So, I flew round trip to Toronto from New York yesterday.

In New York, they x rayed my shoes but ignored my digital clicker, cell phone, digital camera and assorted electronics. They also made me take off my suit jacket.

In Toronto, they ignored my shoes but took apart my clicker. They didn’t care about my jacket.

On the plane from New York, they said it was fine to use cell phones as soon as we landed.

On the plane from Toronto, they insisted we not use our cell phones, even though we were on the runway for twenty minutes.

So, which is it?

One of the illusions members of the reality-based community labor under is that there’s a right answer. That if you do X and Y, you’re most likely to get Z.

This sort of rational thought certainly makes it easier to plan.

I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that in fact, many complex problems don’t have obviously correct answers.

My best takeaway from this insight is to pursue answers that are inexpensive and easy to test. That becoming hysterical when one particular superstition is hard to implement is ridiculous.

Most of all, being serious about a superstition is not the same as being serious about the problem at hand. We shouldn’t minimize our marketing (or security, for that matter) challenges, but we ought to lighten up a bunch about the untested beliefs we bring to the table.