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As we're all very much aware, there's a war against terrorism underway and airline security has been massively increased all around the world.

The reason for my trip to Australia was to take over a prototype component for my X-Jet engine. I was demonstrating this component to a company that has expressed an interest in using the engine in a military context.

I was a little worried that the airlines might get frightened by this rather exotic looking lump of metal since it bears more than a passing similarity to a pipe-bomb -- being a rather heavy metal pipe with several protruding tubes and bolts.

Rather than cause all sorts of alarm at the check-in desk, I decided to simply pack it in my luggage and see what happened.

The part was placed in a cardboard box (bearing a picture of a cordless phone) which was then bound up with masking tape. It would not be possible to undo the box without ripping the tape and leaving obvious signs that it had been inspected.

Readers Say (updated irregularly) AU 2 NZ plane security... - Dominc your jet engine part... - Nick suitcase goodiies overseas... - Christine Just maybe?... - Allister airports... - bede What's the problem?... - Michael Customs inspections... - Gregor Leonids... - Ian Have Your Say

Remember -- this could well have been an explosive device quite capable of causing the total destruction of a 747 if detonated at cruising altitude.

On my arrival in Australia, I was very surprised to discover that the box containing this component had not been opened. It had either not raised suspicions as it passed through the X-Ray machines or my bags hadn't been X-rayed at all.

What's more -- the same bomb-like device survived the trip back from Australia to NZ in exactly the same way -- totally undetected by either NZ's or Australia's supposedly hi-tech screening systems.

Now, given the fact that Al Qaeda has made it clear that all those who are involved in the US-instigated "war against terrorism" are targets for retribution -- should we be worried that trans-Tasman luggage seems to be deemed not worth checking properly?

I have to admit that I feel more than just a little uneasy about this.

Look Out, The Sky Is Falling!
Hasn't the weather been awful recently?

Rain, cold temperatures, high winds have produced conditions that are far more like mid-winter than late spring.

And watch out, there's a sizeable storm scheduled for the next couple of nights.

No, I'm not talking thunder and lightning -- I'm talking about the Leonids Meteor storm.

According to the applet on this page, we'll see the highest level of activity between 3am and 5am (daylight savings time) with even more on Wednesday morning.

Note that the applet doesn't seem to realise we're actually GMT+13 right now, due to the effect of daylight savings time. Gosh -- how did NASA manage to get a man on the moon with such inattention to detail?

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