Star Simpson: In A Word, Idiot

In one on-line bio she uses the word Star to describe herself. But with MIT student Star Simpson having been arrested at machine gun point for strapping a fake bomb to herself inside Logan Airport, some might argue that the word idiot applies. Simpson's latest crazy idea almost won her a Darwin Award, according to authorities.

In a word: Star.

In a sentence, I'm an inventor, artist, engineer, and student, I love to build things and I love crazy ideas.

In a paragraph; I'm currently studying computers and how they work at MIT. I play at a student-run machine shop called MITERS. Before that, I lived for a long time in Hawaii, while traveling the world and saving the planet from evil villains with my delivered-just-in-time gadgets.

You too can fill my email lint-trap - stars at mit dot edu

I got to feel the power and speed of the Wrightspeed X1 - fastest street legal car on the planet, after Bugatti's Veyron, and entirely electric.

via WBZTV:

(WBZ) BOSTON A woman who walked into Logan International Airport allegedly wearing a fake bomb strapped to chest was arrested at gunpoint Friday, officials said.

Star Simpson, 19, had a computer circuit board, wiring and a putty that later turned out to be Play-Doh in plain view over a black hooded sweatshirt she was wearing, said State Police Maj. Scott Pare, the commanding officer at the airport.

Comments

[K]

Can this end well? Who want people in prison for what they saw as a prank or a free speech protest acted out.

On the other hand, Where we will be if someone can pretend to be a suicide bomber and not be punished?

If this is being reported correctly her lack of judgement is monumental, the stuff of legends.

[w3]

Yeah, except she wasn't pretending to be a suicide bomber.

The problem with the reports on this and the ATHF sign is that the police tell the press it was a hoax device or it was a fake bomb, and voila! that's what they print.

Socially inept and completely dumb? Sure. But unless her intention was to impersonate a suicide bomber, she wasn't conducting a hoax or pretending to be a suicide bomber.

Let's just make it illegal to carry exposed circuit boards and be done with it. Then at least people will know that their dumb blinking advertisement or their hopelessly unstylish sweatshirt is illegal. Good grief.

[seekeronos]

What a depressingly, outrageously stupid woman... disappointingly so, as an MIT student and someone with much potential to keep America in the lead in technology and engineering.

[nowingker]

Well, I'm curious, which one is stupider, the one who apparently strapped a fake bomb to herself at an airport believing that she wouldn't be taking her life in her hands or the new View chick who doesn't know if the world is flat or round?

Toss UP?

[911]

love your balls, but that was dumb... yeah, you made an excellent point, but folks ain't ready for that kinda stuff. i agree with your feelings, but damn, girl, that was asinine.

[seekeronos]

"---
Well, I'm curious, which one is stupider, the one who apparently strapped a fake bomb to herself at an airport believing that she wouldn't be taking her life in her hands or the new View chick who doesn't know if the world is flat or round? ---"

Nowinger...

I'd say that whichever semi-untalented pile of female flesh they've dug up to replace Rosie O'FootInMouth is probably a few neurons ahead of the rocket scientist whose stellar piece of "performance art" nearly got her keister blown halfway to Jupiter and back.

I mean, flat-earth brickbats aside y'all toss our way on account of your perceptions of "winger scientific backwardness"... you've got to be jesting here with such a suggestion... no?

[B]

For one thing, it wasn't a "fake bomb" it was an electronic device. You don't see people carrying ipods threatened at gun-point. What star had was less complex, in no way could it have blown anything up. Can't you all see how much the media has brainwashed you? Can't you see how they've twisted their story so that they can make more advertising sales?

Why even bother. This country is turning into a bunch of dumbfucks like you guys.

[Spurrious Correlator]

Star is guilty of not knowing that the Gestapo have taken over the airports or of protesting same. I am surprised they didn't shoot her. My read-she was proud of her fashion win at MIT with the circuit board of death shirt, and wanted to show her boyfriend who she was picking up at the airport. We should all feel much safer shuffling through the airports in a barefeet with our nasal spray in a little plastic bag. Every passenger I know is going to stomp on anyone who acts up and that is the real defense in place since we awakened from complacency on 911 to the war on modernity. And if you don't think that is what we are up against, read yesterday's article on female genital mutilation in Egypt at NYT.com. 90 percent of all Egyptian girls have been subjected to this torture for "the honor of the family". Guess what, it isn't the Egyptian Christians or Jews who think this is a good idea. When we transform MIT undergrads into the enemy instead the deservedly usual suspects, you know the whole enterprise has completely flown off the tracks.

Pray for Victory

Yours,

Spurrious

[Chris]

Comparing an iPod to this girls strap on pong pad is sort of like comparing a Mcdonald's hamburger to a filet mignon. Sure they both are made out of the same hoofed, cud chewing animal but everything else seems a bit different from there.

Can you see how you've had a momentary lapse in reason??

[KK]

MIT---Brightest of the bright, yea right. By rights that bunch should be in grief counseling now. Look at the crap last winter when those 2 jackasses put up the electronic signs for that screwy cartoon show. When she gets out of jail in 10 years she'll be able to sell all the baskets she learned to make

[Seth]

It was a fake bomb in the same way that, if I mistook your glasses for a telescope, you'd be in possession of a fake telescope. In other word, it wasn't.

Maybe naive for her to wear it to the airport, but inflammatory for AP to report it as a fake bomb.

[DS]

She deserves jail time. She knew exactly what she was doing. A device with a battery and putty??? This is how these liberal folks get media attention which is the world to them. She has NO respect for the current situation that these evil 3rd world radicals have got us into. NO respect for Americans, NO respect for the 9/11 victims, etc. I personally wish the police TOOK HER OUT. I want a MASS public apology from her.

[geegee]

What a moron!
All the above debate about was it a "fake" bomb or not is useless.
What the girl exceeds in "IQ"... she seriously lacks in "common sense."
In these times, and at THAT airport, regardless of how "proud" she was of her "art",
she should have met her boyfriend, gone back to campus, and THEN put on the shirt to
show him.
Besides, he was not at the airport, when she arrived, he had already left.
Maybe she should learn to tell time.

[nowingker]

Jail time? For what? Being naive, stupid or wholly lacking in common sense?

You wish the police 'took her out'

A 19 year old, apparent robotics genius with a slew of national prizes to her name and you wish the police shot her for being a naive 19 year old?

Well, that would have put the fear of god into anyone coming to the airport without a bomb, wouldn't it.

That may just be the sickest thing I've yet read on this blog.

[jeff]

Did none of you notice what was on the circuit board? It was nine LED's in the shape of a star. Yeah.... shoot her for wearing a nametag.

[Cindi]

She knew full well what she was doing. Naive is hardly a defense, especially for a so called genius.

[Fred Beloit]

nowingker, with apparently effortless talent, in just the last few weeks, you have replaced Stuttering John as the "Hero of the Stupid".

[nowingker]

I must say I am a bit disappointed in the winger response, while demanding jail time and wishing the cops 'took her out' is wholly within character, its very disappointing not to see "DRY RUN DRY RUN" being shouted from the rooftops or accusations that she's a closet Jihadist.

But, take comfort little wingers, if she had been an Arab looking girl she'd be dead, so all is not lost.

[Richard]

Hmmm...I don't think that there's any excuse for this. Any 19 year-old with functioning cognitive abilities knows that you don't strap something with flashing lights and wires sticking out of it to your chest, and walk into an airport carrying play-doh in your hand. Congratulations, Star; I suppose you will soon discover that no matter how smart you are, and how much you could offer to society...pull something like this, and society will chuck you like an empty can of starch. You will probably never be able to get a job with any kind of government agency/contractor, now.

[Anonymous]

She's as Smart as a FOX folks....she knew EXACTLY what she was doing...she was pushing boundaries to see if she could get famous...and she has...now the book will come, and the appearance on Oprah...this society and the people in it are SICK....we are ALL DOOMED.

[Jack]

The so called putty (it's play-dough) is actually from the career fair on the previous day. She probably just left it in her pocket. I can't believe you people are asking for jail time. If anything the ape-shit cop who was so intent on becoming trigger happy that day should be locked up. If the police can't tell the difference between a breadboard and a bomb, they should not have the authority to kill a person. But why even bother arguing...this country is full of idiots. I'm moving to Europe, because in this country the idiots breed like rabbits.

Cheers.

[dognott]

'Bye, Jack. Good riddance.

[Jeske]

Uh, what "fake bomb?" What "strap?" Look at the pictures -- the prototype board was held on the sweatshirt with Scotch tape. In geek circles, this "fake bomb" apparatus is known as a "blinkie." As in, the lights blink. People, take a chill pill!

[templar knight]

...I'm moving to Europe...."

Damn, where have I heard that line before? If all you dumb bastards who promised to move to Europe had actually moved there, this would be a better country. I'd pay for one of you bastards to go if you would sign a contract promising never to return to the US.

[Gus Owens]

This is simply a case of a spoiled young woman who has no concept of the real world such as Anbar,
Fallujah and Diyulah.
She lives in a narcissistic fantasy world where she travels the world saving the planet with her gadgets.
Emotionally she is about 6.
I wonder if she has ever read the Book of Job?

[seekeronos]

"---
Comparing an iPod to this girls strap on pong pad is sort of like comparing a Mcdonald's hamburger to a filet mignon. Sure they both are made out of the same hoofed, cud chewing animal but everything else seems a bit different from there.

Can you see how you've had a momentary lapse in reason?? ---"

Unfortunately Chris... some of our resident liberal defenders of Epic Stupidity™ are incapable of acknowledging their lapses of reason, preferring to believe their own apostolic proclamations of "conventional liberal wisdom" with a blind, zealous faith approaching even the most fanatical of Christian or Islamic expression.

I mean, just try and drop a nugget in their Kool-Aid like "Anthropogenic Global Warming is built on shoddy science", or "Evolution is just a theory, with its own merits"... and they'll defend it tooth and nail like any other "creation myth" we've come up with to explain our place in this universe.

That aside... walking into an airport with an extremely sensitive security policing environment with a simple board with blinky lights, wires, and a glop of doughy stuff is probably a very, very, mortally stupid idea. Even if upon closer inspection, it is all "cutesy and nice".

[David Bayliss]

If I was going in an airport with a bomb - I'd use:

a:) a car-bomb I can drive (smash) into the terminal
b:) a suitcase

i.e. the idea is discrete.

If I saw Star Simpson dressed as described at the airport - I'd think "interesting". The last thing I'd think of is "bomb". I think society is full of Morans - Star is just being expressive. I get the same "bomb" problem with my electric bike which uses less than 1% of the energy needed by a car to do the same distance in the same time as a small motor car in an urban environment (Manchester, UK) - and causes no local airpollution (local airpollution causes 12,000 deaths in the UK alone per year - mostly young kids and the elderly). I can't park my bike without getting undue attention. It would cost me money and weight to make it more discrete, getting rid of some safety features. I could make a descrete bomb a lot more easily - any electronic trigger would be a doddle. Cars would be great easy places to put bombs in and get no attention. I sympathise with her.

[Fred Beloit]

Sir David, why don't you take your kings, queens, princes and princesses (or if you prefer, as you probably do, princepersons) to the local electric energy supply outlet to demonstrate what working people do? At the same time, they might learn that electricity is mostly created by fossil fuels. No, really. BTW, what the hell is a "doddle", if you would be so kind? If you are not inclined to be kind today, cheery bye, and may you soon wed Star Simpson.

[Fred Beloit]

Never mind, Sir David. Just looked it up. It means a breeze, a snap, duck soup, nothing to it, etc.

[Mike]

David, You're right. Society is full of Morans. I looked a few up in the phonebook. I also saw a couple of Morons.

[Whiskey Tango Foxtrot]

It was not a fake bomb.

It looked nothing like a bomb, fake or otherwise.

The media spits out garbage...then we all gather around to discuss it.

[Jim Bradley]

Blinking lights = bomb? Boston's finest!

[Oh for pete's sake]

Oh please - maybe if some of you over-privileged snobby little creeps lived in a country where people routinely blew their own asses up in support of a genocidal ideal, you'd feel a little differently about someone walking around with something not commonly seen on clothing attached to their chest.

It has NOTHING to do with what the hardware actually was or what it was used for, the point is people who aren't riding on Mommy & Daddy's dime to go to MIT don't KNOW what it was and it could have been anything. And the Play-Doh? What a retard. For supposedly being someone so smart, a lot of college-aged people don't have a whole hell of a lot of common sense. Look outside your safe little campuses and above your own inflated egos.

I'd like to see her walk through the streets of Baghdad, I guarantee a lot more than a simple arrest would be the result.

[Jack Bauer]

Shouldn't a "fake bomb" actually look like a bomb? This is the real world, not yet another episode of 24. Real bombs don't have LEDs flashing in patterns. Another clue: bombs don't really have timers that beep every second as they count down.

Hey, I can understand that everyday clueless TV viewers don't know that: the only "bombs" they've ever seen are those "if you clip the right wire you'll defuse it, but if you clip the wrong one it will go off... but which one is the right one?!!" beeping and flashing devices from the movies and TV. But doesn't the Boston police department offer any actually training on this kind of stuff?

[Joseph Dunphy]

Sigh. I already knew that Liberals tended to be Postmodernists, but I'm wondering when it was that Conservatives started going on that kick with them; throughout this entire incident, apparently Conservative commentators, who one would hope would know better, have been taking the position that the facts of the case are beside the point.

Fact: What Simpson was wearing not only didn't look like something that was likely to be a bomb, it didn't look like anything that even could be a remotely detonated bomb - where's the receiver? The Iraqi style roadside bombs I've heard referred to use cell phones for this purpose, but what we saw in the pictures was nothing more than a simple circuit board with a few LEDS. In one glance, unless one is fantastically technologically illiterate, one sees something that couldn't possibly pick up the signal that says "detonate" if Simpson was planning to set this off from a distance; no antenna. Notice that the guys of the thing are laid out where all can see, and there aren't many guts, so there's no guesswork on this one.

For something to be a "fake bomb", there has to be some reasonable way for somebody, on seeing it, to come to the conclusion that it is a bomb, and for all the heat that has been shed on this subject, the fact remains that there was no reasonable way for Pare to come to that conclusion, nor is there any reasonable way for the rest of us to expect Simpson to anticipate somebody else's unreasonable reaction. But all the same, we have the attitude that Simpson should be held to blame, not based on the objective reality of her actions, but on the feelings somebody else had about those actions. In case you've forgotten, we've seen those standards in play before, and some have complained about them.

They were the standard of culpability seen under Political Correctness when somebody would be charged with a speech code violation. How interesting to see where those standards have spread, especially now that the stakes are so much higher than before.

[Joseph Dunphy]

Case in point: This person, from just a few comments ago -

"Oh please - maybe if some of you over-privileged snobby little creeps lived in a country where people routinely blew their own asses up in support of a genocidal ideal, you'd feel a little differently about someone walking around with something not commonly seen on clothing attached to their chest.

It has NOTHING to do with what the hardware actually was or what it was used for, the point is people who aren't riding on Mommy & Daddy's dime to go to MIT don't KNOW what it was and it could have been anything."

Looking back on the memory of the 40-60 hour weeks I worked before studies to put myself through graduate school I was, to say the least, intrigued to learn that the years of hard work I put in constituted some kind of "privilege"; I suspect that most of my classmates would have been equally astonished to hear about their life of ease, especially the one who came down with his first case of angina in his early 20s, courtesy largely of those work weeks, and the disturbed sleep schedules caused by employers who though nothing of inflicting 48 hour + shifts on their student employees. I was even more fascinated to learn that somebody who decided to skip the toil and spend his undergrad years partying was one of society's oppressed.

Conservatives stigmatising hard work while celebrating leisure? The world surely becomes a more amazing place with every passing day.

[Al in St. Lou]

Those "dumb, blinking advertisements" were placed in public places in many cities. Only in Boston, were the authorities stupid enough to think they were something dangerous. It looks like the same thing happened at the airport in Boston. I don't know why any conservative is defending stupid authorities. Wait! I do know. If the stupid authorities were a Dem administration, they'd be attacking them instead of defending them. It looks like Dunphy got it right. It's just partisan intellectual dishonesty at work.

[daheath]

Even after the Aqua Teen hunger Force incident Boston cops still can't tell the difference between LED art and an IED. Very sad. Maybe MIT offers a course they could take. Couldn't hurt.

And why do we allow idiots to yell "BOMB" in a crowded airport to get unfortunate innocent persons arrested. Doesn't that empower idiots far too much?

In light of current events one would think there is a new law that makes it a crime to be mistaken for a terrorist.

[daheath]

Even after the Aqua Teen hunger Force incident Boston cops still can't tell the difference between LED art and an IED. Very sad. Maybe MIT offers a course they could take. Couldn't hurt.

And why do we allow idiots to yell "BOMB" in a crowded airport to get unfortunate innocent persons arrested. Doesn't that empower idiots far too much?

In light of current events one would think there is a new law that makes it a crime to be mistaken for a terrorist.

[Amen]

Star simpson is an idiot because she did not relaise that plain electronic curcuits she works with everyday would remind a whole population of only one thing -bomb? Perhaps, just perhaps, she is just a 19 year old kid wearing a jacket she wears very often to school....just some of us whose minds have not entirely been overwound by a hyper 'world-is-coming to-an-end' media ?

I have lost people close to me to terrorist attacks. So I do know it is real. What I also know is that there is a higher probability that the sttess of potential terrorists (or fried chips) will kill us way before any bomb does. There are 287 things I could list off my mind, diseases and toxins, that can get get anywhere and at any time, that even airport security cannot protect us from, that we are aware of but are able to react rationally about. Then why this utterly hyped paranioa to bombs? I am not saying that it is not a real problem but I AM saying that this paranioa is not heping anyone...except perhaps governments who get aay with anythign under the pretext of saving us fromt hose 'bad bad' people.

Last thing....somewhere long long ago....at the beginning of time perhaps...there was an airport..and all it was was 'catch-a-flight-from' station. Just like a train tation. Just like the subway she used to reach the airport........

[Sean Hughes]

She´s an idiot, pure and simple, and anyone who takes her side or tries to make excuses for her idiocy, or blames the police for taking the action they too, is also an idiot. "Look how smart I am!" "Look how I am making a statement!!" "Everyone look at MEEEEEEEE!!!"