Other: Front Row Seat at the Security Theater

It took me less than a month to finish the February issue of Scientific American, so maybe I will catch up! Except now I have an issue of the Wilson Quarterly, which takes forever to read because I have to pretend to be all air-you-dite.

Anyway, Steve Mirsky's "Anti Gravity" column looks at airport security. As he points out,

Although the mostest curiouser thing has to be when hundreds of people docilely snake through security lines amid announcements that the “threat of a terrorist attack is high.” ... Here’s how you know that the terrorist threat isn’t really high: the airport is still open, and your flight hasn’t been canceled.

He also links to this Atlantic article by Jeffrey Goldberg. While Goldberg's evidence is mostly anecdotal, it is mind-boggling. No, really, who knew such things as "The Beerbelly" existed? Well, probably anyone who was on the Sharper Image's Redneck Edition mailing list. Or how about inflatable Yasir Arafat dolls? WTF?