Falling_Brick

I guess nobody wants to try their hand at airport security work. Too bad. Maybe if you walked in someone elses shoes for a change you would know what their job is like instead of just guessing at it and playing airmchair quarterback. But I can understand why you don't. If you did, and failed at it, then you would be proving yourself dumber than the ones you call morons. It's so much easier-and safer-to just sit back and let the insults fly.

Actually, I know more engineers that are lacking in common sense than any other profession. Spend too much time in front of a flippin' computer.

Laptops and other electronic devices are scanned and checked at the regular security screening stations. If the laptop with the big blinking light is a bomb they will find it there. That is why we don't stop everyone carrying a laptop....duh. You have a lot of balls calling the security people a bunch of morons when they aren't even here to defend themselves. Way to go, Big Man!

And I'll say it one more time, this time in real loud bold letters, You don't have to say "This is a joke" for the intent to be that of a joke!! I'm assuming that since the girl is a student at MIT she is aware of the regulations concerning jokes and such about bombs in airports, etc. and would be smart enough to not say it was a joke. If she was unaware then I am sadly disappointed in the intellectual quality of students these days at MIT. What you are suggesting is to let everything through that looks like a bomb on the assumption that it isn't. That makes no sense at all. Especially when you add in that you are also suggesting that security people should be able to tell, at a glance, what is a common electronic device and what is in reality a bomb. You yourself agreed that bombs can be made to look like anything you want, so where is the logic in that? It seems your way of handling security would be to just ask people if they are carrying a bomb and take their word for it. Then, if one brings down a jet full of people, you would just say, "Darn, we missed one. But at least we didn't hassle anybody for making a joke". No thanks.

What concern is it of yours?

Seems we have something in common.

Anyone with an IQ above 50 knows a bomb can be made to look like a light. Or anything else for that matter. Hell, a bomb can be made from a light. So, pray tell, if you have a light...and a bomb made from an identical light...sitting next to each other, which is which? One is completely safe, the other can bring down a jet. Lives depend upon telling them apart. It is no place for jokes.

I'm dissatisfied that it wasn't. If it was, that might suggest to me that airport security stopped a legitimate threat to security. Instead, they are hassling and charging an innocent woman when all they had to do was say, "ooops, not a bomb? on your way, miss". Would you call the police if you saw this girl walking in a store you were at? .jim Not much of a threat to an airliner if she's at K-Mart. So it's only threats with airliners you're concerned about? Boy am I glad this wasn't about protecting public safety! Seriously, if you think it's worth throwing such a shit fit in the airport, it should be worth throwing an equal shit fit in ANY public location. .jim You don't think protecting an airliner full of people is in the interest of public safety? Maybe we should throw "shit fits" like that more often. Maybe then there would be fewer smartasses running around acting like idiots. So, are you willing to do your part and pull a shift working security at your local airport? If not then maybe you should just shut the hell up. They are doing a tough job the best way they know how and don't need wise-assed know-it-alls telling them how to do their job, especially one's who aren't willing to give it a try themselves.

Hey! Maybe YOU can volunteer your time as well! You seem to be so smart, it shouldn't be any problem at all for you to tell who is and who isn't carrying a bomb. Hell, we could do away with all other security if only you would work at the airports and keep us all safe. While you're at it you could tell us who is in a good mood and who isn't. After all, you have ESP and can tell just from reading about the girl that she wasn't pulling a prank of some kind.

Oh, so you think it would be ok for people to walk around airports joking about bombs, wearing or carrying stuff that looks like a bomb? Wow. Just wow. Someone posted that it looked too crude to be a bomb. How can anything look too stupid to be a bomb ??? The security people did the right thing. The girl deserved to be charged. Anyone who thinks different deserves to be on a plane that has a real bomb aboard.

I'm dissatisfied that it wasn't. If it was, that might suggest to me that airport security stopped a legitimate threat to security. Instead, they are hassling and charging an innocent woman when all they had to do was say, "ooops, not a bomb? on your way, miss". Would you call the police if you saw this girl walking in a store you were at? .jim Not much of a threat to an airliner if she's at K-Mart.

No, people will think it is ok to joke around about bombs or carry around "not-bombs" while in an airport. But then, maybe you think that is funny in some sick, twisted way. That is your opinion. I happen to not share it. Using a cell phone, as part of an initiator, jury rigged to an unexploded artillery shell with scraps of wire taken from burned out buildings looks stupid as Hell, but it works. Unfortunately it works all too well. As for what is a crime and what isn't, best thing for you to do is to call a lawer and ask or do a bit of research. Yes, I am aware that she was wearing lights on her shirt. Maybe you, in all your wisdom, can discern that from a crude home-made detonating device from a distance but not everyone is blessed with your unerring vision and unsurpassed intelligence. The security people are trained to deal with security threats, not as electrical engineers. Maybe you would be willing to spend your free time at airports to help them separate real bombs from "not-bombs". As far as the back of her shirt goes, what she had written on it is meaningless. People who have taken real bombs onto planes have worn all different kinds of clothes.

They did err on the side of safety. They were wrong. They should not have charged her with anything. There is no indication that any "homor" was intended; MIT students, just like CalTech studnets do geeky things. There has been no evidence publicised that she was making a statement that had anything at all associated with security. She had no intention of flying anywhere; she was picking someone up at the airport. The airport security person's first duty is the safety of others....period. Was the girl doing it as a joke? Only she knows for sure, the law will assume she was. She said it was "art" but, being a student at MIT, she should have been smart enough to figure her little gadget may be mistaken for some sort of device used to trigger a bomb. If she didn't think of it before, she will now. Airport security did it's job. Be glad it wasn't really a bomb. The girl has been charged, as she should. At least she had the good sense to cooperate with them.

When did she say it was a bomb? When did she suggest it was a bomb, or do anything suspicious enough warrant more than verification that it wasn't a bomb, and let her on her way? You recognize that she was basically wearing a homemade light, with wording on the back of her sweatshirt that would suggest she is in a college electronics/CS class, right? Just because she is being charged with "fake bomb" doesn't mean she said the word "bomb". Read the article. I read the article from beginning to end and saw nowhere that she said the word "bomb". I never said that she did. A person doesn't have to say anything to pull off a joke. .jim

The airport authority had the duty to stop her and inspect whatever it was that she had on her shirt. Just because you don't think it looked like a bomb doesn't mean they didn't. Since they are responsible for the safety of many it is best they err on the side of safety. Better to charge 100 idiots like that girl then to let one bomb thru that is "hiding in plain sight". People need to know that airport security and customs agents have no sense of humor. If you mess with them by joking about a bomb in any way they will remove you and charge you...end of story. Don't like it? Don't fly.

It wasn't a statement, it was a question based on HIS statement in an attempt to clarify what he meant. I thought it was pretty clear what he meant, as I suspect most people would. Steve, a big "Thank You" to your son for what he is doing. May he safely capture many more and return home soon.