I love the US security policies! Really I do!

[TdC]

ABC News: MIT Student With Alleged Fake Bomb Known as Campus Free Spirit

loathing as it is to post a news link, this one made me somewhat angry :/

 

[DaGaffer]

Angry with her, or with the authorities? Because to be honest, I'm kind of with the authorities on this one. She sounds like a total tool to me (I blame the parents for calling her "Star" in the first place).

I'm no fan of the TSA, but walking into the airport with wires and shit sticking out of your t-shirt is asking for trouble.

 

[dysfunction]

I'm also with the authorities on this one. The girl is an idiot.
In todays climate of terrorist attacks you don't muck about with so called "art works" that look like explosives. You are just asking for trouble.

Its just like the guy who said he had a gun in his violin case to airport security...pure stupidity.

NEVER joke with security. You will always come off 2nd best

 

[Thadius]

But the US secuirty services let aliens stand behind Goerge Bush, so its all good

 

[GRN]

I agree with DaGaffer and Dysfunction. Plain stupid to pull off a stunt like that unless you're really looking to get your head shot off.

Attention seeking little fool. In my day girls just used to cut themselves for attention.

 

[Thadius]

ttention seeking little fool. In my day girls just used to cut themselves for attention.

That still exhists, its called emo and Myspace is full of the whiineywhores

 

[TdC]

(I blame the parents for calling her "Star" in the first place)

heh me too

whoop, I didn't specify. I am about 70 percent angry towards the girl. ok, there is pulling a stunt to impress your boyfriend, and pulling a stunt that lands you in jail being interviewed by the homeland security people.

imo if you're standing in a US airport festooned with wires and circuit boards then you deserve everything you get. you know for a fact that the guards and police will treat you like a live one because they're not trained to discern the prank pullers from the guys who mean business.

the reason I posted the link was because it was the ABC people interviewing her mates at MIT that made up the other 30% of my miffedness. "She is a free spirit! She shaved her head once!" free spirit my ass!

 

[atos]

Silly US. I bet theres a law that makes them able to bust you for anything. Fucked up country should be given to Canada instead.

 

[GRN]

That still exhists, its called emo and Myspace is full of the whiineywhores

They need a job. Or even better, a shrink.

Allthough I bet their lives they already do; they, including this little miss Star all have fancy psychiatrical professionals helping them open up and get in touch with their feelings and such. Very trendy. Very costly.

Then they go and spoil everything by strapping a circuit board on their chest calling it art and almost getting shot in the head five times like the kid in the UK.

Shaved her head, did she? She must've cut a bit too deep with daddy's rusty razorblade.

No matter, though. She'll propably end up being free-spiritedly shagged in some alleyway for a few quid.

These are the people whose fathers should've pulled out in time.

edit: She doesn't even need a pseudonym to become a pornstar; Star Simpson will propably do the trick!

 

[Damini]

God, this is why I hate modern art types. At chi college, this bird did her whole collection of paintings using menstrual blood instead of paint, only it went off before the showing, and she had to scrap it all. How tired and cliched is it to be outrageous? We get it love, you're anti-conformist, however, it's even more unusual to paint using watercolours than it is to challenge The Man.

 

[GRN]

edit: A bit off topic, I know, but anyhow;

At chi college, this bird did her whole collection of paintings using menstrual blood instead of paint

That might just be the most repulsive thing I've heard. It might even top the one where a Finnish "artist", Teemu Mäki, videotaped as he slaughtered a cat with an axe proceeding then to masturbate on the remains.

On the other hand, I think mr. Mäki takes the lead even here.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

News link threads are started by skanks.

 

[Chilly]

It didnt look like a bomb tho. It was a tiny breadboard with some LEDs and a battery. OK so security guards cant be expected to tell the difference between a harmless circuit and a bomb trigger but their reaction seemed to be a bit OTT.

Also, she clearly did it for the reaction. Shes obviously very clever (MIT student) so knew what she was doing.

 

[DaGaffer]

Also, she clearly did it for the reaction. Shes obviously very clever (MIT student) so knew what she was doing.

All the more reason to give her what she needs. A fucking good kicking.

 

[GRN]

All the more reason to give her what she needs. A good fucking.

I agree! Anyone willing to do the deed?

 

[gunner440]

I agree! Anyone willing to do the deed?

I'd have sex with her but only if she's dead.

 

[GRN]

I'd have sex with her but only if she's dead.

I already have it planned out;

First you buy her flowers. Then you ask her to build a better piece of modern art -- make sure she gets it right this time -- drive her to the airport, wait for fifteen minutes and when you hear the gunshots go off, dash in and do your deed like the truly refined gentleman you are!

Oh, and remember to take pictures.

 

[TdC]

I don't want her dead, I just think she's a nut.

People like that get on my tits. I have a friend who's a drama type. She once sat naked in a tub for a couple hours while other people threw rubbish at her. She said it was an amazing spiritual expression of selflessness or words to that effect. I thought it was an amazing expression of idiocy, though her boobs did somewhat impress me until they were coated in rubbish. Sure, if I push myself I can imagine what she felt, but it wasn't what I felt. So back to circuitboard girl, sure, I can empath my way into getting it, but I still hope the police tasered her to the concrete and that she got it too.

 

[GekuL]

My first reaction was that she's an idiot, but I actually think people are being a bit harsh. Reading it again, I'm not so sure she was presenting it as a bomb, and I think the art being referred to is the LED star on the jumper rather than the act of hoax bombing. She just happened to be wearing it when she went to the airport to meet someone. She's studying computer science at MIT remember, so while she may be clever she's probably not so good with common sense.

 

[Scouse]

her mates at MIT that made up the other 30% of my miffedness. "She is a free spirit! She shaved her head once!" free spirit my ass!

Yeah. I thought that too:

"Sometimes she walks around without her shoes on"

FUCK ME!!! NOT WITHOUT SHOES!!!111!!1!11@1

 

[UrganNagru]

My first reaction was that she's an idiot, but I actually think people are being a bit harsh.

I doubt it was an honest (retarded) mistake, the report mentions police saying she was holding Play-doh in her hand, not the kind of thing you take to an air port with you really. Don't think it mentions anyore detail in the report bu7t if it was some neutral colour and had a couple of wires jammed into it I guess it could pass for some kind of plastic explosive device.

 

[GRN]

She once sat naked in a tub for a couple hours while other people threw rubbish at her. She said it was an amazing spiritual expression of selflessness or words to that effect.

Oh dear.

I am quite lost for words.

I heard they do somewhat similar artsy-things in Japan. Not with rubbish, though. Did she get the idea from some internet movieclip she saw, perhaps?

I wonder when we'll start seeing Japanese tentacle-bukkake-anime-schoolgirl in the Louvre.

Onto the point, though;

She just happened to be wearing it when she went to the airport to meet someone. She's studying computer science at MIT remember, so while she may be clever she's probably not so good with common sense.

I can't believe anyone with any -- and I mean ANY common sense -- would accidentally do what Star did.

I mean, what was she thinking? "What should I wear today.. hm.. oh, yay! I know -- I'll wear my circuit board-shirt for when I go meet people at the airport. What else should I bring.. oh, yes indeed! My favourite piece of playdoh! Yes, that'll surely be a fun surprise for each and everyone! Yay!"

Brilliant minds spawning there at the MIT.

 

[GekuL]

I can't believe anyone with any -- and I mean ANY common sense -- would accidentally do what Star did.

That's the thing though, there are people (and I'd suggest the MIT engineering courses have a higher than average number of these) that really lack the common sense the average person takes for granted. Most people would be able to see that others might mistake the electronics for a bomb. But it's conceivable that, because in her mind it's an LED circuit attached to a sweatshirt, and as she may be unable to think from the viewpoint of others, she assumes that there won't be a problem. Apparently it's something she had been wearing for days beforehand for career day, so not something specifically made for a legitimate trip to the airport (at 8am).
The play dough could be for stress relief (some people have more of a problem with noisy crowded spaces like airports for example), or any other innocuous reason.
It's also possible this is all wrong and it was an attention seeking stunt. She should have been stopped and questioned of course, but I think after that it is an over-reaction.
Personally, I think there's too much doubt and too many assumptions for me to bury her yet, especially from american news reporting.

 

[TdC]

certainly. in fact, as an engineering geek she'll prolly have wired it in a special way instantly recognizable as super-duper-cool by other engineering geeks the world over.

according to her peers she is "wild, wacky and out-there" because she shaved her head once and dislikes shoes, which gives you a general idea of just how the average MIT geek defines wild and wacky.

sure, it's all a big mistake, but at the same time I must consider that your average MIT geek is aware that the rest of their country is somewhat leary of things they regard as strange. especially in airports.


in an aside, but somewhat related: I work in IT and am a Unix person. So I read about *nix humor. The most recent thing I read was an article from a woman who was wearing a BSD logo tshirt while visiting the south of teh US. Some BSDs use a comical daemon as their logo because a daemon is what unixen call a (usually server) process that often runs in the background somewhere. This woman was accosted by some southern men, surrounded, and asked if she was a satanist. This makes me chuckle, but at the same time I find it quite disturbing. In this case I forgive the woman for wearing the tshirt, because it doesn't offend my sensibilities, whereas I do not forgive the MIT student with the circuit board sweater, because I think she should know better, and atm I am at a loss to work out which is "wrong".

 

[DaGaffer]

This makes me chuckle, but at the same time I find it quite disturbing. In this case I forgive the woman for wearing the tshirt, because it doesn't offend my sensibilities, whereas I do not forgive the MIT student with the circuit board sweater, because I think she should know better, and atm I am at a loss to work out which is "wrong".

One is doing something that may be misinterpreted as a dangerous to others because it may be real, the other is doing something that can only be interpreted as dangerous by idiots because it was never real.

 

[Lazarus]

I prefer the LARK program they have implemented :

A lady wrote a lot of letters to the White House complaining about the treatment of a captive insurgent (terrorist) being held in Guantanamo Bay.

She received back the following reply:

The White House1600, Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. 20016

Dear Concerned Citizen:

Thank you for your recent letter roundly criticizing our treatment of the Taliban and Al Quada detainees currently being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Our administration takes these matters seriously and your opinion was heard loud and clear here in Washington.

You'll be pleased to learn that, thanks to the concerns of citizens like yourself, we are creating a new division of the Terrorist retraining Program, to be called the "Liberals Accept Responsibility for Killers" program, or LARK for short.

In accordance with the guidelines of this new program, we have decided to place one terrorist under your personal care.

Your personal detainee has been selected and scheduled for transportation under heavily armed guard to your residence next Monday.

Ali Mohammed Ahmed bin Mahmud (you can just call him Ahmed) is to be cared for pursuant to the standards you personally demanded in your letter of complaint. It will likely be necessary for you to hire some assistant caretakers.

We will conduct weekly inspections to ensure that your standards of care for Ahmed are commensurate with those you so strongly recommended in your letter.

Although Ahmed is a sociopath and extremely violent, we hope that your sensitivity to what you described as his "attitudinal problem" will help him overcome these character flaws.

Perhaps you are correct in describing these problems as mere cultural differences. We understand that you plan to offer counseling and home schooling.

Your adopted terrorist is extremely proficient in hand-to-hand combat and can extinguish human life with such simple items as a pencil or nail clippers. We advise that you do not ask him to demonstrate these skills at your next yoga group. He is also expert at making a wide variety of explosive devices from common household products , so you may wish to keep those items locked up, unless (in your opinion) this might offend him.

Ahmed will not wish to interact with you or your daughters (except sexually), since he views all females as a subhuman form of property.

This is a particularly sensitive subject for him and he has been known to show violent tendencies around women who fail to comply with the new dress code that he will recommend as more appropriate attire.

I'm sure you will come to enjoy the anonymity offered by the burka -- over time.

Just remember that it is all part of "respecting his culture and his religious beliefs." Wasn't that how you put it?

Thanks again for your letter. We truly appreciate it when folks like you keep us informed of the proper way to do our job. You take good care of Ahmed - and remember, we'll be watching.

Good luck!

Your friend,

GEORGE W. BUSH

 

[TdC]

One is doing something that may be misinterpreted as a dangerous to others because it may be real, the other is doing something that can only be interpreted as dangerous by idiots because it was never real.

yes, but if the US was a Christian theocracy populated exclusively by MIT electronics engineers the BSD daemon could be extremely offensive. As this is not the case, I wonder why I even worry

 

[Damini]

I was outside a hospital in Croyden, and a woman walked past in a burkha, pushing a pushchair with a mini burkha strapped inside it. I found it very weird, and to be honest, a little sad and disturbing. The baby's body is already seen as sinful, as something to hide away, and it's never going to have that whole "baby grinning at strangers in supermarkets" thing going on. It also felt a little Silent Hill, this black, shapeless lump strapped into something so delicate and cheery.

Unless it was all some wacky IT grad, doing a modern art piece, I suppose.

 

[DaGaffer]

I was outside a hospital in Croyden, and a woman walked past in a burkha, pushing a pushchair with a mini burkha strapped inside it. I found it very weird, and to be honest, a little sad and disturbing. The baby's body is already seen as sinful, as something to hide away, and it's never going to have that whole "baby grinning at strangers in supermarkets" thing going on. It also felt a little Silent Hill, this black, shapeless lump strapped into something so delicate and cheery.

Unless it was all some wacky IT grad, doing a modern art piece, I suppose.

Particularly weird because girls don't have to don the burka until puberty. Of course, according to the Koran they don't have don a burka at all, just "show modesty", but that's a whole other issue.

 

[Opt1]

She looks like a tool. And anyone willing to wear that shitty jumper out, let alone to an airport, deserves some hassle..

And she was holding a lump of playdo.. wtf?

"She's kind of counter culture. She's prone to do whimsical things. Last year she shaved her head,"

.. k.

"She's relatively impulsive. Sometimes she walks around without her shoes on."

OMFG WITHOUT HER SHOESES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What an exciting place MIT must be..