Re: filmscanners: X-ray and digital camera

["Anthony Atkielski" <atkielski.anthony@wanadoo.fr>]

> Oh.  Only Airbus and the IATA know anything
> about this.

The original hoax specifically mentioned an Airbus A340 and Sabena airlines,
although other verifiable details were lacking, as usual.

> Whom at Airbus and the IATA did you speak with?

I don't recall.  It was a good four years ago or so.

> And you have a URL for this purported
> "Internet story"?

Try "magnetic tray table sabena" on Google, and you'll come up with a dozen or
so.  It has been years since the hoax originated, so some links no longer work,
but the links you find will all tell essentially the same story.

> Do you have a copy of this IATA public statement?

It is no longer on their site, as far as I can tell.

> They did ask the aircraft manufacturers, and
> that is why they said that the problem existed.

With whom did you speak at the company?  Do you have a URL for this purported
"report"?  Do you have a copy of the company's statement?

> But, I guess you are just so much smarter than
> the people who's job it was to research this topic,
> and write the report.

No, I just do research when I come across a likely urban legend, and then debunk
it if it proves to be a hoax.  This is a lot easier than trying to backpedal
after finding out that I opened my mouth too soon, as some people are forced to
do.  It also saves a lot of time and effort by stopping rumors that have no
basis in fact.

> Next time anyone needs to know what the real
> truth to, apparently, anything, is, I'll just
> have them ask you!

Actually, they can look things up themselves, but they often can't be bothered
with that.

I've debunked other hoaxes as well, and in every case it was just a matter of
calling or writing the right people to find out the truth.  For example, with
one phone call, I got a written statement from the telephone company debunking
the hoax about people using 90# or some such nonsense to use your telephone
without your knowledge.  And talking to the IATA and Airbus debunked the
tray-table rumor.  And a glance at the Kodak Web site confirmed the danger of
film fogging.  I've done this lots of times.

> ... though no one ever agrees with you on any of
> your topics of "discussion" ...

Whether they agree with me or not is irrelevant, once I've done the research
myself to find out the truth.  I share the information I've uncovered, and the
rest is up to them.

> ... you are the only one who has the story straight,
> and your word, dispite all evidence to the
> contrary, is to just be taken as correct.

The problem is that there is no evidence to the contrary.  For example, I
pointed directly to documentation proving that x rays fog film, and that fogging
is a risk when traveling with film.  Nobody provided any documentation proving
any peculiar risk to buying or developing film abroad.  I explained why the
magnetic-tray hoax is a hoax, and there are abundant sources on the Web to
confirm this (even if my original sources are offline), but nobody has provided
any contradictory evidence.

So, you see, there isn't any "evidence to the contrary."  If there were, things
might be different.

> You must be highly sought after to be on staff
> at every major engineering company in the world,
> since you know everything better than anyone else!

There are some things I do not know, but there are other things that I know very
well indeed, and I am not insecure about the latter.  It seems productive to me
to share the knowledge I have with others, just as I would appreciate them
sharing their knowledge with me.