Woman nearly killed for wearing blinky light

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 7:58 pm

What?!?

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 9:22 pm

BAS wrote:I haven't read the story about the MIT student, so I can't comment on that one. In the case of the John Kerry Q&A session, the police should have reacted with a reasonable amount of force, not tasered the guy!

I just heard about that this afternoon.
The guy asked a legitimate question of Kerry. He asked why he conceded the '04 election as early as he did. (No, I don't buy the reason he gave, "To spare Americans from the agony of a drawn-out battle in the courts." Compared to what Bush has done to us these past three years, this is bad <i>how?</i>)
Grant you, the kid should have just asked the question once and let that point stand, instead of asking several times and setting the secret servicemen off. Ask the politician the question once, and if it doesn't get answered the politician looks bad, and people think. Keep badgering the politician and you wind up getting your ass handed to you.
And no, the cops had no business breaking his ankle and tasing him.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 9:37 pm

count me as one of the fishes that more concerned about the Jena 6 than the tazoring. I've heard that he was a repeat offender, but I wont swear to that. It disturbs the hell out of me that white kids would find it acceptable to hang nooses to show dissaproval of black kids, and disturbs me even more that school and local government officials would make their responces so disproportionate. And now they've given Al Sharpton ammunition--always a mistake...

Although I do have to ask, why Kerry? At this point he might as well be Denis Kucinich.

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 11:41 pm

http://www.smartapproach.com/IED.php

Breathing Deeply · Post by **Breathing Deeply** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 2:40 am

BAS wrote:Why are they always putting blinking lights on bombs?

Answer: "They're" not, anywhere outside of a B movie. That an LED would serve no purpose in building a triggering mechanism is not at issue: it wouldn't. That there would be an excellent reason to leave one out is also not at issue for reasons you've just pointed out - they attract attention. A bomb that gets found before it gets set off is a wasted bomb.

What "they" are doing on a regular basis, however, is going hysterical with the hope that if they do it with enough passion, others won't care whether or not they're making any sense - which generally speaking, they won't be. Let's take a choice quote I copied down from one particular wingnut before I put him on my ignore list.

Toolmaker wrote: ADDED:

Fuck it.. check out some of her pages

http://stars.mit.edu/

http://www.instructables.com/member/stasterisk/

The first page was inaccessible, so one might say that we'd have to take Toolmaker's word for what was on it, but as we take a look at the contents of the second page, we find ourselves presented with good reasons to not do that. On that page, we find a menu of "how-to" topics. To read Toolmaker's comments, one might expect to run into a copy of the Anarchist cookbook or something like that. Let's take a look at what we actually find.

How to Make an Emergency Hex Key / Allen Wrench
Waterjet Refrigerator Magnets
How to Weld
Electric Kool-Aid Hard Boiled Eggs
How to Make Mexican Hot Chocolate
Open a C-Clamp SUPERFAST
Go on a Road Trip
Mint Milk
Open a Wine Bottle in the Wilderness
Instant Release Rope Belt
How to Crimp Cables and Wires!
Go-llerblades: Motorized Skates - Part 1
Shopping Bag Backpack
Go-llerblades: Motorized Skates - Part 2
Make Your Own Sandblaster and How To Use It
How to Build a Campfire

My God! She's been building sandblasters and Homeland Security hasn't rounded her up already? And showing people how to make their own softdrinks? The horror, the horror ... but then, you know what "they" say. "When power tools are outlawed, only outlaws will be able to shop at Ikea" Sure, it doesn't sound like much in English, but I'm told it's absolutely bonechilling in Swedish.

What I found truly disgusting wasn't just Toolmaker's willingness to bluff and suggest that a site so innocent as to almost be G rated was something that would have gotten the Unabomber seal of approval. What I found to be even worse was the eagerness of so many of those present to let themselves be taken in. All that they had to do to know the truth was click on the link and look for themselves. How many of them bothered to do that?

Let's take a good, long look at what she's being stigmatised for on this board: for having eccentric taste in fashion, and for having written some how-to pages for nonviolent activities. We literally have the implication being made that her being sent to prison for such things would be a tolerable outcome. As others have pointed out on other sites, we do need to ask the question of whether or not she even really had that silly putty, or if security just invented that detail after the fact as a face saving gesture for the moment that would have made Barney Fife flush with embarassment, but one question that we don't need to ask is what attitudes like the ones say about where Burning Man might be headed. The day they become the norm in BRC is the day Dr.Cliff is right. Burning Man will be dead.

Even in Indiana, one can make a mint smoothie and wear blinkie lights without some nitwit calling for jail time and getting his fuckwittery taken seriously by the masses. How interesting that one can't do the same in "progressive and tolerant" Black Rock City, if this board is any guide.

Breathing Deeply · Post by **Breathing Deeply** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 3:15 am

theCryptofishist wrote:This is what I think a bomb looks like:

Sadly, I don't think airport security is particularly well trained, so if they missed it, I'm not surprised.

The point of the joke being that a bomb could look like anything? Not true, but let's say that it was, and let's follow that argument to its logical conclusion. Airport security's job just became very simple, because it is left with a clear directive: arrest everybody.

"Sir, do you know that's a baseball cap you're wearing. How do we know that it's not a bomb made to look like a baseball hat. Hrrrrmmmm?" Just how far do we take that argument and where do we find the cell space if we take it to its limit?

MikeVDS wrote:
If she were a suicide bomber, why would she need an automatic detonating circuit, when a manually operated circuit breaker would do the job just as well, and more reliably? Who uses a microprocessor as a light switch?
Though you're probably correct about it being an overreaction, what she had still looked like it could have been an explosive and they were doing their job.

No, it isn't and they weren't. They are being paid to keep the airport safe, not to feed their own egos. Again, here's the picture we saw on the article, backed up elsewhere for later reference

Let's compare these to the photos of the roadside bomb our friendly little nutcase decided to share with us

There isn't even the faintest resemblence between the two. Star Simpson had a flat led display; Toolmaker has shown us a cell phone, as if to say "see, see, it had an integrated circuit attached to it, so like man, that proves that like, ya know, integrated circuits are evil 'n stuff, so like people should be arrested for having them". Yeah. Based on that logic, the public possession of a singing greeting card should be punishable with a stint at Guantanamo. Look, Doofus, practically every bit of modern electronics made since the Disco era has had integrated circuits somewhere in its design; the only thing different about Simpson's outfit was that the circuits were visible. Oh, and let's note one other striking difference between what Toolmaker showed and Star had:

No blinking lights. It wasn't an LED panel.

Cool logic, all the same. So let's see. Many of the Al Quaeda members were from the Middle East, where a lot of rice is eaten. Just the other day, I was down in Chinatown, where I saw some guy from Shanghai loading up on the stuff.

The implication is clear. He must be with Al Quaeda. I say we bust the fucker. Either that, or take a long overdue refresher course in basic logic. One or the other.

MikeVDS wrote:It's not the guards fault for doing what they are trained and told to do.

The guards are told to act on their own ignorant prejudices?

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:16 am

Ya know, two of those bombs had cell phones... is it still legal to have a cell phone in an airport, or will a person be arrested for taking a cell phone into an airport...?

B.

MikeVDS · Post by **MikeVDS** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:59 am

What I found truly disgusting wasn't just Toolmaker's willingness to bluff and suggest that a site so innocent as to almost be G rated was something that would have gotten the Unabomber seal of approval.

I think you missed the point completely. The point is that she has a lot of practical knowledge and knew exactly what she was doing.

No, it isn't and they weren't. They are being paid to keep the airport safe, not to feed their own egos.

Where do you get that idea? Are you basing your arguments on facts or some emotional belief you have?

Let's compare these to the photos of the roadside bomb our friendly little nutcase decided to share with us

There isn't even the faintest resemblence between the two.

ARE YOU SMOKING CRACK?! Take off the wireless trigger on each of them and look what shapes are under the electrical tape. All they are is a battery, some wires, an electrical board and a lump of explosive. I could make you a bomb that looks exactly like what the girl had. What she had looks like exactly what is needed for a bomb. You are in denial buddy.

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 11:01 am

Funny how her personal page disappeared from MIT, guess thats more fuel for the conspiracy fire.

Someone here is trying to make this out to be more than it is.

Seems some chick was foolish enough to have what CLEARLY looked like what airport people are TRAINED to look for.

What would some of you folks be crying about if she was shot?

PS The pics were to illustrate that not only is 9V enough but more than enough. I am not going to tell you how to make a fucking bomb to prove my point.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 12:08 pm

I thought that almost by definition, nothing posted on the net could win the Unabomber Seal of Approval.

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 12:12 pm

I still think cell phones should be banned from airports, since most of those bombs incorporated cell phones. (And people attempting to bring cell phones into airports should be arrested at gun point, and mowed down if they don't immediately surrender!)

B.

MikeVDS · Post by **MikeVDS** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 12:35 pm

I still think cell phones should be banned from airports, since most of those bombs incorporated cell phones. (And people attempting to bring cell phones into airports should be arrested at gun point, and mowed down if they don't immediately surrender!)

You're joking when you say it but I wouldn't be surprised if it went that far. People are crazy.
[/quote]

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:41 pm

MikeVDS wrote:
I still think cell phones should be banned from airports, since most of those bombs incorporated cell phones. (And people attempting to bring cell phones into airports should be arrested at gun point, and mowed down if they don't immediately surrender!)
You're joking when you say it but I wouldn't be surprised if it went that far. People are crazy.

[/quote]

\/
so you don t carry anything and get nailed for no luggage.. huh

playasnake · Post by **playasnake** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 9:53 pm

Breathing Deeply... you're a tool.

if you honestly think that she shouldnt have been stopped, let alone detained at gunpoint, you really need to wake up a bit. you should also try the exact same shit on El Al and see what they do about it.

something that no one has brought up... thats way too much circuit board for just a blinky light, and obviously looks homemade.

she was one step away from a darwin award in my book.

Zhust · Post by **Zhust** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 5:44 am

The lesson in all this is: if you're smart, don't do anything! Don't make anything. Don't create. Don't solve problems. Don't b different.

I say, let the cretins scared of technology go back to eating dirt. Let them fucking die. I'm so sick of getting beaten down by the fear of reprisals from morons who don't know anything. I personally won't build a ready-to-use product for anyone -- of course, with the hypocritical point that I must because I need money or else I'll be jailed for being poor [follow the points kids: no money, no tax payments, squatting in a shack in the woods is illegal, get arrested, go to jail]. From now on, I will only build things for my own use and at best describe how other smart people can build them. Knuckle-dragging WalMorons can stew in bland misery.

It leads to creative people living in a state of fear for their accomplishments. For instance, I ride around one of those tall bikes (2 bike frames together) and I know it's just a matter of time before some asshat gets into an accident and blames me for being a distraction. Heck, just the other day I saw a guy swerve into oncoming traffic while he was taking a picture of me with his cell phone. THIS IS NOT MY FAULT! Regardless of what I think, I'm sure there would be a new law created banning me from having anything but factory-bought bikes with factory-bought paint jobs.

At least I know how suicide would be so easy: walk into an airport. Someone like me would accidentally have something that would be sufficiently different that I'd be held down at gunpoint. Perhaps I would say something like, "I don't consent to searches of my private property" and be accused of some kind of Constitutional terrorist. If I were serious, then $5 in PlayDoh and some scrap LED's and I'd certainly be dead. I wonder if leaving a suicide note would keep me out of the running for the Darwin Awards.

Post by **mdmf007** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:32 am

Dork wrote:
madmatt wrote:Um...what the fuck did she think was gonna happen?
From the sounds of it, she had no idea anything would happen. She was just wearing a weird looking button. There are really vague reports of someone who worked at the airport asking her about it, but no details about that part. The next thing they're surrounding her.

She wasnt simply wearing a "weird looking button" she had a couple of circuit boards with wires jumped all over them, baterry, and a 1/2 pound block of playdoh. It was made to look like a fake bomb plain and simple. pretty dumb move on her part. Had she done that in Israel she would be pushing daisies right now and the IDF would not have batted an eye. The media would give it 2 inches and write her off as a "Nut"

She will get off easy i thinks - but pretty dumb moveon her part.

later all.

Post by **mdmf007** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:40 am

Breathing Deeply wrote:
jaycerochester wrote:
Toolmaker wrote:Circuit board girl WAS asking for it.. in fact this WAS staged.
Don't just tell me about it, give me a citation, dammit! A picture ... an article ... a friggin' blog entry ... anything.
Your wish is boston.com's demand. A picture right from the very article Dork linked to, when he began this discussion.

It doesn't even look remotely like a bomb. There is no reason on earth why Ms.Simpson should have expected to have been bothered over this.

Dealt with a lot of IED's have you? so tell me your background with improvised explosives? I have seen dozens of IED's that look less ominous than that. Also - if an error is to be made should that error not be on the side of caution?

The block of Playdoh was already removed from the device. Also all you need to be a suicide bomber is a circuit no more complicated than a light circuit.
later all

ZaphodBurner · Post by **ZaphodBurner** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:06 am

madmatt wrote:
Dork wrote:An MIT student was nearly gunned down at an airport for wearing a sweatshirt with a blinky light on it and carrying a lump of play-dough:
Um...what the fuck did she think was gonna happen?

Exactly.

Came back from Robot Wars in 2001 and our crew had two rolls of electrical tape--one red, one black--going through the second security checkpoint in Vancouver, B.C. They confiscated the red tape but let us keep the black roll. I was wearing a black BDU jacket and got pulled aside for a "random" shakedown three different times in Heathrow and once in BC.

I don't feel any more or less safe, just annoyed. But if somebody carried something that looked like a bomb onto a plane BEFORE 9/2001, they'd have gotten the same treatment.

-c

ZaphodBurner · Post by **ZaphodBurner** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:30 am

jaycerochester wrote:The lesson in all this is: if you're smart, don't do anything! Don't make anything. Don't create. Don't solve problems. Don't b different.

...Don't make things that look to non-electronics-geeks like bombs and try to take them on an airplane.

This is pretty fucking obvious, actually. If you take the lesson to mean "If you're smart, don't do anything! Don't make anything. Don't create. Don't solve problems. Don't be different" you're flailing. How can you suggest that's the message when people do it every year on the playa? Have you ever heard of this thing called "Burning Man"? It happens on public land, there are cops everywhere, and, nobody's busted for creating things.

When I took el-wire on a plane last year I coiled the wire, put the battery pack in a separate box, without batteries, and included the original wire invoice, shipping documentation and a hand-written explanation of what it was. When I opened the suitcase in New Orleans I saw that they had rifled through it, alright, but nobody asked any questions or gave me a hard time.

-zb

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:09 pm

Also - if an error is to be made should that error not be on the side of caution?

No, not always. As I have said, freedom is dangerous. Err on the side of caution too much, and you no longer have freedom.

B.

Teo del Fuego · Post by **Teo del Fuego** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:22 pm

jaycerochester wrote:

I think she should have been arrested for that hair-do!

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:24 pm

Teo del Fuego wrote:
jaycerochester wrote:
I think she should have been arrested for that hair-do!

I'd assumed it was a hat...

B.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 4:19 pm

Just like any working stiff, or more than most actually, TSA goons can't take chances with stuff like this. If it does happen to be a bomb (or even worse, a test) then their asses are on the line.

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 5:18 pm

Ugly Dougly wrote:Just like any working stiff, or more than most actually, TSA goons can't take chances with stuff like this. If it does happen to be a bomb (or even worse, a test) then their asses are on the line.

Exactly..
Can you imagine the press is one gets through security?

I think we as Americans have become complacent, we need to look at what goes on in the rest of the world and learn from those lessons.

We are REALLY lucky all thing considered that we don't have more IEDs showing up in airports. As mentioned by someone else, in another country she would have been shot on sight and questions asked later.

I'm glad to see that I am not the only eplayan that still has their senses and thinks wearing exposed circuits with clay isn't too bright an idea in September in an intl. airport.

Am I happy we are losing freedoms.. NO. Am I happy we are starting to take airport security somewhat seriously now.. YES. I'm in my early 30s and still remember alot of the stuff from BEFORE 911. I have also lost friends to IEDs so I apologize if I am a little callous when it comes to this kids "art".

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 5:53 pm

What I can't figure out is why these measures are being taken, but we don't have stricter handgun laws?

Banning civilian gun ownership would actually save more people than the airline restrictions.

Anyway, there is a reason I don't live in a country with a shoot first policy.

B.

Dork · Post by **Dork** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:31 pm

Teo del Fuego wrote:
jaycerochester wrote:
I think she should have been arrested for that hair-do!

Yes, how dare she spend all her time doing laps (with all that nasty chlorine), studying engineering, and shaving her head for charity. She should learn to be a nice little conformist with well cared-for hair and a cute outfit.

I could not find any article actually saying the play-dough had ever been attached to the circuit board. She was just carrying it around.

She did not pass through security and was not getting on a plane. She was there to pick up a friend and was attempting to leave the terminal when they stopped her.

BAS wrote:What I can't figure out is why these measures are being taken, but we don't have stricter handgun laws? Banning civilian gun ownership would actually save more people than the airline restrictions.

You're assuming any of this has something to do with saving lives. It doesn't. It has to do with making people afraid, but at the same time like something is being done to make them safer. It's about looking strong and doing something decisive for political reasons. Logic and introspection are hard and are perceived as weak.

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:40 pm

[youtube][/youtube]

playasnake · Post by **playasnake** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:43 pm

Do you think anyone at Logan airport actually has any sense of humor about this sort of thing? You do realize that 2 of the 9/11 planes took off from there right?

There are enough real things wrong with this country. This is not one of them.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 12:16 am

You'd think that being at MIT during the last bomb scare, she'd know that the Boston law enforcement was going to come down pretty hard.

But with a name like "Star" I gotta figure she's hippyspawn.

Zhust · Post by **Zhust** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:01 am

So let's just talk about what a bomb might look like. Perhaps a Ryder rental truck pulled up to a Federal Building. Oh, but that might disrupt commerce -- that could never happen.

It's not like Boston police ever over-reacted to things with LED lights before. You'd think they would have learned their lesson!

In the end, I think it's clear that the terrorists won. They have the perfect tool: FOX News and the rest of the media. All they have to do is drop a few $1 LED blinkies around an airport and the whole city shuts down and the media gleefully puts the country on red alert. Imagine if they hit all the airports in America with such dangerous devices?

What if the country laughed it off instead? What if they said, "gee, Star, good joke -- you got us. Now get out of here you little whippersnapper" and that was the end of it? I mean, there was no bomb, so how can one have a bomb scare?

But instead, she is blamed for causing the authorities' embarrassment. In the end, that's all it is. Embarrassing authorities never used to be a crime, but I guess it is now. And judging from the posts on this list, most Burners agree.

I guess I'm on a different planet. I believe that authority can only be granted by the person in the subservient role. It seems the rest of the country believes authority can be bestowed upon someone and as such they have authority. I don't buy it: they're just a human being like I am and I get to control my own life. I grant authority all the time without thinking: from police in day-to-day incidents to servers at restaurants. But I don't allow it to be taken from me.

Woman nearly killed for wearing blinky light

Re: Woman nearly killed for wearing blinky light

Re: Woman nearly killed for wearing blinky light