I have used Crystal Body Deodorant for years. It is a solid mineral that works amazingly well, has no odor, and leaves no stains. I like it even better now that these very strange (and IMHO worse than useless) carry-on restrictions have been put into place.

We have been through security at FRA four times in the past week. The first and second experiences (not for flights to the US) were pretty typical security checks. The third time, inside a secured area, just trying to get to the RCC at FRA, was quite annoying, but not totally ridiculous. The fourth experience, also inside a secured area, for a flight to IAD, was totally bizzarre. They took my Uniball pen (a Costco special) and a very tiny sample of mascara which I had received as a gift at the Estee Lauder counter at Duty Free. Oh, yes, they also confiscated the still sealed United Air Lines amenity kit that my husband had been given on our flight ORD/FRA. Go figure.

It was such an Orwellian experience that I was actually feeling sorry for the poor agents who felt compelled to behave in such an illogical manner just to keep their jobs. I must admit that the whole experience scared me more than it made me feel safe. As I watched them do their "job", I couldn't help but think things like, "What are they missing? What would I do if I were a terrorist and wanted to smuggle liquid explosives aboard?" The obvious answer is body cavities. Once they start searching them, the game of air travel for miles and points is up, well at least for me.

The lock-step floundering of both the US and German agents we have encountered this week contrasted sharply to the clear, intelligent, competence of the Israeli security agents that we experienced in TLV. Is anybody paying attention to the lessons to be learned?

Is there anyone who feels safer as a result of all of this security insanity? It makes me wonder if the terrorists aren't feeling more proud of the fact that they have managed to wreak havoc on the lives of hundreds of thousands of international and domestic travelers every single day all around the world--a condition which may exsist for years and years to come--than they would have been about downing a plane carrying 400 people, which would have been big news for a week or two, and then faded into history.

It is clearly time for more serious thinking about security and less knee-jerk reactions.