My security experiences (all at Newark, term. C):

1) On more than one occasion, I have been told to proceed to the second metal detector so I wouldn't hold up the line. I just kept walking and no one stopped me. I could have been packed to the teeth in "bad stuff."

2) One of my travel tools is a box of Altoids. I always put it in the cup, and no one EVER bothers to open it to see whats inside. That thing full of C4 could take a regional jet down.

3) My little cousin had a bouncy ball. She dropped it. It bounced through the Exit thing with the monitors, I ran after it, and no one stopped me.