In order to make the air traveling public safer, I submitted to the confiscation of 3 ounces of toothpaste by the TSA.
Apparently it’s not how much is in the container, but how big the container (in this case a toothpaste tube) is. While the tube and paste was only 3 ounces (I weighed it before packing), the tube had a 4.6 ounce capacity.
When dealing with airport screening, one must never try using logic, as it will lead to mistakes such as mine. I also had a tube of prescription medicine in a container larger than 3 ozs, but that is of course OK. If I were a clever person, I could have smuggled the toothpaste on board in the prescription tube. That would be far too complex for the TSA rules to deal with. But I’m not going to mess with the TSA, or I’ll find myself in a holding cell for the rest of the day.
This incident, and the whole silliness of a lot of what Homeland Security wastes money on, reminds me of an old episode of the BBC’s Goon Show. In order to deal with a rash of boot explosions, the government recommended that people walk backwards while carrying a gas stove on their heads.