tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post3674486912606818565..comments2023-10-31T03:18:26.963-07:00Comments on Great Guys Weblog: ObliviousBrethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15063508651955739056noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-1390031749435147972007-09-26T12:34:00.000-07:002007-09-26T12:34:00.000-07:00Perhaps it's petty of me, but I hope she gets some...Perhaps it's petty of me, but I hope she gets some jail time if for no other reason than to wipe the smirk off her face. She clearly still thinks the whole thing is funny, which is a level of condescension I find extremely grating and worthy of strong discouragement.Susan's Husbandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02862667802025231163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-17187199438000382902007-09-26T12:03:00.000-07:002007-09-26T12:03:00.000-07:00I assumed play dough was to simulate plastic explo...I assumed play dough was to simulate plastic explosives. You techies may know a circuit board when you see one, but I'm pretty sure airport screeners, like most of the rest of us, wouldn't be able to say with surety what might or might not be a bomb.<BR/><BR/>SH is right. Had she said, you know I thought this would be a good joke, but I see that it was stupid and show the authorities what it really was, perhaps I'd be inclined to clemency, but her actions were reprehensible. <BR/><BR/>She's in a passel of trouble and rightly so.erphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09826044412670324694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-84462162646207794862007-09-26T09:00:00.000-07:002007-09-26T09:00:00.000-07:00susan's husband wrote: "...the student simply igno...susan's husband wrote: "<I>...the student simply ignored the agent...that's no small detail...</I>"<BR/><BR/>It's likely that we're all in agreement that she should've been accosted and questioned. I'm not even necessarily saying she shouldn't've been arrested. After all, we can't expect the general population of police officers and others to understand that circuit boards don't explode, even if they have flashing LEDs, so if people are gonna panic over such things, it's potentially reasonable to consider it a hoax.<BR/><BR/>My only point is that since I have a great deal of experience with the people at and from MIT, I'm virtually certain that it was a non-act of obliviousness rather than an intentional hoax. The only thing that keeps me from being absolutely certain is that play dough thing - I'm not sure how that fits in.Brethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15063508651955739056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-3531193899589582842007-09-26T07:16:00.000-07:002007-09-26T07:16:00.000-07:00One detail that was in the reports but gets left o...One detail that was in the reports but gets left out in posts like this is that one of the ticket agents asked the student about her getup and rather than answering "oh, it's art!" the student simply ignored the agent and wandered off. To me, that's no small detail from the point of view of the airport staff.Susan's Husbandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02862667802025231163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-62094748602080786352007-09-26T06:58:00.000-07:002007-09-26T06:58:00.000-07:00Quacks like a duck ...Quacks like a duck ...erphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09826044412670324694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-8900059567117534792007-09-26T06:52:00.000-07:002007-09-26T06:52:00.000-07:00Peter, If you wore Moslem mufti, especially a burq...Peter, If you wore Moslem mufti, especially a burqa, you'd be safe from the law.erphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09826044412670324694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-194740782316711802007-09-26T06:50:00.000-07:002007-09-26T06:50:00.000-07:00erp,I seriously doubt that she was pretending to b...erp,<BR/><BR/>I seriously doubt that she was pretending to be a suicide bomber:<BR/><BR/><I>'"She said that it was a piece of art and she wanted to stand out on Career Day," Pare said at a news conference. "She claims that it was just art, and that she was proud of the art and she wanted to display it." (There was a career fair at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Thursday, according to the university's Web site.) </I>'<BR/><BR/>also:<BR/><BR/>"<I>Two phrases that looked hand-drawn — "Socket to me" and "Course VI" — were written on the back of Simpson's sweat shirt, which authorities displayed to the media.</I>"<BR/><BR/>Course VI is the department of electrical engineering at MIT.<BR/><BR/>It would not be unusual to see an MIT student wearing electrical "art". That she unfortunately was allowed off campus given her obliviousness was the problem.Brethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15063508651955739056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-26595974975943159282007-09-26T06:26:00.000-07:002007-09-26T06:26:00.000-07:00Darn these younguns'. Don't they know eccentricity...Darn these younguns'. Don't they know eccentricity is the perogative of the elderly and middle-aged and doesn't become them at all? Why can't they be happy just sticking with sex?<BR/><BR/>Times have changed. I remember back in the sixties one cherished and famous prank at my college was when a car full of students pulled up outside a theatre in town with a line-up for tickets, one guy jumped out screaming and running, another guy jumped out and "shot" him with a blank pistol, and then all emerged to pick him up and throw him back in the car, which then roared off. We all thought it was the last word in creative humour. Try that one today.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-75745532135948126582007-09-26T05:55:00.000-07:002007-09-26T05:55:00.000-07:00Sorry to disagree. I will assume that when you tr...Sorry to disagree. <BR/><BR/>I will assume that when you travel with the tools of your trade or your kids' play dough, you don't arrange them as this very foolish young lady did.<BR/><BR/>I have plenty of stories of the kind of intense concentration some people are capable of. My older son is one such and the amusing and otherwise stories about him are legion. However, the whole point of your story of the professor and the wainscoting is one of a person so deep in his own thoughts that the outside world has stopped existing. <BR/><BR/>The young woman in question was just the opposite. She was patently emulating a suicide bomber. Her agenda? Who knows? Looking for attention; making a statement of solidarity with Moslem terrorists; a clueless practical joker? Doesn't matter.<BR/><BR/>What she did was deliberate and if it were my decision, she would have been tossed out of MIT. <BR/><BR/>Eccentricity is not derivative.erphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09826044412670324694noreply@blogger.com