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

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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @01:38AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @01:38AM (#874913)

    They destroyed it even after they knew it was innocent and fun? Assuming the article got the timeline right, the police destroyed that guy's arduino, 7-segment display and 9 volt battery AFTER they cleared him and let him proceed in (with a replacement hat). AFTER they knew that it was just a bit of fun and festive decoration.

    I've known a number of EOD techs over the years. They immediately knew it was harmless, that the material didn't cost enough for the student to make a fuss over, and it would make a great training exercise. Basically any excuse to blow shit up.

    What I find most thought-provoking about this whole chain of comments, is that in the first case my response was "They cleared it as harmless and still blew it up? Fucking jackasses." but in the second it was "Well, I like to tear things down too. I understand that.".

    And that bothers me a bit.