Airport security be like

Fun fact: until recently, most airport scanners literally couldn't differentiate between water and many common explosives. Hence the scrutiny of water based products/possessions.

https://youtu.be/nyG8XAmtYeQ

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

https://piped.video/nyG8XAmtYeQ

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

To be fair. At this point anything might break a Boeing.

So, they're going to take it from you, and put it in the rubbish with all the other potential explosives... in the most populated area of the airport. You know... in case it goes off...

You seem to be under the impression that they care about your safety. Rookie mistake. They care about the security of the airplane, not you.
- You seem to be under the impression that they care about anyone's safety, rookie mistake. Their job is exclusively to boost consumer confidence in air travel and increase corporate profits.
- I don't think they care about that, either. In my experience, they care about not getting sued. That's it.

They actually know a lot of stuff is harmless but it's Security Theatre that was meant to make people feel better about flying after 9/11

The day after TSA failed spectacularly in reviews that made it to national news, I missed a flight because they thought my portable hard drive could be explosive. The guy who inspected it? An "expert" over Facetime because he was at the Arnold body building conference. Then they GAVE IT BACK TO ME and told me I had to ship it. What a joke.
Does anybody actually feel safe because of the TSA?
- I mean, I feel like I'm probably not going to be shot or macheted while in flight, so that's nice. But yeah, I know it's not great.
Scanners have gotten better recently, meaning they can tell the difference between water and explosives, but these restrictions weren’t pulled out of thin air like many others.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_repercussions_due_to_the_2006_transatlantic_aircraft_plot

There was a thwarted terrorist plot to use drink bottles to hold explosives.
- That doesn't mean it's not still a show. In the 2010s (forget when exactly) the TSA was tested with fake bombs and let them through 49/50 times. They have never successfully stopped a terrorist attack either afaik.

Cavity protection ain't gonna cut it where they're going.

I just took a charter flight that didn't involve going through TSA or the airport terminal.

Whatever happened on the flight itself was irrelevant as the sheer pleasure of getting on a plane without the standard anal probe far outweighed all other aspects of the journey.

Ok.. theoretical question. Couldn't a terrorist turn the liquid into a pretty solid gel, shape it as a buttplug an simply have it in their hand luggage?

Why a butt plug ? Once you have a solid from a liquid there's thousands of options....
- Its the most likely gelatinous/rubber object that i could imagine someone needing to travel with, at short notice.
  
  Thinking about it now though, you are right! they could as well turn it even more solid and make it into anal beads i guess
- The question is, as always, why not a buttplug?

A lot of people around me tend to parrot that a lot of the safety measures are not for explosives detection, but for drug trafficking prevention. I've always disagreed because nobody ever presented any evidence to it, and the measures in place do come from explosive detection (unless they have metal drugs now idk). But I've wondered whether there is some truth to it.

TSA literally says on their own website that they are not looking for drugs and will only report it to the police if it's blatant.

TSA’s screening procedures are focused on security and are designed to detect potential threats to aviation and passengers. Accordingly, TSA security officers do not search for marijuana or other illegal drugs, but if any illegal substance is discovered during security screening, TSA will refer the matter to a law enforcement officer.

-source
- Translation: Not our circus, not our monkeys.
I've watched a video about this recently. The problem is, most detectors were based on X-rays in the past decades. Liquid explosives are pretty close to the density (and/or other properties) of water, and you can't tell for sure whether there's toothpaste or boom juice in that tube.

However, some airports started using expensive ~~MRI~~ MRI like X-ray* machines that can see stuff in more detail, plus, it lets you to make cross sections from different angles and therefore have a 3D model that you can rotate on your screen (it's rather cool).

EDIT: I just realised someone else linked this, too. I would leave it here, it's still educational.
- I'd just like to clarify: the new machines aren't MRI (the magnets in those would prohibit all metal objects being within 100ft).
  
  The new machines are also xray; but the xray emiters and detector are now on a spinning carriage similar to an MRI. This allows you to build a 3d model of the object and calculate it's volume, which when combined with the density measurements gives much more reliable material detection.
  
  This also means your stuff doesn't have to be removed from bags to ensure items aren't blocking each other from the scanner.

If you want to skip having a big ass bag full of liquids, many products are available in solid form. Toothpaste comes in tablets, shampoo comes in bars, and shave lotion also is available in bars. Then you can save your liquid quota for what really matters, like a wide assortment of personal lubricants.