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Flight attendants aren't happy with John Pistole of the Transportation Security Administration. The TSA administrator announced this week that airline passengers soon will be allowed to carry on small pocket knives, golf clubs (two each), ski poles, billiard cues, toy baseball bats and hockey and lacrosse sticks.

The Flight Attendants Union Coalition, which represents 90,000 flight attendants, called the decision "outrageous and shortsighted, and asked Pistole to reconsider," according to a news report in the Philadelphia Inquirer. American Airlines' flight attendants union, with 16,000 members, agreed that knives of any kind should not be allowed on board.

Knives with retractable blades measuring less than 2.36 inches and narrower than a half-inch and the aforementioned athletic gear will be allowed as of April 25, bringing the United States in line with international rules.

"We believe that these proposed changes will further endanger the lives of all flight attendants and the passengers we work so hard to keep safe and secure," FAUC said, according to the news report.

The TSA said it was an "intelligence-based, risk-based decision." The biggest threat to travellers is explosives, not pocket knives or sports equipment, TSA spokesman David Castelveter told the Inquirer.

As we head into the weekend, here's some "Security Director News Lite," focused on pop culture.

First up, the now famous Gallon Smashing. Three young males in Virginia concocted what they describe as an innocent prank. They go into supermarkets, and, with a gallon of milk or juice in each hand, elaborately smash them onto the floor, slip and fall in the spillage and then struggle to get up, mostly unsuccessfully. Their goal is to dupe onlookers. Their video on You Tube—because they taped their exploits, of course—had more than 3 million hits in a week. It also has spurred copycat Gallon Smashings. In Utah, for instance, 10 juveniles were charged with disorderly conduct for perpetrating the same "prank." I saw one video where a copycat Gallon Smasher performed his antics while roller-blading. The fad, if that's what it's called, has even spread to the U.K.

Dana Cole, a legal analyst, told ABC News that there's a fine line between a prank and a crime in this case. Someone has to clean up the mess, he said. And, onlookers and employees could be injured.

On another note, and this isn't nearly as "innocent," two females were arrested this past week by the Nogales Border Patrol. Seems they might have been watching too many back episodes of the blockbuster AMC TV series, "Breaking Bad."

The pair allegedly tried to smuggle six bags of methamphetamine into the United States by concealing them in two buckets of chicken.

Those of you who are "Breaking Bad" fans—and I am among the hugest—know all about Los Pollos Hermanos (translation: The Chicken Brothers), the fictional New Mexico-based fast-food restaurant chain. Thing is, in the show the restaurant is used as a front to assist in the owner's supply and distribution of meth.

Apparently the two women weren't as savvy as the owner of Los Pollos Hermanos. Both face federal prosecution after being caught with 6 pounds of meth—in the chicken buckets— valued at $58,700. Their arrest was among a number of others this week for attempting to smuggle meth into the country.

More than 900 people died in mass shootings in the past six years, the majority killed by people they knew, according to a report in USA Today. The 934 deaths account for less than 1 percent of gun-related homicides, and nearly half involve a suspect slaying his or her family members.

USA Today examined FBI records and news accounts to identify 146 mass shootings since 2006 that matched the FBI definition of mass shooting, where four or more people are killed.

A separate analysis of 56 mass shootings since 2009 from a group of mayors promoting gun control reaches similar conclusions.

Fifty-seven percent of cases reported by Mayors Against Illegal Guns involved domestic violence. The group, co-founded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is made up of more than 850 U.S. mayors.

The Academy Awards ceremony Feb. 24 in Hollywood will have the tightest security ever in place for the event, officials say.

Oscars producer Laura Ziskin told ABC News: "It will be presidential, as if the president were there--presidential-level security. Security is, of course, a big issue, as it has been for every big event since 9/11, and I think is something that's going to be with us for the foreseeable future. There are tremendous measures in place, some of which you'll see and some of which you won't."

Those measures include shutting down streets around the Kodak Theater, and all those attending the ceremony, down to each and every glamorous star, will pass through metal detectors. There also will be as many police officers on the ground in the area at the time as normally patrol the entire city of Los Angeles, the ABC news report says.

Security at the Staples Center in L.A., where the Grammy Awards were held Feb. 10, was even more intense than that. That's because former L.A.P.D. Officer Christopher Dorner was still on the loose, according to a report from Robert Penfold, news correspondent for the Nine Network in Australia. Dorner had already killed three people and would kill one more before his suicide two days later. Police were concerned that he would use the high-publicity music awards event to get publicity for himself.

Grammy organizers brought in ballistic-rated Archer 1200 rapid deployment barriers to barricade a key entrance to the Staples Center, Penfold wrote. "The Archer 1200 is unique in that it can be quickly dropped into place by one person without the need for heavy lifting equipment. At the Grammys the Archer system was successfully used to block a main entrance street. Eight barriers, each with the capability of stopping a vehicle at top speed, were set side by side, but leaving enough room for pedestrians to move comfortably through while providing protection from vehicle traffic. In several cases where a truck or car needed to get into the secured area, one or more barriers could be quickly moved to one side and then returned, to once again secure the zone."

The portable vehicle barriers have been used to protect ports, dams, water treatment facilities and oil and gas operations, Penfold said.

Penfold's son, Alex Penfold, works for Meridian Rapid Defense Group, which produces the Archer barriers.