The Thread Thread

[David K. Merriman]

>Fri, 18 Nov 1994, Tim May writes:
>>* A tiny thread cannot be readily detected by "airport scanners," nor
>>by even longer-distance scanners, unless the gain on the detector is
>>turned up so high that many other things trigger the detector.
>>
>>If the threads are mostly plastic, with discontiguous metallic writing
>>on them, then the detection problem is even harder.
>
>This is just a quick thought...does anyone know what kind of metallic ink
>is used?  To add to the conspiracy theory, say the metallic ink is
>radioactive with a higher radiation count for higher dollar amounts--would
>it be implausible then to have some sort of radiation counter to gauge a
>person's total 'radiation count,' and thereby approximate how much currency
>they are carrying out of the country?

Wouldn't work.  Radiation is useless for something like this - how to tell
the difference between X $20 bills, and Y $100 bills? The roentgen/hour
levels would be close enough to make knowing which is which virtually
impossible.  Radiation is mostly good for yes/no type stuff, unless you're
dusting things with particular combinations of very specific isotopes and
sampling for them - in which case you've got a completely different set of
problems.

>
>I wouldn't take the above seriously though....
>

Seconded.

Dave Merriman
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