Even MIT Has Stupid People
by Aaron Margolis, September 21st, 2007 at 12:28pm
When you think of what kind of person gets into MIT, you rightfully assume that said person is pretty smart.
Enter Star Simpson, MIT sophomore, who decided, ‘hey, let me wear something that looks like a bomb and walk into Logan Airport!’
An MIT student will face a judge today after she showed up at Logan International Airport with a wired and lit-up circuit board strapped to her chest.
Star Simpson, 19, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology sophomore, is lucky she cooperated with state police, Massport spokespeople said.
“If she hadn’t done exactly what they told her to do, she’d be lying in a morgue right now instead of sitting in a cell awaiting arraignment,” said spokesman Matthew Brelis.
Simpson claims the device was “a piece of art.”
Simpson, a native of Hawaii who studies electrical engineering and computer science, is to be arraigned in East Boston District Court today.
Simpson showed up in Terminal C at 8 a.m. today wearing a device with lights and wires strapped around her hooded sweatshirt, according to Massport. The device was connected to a hand-held putty device, said Massport spokeswoman Lisa Langone.
The more you learn about Simpson, the more you realize she’s a bit of a kook.
Simpson, who is pictured on her MIT Web site with short black hair and an Army-green tank top, describes herself as “an inventor, artist, engineer and student.”
“I love to build things and I love crazy ideas,” she writes.
Simpson studies computers and how they work and she also works in a student-run machine shop, according to the site.
Before she enrolled at MIT, she traveled the world “saving the planet from evil villains with my delivered-just-in-time gadgets,” according to her site.
I’m sure her parents are really proud.
I won’t debate the seemingly evolving definition of art, but designing a fake bomb and walking into an airport–not mention Logan Airport, the launch point of two of the hijacked 9/11 planes–is not art. It’s not. Suicide perhaps, but not art. You have to be a complete idiot to not only conceive of the idea, but to execute it as well.
I suppose even MIT has stupid people.
Lock her up; we can’t have people that dumb walking around.
Entry Filed under: Terrorism
16 Comments
1. Teresa | September 21st, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Doing well on SAT’s and on tests is no guarantee of common sense. Seems she is quite short of this commodity.
2. Patrick | September 21st, 2007 at 7:30 pm
No U’re stupid!
3. QM | September 21st, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Have you looked at the pictures?
It looks nothing like any sort of bomb. It’s a small solderless breadboard with a 9V battery and some LEDs attached to it (which flash in the pattern of a star).
It was in fact designed as an electronic nametag to be worn (and was worn) at the MIT Careers Fair.
I can see stopping her to examine it, but only incompetent and/or publicity whoring TSA/State Troopers/DAs would have a conniption and further claim it was a “fake bomb”.
4. rebecca-star | September 21st, 2007 at 11:07 pm
i think star’s true crime is that FUG head of hair and super-fug “fashion statement”.
oh, and the crap “art”.
5. that1guy | September 22nd, 2007 at 4:16 am
I am amazed at the some of the moronic statements that are being made by those defending this, girl. It doesn’t look like a bomb? A bomb can be made to look like anything. Are you going to tell me that simply because it had led lights on it then it couldn’t be a bomb? That’s the dumbest thing I have ever heard. She had playdough in her hand and there were wires that were coming out of the board, not to mention the fact that the guy who spotted her first was someone working at the info desk, not the TSA or the police. Wearing something in an airport that looks like that is reckless and carrying playdough in your hand while you do it is downright ludacris. I love how people can sit here and have all the time in the world to second guess police, when they themselves have but seconds to react to the same situation. It’s common sense that you shouldn’t wear something that in an airport.
6. Tyler Dawbin | September 22nd, 2007 at 9:25 am
Before 9/11, I got stopped in Chicago because I had a four channel digital storage oscillosope wrapped in bubble wrap. I was in Chicago on companybusiness trying to figure out a compatibility issue between a printer I designed and the POS (Point of Sale) system that McDonald’s was using.
They pulled me aside, and scanned the scope with a chemical sniffer to make sure it wasn’t a bomb. Anyone who’s worked with a scope knows that it has a Horizontal, a Vertical, and a trigger - sure sounds like bomb material, doesn’t it?
I deserved to be stopped, and I complied with their requests.
Another time I was stopped in LA carrying (believe it) four bottles of breast milk wrapped in tinfoil and towels. Long story…I was meeting my girlfriend at the time in Hawaii, and watching our daughter while she did the marathon out there. She had flown from a different city on a different flight after spending 6 weeks with me in LA.
I complied with their requests without issue when they asked me to open my bag and show them what was inside.
This girl flippantly walked away when someone told her to stop, and it wasn’t until she was surrounded by armed police with their sites trained on her head and chest that she decided to comply with their requests.
If she had been shot, she would have deserved it. End of story!
7. Proud Vet in Weymouth | September 22nd, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Why are these people defending this girl. Does anyone remember that 9-11 started out of Logan. Why do these smug liberals blame the cops. Have you read the Herald and some of their comments. I would doubt these people would have ran into a burning building about to Collapse like my friends fathers did in Manhattan on 9-11. How about the two firemen in NY and the two here or died trying to protect us.
The problem with people like Star and the rest of the lunatics in Cambridge is simple. They have never had to sacrafice and grew up in a bubble. Their parents teach them they are special and the colleges cuddle them telling them that they have a right to express themselves. Look at the Globes coverage, they made her out like a victim and some amazing person because she went to MIT. If this were a Umass Boston student, I am sure they would label them as scum.
I am for free speech and expression but doing so requires respect. I personally feel this girl knew what she was doing and did it to ruffle feathers. People like her need to start living like the rest of us. MIT and Harvard should stop pampering these brats and do something to teach them humility and respect. The police responded the way they did because if they didn’t imagine what would have happened.
So here is my deal, I am a veteran and a native of Orange County NY. My town Goshen lost a few of the bravest men in the world on that day. My uncle died in the attacks and the next month I enlisted in the army and a year later I was doing my first tour of Iraq. Like my father in Vietnam, we always had to keep our eyes open to the littlest things, even a toy on the street. My uncle lost his legs in Vietnam because he saw a toy laying on the side of the road next to children. He picked it and it turned out to be a bomb. The same went in Iraq, you can’t take percautions. This case is no different.
Granted it didn’t look like a bomb, but a law enforcement official and a soldier has a few seconds to think. You need to overreact in those seconds because doing so saves hundreds of people. Star seems like a spoiled little brat who probably spends her time talking about how bad America is even though she went to private schools, MIT and is allowed to look like a freak and date a pedophile. The rest of us would have felt horrible if the same thing happened to us, but we would be glad it happened because we wouldn’t want to see our loved ones blown to pieces.
Logan officials, I comend you and I think that you reacted in the best way. Star, I don’t know you, but I wish you would take responsibility for your actions so more people would be aware that the slighest thing is the difference between life and death. Oh yeah and Cantabridgians, the next time I see you disrepsecting verterans, I hope someong punches your spolied ass.
8. Dave in Canton | September 22nd, 2007 at 2:40 pm
that1guy
I agree 100% with your post but feel that I must point out that there’s no such word as ‘ludacris’.
9. Maggie | September 22nd, 2007 at 11:28 pm
If you want to make a political statement go down to the Common and rant with the rest of the idiots. If you want to show your “art” go stand down in front of the Sam Adams statue with the guys banging on buckets.
When you go to the airport….behave.
It’s really terribly simple. If this girl had been shot, I wouldn’t have blinked. It’s called Darwinism.
As far as *anyone* explaining how her “art” looked nothing like a bomb…..unless you can prove to me that you hav actual EOD creds, you will be considerd an idiot. I would no more second guess those State Troopers than cut off my arm. That goes for anyone else willing to run *towards* the danger while I am getting the hell out of Dodge.
This crap is happening because they didn’t come down hard on the two “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” nitwits. It will keep happening as long as the punishment is nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Did you see her smiling in court? Didn’t it look familiar?
10. JC McTeague | September 23rd, 2007 at 4:29 am
Do you people pay attention to the news or just go off making assumptions? Star Simpson was stopped at gunpoint by police, who determined her blinkie toy was harmless. Then they arrested her. First part, appropriate. Second part, overreaction.
If the police wanted no publicity, they would have sent the obviously clueless student away with a warning. Instead, this Major Pare got to strut his stuff in front of a credulous gaggle of reporters. Who’s the real publicity whore in this affair, then?
11. South Shore Republican | September 23rd, 2007 at 2:42 pm
The thing that shocks me is that people are defending her. I just looked at Howie’s column and all the comments made about it, and literally hundreds of people seem to be supporting her on there. I’m sorry but what planet do these people live on… I wasn’t so much surprised at the stupidity of the act(you get your occasional bonehead) but I’m literally shocked to find that so many people think shes in the right here. Not to name call, but I really just did not think people on a whole were that stupid.
12. Maggie | September 23rd, 2007 at 2:57 pm
*Do you people pay attention to the news*
Because I disagree with you, I must be uninformed? Quite full of yourself aren’t you?
I daresay I have read everything you have read regarding this incident. I want this girl to do jail time. She endangered lives. You write that you agree with stopping her at gunpoint. So do I. At that point she was risking the lives of several people in the vicinity, not just her own. What if she has been just slightly more stupid than she currently appears? What if she had resisted? What if there had been gunfire? We are just very lucky this turned out as well as it did. However, that does not let this person off the hook.
Everyone knows that security in airports is heightened and there are certain things you do not do. This young lady deliberately created a situation where lives were risked and there should be consequences.
13. George Hanshaw | September 23rd, 2007 at 11:52 pm
I think anyone so abysmally ignorant that they can’t tell the difference between a bomb and a circuit board with a 9 volt battery and a few LEDs ought to be forbidden to reproduce.
And I think the leadership of the NEA ought to be tarred and feathered for not doing a better job of providing a basic sciene education to public school kids..
And last but not least, I think all you chicken little’s out there ought to be denied the right to vote. The country can ill afford to be subjected to your stupidity.
14. mike m | September 24th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
What a moron MIT must have lowered thier standards . She should have known not to wlak into an airport with something like that. Typical moonbat probaly a trust fund baby Her father (Homer Simpson?)said he was proud of her. He must also be happy with her 45 year old boyfriend I guess the apple doesnt fall far from the tree
PS Hey Star the ehat mizer called he wanst his hair back
15. Maggie | September 24th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
I know I would not recognize an IED in every incidence. Because I know that they can be made to look like *anything*. I also know that if I were in Logan that day, I would have been grabbing whoever I was with and getting the hell out of that terminal. That is why I will never, ever second guess those who would run towards the danger.
The leadership of the NEA should be tarred and feathered for many other reasons but not because of any actions taken by the Staties in this case.
I don’t know who you are referring to as “chicken little”.
I also don’t buy your bravado and I think you’d be singing a different tune if you were there that day. Most of us are sheep and we run from danger. The State Police are the sheepdogs.
This girl, like the “Aqua Teen” pair a few months ago thought it was funny to cause chaos. They cost the taxpayer money. They upset people even if there was no actual danger. That’s not free speech. They and others like them are blunting the reaction of people to *real* danger. Just because no one was hurt in either of these incidents, doesn’t make it ok. They think it’s funny, I don’t.
Do you agree with the premise that free speech doesn’t include yelling “fire” in a crowded theater? What if no one is hurt? If that’s a crime, then so is this. What about people on planes who cause a disturbance? They get arrested. You can be arrested for making a joke about a hijacking. How is this different? This girl and anyone else who pulls a stunt like this should be prosecuted so that the message gets through and no one does end up getting hurt.
It’s all well and good to type crap out here saying it was obvious that it wasn’t a bomb. But that’s all it is…………..crap. Unless you have actual EOD creds, you are talking out your arse.
What if it had been a bomb, by the way? The same people who are on the Staties for overreacting would be screaming for heads on pikes if the reaction wasn’t swift and decisive. But that’s the way it goes for the sheepdogs……….damned if you do….damned if you don’t.
16. aram | September 26th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
As an MIT alum, I want to defend intelligent/creative people against the idiotic mob mentality of the times.
First of all, let’s not forget that the “wires=bombs” link is only from action movies, and has nothing to do with reality. A real bomb would be in a suitcase, or carried underneath clothes, rather than pinned on the outside of a hoodie. People like Maggie would accuse anyone who carries a backpack of “deliberately creating a situation where lives were risked.”
Second, there’s no reason for airports outside the gate area to be any more secure than any other public place. Before people have gone through metal detectors, we can’t plausible stop them from carrying whatever they want. Fortunately, airport lobbies are no more vulnerable than any other public place.
Third, the hysteria here is, as with the Aqua Teen incident, created by the authorities who have obvious incentives to keep us scared. Please consider this incident in the context of anti-terror policies that mostly have no effect on our safety (e.g. restricting liquids, taking off shoes, ending gateside checkin, etc.).
MIT certainly has stupid people, but I haven’t met any as dumb as the people who say that wearing a circuit board in an airport means you deserve to be shot.