Hoo ah.

Recently, there was a hacker convention in Berlin. I would provide a link, but you should really find out how to find out about it on your own.

I think the TSA found out about it. They may have also found their old copy of 1984. I don't know. All I know is that I'm not confident in my ability to not react to an approaching security officer with a mixture of apprehension and mistrust, and have that read clearly on my face.

Seriously, if you were traveling and a uniformed TSA person walked up to you and started asking you about your trip and plans and things, wouldn't your first reaction be to freak, just a little? Could you really prevent yourself from thinking, "Oh, crap, I'm in trouble"? It's not hard to see how that would be a self-fulfilling prophecy. And that's why I wear a beard; to hide my face.