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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
(Score: 5, Insightful) by The Archon V2.0 on Friday August 02 2019, @01:29PM (6 children)
Yep, if I was going to smuggle a bomb into a graduation ceremony, I'd stick lights on it and put it on my head, rather than in my clothing. Hell, pop in and get your robe then make an excuse to go back outside and you could smuggle in anything smaller than a compact car.
We have learning nothing since the Mooninite invasion of '07.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by BsAtHome on Friday August 02 2019, @01:39PM (2 children)
Everybody knows that bombs tick and beep and have a timer display. I saw it in the movies!
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @01:57PM
Was it ticking?
Actually throwers don't worry about ticking 'cause modern bombs don't tick.
Sorry, throwers?
Baggage handlers. But, when a suitcase vibrates, then the throwers gotta call the police.
My suitcase was vibrating?
Nine times out of ten it's an electric razor, but every once in a while... it's a dildo. Of course it's company policy never to, imply ownership in the event of a dildo... always use the indefinite article a dildo, never your dildo.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by ikanreed on Friday August 02 2019, @03:17PM
Obviously the terrorists want us to be in suspense, not merely surprised.
(Score: 4, Informative) by nitehawk214 on Friday August 02 2019, @02:46PM
I believe you have just given police an excuse to have all graduation ceremonies naked.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @07:28PM
The POLICE are the teerorist in this conversation.
They showed the complete stupidy and then follow through to show yup it was BOMB so the public be scared.
The police are saying, "Change your ways! All people with X ARE TERRORIST! See we AHD TO DESTORY A BOMB!".
Define a "terrorist"? Their goal is to make you change your ways.
BUSH2 was terriorist. He force America to not fly for 4 days. Be scare of people that are different.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by driverless on Saturday August 03 2019, @04:05AM
Hey, why do we need actual terrorists when we're doing such a good job of terrorising ourselves?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @01:31PM (11 children)
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.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @01:33PM
Either they’re idiots or they were just bored and wanted to destroy something. I’m leaning toward maybe it was both.
(Score: 5, Informative) by MostCynical on Friday August 02 2019, @01:42PM (2 children)
He's lucky they didn't leave it on his head when they destroyed it..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 5, Funny) by DannyB on Friday August 02 2019, @03:31PM (1 child)
How did this get modded Funny instead of Informative?
Young people won't believe you if you say you used to get Netflix by US Postal Mail.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Osamabobama on Friday August 02 2019, @06:45PM
It looks like the Funny leaked down onto your comment, replacing the Interesting that I would have expected.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Friday August 02 2019, @02:32PM (3 children)
When reading the summary, I was pretty convinced this was going to be Alachua County's finest at the University of Florida, but, no, it's FIU in Miami... the Miami cops I interacted with in the 80s and 90s were corrupt pigs, power drunk, and sometimes good guys, but they were never this dumb. I'm guessing they were afraid of looking like they weren't doing their jobs by letting it in, and then either wanted to have a bit-o-fun with the bomb disposal unit, or just didn't want to screw around with trying to disposition it after they seized it.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @03:07PM (2 children)
If they couldn't identify this as not being a bomb immediately, they are grossly incompetent. Just because something has a power source and wires, does not mean that it's a bomb. This reminds me of that asinine response to those Cartoon Network figures made of blinky lights from years ago.
I've got limited training on the matter and it would have been abundantly clear immediately, that this was just an LED array. If they couldn't tell based upon the weight of the cap and the reaction the student had to being stopped that it wasn't dangerous, then they should turn in their badges. This sounds more like a case of them wanting to blow shit up rather than a legitimate security problem.
Is this really what we've come to? An entire country of cowards?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @05:09PM
... land of the brave.
It has to be the epitome of efficiency. 3 planes, two skyscrapers destroyed and <3k killed... in 17 years, 300M live under constant domestically-inflicted terror and paying the terrorists with their taxes.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday August 02 2019, @07:17PM
Public servants, that should be assumed until proven otherwise.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Fnord666 on Friday August 02 2019, @03:50PM (1 child)
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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @01:38AM
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.
(Score: 2) by nobu_the_bard on Friday August 02 2019, @04:52PM
I will note, one article said they "destroyed" the cap, but the other merely said they dismantled it. Technically dismantling it could be called destroying it I guess, but it suggests a rather different amount of gusto on the part of the police.
Additionally the first more excited article says they gave him a new cap, but the second article says he got his original cap back. Perhaps he received a loaner so he could still participate while they worked? I would be pleasantly surprised they would have spare caps on hand since in my experience you have to pay for those, but perhaps they do such things.
I suspect the second article is more representative of what really happened, where everyone kind of understood it was probably a misunderstanding but still had to play their parts and sought to not trouble one another more than necessary.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by VLM on Friday August 02 2019, @01:56PM (4 children)
Higher Ed used to be for kids of royalty to get them to do something useful between wars until they were old enough to take something over. So it was high status.
Then it converted to vocational training for ultra high paying jobs. Hey ladies this is where you get your Mrs. degree when you meet a nice EE in 1960. So it was high status.
Now higher ed is supposed to accept everyone regardless of capability and issue degrees to match, so its turning ultra low status like bragging about attending adult day care. Future of higher ed is not so bright.
Going to be interesting to see how low status stuff (like meaningless degrees, low IQ grads, and exploded arduino art installations) separates from legacy high status stuff like rich kids and future doctors. My guess is some name changes are in the future.
My gut level guess is high status kids will go internships because they don't need a job to pay the bills (mom and dad are rich) and frankly being the assistant to the VP of a bank is worth more on the job market than a basket weaving degree with no experience. Sort of a squire / knight relationship. Meanwhile I think lower status kids with high status professions (dr, etc) will bifurcate into something like pilot or medical training today where future programmers or electrical engineers or accountants will do an online version the equivalent of med school or pilot ground school, then once they graduate online they'll get (low) paid apprenticeships for a couple years till some trade union of programmers gives them their ticket.
My ideas sound reasonable but always remember that U.K. dude who paraphrased something like the dumbass americans always try everything else before they do the right thing.
(Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Friday August 02 2019, @02:38PM (3 children)
What fantasy land do you live in? Maybe med school graduates who land coveted specialty practices and lottery winners in the law and business programs... For the 99%, not so much.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday August 02 2019, @06:02PM
Have you looked at the furnishings of the School of Business classrooms? I think you might be surprised at how opulent they are.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Friday August 02 2019, @06:03PM (1 child)
Compared to working at McDonalds, the salaries look great. When you then subtract the ongoing student loan burden however, McDonalds doesn't sound so bad.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday August 02 2019, @06:52PM
Pickup work as a journeyman apprentice for any kind of construction, plumbing, HVAC, electrician, auto mechanic, etc. has much lower cost and time of education and pretty good hourly rates, with just as much "upward mobility" to management and business ownership potential as the average MBA graduate has.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 5, Informative) by hemocyanin on Friday August 02 2019, @02:08PM (5 children)
What annoyed me most I think, was the student's response (from the second article in TFS):
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.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @02:22PM (1 child)
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
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
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)
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
Or laugh and say, "oh well, morons gotta suck it." Catering to the lowest common denominator is demoralizing.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by srobert on Friday August 02 2019, @02:18PM (3 children)
"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."
Meanwhile, people were permitted to attend the event openly carrying firearms which, as all Floridians know, is protected by the second amendment. But blinking LED's on your hat are just too intimidating.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 02 2019, @02:28PM (1 child)
Someone made a mistake and substituted "people" for "retards".
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Alfred on Friday August 02 2019, @07:07PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @04:49PM
> "While that seems very innocent and looks very innocent, it also has the potential to scare people," Moss told local Fox affiliate WSVN.
What I want to know is what they told other news outlets -- AP News, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, etc?
Or (please correct me if I'm wrong), does Faux News have a monopoly in southern Florida? If so, that might explain a lot(!)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @02:31PM (5 children)
Remember little Clockmed who took apart an LCD digital clock to take to school in a case with it looking like a bomb? [gellerreport.com]?
This guy could easily have been Clockmed version 2! Guess this guy wasn't muslim.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @02:36PM (1 child)
Looks like Clockmed is out of ideas.
At least he has porn.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @04:48PM
The family demanded $15 million from the school. That suit was dismissed in 2017. Then they sued the news guys for defamation. And that suit was dismissed in 2017. Then they sued more news guys in a different court. And that suit was dismissed in 2017. And then they sued the Irving Independent School District and the city of Irving and oh, yes, some other people, too. That suit was dismissed — and the Mohamed family was ordered to pay the court costs.
Finally. The family’s been living in Qatar since late 2015.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DeathMonkey on Friday August 02 2019, @05:54PM (2 children)
One is a clock, with some wires and a battery.
The other is a display, with some wires and a battery.
Yet one was clearly intended to look like a bomb but the other was just a fun DIY project.
Hmm..... I wonder what difference between the two people separates the bomb maker from the DIYer. ....
(Score: 3, Informative) by HiThere on Friday August 02 2019, @06:05PM (1 child)
One was a grade school kid, the other was graduating from college...
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Friday August 02 2019, @06:37PM
Because there are so many grade-school aged bombers!
Young adults seem more likely to be the bomb makers to me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @02:44PM (4 children)
What a bunch of uneducated fools.
(Score: 4, Informative) by DannyB on Friday August 02 2019, @03:34PM (1 child)
Police departments have a maximum IQ ceiling requirement.
Young people won't believe you if you say you used to get Netflix by US Postal Mail.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @03:52PM
Yup. They're not looking for thinkers. They want order followers and do-ers.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @03:43PM (1 child)
email the url of this soylentnews story to FIU administrators and police to show them how they embarrassed their school and state
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 04 2019, @12:20AM
You think they would understand it?
(Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @03:14PM (6 children)
>> A police officer spotted it and took the necessary precautions.
No, it wasn't necessary you knuckleheads.
There's a reason why Georgia (and specifically Atlanta) is now the South East region's tech center -- the reason is in the subject line
If your company needs a constant stream of engineering and technology talent, you build your next highrise next to Georgia Tech - hurry though as space in that area is running out
(Score: 4, Interesting) by hemocyanin on Friday August 02 2019, @06:11PM (2 children)
FIU, aside from crushing the creative spirit, is the same university where a focus on aesthetics for a pedestrian bridge connecting student housing to campus, actually crushed people to bloody pulps.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @07:05PM
It's Florida. The same place where a Florida Toyota dealership is selling a $58,361 Toyota Supra for $200,000.00... $150k over MSRP.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @02:08AM
It's challenging to hire FIU graduates after all this - they need to think ahead to how their choices affects the graduates - FIU Police for the loss!
(Score: 3, Troll) by exaeta on Friday August 02 2019, @07:42PM (2 children)
As somebody who works in Atlanta as a software engineer, I will say only that this is not a tech hub by any stretch of the imagination.
Yes, it's probably one of the better spots in the southeast, but this state is anything but tech savy. You'll have better luck up in Tennessee, I suspect. Also the housing costs are stupid high in the state.
Why anyone would think that proximity to a school helps you get recent grads is beyond me. New grads cannot afford to live in Atlanta. Hell, living anywhere near this city is expensive. Locating yourself in an expensive city is a good way to increase commute times for your employees.
The Government is a Bird
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @08:27PM (1 child)
'you suspect'? -- you don't need to talk about things that you don't know about - save your opinions for the tmz comment area
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Coward, Anonymous on Saturday August 03 2019, @02:56AM
Heh, that's the most definitive info available on tech in Georgia vs Tennessee.
(Score: 2) by SemperOSS on Friday August 02 2019, @03:59PM
Yup, one word: Sigh!
I don't need a signature to draw attention to myself.
Maybe I should add a sarcasm warning now and again?
(Score: 2) by pkrasimirov on Friday August 02 2019, @04:11PM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJlvvMnwteE
SOMEBODY SET UP US THE BOMB!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @04:27PM (1 child)
Dont insukt them. Dont scare them. Dont confuse them. Or you goto the pokey.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @05:16PM
They should "go back where they came from"... their mother's vaginas! Because all they say is whaaaah!
(Score: 2) by TheFool on Friday August 02 2019, @04:28PM
Will no one stop this madman?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Codesmith on Friday August 02 2019, @05:40PM (1 child)
Well, they can certain ask him to show the device, but removing it and destroying is at very least theft of property under color of law. Possibly deprivation of rights under color of law.
I'm sorry but your system of justice is no longer that and now has more in common with the various authoritarian regimes that have existed in the last century. I don't have a suggestion for a fix, but it might be time for those of you with the smarts and the capabilities to separate off a chunk and have another revolution. The first was 'No taxation without representation', this one appears to be 'Of the people, for the people'.
Pro utilitate hominum.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by HiThere on Friday August 02 2019, @06:08PM
Unfortunately, a lot of "the people" have been conditioned to worship authority. They are somewhat selective about which authority, but not intelligently selective.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @11:48PM
What is it?
I don't know, but it says "MAGA".
Run!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 04 2019, @07:35PM
if you can't look at this for a few seconds and realize there's no bomby part maybe you should be making any bomby decisions?