When I returned from Germany in 2003, I was asked by the nice agent in Frankfurt (on load from Mossad!) if I had anything that might be used as a weapon. I had plenty of time. I blinked in surprise, and said, “Of course.”

She (shorter and sturdier than Cote de Pablo, but still cute) got alert. “What?” she said sharply.

“I have sharp pencils, shoelaces, and this heavy, hard computer.” I blinked my biggest blues at her with a grin. She relaxed. Perhaps my father having just addressed her in Hebrew with his Tel Aviv accent was what got me off the hook.

But they really do take security more seriously over there.

^{Anti-spam word: “dan” How odd?}

Anti Spam Word: “Way” (think Tao).

Post Columbine, my daughter’s high school instituted a “no hoodies” rule on the assumption that a gun could be hidden in the hood of such sweatshirts. It is a ludicrous and completely ineffective rule since there are no body or book bag searches performed on the students, both places much more likely for a teen to conceal a gun.

Do you know how hard it is to find a nice comfortable, zippered sweatshirt WITHOUT a hood these days? Impossible! Trust me.

It is an example of the “we are doing something” syndrome. Even if that something is ineffective.