All Shoes On The Belt

Ever since Richard Reid’s failed attempt to light his shoes on fire on a plane, we’ve all gotten used to being forced to pad through the airport in our stocking feet and hopefully not pick up any flesh eating fungus or anything.

But slowly the public became good at stripping down and unpacking their computers, and then their cameras, and then all their major electronics for the TSA staff that apparently has more trouble than the security in the rest of the world in differentiating benign from naughty in a packed bag.

The latest threat to national security: your gym shoes. So as of yesterday afternoon (19-May-09) we are all now obliged to unpack our shoes from our carry on luggage and put them on the belt separately. Too bad you just bought that new TSA compliant computer bag as it is now obsolete.

I suspect lines were getting a little short and we needed something else to confuse us and make air travel less efficient because otherwise the terrorists would win.