I sincerely wonder if this wasn't hazmat back then?
I was stopped by the metal detector at an airport. I didn't know why. Then the guy in the lane next to me said, "Oh, I'm wearing steel-toed boots."
I said, "Oh, I am too." (True)
Without any further questions or checking, they let us both through.
"That? It's just a giant, red, spherical Christmas ornament, with a string to hang it by, that happens to smell of gunpowder... and the monogram 'TNT' on the side."
My first time flying myself was a school trip in January 2002, so a lot of the security theater hadn't started yet. There was more security, and I had to remove my jacket and belt, but it was still just a metal detector, and potentially a pat down (saw someone getting pat down).
By the time I was flying a lot for work (2006-2012), it was the full shebang (shoes off, using 3 different bins per person - and waiting for more bins, no jackets, no belts, no hats, no facial expressions as TSA looked at your ID).
Now when I fly it seems like the security takes no time anymore. When I last flew in October, I didn't even give the agent my ticket. Just my passport that they scanned and handed back to me without even looking at me. Same with Customs in the UK and US, scanned my OWN passport, and a gate opened for me to pass through, no border agent or anything.
Pre 9/11, IIRC security checkpoints was a metal detector and an x-ray for bags, but they didn't check IDs or tickets. Boarding passes were checked at the gate, maybe sometimes IDs were checked, depending on airline policy; but you often did need to stop at the check in counter to get a boarding pass and drop bags and ID might be checked there... you could also check in at the gate if you didn't have any bags to check.
But you could absolutely walk your friends/family to the gate for departures or meet them at the gate for arrivals. My local large airport now has a visitor pass program for 300 people a day [1], which is maybe a start of a return to the old ways? You can also get passes to accompany minors in the airport that will be flying unaccompanied.
[1] https://www.portseattle.org/page/sea-visitor-pass-program
Wild times. Planes still had their ashtrays then too.
I remove mine to send through the xray every time though, even though I'm usually told I don't need to.
On one of my first flights alone, 16-year-old me had forgotten I had a knife in my backpack. X-ray guy took it with him to a back room, measured the blade to be shorter than, idk, 12 cm or so, and just handed it back.
Another time I found a long wood screw on the floor at school, and out of boredom during class, I just drove it sideways into my boot's heel. Months later it gave the metal detector guys at the airport a bit of a pause. They asked me to remove the boots, x-rayed them, came together to admire my long-forgotten idle work, scratched their heads and had me proceed.
Is the ad character inspired by, or the inspiration for, Mr Bean?
PS: What I miss from growing up - being awoken about 7:35 am to my next door neighbor's Solar Gold LS Wankel rev shifting from 1st->2nd as he commuted to Spectra-Physics.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Motocompo in 1980s and
- https://motocompacto.honda.com just a few years ago. This one is electric.
So a small vehicle has a real intrinsic value, not as simple as a parking a bicycle, but pretty close.
PS: Honda also makes the Monkey, which is ultra cute and pretty popular
He opens with an entertaining sketch then digs into some of the history around these portable vehicle concepts.
- So do I get an Aston Martin?
- Well ...
Today's consumer innovations I see coming out of Japan are like "hey, wanna buy a cheaply made nostalgia-bate plastic replica of a popular 1980's digital Casio metal watch, for more than the price of a bluetooth smartwatch?"
It's been a long while since I've seen a cookie banner, but I always understood the law as that the user has to explicitly do something to opt-in which is why the customize options default to off and the "accept all" button is usually made the prevalent option instead. Not sure displaying non-essentials all default to on would really be in compliance, but to be honest I'm not sure anyone really cares enough about all of this anyways or the law would have been amended by now to block this kind of crap.
Just for fun I disabled my blocker to see the atrocity. They hid the "real" customize your choice in the bottom left, and (if you can ever find it) it's one of the better. The buttons do seem to be left is disabled/right is enabled on both pages. An impressive amount of work went into making this one as complex and confusing as can be, they should enter a competition!
(By the way, I'm looking for a suitcase with air pressure wheels)
Or you could strap your bag to a kayak cart (https://www.amazon.com/Kayak-Cart-Capacity-Foldable-Watercra...)
Or (keeping with the technology available at the time) just go with a foldable bicycle - not as fast, but much lighter and more practical!
Sadly I guess an E-folding bike beats it on all parameters now; compactness, speed, environment, etc., even if its not as neat.;
doesn't look very practical compared to modern electrical variants eg https://youtu.be/pILMLTcy7rI?t=8
throw0101d•1mo ago
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQAe7EtVi-4