Department of DUH

[cookiejar]

I am adding a new zone here of Really stupid people and choices. Feel free to add true stories from the Department of DUH. BTW this punk thought it was *funny*

 

MIT Coed With Fake Bomb 'Art' Arrested

 

By RODRIQUE NGOWI,AP

Posted: 2007-09-22 04:10:29

Filed Under: Crime News

BOSTON (Sept. 22) - The MIT student who walked into Logan International Airport wearing a computer circuit board and wiring on her sweat shirt claimed it was harmless artwork. But to troopers who arrested her at gunpoint, it was a fake bomb .

 

Nineteen-year-old Star Simpson was charged Friday with possessing a hoax device. Her attorney described the charge as offbase and "almost paranoid," arguing at a court hearing that she did not act in a suspicious manner and had told an airport worker that the device was art.

 

Lisa Poole, AP The commanding officer at the airport, State Police Maj. Scott Pare, said lethal force could have been warranted if Simpson had not followed instructions. "She's lucky to be in a cell as opposed to the morgue," he said. Source: AP

 

Authorities said they were amazed that someone would wear such a device eight months after a similar scare in Boston, and six years after two of the jets hijacked in the Sept. 11 attacks took off from Logan.

 

"I'm shocked and appalled that somebody would wear this type of device to an airport," said State Police Maj. Scott Pare, the airport's commanding officer.

 

Simpson showed "a total disregard to understand the context of the situation she is in, which is an airport of post-9/11," prosecutor Wayne Margolis said at a hearing where a not guilty plea was entered for Simpson and she was released on $750 bail. Margolis had asked for $5,000 bail.

 

 

She wore the white circuit board on her chest over a black hooded sweat shirt, Pare said at a news conference. The battery-powered rectangular device had nine flashing lights, and Simpson had Play-Doh in her hands, he said.

 

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. Course VI appears to refer to Massachusetts Institute of Technology's major of electrical engineering and computer science.

 

"She said that it was a piece of art and she wanted to stand out on career day," Pare said. "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 university on Thursday, according to the university's Web site.

 

Simpson is the secretary of MIT's Electrical Research Society, according to her lawyer. She is a graduate of the Hawaii Preparatory Academy, a private boarding school, has won school prizes for chemistry and leadership and had received a Congressional citation for her work in robotics, said Ross Schreiber, who was appointed to represent Simpson.

 

He said she was not a risk to flee, cooperated with authorities and was a good student with no prior convictions. He said they would fight the charges.

 

"I would characterize it as almost being paranoid at this point," Schreiber said of authorities' response.

He said Simpson had gone to the airport to meet her boyfriend. "She was there for legitimate purposes," Schreiber said.

 

A Massachusetts Port Authority staffer manning an information booth in the terminal became suspicious when Simpson - wearing the device - approached to ask about an incoming flight, Pare said. Simpson then walked outside, and the staffer notified a nearby trooper.

 

The trooper, joined by others with submachine guns, confronted her in front of the terminal.

 

"She was immediately told to stop, to raise her hands and not to make any movement, so we could observe all her movements to see if she was trying to trip any type of device," Pare said. "Had she not followed the protocol, we might have used deadly force."

 

He added, "She's lucky to be in a cell as opposed to the morgue."

 

The terminal was not evacuated and flights were not affected, airport officials said.

 

Boston was the focus of a security scare Jan. 31 when dozens of battery-powered devices that featured a character making an obscene gesture with a finger were discovered in various locations. Bomb squads were deployed and some transportation links were closed temporarily. They turned out to be a promotion for the Cartoon Network. Two men were charged in that incident, but prosecutors dropped the charges after they apologized and performed community service.

 

Associated Press writers Mark Jewell and Glen Johnson contributed to this report.

 

 

 

[Cat]

Book smart and life stoopid...

 

 

 

 

 

[Necie]

***dozens of battery-powered devices that featured a character making an obscene gesture with a finger..........They turned out to be a promotion for the Cartoon Network.***

 

Huh? :darleneswoon:

 

Oh, and the girl? She's an idiot! Stupid people annoy me.

[Aint2nuts]

Originally Posted By: Necie

Oh, and the girl? She's an idiot! Stupid people annoy me.

She is a total bloomin idiot, and she annoys me too. She will probably get a handslap and be on her way -- which annoys me more.

[LazyBear]

The name Simpson seems to be a big problem.

They all seem to be idiots.

 

O.J. - let's rob a business and stab 2 people to death. Then write a book telling how you did it. (Where are the Swat teams when you really need them?)

 

Jessica - "is Chicken of the Sea Tuna... chicken or tuna? Because it tastes like chicken and I hate tuna fish." Duh!!! (insert dumb blonde joke here)

 

Dumb girl in airport - let's wear a device and try to get killed by Swat teams. ( The girl needed attention to stand out and she got it. Her poor parents must be horrified.)

 

 

[Cat]

Not to mention...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pigzzilla]

Seen recently on a bumper sticker

 

STUPID PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BREED!

[Joanna]

From the Echoes-Sentines [?], Somerset County, NJ, Sept. 17, 1987:

 

GILLETTE RESIDENT IS ARRESTED AFTER SHOOTING HIS COMPUTER

 

PASSAIC TWP. -- A Gillette man was arrested at his home last Thursday night after he fired eight bullets at his home computer, according to police.

 

The man, Michael A. Case, 35, of 64 Summit Ave., was arrested shortly after 11 p.m., at his house, when police said they received a report that shots were fired. They arrived at the home to find a .44 Magnum automatic handgun and a shot-up IBM personal computer with a Princeton Graphics System monitor.

 

The monitor screen was blown out by the blasts and its inner workings were visible, Lt. Donald Van Tassel said on Monday. The computer, which had bullet holes in its hardware, was hit four times while four more bullet holes were found in various areas next to the computer, Van Tassel said.

 

"The only thing he (Case) said was that he was mad at his computer so he shot it," Van Tassel said.

 

The handgun, which the lieutenant identified as an Israeli Arms Desert Eagle .44, has "a lot of firepower," he said. "It's a big gun." Case used hollow-point, or dum-dum, bullets, he added.

 

Case was surprised when police arrested him because he didn't think he was breaking the law, Van Tassel said. "He couldn't understand why he couldn't shoot his own computer in his own home," Van Tassel said.

 

Case was charged with recklessly creating a risk and using a firearm against the property of another, because the house is reportedly owned by a relative. The walls were also damaged by the shots, according to police.

 

He was also charged with unlawful posession of a firearm without a permit, and with possession of illegal bullets, police said.

 

In addition, Case was issued to summonses, for discharging a weapon in a restricted area and for discharging a single-projectile weapon, police said.

 

Case spent early Friday morning in the Morris County Jail and was released later in the day on $2,500 bail, according to police.

 

A Municipal Court appearance is scheduled for today, Sept. 17.

[Joanna]

Many folks have written with perfectly plausible explanations about why merchants take my phone number on a credit card charge. What these fail to address, however, is that if I'm perpetrating a fraud in the use of this credit card, I'm not about to give out a correct phone number. They make no effort to validate the phone number before I leave, so what they're doing is collecting the phone numbers of a bunch of honest people.

 

Now then... Why are they collecting the phone numbers of a bunch of honest people?

 

I once asked why you are asked for your phone number when using your charge cards. The clerk explained that theives have been caught because they stupidly put down THEIR home phone number, not the phone number of the person who "owned" the card.

 

Talk about STUPID!!!

[Joanna]

Four teenagers were arrested in the parking lot of a large mall in Lakeland, Fla., just before Christmas when, attempting to steal an automobile at random, they tried to break into a police van containing three officers on a stakeout.

[Joanna]

December 18, 1992

 

Michael J. Schmidt, 29, set up a hidden video camera at his home near Superior, Wis., because he had been burglarized several times and thought he could catch the culprits in the act.

 

The burglars came back and were captured on tape, which Schmidt turned over to the sheriff.

 

Among the items the burglars took from Schmidt's house was a box containing eight marijuana plants.

 

Schmidt was charged with misdemeanor drug possession.

 

[UKGuy]

2 weeks ago a lady brought in a computer for recycling. It had green gunk running down the front. I inquired as to the substance. She said she had clensed the data from the computer with Fairy Liquid. Awarded Duhhhh of the week.

 

About 2 years ago a computer was brought in to have a credit card removed that was jammed in the floppy drive. We had to explain to the customer that this was not the correct way to pay for on-line shopping.