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Florida University Graduation Blinky Hat Scare

posted by Fnord666 on Friday August 02 2019, @12:52PM   Printer-friendly
from the blinky-blowup dept.

hemocyanin writes:

Animated arduino powered graduation caps are pretty common, but perhaps not in Florida. When one recent Florida grad placed such a device on his mortar board, the police incited a (minor) bomb scare, confiscated the cap mounted display, and the bomb squad destroyed it. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/student-causes-bomb-scare-at-graduation-with-decorative-ensemble/ar-AAFchE5

Can Cevik, a computer engineering graduate, said he was just trying to be festive earlier this week when he taped a battery-powered digital device to his graduation cap, displaying the message "FIU 2019." ... "Just to clear things up, my cap had an Arduino Uno with a 7-segment display on it and was powered by a 9V battery; it was not an explosive," he said. ... They eventually cleared him to enter the venue, but only after providing him with a new -- plain -- graduation cap. ... Police then called the bomb squad and destroyed the original cap. ... FIU Police Captain Delrish Moss told local reporters that officers acted out of an abundance of caution.

"While that seems very innocent and looks very innocent, it also has the potential to scare people," Moss told local Fox affiliate WSVN. "A police officer spotted it and took the necessary precautions."

This article has a picture of the cap (which appears to be a pretty low effort affair). https://www.waaytv.com/content/national/513449462.html

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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by hemocyanin on Friday August 02 2019, @02:08PM (5 children)

    by hemocyanin (186) on Friday August 02 2019, @02:08PM (#874620) Journal

    What annoyed me most I think, was the student's response (from the second article in TFS):

    Cevik got his hat back, but Moss said bomb technicians took apart the Arduino device as a precaution. "I don't really care that much because it wasn't that expensive and that's their job to make sure the community's safe and that sort of thing," Cevik said.

    Moss said officers were concerned that someone in the crowd might be scared if they saw it from a distance.

    It's the subservience to authority and the catering the lowest common denominator that burns me. The risk that people might be exposed to LEDs that aren't shrouded in a plastic shell is not a good reason to allow authoritarians to do stupid things and is not something that should ever be accepted -- it's a policy that leads nowhere good or sane.

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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @02:22PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @02:22PM (#874629)

    If you're a foreigner you don't want to open your mouth too wide

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @03:54PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @03:54PM (#874678)

      Any foreigner knows after a week in this country that when asked "how do you like it here?", honesty is not the best policy.
      The right answer is "it's great!", then move on.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @03:03PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @03:03PM (#874651)

    And yet it is one that as population continues to grow and grow you will be exposed to more and more. There is less room to be free in.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @04:54PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @04:54PM (#874710)

    Moss said officers were concerned that someone in the crowd might be scared if they saw it from a distance.

    Then put it in a box or in the trunk of a car, for fuck's sake.

    • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Friday August 02 2019, @05:57PM

      by hemocyanin (186) on Friday August 02 2019, @05:57PM (#874742) Journal

      Or laugh and say, "oh well, morons gotta suck it." Catering to the lowest common denominator is demoralizing.