Boston Not Hip
One of my mailing lists is debating the 'hoax' at Logan airport. I don't think I'm ready to jump into a potential flamewar, but I have decided to post my two cents here.
Here's a CNN article:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/21/bomb.hoax/index.html
And here's a blog with a geek-centered view of things:
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/09/21/mit-student-arrested.html
Here's another article:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201808203
I'm going to quote from this last one, since it has phrases that other articles had in it.
"Cops arrested Simpson, 19, on Friday after she reportedly walked into Logan International Airport with a fake bomb made of lights, wires, and putty strapped to her chest."
I looked at the picture of it. Where's this 'putty'? And it was not 'strapped to her chest', it was part of the shirt. Who thinks it looks like a 'fake bomb'? My image of a fake bomb is a round black thing with a fuse sticking out of it. Or sticks of dynamite wrapped up with a timer. If I was making a fake bomb, it would look like one of these two things.
"The spokeswoman could not say whether the school is contemplating any disciplinary action against Simpson."
Excuse me, what? How do her actions at the airport, entirely unrelated to MIT, require some sort of disciplinary action on MIT's part?
This article didn't have the quote about how she's lucky she didn't end up in the morgue. That line is just so unbelievable!
When I was a kid, I had a headband with blinking lights on it and a nine-volt battery attached to it. I might still have it somewhere. So if I dug it out and put it on and walked into the airport, am I putting my life at risk? And it would be all my fault if the security people shot me with their machine guns?
Yea, maybe you should think twice about wearing electronics into the airport IF YOU'RE CATCHING A FLIGHT. Since you'd be going through the security checkpoint, you can reasonably guess there'd be a hassle about it. Do you take it off to put it through Xray? Do you take it off so it doesn't trip the metal detector? Does someone have to come over and inspect it? Maybe.
But she was just meeting someone at the airport. How much thought do most people give when picking someone up at the airport? Money for parking. The flight information so you'll know if the flight is delayed or which spot to best wait for your friend. That's about all I'd think about. I wouldn't stop and think about what I was wearing or what I was carrying.
How would they have reacted if she'd looked more Caucasian? What if she'd been older? Younger?
This article says things more eloquently than I just did. You should read it and the BoingBoing entry if nothing else.
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/09/boston-airport-.html
I know, maybe it was all a publicity stunt for Duracell!