<\/a>In the excitement of arriving in Ann Arbor I forgot to mention a somewhat bizarre story from the trip out.<\/p>\n

Ellery and I were going through security at Minneapolis, and there was a “sinking feeling in stomach” moment when the security folks decided to run my backpack through the x-ray a second time, asking “Is this your bag?”. I was pretty confused, as I’d actually emptied a ton of accreted crap out of it before we left, so it was quite a bit emptier, cleaner, and lighter than normal, but you don’t argue with these folks so I just smiled and tried to look as un-terroristic as possible.<\/p>\n

There was then intent gazing at the screen (which I can’t see), and muttered conversations (which I can’t hear).<\/p>\n

And now the dreaded question: “How many harmonicas do you have in your bag?”<\/p>\n

Yeah. Harmonicas.<\/p>\n

“Uh, 3 or maybe 4?”<\/p>\n

“Is one of them kind of big?”<\/p>\n

“Yeah, a double harmonica from France.”<\/p>\n

“OK.”<\/p>\n

At which point I’m free to take my bag, with it’s apparently surprisingly large number of harmonicas, and be on my way. (It’s also worth noting the leading nature of all their questions. If I really had something to hide, their questions would have made my job much easier.)<\/p>\n

<\/a>So it would seem that knitting needles are no longer the key threat when flying, but instead the risk we all face is from harmonica reed plates. Keep that in mind when you’re next traveling (or at a folk or blues festival, which are almost certainly highly suspect gatherings to begin with).<\/p>\n

And since someone’s gonna ask, yes I do carry a few harmonicas in my backpack as part of my “standard kit” (notebook, some pens, etc.) I like playing the harmonica (although I wouldn’t claim to be good at it), and harmonicas are small, light, and easy to carry. So I carry a few “standard” 10 hole harmonicas in different keys along with my echo harp<\/a> (which is by far my favorite).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the excitement of arriving in Ann Arbor I forgot to mention a somewhat bizarre story from the trip out. Ellery and I were going through security at Minneapolis, and there was a “sinking feeling in stomach” moment when the security folks decided to run my backpack through the x-ray a second time, asking “Is … Continue reading “YATTNS: Yet Another Threat To National Security”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,2,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events","category-music","category-politics"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p90sy-2v","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":189,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2005\/07\/01\/harmonicas-still-a-major-terroristic-threat\/","url_meta":{"origin":155,"position":0},"title":"Harmonicas still a major terroristic threat","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"1 Jul 05","format":false,"excerpt":"In breaking news, your reporter has officially determined that my earlier strange interaction involving airport security and harmonicas was not a fluke. Flying back from GECCO today my backpack got flagged for hand inspection at Washington National Airport. I got wand searched, including getting to unbuckle my belt in public\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":566,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/05\/30\/apple-store-employees-apparently-_like_-zombies\/","url_meta":{"origin":155,"position":1},"title":"Apple Store employees apparently _like_ zombies","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"30 May 07","format":false,"excerpt":"Those crazy folks at eatbrains.com organized a flashmob-esque event wherein a large number of brain eating zombies roamed a high end shopping district in S.F. doing, well, zombie kinds of things like chewing on iMacs at the Apple Store. (But can zombies really flash?!? Or was it more of an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":713,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/11\/21\/713\/","url_meta":{"origin":155,"position":2},"title":"Loose lips (still) sink ships","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"21 Nov 07","format":false,"excerpt":"I suspect many of our readers will already have seen something about this, but just in case it hasn't gotten a lot of U.S. press, Chancellor Alistair Darling (a very high ranking member of the British government) announced today in the House of Commons that 2 discs (CDs or DVDs\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Computing","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/computing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":740,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/12\/10\/740\/","url_meta":{"origin":155,"position":3},"title":"Facebook a creepy peeping tom neighbor?","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"10 Dec 07","format":false,"excerpt":"Apparently Facebook is collecting even more information about us than we thought: A Computer Associates security researcher is sounding the alarm that Facebook's controversial Beacon online ad system goes much further than anyone has imagined in tracking people's Web activities outside the popular social networking site. Beacon will report back\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Computing","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/computing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":864,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2008\/07\/11\/msp-humphrey-terminal-a-modern-ghost-town\/","url_meta":{"origin":155,"position":4},"title":"MSP Humphrey terminal: A modern ghost town","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"11 Jul 08","format":false,"excerpt":"The Hubert H. Humphrey terminal at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport was eerily empty and quiet today.","rel":"","context":"In "Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Computing","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/computing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":486,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/02\/24\/how-minnesotan-is-that\/","url_meta":{"origin":155,"position":5},"title":"How Minnesotan is that?","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"24 Feb 07","format":false,"excerpt":"How Minnesotan is that?, originally uploaded by Monkey River Town. I love this recent post on Flickr by the fine folks at Monkey River Town. Yeah, that's a grain scoop in his trunk :-). 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