Perhaps it is just luck of the draw, but I have not seen gate screening (for domestic flights) since the months immediately after Sept. 11 and I am based out of GRR. Until today, that is.

I was a bit surprised to see that this was still happening. Of course, as the first person to step up to the gate, I was "randomly" selected for additional security. I asked the TSA agents if they knew my name. "No, sir, this is random," the senior one replied. After placing my bags on the table, I asked how they could have done a random sampling if they did not know who I was. "We just pick people randomly." I explained that, for the method to be random, they would have to do something like assign a number to each passenger booked on the flight, then use a random number generator to select a number of passengers based on a significant sampling size. I got a blank stare. I asked them how they define "random" and the other agent said, "we just pick people at random out of the line." That, I explained, is not random, and actually puts a bias into the system that could stymie their efforts.

This discussion continued for some time along these lines, but not in vain! By time I was finished with them (and vice versa), the jungle jet was boarded and there was not one else left for them to randomly select (read: harrass).