Security

A selection of entries from the Crypto-Gram (a "security guru"'s newsleter)

Hours-long waits in the security line. Ridiculous prohibitions on what you can carry on board. Last week's foiling of a major terrorist plot and the subsequent airport security changes graphically illustrates the difference between effective security and security theater.
[...] Instead, the arrests are a victory for old-fashioned intelligence and investigation.

Getting inside the terrorists' heads (funny cartoon):
http://www.wondermark.com/d/220.html

By January 1st, 2007, everyone crossing the border between the U.S. and Canada is supposed to have a passport. This is because of terrorism, of course. But now we learn that ferries and private watercraft will be exempt. One of two things is true. Either passports are required for security, in which case we should interfere with ferries. Or they're for show, in which case we can just do what's convenient. Or maybe we just know that terrorists never take ferries. I get that security is a trade-off, but this is kind of silly.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/07/18/chertoff-edmonton.html

Here's a collection of 11 prison shivs confiscated over 20 years ago in New Jersey. Think about these, and the adverse conditions they were made under, the next time you see someone's pocket knife being taken away from him at airport security.
http://www.designobserver.com/archives/016492.html