From the pages of the Standard Upright Position Crime Files: 10-workers at JFK, including Delta and American employees were arrested for drug smuggling this week.

Allegedly, these folks were putting the stuff in the checked-luggage (and I just thought my talcum powder container had exploded).

The bust was the result of a 2-year investigation, in which the cops seized more than 100-pounds of cocaine, 55-pounds of heroin, and a few miscellaneous pounds of ecstasy. And, in case you’ve forgotten, earlier this year, some workers at the Orlando airport were arrested for smuggling guns.

But look on the bright side…you probably DON’T have to worry about anyone smuggling an 8-ounce bottle of water into their carry-on.

Ever since the TSA set forth their policy regarding liquids on planes (the 3-1-1 rule, if you like), travelers have been annoyed, and questions have surrounded the whole affair. Is the rule arbitrary? What are the reasons for it? Is the TSA in cahoots with the makers of tiny bottles? Why on Earth do I have to pour shampoo from one bottle into another like I’m “marrying” ketchups back at that horrible restaurant I worked in during college?

All important questions.

As an intrepid reporter, I wanted to find the answers, so I went to the only place I thought could give them to me: Bed Bath & Beyond. OK, so maybe Bed Bath & Beyond couldn’t tell me if there was a vast conspiracy involving the TSA, our deficit with the Chinese, and makers of fine shampoos, but the retailer has just made it easier for travelers to meet TSA regulations. In a stroke of marketing genius, they’re offering a package that contains 15 bottles of assorted shapes (all meeting the 3 oz. requirement) for your shampoo, conditioner, hairspray, gel, perfume, etc. The package even comes in a handy 1 qt. zip-top bag, which also meets the TSA’s requirements.

But that’s not all. One of the managers at my local Bed Bath & Beyond was kind enough to show me an entire section of products that the store has recently labeled as ‘approved for travel.’ And that’s not some sort of metaphorical label, you’ll see an ‘approved for travel’ sign right there on the bin. They have most everything you would ever need for travel purposes right there in the tiny little containers. Many of the products are available for $.99 to $5.00. Hmmm, maybe somebody is in cahoots with the TSA, after all. Were the sellers of fragrant conditioners and lime green trashcans in on all of this? I had to dig deeper.

Unfortunately, I left BBB knowing little more about the reasons behind rule 3-1-1 than when I walked in. But I did get some travel bottles and a lovely throw pillow for the couch. Luckily, those young upstarts over at the New York Times were working on the story, as well, and Joe Sharkey wrote a great article that points out that the rule isn’t as arbitrary as we all might think:

“Tests showed that a container of a certain size is needed for an effective explosion. Separate three-ounce containers limited in number to what will fit inside a single one-quart bag do not have ‘enough critical diameter’ to blow up an aircraft…”

OK. So the science is there to back the rule up, and the stores are there to make it easy for us to meet the regulations. Maybe we can all stop complaining about it now. Or at least let the conspiracy theories go.

Well, it’s only been in the air a few days, but the Vatican’s charter airline (run by Itlay’s Mistral Air) is already facing issues the other airlines have been dealing with for years. In this case, it’s the ban on liquids. Pilgrims who spent hours waiting to get holy water from the grotto at the Shrine in Lourdes were told at the gate that they couldn’t bring the holy water on their return flight if it was in containers larger than 100ml.

As reported by the BBC, “Francesco Pizzo, Mistral Air’s president, said the company had to respect international regulations on the matter.”

While many passengers were, of course, disappointed, the airline did give holy water in small bottles shaped like the Virgin Mary to everybody on the flight.