Last night while flying back from IBM's Information on Demand Conference (I'll report on this in an upcoming blog) I experienced an interesting situation while going through airport security. The lady in front of me asked me what was the maximum size of toothpaste tube she could hand carry through security. I told her three ounces. She then took out her six ounce tube, which was just under half full, and squeezed the toothpaste down to the end. After I went through security, the lady was waiting for me. She told me that for future reference TSA told her that half of six is not three -- the toothpaste tube has to be a maximum size of three onces even if it is half empty. Richard Hackathorn who was with me at the time was carrying an empty water container and I wondered if security would confiscate it on the grounds that it didn't matter it it contained water or not. They didn't. We then wondered if the toothpaste tube had been empty would TSA still have confiscated it. And you think IT has problems with business rules!