# Idiot wears fake bomb in Logan Airport **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 21, 2007, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990 "2007-09-21T14:55:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/61 "2007-09-21T22:44:55Z")
[QUOTE=jk1245] Hmmm… She’s a [swimmer](http://mitathletics.cstv.com/sports/w-swim/mtt/simpson_star00.html) on the women’s team. [/QUOTE] Although your link works, her name is not on the [roster page](http://mitathletics.cstv.com/sports/w-swim/archive/080807aaa.html) from last season (one article says that she was a swimmer “in 2006”). Also, it’s interesting that [this article](http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/14172687/detail.html) contains the following quote: > [@](#): > > described herself as someone who loves “crazy ideas” and has been “traveling the world and saving the planet from evil villains (sic) with my delivered-just-in-time gadgets.” Why the “(sic)”? _Villains_ is [spelled correctly.](http://www.answers.com/villains&r=67) Or is the point the irony of a planet-saver being arrested? ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/62 "2007-09-21T23:02:06Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] I disagree, strenuously. They’re the ones who are supposed to distinguish threat from non-threat. They’re the _professionals._ It is _entirely_ rational to expect that _somebody_ in the organization should be qualified to take a cursory glance at a circuit board and determine whether it’s hooked up to a bunch of LEDs or something more insidious: maybe not the guy with the badge, but somebody in a back room somewhere. It is _madness_ to allow the fates of ordinary civilians to be subject to the unfiltered paranoia of barely-educated goons. [/QUOTE] Bomb squad members, sure, or someone higher up, but I would guess the average beat cop goes an entire career with seeing a bomb, fake or real, and if you’re not exposed to something, I don’t see how they can learn distinguishing characteristics. And what about the possibility of a real bomb made to look fake? Granted, if in this incident the thing was cartoonishly fake, then I agree that cops should be have been able to tell, and part of being a good cop is being able to distinguish a threat from a non-threat, but I don’t see them as having enough training with bombs, specifically, to do so, unless my understanding of how common this type thing is off. But I agree, they should have someone who can show up and assess the severity of a bomb scare. My comments were mainly that the first cops to show up and pulled guns should not be thought of as overreacting, until the situation could be assessed. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/63 "2007-09-21T23:02:25Z")
[QUOTE=Sternvogel] Why the “(sic)”? _Villains_ is [spelled correctly.](http://www.answers.com/villains&r=67) Or is the point the irony of a planet-saver being arrested? [/QUOTE] The sic probably wasn’t for “villains” it was probably more for “saving the planet from evil villains” which is an unsubstantialted calim… Maybe? Can you use “sic” that way? That or when the article was piblished some spell-checking software ignored the “sic” and just corrected a typo. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/64 "2007-09-21T23:11:56Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] Bomb squad members, sure, or someone higher up, but I would guess the average beat cop goes an entire career with seeing a bomb, fake or real, and if you’re not exposed to something, I don’t see how they can learn distinguishing characteristics. And what about the possibility of a real bomb made to look fake? Granted, if in this incident the thing was cartoonishly fake, then I agree that cops should be have been able to tell, and part of being a good cop is being able to distinguish a threat from a non-threat, but I don’t see them as having enough training with bombs, specifically, to do so, unless my understanding of how common this type thing is off. But I agree, they should have someone who can show up and assess the severity of a bomb scare. [/QUOTE] I travel a lot. I see people walk into airports all the time with objects that are far more threatening than what this young woman had on her sweatshirt. **A thick hard-bound book is a greater security threat than a breadboard with a battery and a few LEDS.** The fact that the people charged with insuring the safety of our airports seem unaware of what constitutes a real security threat fills me with a profound sense of depression. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/65 "2007-09-21T23:23:33Z")
[QUOTE=Pochacco] I travel a lot. I see people walk into airports all the time with objects that are far more threatening than what this young woman had on her sweatshirt. **A thick hard-bound book is a greater security threat than a breadboard with a battery and a few LEDS.** The fact that the people charged with insuring the safety of our airports seem unaware of what constitutes a real security threat fills me with a profound sense of depression. [/QUOTE] Admittedly I haven’t seen the “bomb”, only read reports, so if it is that cartoonish, then I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/66 "2007-09-21T23:44:44Z")
[QUOTE=Pochacco] I travel a lot. I see people walk into airports all the time with objects that are far more threatening than what this young woman had on her sweatshirt. **A thick hard-bound book is a greater security threat than a breadboard with a battery and a few LEDS.** [/QUOTE] That’s just what was on the outside - I’m betting they couldn’t tell if there was anything else underneath. Plus - I’ve missed if there were any updates on this - if she was carrying plastique-appearing playdoh in her hands, that could really worry someone who just had moments to look her over. Richard Reid was trying to light a match near his shoe, for heaven’s sake. I’m not going to blame airport personnel who didn’t want to be the one who ignored the person with a suspicious-looking device. The charges do sound extreme, however, unless they do legitimately determine that she was trying to pull a hoax/“art stunt” of some kind. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/67 "2007-09-21T23:49:01Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] Admittedly I haven’t seen the “bomb”, only read reports, so if it is that cartoonish, then I could be wrong. [/QUOTE] [Here, judge for yourself.](http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2007/09/21/star_simpson/) A breadboard, a couple of wires, greed LEDs, a few resistors, some scotch tape. And she didn’t even try to walk through the security checkpoint. A real terrorist could walk in Logan tomorrow pulling a rollerboard with enough explosives in it to kill several hundred people. That’s a real threat, not this Mickey Mouse crap. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/68 "2007-09-22T00:04:25Z")
[QUOTE=Ferret Herder] That’s just what was on the outside - I’m betting they couldn’t tell if there was anything else underneath. [/QUOTE] Which is true of anyone wearing a jacket. Extreme responses to unusual objects or attire is not good security. A real attack will probably come from someone trying as hard as possible to not stand out – as it did on 9-11. So security procedures should be designed around discovering covert threats, not going ballistic over anomalies. It’s reasonable that a person wearing an odd bit of clothing should be given some extra attention. But the authorities should have procedures in place to escalate their suspicions rationally, not immediately jump from lax to lethal. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/69 "2007-09-22T00:47:36Z")
> [@](#): > > A thick hard-bound book is a greater security threat than a breadboard with a battery and a few LEDS. I once sat next to a man on a plane who had a nice big bible with a sticker (probably from a DVD box) on it that said “SECURITY DEVICE! DO NOT REMOVE!” ---
**Author:** ![PharmBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@PharmBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PharmBoy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/70 "2007-09-22T00:55:48Z")
[QUOTE=Dinsdale] I agree, she was pretty stupid for wearing that to an airport. I’m glad I stressed to my kids at an early age that airports were one place where having a sense of humor could get you arrested or killed. But the more I thought about this, the more the official response bothered me. The common statement is, “How could she have done this post 9/11?” I must have missed the part of 9/11 where young women blew up airports with bombs strapped to the front of their hoodies. Just wanted to say I’m not all that happy about our society thinking the appropriate dynamic is to have silly college students be happy they didn’t get killed by machinegun-wielding cops. My personal preference would be to assume the risk of being an innocent bystander who gets injured/killed by a sweatshirt bomb, than as a bystander/target of an over-reacting cop with an unrealistic sense of what constitutes a threat warranting deadly force. [/QUOTE] Maybe you guys don’t remember the silly college student last April at VTech? Are you guys really going to give this nitwit a pass? She could have gotten other innocent people hurt if she had resisted arrest. Honestly, who goes to the airport with playdoh and wires? This was a deliberate hoax, and she needs jail time. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/71 "2007-09-22T01:06:13Z")
[QUOTE=Pochacco] Extreme responses to unusual objects or attire is not good security. A real attack will probably come from someone trying as hard as possible to not stand out – as it did on 9-11. So security procedures should be designed around discovering covert threats, not going ballistic over anomalies. [/QUOTE] Yes, but she didn’t have to be a terrorist. She could have been crazy, and crazy doesn’t necessarily mean covert but can still be a threat. That’s like the people who bitch that they’re white and Christian, and their baby is being searched in the security line - well hell, security isn’t just there to catch evil Muslim bombers, they’re also looking for white Christian bombers, smugglers, and for idiots who bring something on the plane that might freak other people the fuck out and/or cause problems unintentionally. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/72 "2007-09-22T01:07:47Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] I don’t see how they can learn distinguishing characteristics. [/QUOTE] I repeat: They’re professionals, and it’s supposed to be their fucking _job_ to learn the distinguishing characteristics of threat vs non-threat. Also, see my story earlier in the thread: They couldn’t even read a goddamn _boarding pass_ and see it didn’t match up with someone’s available identification. If the terrorists _really_ wanted to hurt us, none of this bullshit security theater would have any preventive effect at all.\* I’m reasonably certain that the only reason we _haven’t_ been attacked is that our Idiot In Chief is doing exactly what the Islamists want him to do, stumbling around the world stage alienating ordinary people and breaking shit. The instant we pull back from that is the instant we get hit again to bait us back into lunacy. \*Standing in the security line at the airport on Saturday, which loops back and forth and creates a huge multi-tiered crowd, I reflected that a backpack bomb could easily be carried up to right _before_ the checkpoint is reached, and kill several hundred people. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/73 "2007-09-22T01:37:36Z")
Actually, what concerns me most is the police statement that she’s lucky to be alive. Y’know, since she cooperated with the police, I think it’s incumbent upon them that she remain alive. She wasn’t “lucky,” she was cooperative. The default should not be “kill people who cooperate.” ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/74 "2007-09-22T02:35:56Z")
[QUOTE=Shoshana] Actually, what concerns me most is the police statement that she’s lucky to be alive. Y’know, since she cooperated with the police, I think it’s incumbent upon them that she remain alive. She wasn’t “lucky,” she was cooperative. The default should not be “kill people who cooperate.” [/QUOTE] Totally agree. That tool sounds like Judge Dredd. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/75 "2007-09-22T02:42:38Z")
[QUOTE=PharmBoy] Maybe you guys don’t remember the silly college student last April at VTech? Are you guys really going to give this nitwit a pass? She could have gotten other innocent people hurt if she had resisted arrest. Honestly, who goes to the airport with playdoh and wires? This was a deliberate hoax, and she needs jail time. [/QUOTE] But she didn’t resist arrest - she cooperated. I can understand why security might want to take a look at the device, since it’s pretty unusual. But having determined that it was not a bomb or any other kind of threat, the correct response would be to say to her: “OK, thanks for cooperating. We’d appreciate it if you didn’t wear these things in the airport. Off you go!” Nothing I have read about this suggests a deliberate hoax - just a lack of thought on the part of the student. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/76 "2007-09-22T02:57:38Z")
I admire the balls she’s got, but then have to slap and shake my head at just how dumb the woman was to try to pull something like this. But then again, there’s something to be said about skating on thin damn ice, and I applaud those that realize the fine line they do, and do it anyway. . . . . . I just slap my head at those that don’t realize how thin the ice is, but start skating. It’s a difference between “brave” and “idiotic”. Anyway, after this, I think I’m going to move to Britain: > [@](#): > > “I’m shocked and appalled that somebody would wear this type of device to an airport in this time. We’re currently under (terror threat level) Orange, the threat is there against aviation and we did have MP5 officers respond to the scene immediately,” Pare said. . . . 'cause here in the States, we’ve only got MP5 officers. I hear that in Britain, they’ve got them advanced MI6 types. I sure as hell don’t know what an MI-6 looks like, but I’m scared already! Tripler Hell, I’ve only got an M-4 at work. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/77 "2007-09-22T03:18:52Z")
[QUOTE=Pochacco] [Here, judge for yourself.](http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2007/09/21/star_simpson/) A breadboard, a couple of wires, greed LEDs, a few resistors, some scotch tape. And she didn’t even try to walk through the security checkpoint. A real terrorist could walk in Logan tomorrow pulling a rollerboard with enough explosives in it to kill several hundred people. That’s a real threat, not this Mickey Mouse crap. [/QUOTE] I agree, any cop should be able to tell in two seconds that that’s not a threat, especially when worn by a daft American coed. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/78 "2007-09-22T03:25:56Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] I agree, any cop should be able to tell in two seconds that that’s not a threat, especially when worn by a daft American coed. [/QUOTE] I disagree. I _veteran_ cop would, but would probably snap to a decision to make an example of the perpetrator. A _rookie_ cop would be confused and think he/she caught bin Laden himself. Tripler I base this on our own CE troops. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/79 "2007-09-22T04:04:11Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] I repeat: They’re professionals, and it’s supposed to be their fucking _job_ to learn the distinguishing characteristics of threat vs non-threat. Also, see my story earlier in the thread: They couldn’t even read a goddamn _boarding pass_ and see it didn’t match up with someone’s available identification. If the terrorists _really_ wanted to hurt us, none of this bullshit security theater would have any preventive effect at all.\* I’m reasonably certain that the only reason we _haven’t_ been attacked is that our Idiot In Chief is doing exactly what the Islamists want him to do, stumbling around the world stage alienating ordinary people and breaking shit. The instant we pull back from that is the instant we get hit again to bait us back into lunacy. \*Standing in the security line at the airport on Saturday, which loops back and forth and creates a huge multi-tiered crowd, I reflected that a backpack bomb could easily be carried up to right _before_ the checkpoint is reached, and kill several hundred people. [/QUOTE] Somebody who wears a fake bomb to the airport is obviously not looking to hurt anyone, she was obviously not a threat. That doesn’t mean something like that couldn’t cause a huge amount of panic, thats why yelling fire in a theater is illegal. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990/80 "2007-09-22T04:11:00Z")
_It’s not a fake bomb._ She’s an MIT nerd and she made a jacket with blinky lights on it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-wears-fake-bomb-in-logan-airport/419990.md?page=5)