I always thought the problem was calibration, and more specifically that the company responsible for building and selling these was also responsible for ongoing testing, calibration and certification -- a clear conflict of interest. After that series of articles in the NYTimes a couple years ago about people getting fried to death in misconfigured x-ray machines, fear of ending up like Spock (before re-genesis of course, but I digress) was my main reason for taking the pat-down every time.

Secondary reason was European airports banning them, but that has since been reversed. UK doesn't let you opt for pat-downs, not sure about the rest of Europe.

The whole ionizing radiation deal gives me the creeps. Let's hope they do all switch over to millimeter wave. Right? Or is there a fatal flaw with those too?

.
tried fluorescents
don't like them
always find they have an artificial quality
here's my theory
.
the light from incandescent bulbs
(even frosted ones)
emanates from the relatively very small
surface area of the filament
and casts quite sharp shadows
especially noticeable closer to the bulb
.
fluorescents light up equally
over the entire surface of the glass
and cast diffuse shadows
again, especially noticeable closer to the bulb
.
my theory is
incandescents more closely replicate
the way the sun casts light and shadow
and thus seems more natural
(halogens too, but i usually have to dim them)
.
i hope the bulb makers have success
building more efficient incandescents
i will buy them
.