Pogue On Security Sans Science
In Sci Am, David Pogue lays out the asinine rules (clearly just rules for rules sake) and more idiocy:

Then there are the airport checkpoints, where the old metal detectors are being replaced by millimeter-wave and backscatter scanners. They are supposed to be able to find nonmetal weapons and other contraband--not just objects made of metal. Many people consider these machines invasive (they can see through your clothes), overpriced (at least $160,000 apiece) and, in the case of the backscatter machines, a potential cancer risk.

They also require twice as many employees to operate and far more passenger preparation (you can't have anything in your pockets, not even your wallet or boarding pass). And they are much slower--the TSA says screening takes "less than a minute," but that's about 60 times longer than it takes to walk through a metal detector. As a result, some airports now suggest checking in two hours before a domestic flight. How many millions of dollars in productivity are we losing as a result?

With these machines, we trade convenience for security. But look--if we're going to adapt a "security at any cost to convenience" policy, why not prohibit all luggage and require everyone to fly naked?

...My field is technology, so I really shouldn't go into the other absurdities of TSA rules. I shouldn't mention how you can't have more than 3.4 ounces of liquid in a container, but you (and the group you are with) can bring lots of those little containers. Or how a full container of liquid is okay if you say that it's baby formula. Or that you have to throw away a seven-ounce toothpaste tube even if it's 80 percent empty. Or how kids who are 12 years old and younger no longer have to remove their shoes.

Or how all of this is focused on preventing a terrorist attack on a plane of 100 people--while far less attention is paid to far more populated targets, such as train stations, theaters, sports arenas and, yes, airports.

Still, on balance, the TSA's irrational half measures ... don't protect us all that well from terrorists. They do, however, make life miserable for the innocent. 

via @wa7iut