Geek woman news story of possible interest...

[Matt Middleton]

In this day and age, especially with the paranoia about people trying  
to do horrible things with airplanes, it unfortunately forces us to  
conform.  If you choose not to, fine, but you must be prepared for the  
potential consequences - in this case, damn near being shot.

I've done a fair bit of flying over the last couple of years, and I do  
the same thing as you Colin - there's no point in trying to make a  
"statement" at the airport.  If you really wanted to make some sort of  
pro-geek statement, wear a Penguin shirt, or something from a place  
like ThinkGeek.

Quoting Colin McGregor <colinmc151-bJEeYj9oJeDQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org>:

> Ran across the following bit about Star Simpson, a
> student at MIT arrested in essence for acting like a
> geek:
>
> http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/21/1849208
>
> Bottom line, the woman visited the airport to pick-up
> a friend while wearing a hoodie with an attached
> prototyping board that had a battery and some LEDs on
> it. Then things got weird.
>
> Some of Ms. Simpson's geek credentials can be seen
> here (articles she has written for the instructables
> website on topics like TIG welding, or motorizing
> roller blades):
>
>   http://www.instructables.com/member/stasterisk/
>
> I am of two minds about what happened, the Boston
> police come off looking like a bunch of jerks (after
> the great Boston Mooninite scare not something they
> need). On the other hand when I go to places where I
> know I can expect to see people with guns I try to do
> the "look invisible" route. Trying to dress, act and
> look as bland as possible.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Colin McGregor
>
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