I'm always that person chosen for a random screening. I'm padded down, my bags are thoroughly checked, and I'm usually then brought to a separate waiting room with a few others who are randomly chosen, too. At least there's usually cookies and juice.

In our post-9/11 world, these airport checks have become the norm. But a recent report showed that the majority - the vast majority - of tests were successful in bringing hazardous items like weapons and explosives onto planes despite going through security.

Removing shoes, going through potentially harmful X-rays, throwing out a perfectly good bottle of water - apparently these things are not only annoying, they're ineffective.

A lot of these points were brought up in a recent Washington Post column by Petula Dvorak - I'd recommend it.