No, I am specifically talking about those methods. You have yet to establish that there is anything to deter. You've just declared that the TSA protects us (while stealing shit).

Well, we can look at the number of hijackings/attacks in the decade leading up to 9/11 (on us flights) and in the decade after. I count 1 attempt before (someone hijacked a cargo jet in 1994 so they could fly it into fedex HQ) and 2 or 3 attempts (shoe guy and underwear guy) with zero effectiveness from the TSA for the after, so we do see some attempts being made, but the TSA did nothing to detect/preent them. With that level of egg on their face, you would expect them to crow loudly about anything they actually did right, but instead, they're trying to harass train travelers. basically, they don't do shit, so why do we have them?

No we don't, and if anything, we should be comparing them against what we did before - metal detectors, bomb sniffers. They're a whole lot more invasive and they don't do shit.

I was talking to an old timer in the TSA line; he said that in the 70s, you could bring guns on the plane - they had a locker that they'd store your gun in for you.

Unsupported assertion. We had plenty of deterrence on 9/10/2001

This isn't relevant to anything I wrote, but what the hell: most certs suck, so how is this true, and why should I spend $$$ to prove that I know SQL? You should be able to get an idea about someone's ability to work in an hour or two or you can't interview anyway.

I don't tell my boss, I ask my coworkers, who have little incentive to lie one way or the other.

Not so much in my experience, although getting exposure certainly helps.

Why the hell would an undergrad prof be teaching new trends? And yes, the prof usually knows a lot more than me in the area he teaches, that's why he's the prof and I go to his class. Meanwhile, training is focused on something small, like SVN or a dev methodology. No profs anywhere.

Charge $30/mo and see if more people sign up.