The headlines are wrong. It was NOT a "FAKE BOMB."

[pnwmom]

The little circuit board that was stuck on an MIT student's jacket did not look like a bomb. It looked like a child's toy -- the kind that comes in science kits for 10 year olds: a small circuit board with a 9 volt battery connected to several lights that lit up the shape of a STAR.

The student -- named "STAR Simpson" had been wearing the jacket around the MIT campus for several days, before she made the mistake of wearing it to the airport early one morning to pick up her boyfriend. There, she was arrested, and now she faces 5 years in prison for a bomb hoax.

The authorities at MIT are well aware of the threat to that campus of terrorism, and if she had been wearing anything that remotely looked like a bomb, some one of the hundreds (or maybe thousands) of people she had crossed paths with in the previous days would have reported it. She had even worn it to a Career Day presentation the day before to get attention -- Star Simpson -- wearing a star -- get it? And none of the reps from the high tech companies attending or anyone else got alarmed by it.

She made one of two mistakes. Either she was too tired that morning to notice what she was putting on. OR she knew she was putting it on and she didn't realize how ignorant the rest of us are and didn't realize that anyone would think the thing looked like a bomb.

As an MIT student, if she had wanted to design a "bomb hoax" or a "fake bomb" it would have at least LOOKED like one.

For a picture of the Star's star, look here:

http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2007/09/21/star_simpson/

[Xipe Totec]

1. The irony is that when its a real bomb

it won't look like a bomb.





Boo!

[pnwmom]

5. And it won't be out where you can see it, lit up like a star! n/t

[Nailzberg]

2. Really? I haven't been following this story but I can believe it given Boston's history.

The "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" promotional stunt shut down the city. Over what was basically a lite-brite.

[Roland99]

4. We can thank our fear-mongering....er ....fearless leader for that

:eyes:

[superkia]

10. Leaders! Many of them are using the fear card in their campaigns!

[Goblinmonger]

6. Yeah, but that was a Lite-Brite

that flipped you off. You can't trust THOSE kind of toys.

[pnwmom]

7. And that's basically what this thing was. n/t

[Goblinmonger]

3. I think people overreacted to this

and the reporting is false, but I would guess that a bomb would very much possibly look like a circuit board with a battery attached. Seems like a good starting point for the trigger system. Though all of what I know about bombs is from the movies--mainly Speed that I can think of right now.

[pnwmom]

9. I don't know any engineer who thinks this looks like a bomb. n/t

[Goblinmonger]

13. Again, I self admit

that "everything I needed to know about bombs I learned from keanu reeves." I'll take your word for it. Boston sure is coming across as bomb-happy.

[uppityperson]

8. k&r for letting facts come up before jumping to assumptions because it is really hard to have to eat

crow. I know.

[burythehatchet]

11. Because Abdul the Reluctant Terrorist would wear his bomb on the OUTside

of his sweatshirt

[Cronus Protagonist]

19. Well, a suicide bomber just might do that

Although the "bomb" in the picture looks to me like a Radio Shack breadboard with a nine volt battery, a 555 timer and a few discrete components held on with playdough.

[TreasonousBastard]

40. Sure is-- I've made plenty of things like that, just...

haven't worn them as jewelry.

My God! How fucking stupid have we become?

[Johnny Noshoes]

12. What a friggin sorry state of affairs...

this paranoia is what happens when cable news feeds viewers stories of death,destruction, crime and mayhem ALL DAMN DAY. They've turned this country into a nation of frightened little children afraid of their own shadow. Scared little children who wrap themselves in their red white and blue blankies and singing "patriotic" songs to keep away the nasty boogie men.

[stillcool]

26. and yet..

they do not show what bombs do, what war does...don't want to show any 'disturbing' pictures...just boogey-men. It's so bizarre.

[TheUniverse]

14. Why don't the cops just drop the charges and apologize?

Oh yeah, that's right, we live in a police state now... Police don't ever do any wrong...

[Cronus Protagonist]

20. Werd. n.t.

[ManiacJoe]

24. Because in this case the cops did the right thing.

At a distance, the "art" looks like a brick of C4 with wires and a battery. Only close up can you tell what it really is. By then it is too late.

[TheUniverse]

25. Then why keep the charges?

Its obviously not a bomb, and its obvious she was not trying to fake a bomb. Are the police now allowed to charge us with terrorism, if we have an electronic gizmo they can't identify?

[Nailzberg]

37. The DA is most likely in control

Something this high-profile, there is no way the DA sits and lets the police department handle this.

And yeah, I agree, terrorism charges are unwarranted, but I could see her getting a disturbance.

[Nailzberg]

36. I can't even tell what it is up close.

Don't look like a bomb from up close, but then again, neither do most bombs.

[cherokeeprogressive]

47. Circuit Board, Nine Volt Battery, and Play-Doh. Raise your hand IF

You are certain you could discern what WAS and WASN'T a bomb, based on that description.

It was a political statement that caused a whole lot of consternation, frayed nerves, and delayed/missed flights.

She deserves what she gets. FUCK the notion that "she's not used to getting up at 7am". Is this who we're trusting the future of this country to? People who don't recognize the clothes they've supposedly been wearing for DAYS?

I'd fine her the exact amount that she cost the airlines, passengers, and airport. I'd jail her for the exact amount of time that she cost passengers who either had their flights delayed, and missed connecting flights in OTHER airports due to the delays she caused passengers at LOGAN.

Un. Fucking. Believable. MIT student who doesn't recognize the clothes she's worn for days.

Again I ask, hold your hand up if you're able to tell a nine volt battery connected to a circuit board and a wad of play-doh from a bomb. If you hold your hand up, you need to be working for homeland security. I'd venture a guess that a fair amount of posters on this thread are not even sure what a CIRCUIT BOARD looks like.

It's the flashing lights that make it okay, right?

[pnwmom]

49. It wasn't a political statement at all. A girl named Star wore a flashing star.

It was just "wearable art."

Supposedly there was some play-dough either "on" or "in" her hand. (Reports differ.) But what was thought to be putty on the circuit board was just paint.

If anyone here doesn't know what her circuit board looks like, it was clearly shown in the OP. More below:


http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/brainiac/2007/09/boston_cracks_d.html

"What was the device? According to the Globe, "affixed to the front of her black sweatshirt was a pale beige circuit board with green LED lights and wires running to a 9-volt battery. Written on the back of the sweatshirt in what appeared to be gold magic marker was the phrase 'socket to me' and below that was written 'Course VI,' which refers to the electrical engineering and computer science program at MIT."

"Simpson's "hoax device" (love that term) was a crude, homemade example of what's known (everywhere except in Boston, I guess) as "illuminated clothing."

SNIP

[file83]

52. Play-doh? Where did you get that from? There wasn't any play-doh.

It was a breadboard (aka circuit board) with some lights powered by a 9-volt battery.

That doesn't look like a bomb. In this day of electronic gadgetry and whiz-kids, if someone makes there own device, that doesn't give others (who are ignorant) the right to freak out, jump to conclusions, over-react and then JAIL the person who made the gadget because of their OVER REACTION!

The item she created and wore on her jacket was witnessed by dozens and dozens of people over many days - this will prove in court that she had ZERO intention of "hoaxing" or playing a joke on airport security.

She didn't make a mistake, airport security did. But as usual, instead of admitting it was a mistake - no harm, no foul - they are trying to blame her for making them look stupid - slapping some ridiculously inappropriate law (given the circumstance) at her in an attempt save face.

A "fake" bomb. Give me a fucking break. Try a "fake" accusation!

Fuck them and anyone else who thinks what this girl did is deserving of prosecution, let alone CONVICTION.

[Richard Steele]

53. Where's this Play-Doh I keep hearing about? It's not in any of the pics.

And there's NOTHING in your post I agree with.

[spirit of wine]

15. We won't have to worry about the enemy defeating us

We seem to be doing it all by ourselves, sigh.

[aikoaiko]

16. It was reasonable to treat it as a bomb threat....

...but if the investigation pans out that it was not supposed to be a hoax then they'll drop the charges I'm sure.

[jobycom]

17. I can see them being over-cautious and detaining her. I hope they have the decency

to admit it was a mistake and let her go without filing some bogus "We blame you for us making a mistake" charges, anyway.

[murloc]

32. exactly

reacting fast, decisively and smartly is the right thing to do.

They go the first two right. To be smart they need to admit its nothing, let her go and move on.

[hootinholler]

18. K&R! n/t

[Joanne98]

21. Don't expect the cops to be able to tell the difference between a bomb

and a toy. The only thing they know how to do is taser people!

[mtowngman]

28. not true

they know how to tell when the person in the toilet stall next to them is making sexual advances

[pnwmom]

46. I don't mind that they were cautious. But then I think she should

have been released -- without all this stupid publicity.

[Canuckistanian]

22. It's official - the terrorists have won

When official government security people start freaking out about fucking breadboarded LED displays, it's over.

Pack it up, go home, kiss the spouse and kids.

Then grab your ankles.

[file83]

54. Especially considering that cell phones in Iraq are used to trigger IED's by the roadside...

...why don't they start arresting people for carrying phones into the airport!?

This is a simple case of some ignorant, knee jerk reacting people getting embarrassed, and then management gets pressure from above to save face, so their legal department decides to do a full court press on this girl.

Fucking system. If it doesn't look like an iPod, well then, it MUST be a bomb. :eyes:

[Wilber_Stool]

23. The real irony here is that

the people that are supposed to protect us, really hate us and are just dieing to get the chance to kill one of us.

[Nailzberg]

31. Huh? No one was killed.

I want the police to stop people with suspicious looking devices strapped on them in airports.

No one was shot, no one was killed. The threat was assessed to be a non-threat, everyone is safe. I applaud these officers for doing their job properly.

[pnwmom]

38. They say she is "lucky" she didn't get killed. I hope it was more than luck.

I have no problem with what these officers did, but I don't think she should deserve any jail time, much less 5 years in prison.

[BrklynLiberal]

27. ANYTHING TO SELL PAPERS and UP THE TV RATINGS. It doesn' t hurt that it

will distract from prez shit-for-brains low ratings and the fact that the bottom is falling out of the dollar around the world.

[Trillo]

29. It will be interesting to see what she is charged with.

If she's not charged, then she was simply slandered.

[Nailzberg]

34. Probably some misdemeanor disturbance

Which she kinda deserves. A little rap on the knuckles and on her way. If she is charged with any kind of threat, then the DA should be run out of town.

[murloc]

30. At a distance it does resemble a bomb

Bombs are not exactly high tech devices.. Usually a power source, some electronic components, wires and an explosive material. Except for the explosive material, it does look similiar.

I think that reacting quickly and swiftly was the absolute correct thing to do.

But once it was clear that it wasnt a bomb, just an electronic erector set toy,they orta let her go.

But people have to save face, so they'll drag her through the system.

[pansypoo53219]

33. as an MIT student

she was stupid not to know how stupid most people are.

[pnwmom]

39. Brilliant people aren't known for having high degrees of common sense.

This was probably one example.

She, knowing how to construct a real bomb, probably couldn't imagine that anyone could mistake her little star for a bomb device.

[XOKCowboy]

51. I agree.

There is a real world outside the campus gates.

A question. Does Paul Penfield still have anything to do with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Departments?

I met him a long time ago and he might just be the smartest man I've ever met. Something of an enigma also.

[Swamp Rat]

35. One has to half blind and dumb as a box of rocks to think Star's art looks like a bomb

:D

[pnwmom]

41. Here's a view of the back of the alarming sweatshirt, held up by

a police officer displaying the "evidence" at a press conference.


http://www.boston.com/news/local/gallery/092107_logan_mit_arrest?pg=9

Course 6 is the name for the Electrical engineering major at MIT.

[Swamp Rat]

43. ooooooo! EVIDENCE!!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Yes, but the dumbell holding the shirt doesn't know the difference between "Course VI" and a "concourse to Terminal B." :eyes: ad infinitum :eyes:

[JBoy]

42. What kind of idiot

wears a circuit board and battery to a fucking airport? She's lucky she didn't get shot.

[pnwmom]

44. Maybe a college student who wasn't used to getting up at 7 a.m.

and was too tired to notice that the thing she'd been wearing around campus for three days was still stuck on her jacket?

Or maybe one who -- actually knowing how to build a realistic bomb, if she wanted to -- couldn't imagine that anyone could think the little star light on her chest could look like a bomb?

[Swamp Rat]

45. Yeah, she's lucky she didn't get shot by a 'moran' who doesn't know a simple breadboard and battery

from a real bomb (which is what they are paid to know)... you know, with detonators, C4, sticks of dynamite, lots of wires, etc. :eyes: Jeebus! It doesn't look remotely like a bomb, even from a distance.

[rosesaylavee]

48. Oh. My. God.

Has everyone lost their mind? This looks like a lego set with a battery attached. THIS is what the fuss is about?



I miss my country. I miss thinking that American's had superior humor and superior thinking skills.

[pnwmom]

50. No, we're turning into a bunch of paranoid loony-tunes. n/t

[followthemoney]

55. Sorry boss, I can't build that proto board ...

because it might look like a bomb.

Got any jobs for a BSEE building something that looks safe? Maybe something that looks like Jesus?

[suffragette]

56. Keepin' the people safe from lite-brites and sippy cups

Maybe they should change the name from TSA to EEK (as in Eek, I see a mouse.)

I've had friends who have had items from tweezers to makeup confiscated. Maybe overplucked eyebrows or over-glazed lips can be a bit scary looking - but actually scary - come on.

It's past time they should use some judgment and logic and focus on attempting to discern real threats.

[gatorboy]

57. It's Boston all over again.

I was considering buying on of the light-up pong shirts that's available http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/gaming/8e31/ but if it's gonna get me shot by some scared shitless idiot, then never mind.

Osama must be laughing his ass off somewhere.