Re: [CON] GZG East Coast Convention

> I am not sure if that answer was cocky, humorous or stupid; in the St.
> Louis at  the airport definitely the latter.	You WILL be arrested and
> charged.  Ditto the R.A.Y. building - federal employees including
> immigration and, IIRC, the IRS.  No sense of humor at all.  Perhaps
> understandably.  Made me turn on my Cell Phone... to make sure it
realy
> WAS a cell phone.

The first thing I thought of was, "How did he get away without being 
arrested?" They take things very seriously at the airport. So seriously
that 
if we ever fly anywhere with our oldest, we'd be tempted to duct tape
his 
mouth shut before hand.

They made me turn on my Palm PDA to show that it worked, too. Then they
put 
it through the x-ray machine, which apparently showed it was nothing
more 
than a screen and circuitry.

The worst thing to happen to me at customs was in Scotland in 1992. I
shot a 
roll of Kodak black and white infrared film while in the Orkneys. This
stuff 
gives a black and white image, but heat sources come out bright and cold

objects (such as the sky) come out dark. This stuff is very susceptible
to 
heat and light. I loaded the camera in a make-shift "dark bag" made from
my 
jacket and a fleece sweater, it's that sensitive. When I got to the
airport 
on the way home I figured it would be wise not to send it through the
x-ray 
machine. I stupidly handed over to a Customs guy to hand inspect. Of
course 
he opened the container marked "do not open except in total darkness"
and 
looked at it. Then he threw it in the x-ray machine. Geez. When I got it

developed, the images were badly fogged. I did manage to "fix" one or
two 
pictures. Next time I'll just get the film developed in whatever country
I'm 
in and take the prints home.

(If you're interested in seeing one of the repaired pictures, you can
see it 
here:
http://home.att.net/~agoodall/scotland/pictures/scot-stenness.html
)

--
Allan Goodall		   agoodall@att.net
http://www.hyperbear.com   agoodall@hyperbear.com