I've been traveling for business every week since April 2007, and have experienced a wide range of security checkpoint encounters.

On one of my earliest trips, I recall going through my backpack after checking in at the hotel and finding my small folding utility knife; the kind with the removable angled blade. I ditched the blade right then and there, but held onto the handle, with the intention of leaving it at home when I got back. I passed through security on the way home without incident and completely forgot to take it out over the weekend and brought it back out into the field with me the next week. Someone finally caught it (an over-eager or just merely observant young TSA agent running the x-ray) on the flight home and I got pulled aside by another agent to have the bag hand-searched. She found the handle, and I explained the whole story of how it got in there, and me ditching the blade, and how it went through security three times already and no one caught it. She told me because I was so upfront about it, that she wouldn't "write me up" (whatever that meant).

I've gotten the lectures about using the quart size ziploc bags (I use a gallon size, bite me TSA!), and I've left it in my carry-on instead of placing it in a bin sometimes and gotten through the checkpoint without incident. I've gone through security at some airports wearing a belt with no problems and had to take it off at others. It's really been a mixed bag. No consistency, really.

I've been pulled aside for the super special pat downs and detailed searches where they use those felt paper wands and run it over everything I've got and then put it on some machine to check it for chemical residue. These kinds of checks only happen when I've rescheduled my flight mid-trip to either leave earlier or later than originally scheduled. You get a special "SSS" or something on your ticket (put there by the airline), which flags you for what I call the "skip-the-long-security-checkpoint-and-get-VIP-treatment", which is actually pretty cool.

Having to remove cables and electronics in addition to the laptop would just cause a longer checkpoint experience, but I don't think it would be too bad for myself, because I keep all of my computer cables and stuff (including a small network switch) in one of those drawstring mesh camping bags and all my ipod gear in a smaller one. Everything is very modular in my bag, and it keeps it all organized to boot. It also helps that I travel light. The less crap, the less of a hassle to deal with it.

However, every time I have to take off my shoes for the x-ray or ditch a bottle of water I'm reminded of those schmucks and the knee-jerk reactions of the fear industry that made it that much more of a hassle for your average Joe Citizen to make a living. Thanks a lot, dirtbags!