shoe and you'll
find a 3-5 inch sharp metal blade [1].

I know this because my shoe fell apart a couple of months ago and one came
out: I'd been through multiple airports with this on my feet and I think it's
highly likely that a majority of people are incidentally carrying sharp metal
blades because of this.

[1]
[http://distilleryimage4.ak.instagram.com/a31902082b7911e3b58...](http://distilleryimage4.ak.instagram.com/a31902082b7911e3b58922000a1fb885_8.jpg)

~~~
x0054
In court in San Diego women are not permitted to where stiletto heels to
court. This is due to an incident when one lawyer took her shoe off, ripped
off the heal, revealing a sharpened metal spike, and proceeded to attack the
opposing console with it. This was not premeditated, apparently many high heal
shoes have metal spike in the heal for support. The spikes are sharpened to
make it easier to insert the heal on during manufacturing. This happened in
South Bay court, if memory serves.

~~~
Houshalter
Putting a sharp spike under your foot just seems like a terrible idea.

------
moron4hire
I think the key takeaway here is that there are two types of people: those who
grew up and eventually became TSA agents, and those who were curious about the
world when they were kids and learned all of this stuff.

------
vezzy-fnord
This is simultaneously an excellent hack, culture jam and an expose of the
security theater that is the TSA.

There was also the people who were successfully able to get through with decoy
explosives without a hitch, but this is much more whimsical.

------
cowmix
I find it ironic that I'm reading this link from a Las Vegas airport gate
waiting for my plane... using their wifi.

~~~
gonzo
You can say, "thank you". :-)

------
PaulHoule
it would be nice to have some text and photos rather than videos you can only
watch if you're in Kansas City or outside the US

------
hughlomas
None of these weapons would be of much use for anything besides maiming one or
two people, which could be accomplished with much simpler things. They are
novel creations though.

------
jack-r-abbit
He makes a point to say all those things can be purchased after the security
check point... but wouldn't most of that stuff make it through security
anyway?

------
ithkuil
In fact, airports in places such a Turkey have two security checks, one at the
very entrance of the airport buliding, and the second just at the gate.

However it looks like they are relaxing that:

[http://www.ataturkairport.com/en-
EN/Airlines/Pages/Announcem...](http://www.ataturkairport.com/en-
EN/Airlines/Pages/AnnouncementsDetail.aspx?pid=9)

------
x0054
Forget about AA batteries, think about all the laptop batteries. All you need
is 4-5 laptop batteries, and you can have a serious bomb going. And how easy
would it be to carry that into the airport? Take 2 laptops with you, 2
backups, a cell phone, 3 backup batteries. No one will even blink an eye.

~~~
darklajid
You're late: [http://xkcd.com/651/](http://xkcd.com/651/)

------
joshguthrie
I cross my fingers hoping the BLUNDERBUSSness shotgun will be available in
L4D3 or Dead Rising 3.

~~~
WalterSear
Teleglitch

[http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/tag/teleglitch/](http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/tag/teleglitch/)

------
dkbk
While I found the content interesting, the videos do a very poor job of
presenting information efficiently and concisely. Time is wasted in the
introduction, the listing of materials takes far too long when bullet points
would suffice, diagrams are only shown for a few seconds apiece, and the music
is downright irritating.

A bullet point list of materials, a paragraph of description, a few diagrams
and an embedded video demonstration would be far more effective. A slideshow
would also work well.

I apologise if this seems nitpicky, but as interesting as I found what you've
done, I only watched half your videos because I found it so painful to sit
through them. I doubt I am alone in this.

~~~
x0054
The music is really creepy and I am annoyed that there is no narration,
considering the length of the videos. It's constructive criticism though, I
like the actual info.

------
codezero
While this is all interesting, none of these videos show any actual lethal
potential. I'm not saying that there is any, but there is no target and no way
to show whether these tools inflict any meaningful damage.

~~~
pritambaral
You probably did not see the videos fully. Chucks of Liberty and 'Murica can
crack open a human body pretty smoothly. Most lethal, in my opinion.

And even if Fraggucino and Blunderbussiness only hurt or maim someone, they
are enough to strike fear among a crowd of people. Do not underestimate the
implications of that.

~~~
baddox
The melee weapons are a bit silly though. Everyone knows that people can be
extremely dangerous with melee weapons, or even just their bare hands.

------
christiangenco
Brilliant!

Could someone make a short montage of all the weapons firing/being detonated?
Slow internet and a lack of weapon descriptions make for quite the frustrating
evening.

~~~
voltagex_
Grab the URLs out of the page and use youtube-dl on a lower quality setting.

------
blahpro
"Airplane Mode" claims to use a Parrot AR Drone 2.0 (~$290) for parts. The
controller used is actually an infrared one from a smaller and cheaper (~$20)
RC helicopter, like this: [http://www.amazon.com/Syma-S107-S107G-Helicopter-
Colors/dp/8...](http://www.amazon.com/Syma-S107-S107G-Helicopter-
Colors/dp/8499000606/)

------
callesgg
These weapons are harmless they are not scary enough.

People know what an AK47 is and they know it will kill what it is used on.

Power lies not in the weapon, it lies in what people think of the weapon.

Another thing, since 911 passengers most likely assume they will be killed
whether if they cooperate or not. Certain death in a plane crash or possible
death trying to take a terrorists weapon.

------
Houshalter
I find this really interesting, but I feel like publishing it is a bad idea.
The TSA could just use this as an excuse for more absurd policies, or worse
someone could actually try some of these things, which they wouldn't have
figured out on their own. Only a very small risk, maybe, but for what benefit?

------
mavdi
There it is! The association between my middle eastern name and a bomb making
website on NSA Database! Thanks HN!

------
aaronsnoswell
I've often thought how interesting it would be to see a TV series about
something like this.

------
zacinbusiness
I think it comes down to what people are willing to put up with. Personally, I
don't mind any of the TSA stuff a single bit. I've stood in line for hours,
missed a flight, and gotten home at 1am due to TSA and other security stuff,
but I don't mind because it at the very least acts as a deterrent.

However, I think that most of these things could be solved with a second
screening. None of these options would pass a secondary x-ray, for instance.
Or, a better option would be to have all items purchased in duty free to be
shipped as luggage, and retrieved in the destination airport. Those would both
be a huge pain in the ass, however, and I doubt anyone would put up with it.

~~~
Amadou
_I don 't mind because it at the very least acts as a deterrent._

What evidence do you have for that belief? Here's my evidence to the contrary
-- if the TSA really were deterring terrorist attacks, the result would be a
shift to other targets. It isn't like a terrorist is going to just give up, go
home and forget about causing terror. They are going to pick another easier
target. So where are all the other attacks?

Since 9/11 the number of civilian attacks has been less than the fingers on
one hand, and the only one that wasn't just a bunch of mental midgets too
incompetent to even ignite a bomb were the Boston Bombers.

No, there is no deterrent here because there is nobody to deter. If there were
actual, serious terrorists looking at getting onto planes, the TSA wouldn't
make a bit of difference. We've got TSA agents using their privileged access
to smuggle drugs - it wouldn't take much to swap a couple of keys of cocaine
with a couple of bricks of C4 and those dummies would end up helping the
terrorists.

[http://articles.latimes.com/2012/apr/26/news/la-trb-tsa-
drug...](http://articles.latimes.com/2012/apr/26/news/la-trb-tsa-
drugs-20120426)

~~~
riffraff
I like your reasoning, but couldn't you also say:

in the ten years before 9/11 the number of civilian attacks on US airplanes
has been less than the fingers on one hand. After TSA 100% of these happened
on non-flight targets.

Mind you, I still think the TSA is dumb.

~~~
Amadou
You could say that, but it would be an intellectually dishonest framing of the
facts. I feel confident that the line of reasoning I've used does not try to
obscure anything. I believe it is as straightforward and honest an evaluation
as anyone could make.

------
tn13
I have always wondered about this. Given the kind of stuff available in these
stores I think it is nearly impossible to scan all those items for security.

------
Aloha
Seeing this 'nâ€™s' totally takes away from what the website is trying to say.

~~~
treefort
argh... must've happened when I made a small content edit from my phone about
an hour ago.

------
csmatt
Is delivery to the stores and restaurants after the TSA related and our
enforced?

------
daniel-cussen
OK, how about airports stop selling aerosol cans and lithium batteries after
the security check-in? They seem like the worst offenders here.

------
guiomie
Lol ... Planned Parenthood.. Why go thru all this trouble, and not just use
the black rod to stab someone ? would be way more effective no ?

~~~
treefort
That all depends. Is the attacker trying to hurt someone within arm's reach,
or are they trying to disable the pilot/co-pilot as they are walking back into
the cockpit after a trip to the lavatory from the comfort of their first-class
seat? Everybody poops.

