Flight delayed after passenger becomes suspicious of equation - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Homer J Simpson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 04:09:34 pm
content: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36240523

author: daqq
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 04:14:32 pm
content: Can't blame her really, economists are generally up to no good

author: r4ptor
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 04:15:43 pm
content: As punishment for stupidity she should have to take a mandatory class in mathematics.

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 04:28:44 pm
content: No, she should have to pay a compensation to all passengers for the flight delay.

author: Iwanushka
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 04:37:26 pm
content: Quote from: madires on May 08, 2016, 04:28:44 pm+1 should be the same like it is with prank calls to emergency services you will get a fine and if your joke had a word bomb in it maybe you will get jail time too (at least in my country...)

author: r4ptor
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 05:07:29 pm
content: Quote from: madires on May 08, 2016, 04:28:44 pmYeah, I agree with that.

author: sarepairman2
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 05:08:27 pm
content: i wonder if he told her to fuck off or made some al bundy esque comment.

author: TinkerFan
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 05:10:52 pm
content: This makes me feel really really sad...

author: nogood
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 05:32:45 pm
content: Coming up next: Scientist burned at the stake for witchcraft

author: Mechanical Menace
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 05:40:03 pm
content: Quote from: nogood on May 08, 2016, 05:32:45 pmNot a scientist and not burned at the stake but...

author: linux-works
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 05:41:20 pm
content: Quote from: r4ptor on May 08, 2016, 04:15:43 pmshe does not undertstand the absolute value of freedom of expression; even if the expression may seem irrational to her.so, due to some random tangent, where she could not differentiate between real and imaginary factors, the plane was not allowed to log air miles.(ok, I'm done here. lol)

author: Kilrah
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 05:56:29 pm
content: Quote from: linux-works on May 08, 2016, 05:41:20 pmClearly the sine of an integration problem.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 07:00:08 pm
content: Quote from: Kilrah on May 08, 2016, 05:56:29 pmThey should have served lunch. After 2 pie, it would have amounted to nothing.

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 07:14:05 pm
content: At New York’s Kennedy airport today, a person later discovered to be a public school teacher, was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a drafting triangle, a compass, and a calculator.During a press conference the Attorney General said he believed the man was a member of the notorious al-Gebra movement and the FBI intends to charge him with transporting weapons of math instruction.“Al-Gebra is a fearsum, transverse cult,” the Attorney General said. “As a group they seek means of average solutions by extremes, and sometimes randomly go off on tangents in search of absolute values. A member of al-Gebra may use acute alias such as ‘x’ or ‘y’ and refer to himself as an unknown identity, but we have determined that he is likely to belong to a common denominator — the axis of medieval that coordinates in every country.” The Attorney General continued, “Al-Gebra functions as a bunch of standard deviations that have been tribal since the time of Noah’s arc,” a remark that struck a chord with the media. “They are inordinate in terrorism, of that I’m abscissaly sure.They use degrees of irrational subtrahend to create differences and conditional inequalities among friendly, discriminant nations, leading to arguments and making us less functional and coefficient in attaining our goals. And they have the international mobility of a swarm of loci. Give them an air matrix to inflate and a plot to set it on, and they can live anywhere. If necessary, we will pursue them to the corners of this Earthly sphere.”He complemented this with the supplementary remark, “As the Greek philanderer Isosceles once said, ‘Never forget that there are three sides to every triangle, and sometimes two of them are normal.’ ” The Attorney General added, “As you can tell, I am not diagonally opposed to that prime concept.”When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush obtusely said, “If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes. Next to bisectual marriages and those polygonists in Utah, I’m concerned about the significant places of such weapons. Tomorrow I intend to go to the hill and address Congruence about this situation. I have a volume of suggestions and a finite series of common solutions for them to consider.”The President also warned, “These weapons of math instruction are without parallel and have the potential to decimal everything on a scalene never before seen unless we become exponents of an infinity Higher Power and begin to factor-in random facts of kindness. If we enter a phase in which all nations are integrated in all degrees of purpose, that steady state will give us slope for a better tomorrow, and we will all be infinitely better off. In such a case we could have our pi and eat it too.”The President further declared, “I am gratified that we have been given a sine that al-Gebra is protracting this situation with calculusing disregard. Their murky statisticians plan to inflict plane of new dimensions on every sphere of influence,” he added. “Under these circumferences, we must differentiate their roots, make our points, draw our lines, and proportionally intersect these people throughout whatever area of the domain they range. And, above all, we must make sure that they can’t get their hands on radii active materials. That is one thing you can secant you? What we need is a higher quotient of linguists embedded with our troops so that they can interpolate the gibberish that al-Gebra uses to communicate. If we had that capability, we could periodically reach new limits of success as easily as falling off a natural log. Anything short of that could lead to some real, not imaginary, complex circumstances.”The Secretary of Homeland Security added, “As our Great Leader would say, ‘Read my ellipse.’ The one angle that I am uncertainty of is that although al-Gebra will probability try to continuously multiply in theorem, their days are numbered as we draw the hypotenuse ever tighter around their necks.”

author: nogood
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 07:30:50 pm
content: Quote from: timb on May 08, 2016, 07:14:05 pmThe sad thing is: At that point i still believed you were quoting another news article ...

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 07:38:50 pm
content: Quote from: nogood on May 08, 2016, 07:30:50 pmI know, right? I wish I could take credit, but it's pretty old; been floating around the net for years. Just seemed relevant now.

author: station240
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 08:59:50 pm
content: I'm not surprised it was a woman that made this silly report.I don't know why, but they seem more likely to be paranoid.$10 says the authorities never actually said sorry to the economist for wasting his time.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 09:05:37 pm
content: There's no accounting for stupid people, but the flight crew should have known better and dealt with it sensibly.In other news, an Australian flight was delayed by a joke Wifi SSID :http://boingboing.net/2016/05/06/qantas-delays-flight-because-o.html

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 09:28:05 pm
content: This is the world we live in, it's bad enough that stupid people will be scared of math. (ok, math has always scared me... but not for my life. I was just never good at it!) but it's even worse that authorities roll with those fears. She should have been offered to leave the flight if she was not feeling comfortable but don't go delaying everyone else.Reminds me of that clock kid. Ok, so he turned out to be a fraud seeking attention, but that aspect aside, it was still just a consumer clock taken apart. People overreact at everything now and think the boogy man terrorist is out to get them.

author: sarepairman2
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 10:20:28 pm
content: to be honest after the torture I endured with various equations I don't blame her too much.maybe she had a flashback to a differential equations class she barely passed. then she got a panic attack and decide to call the fuzz

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 11:02:34 pm
content: Hey, you can't be too careful when it comes to weapons of math destruction.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 11:11:33 pm
content: Yeah got to watch for those radical equations.

author: lapm
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 11:37:13 pm
content: Makes me sad this sort of things can happen in world...Makes me think that as species were not really that advanced after all since stoneage. Formulas on paper scares people now? I remember time when western people were inspired by intelligence, now we seem scared of it. I wonder why is that..

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 12:17:06 am
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on May 08, 2016, 09:05:37 pmI didn't see anything to suggest that the crew and authorities didn't handle it properly. Apparently the woman first told the crew that she was sick, then once she made it clear to them that she was afraid of the guy sitting next to her, the authorities looked into it, talked to the guy in question, and pretty quickly figured out that she was full of shit and then let everybody get on their way. Not that I'm generally a fan of airport security on the whole, but credit where credit's due.

author: John Coloccia
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 12:49:28 am
content: She belongs in a mental l'Hopital.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 01:26:26 am
content: Quote from: ajb on May 09, 2016, 12:17:06 amThere is everything to indicate they didn't handle it properly. The passenger complained that she didn't like being on the plane. Therefore they should have escorted her off the plane and asked her what the problem was. When she was unable to give a reason indicating a security risk, they should have removed her baggage from the plane and let the plane leave without her.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 02:14:18 am
content: Quote from: nogood on May 08, 2016, 05:32:45 pmOr burned at the stake for wearing a shirt some new age PC feminist idiot didn't like, even though it was designed by and given to you by a female:http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/13/7213819/your-bowling-shirt-is-holding-back-progress

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 02:15:33 am
content: Quote from: blueskull on May 09, 2016, 01:39:10 amI would have taken the pilot seconds of looking at the paper and talking to the guy to know there was zero threat.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 02:28:10 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on May 09, 2016, 02:15:33 amMy understanding, is that it does not work like that.Once a suspicion of bomb/terrorist/weird stuff has occurred, and maybe/probably reported/radioed to the authorities, it will have to be investigated (I DON'T know the exact procedures, myself).Because the ladies story was changing, and she had said she was suspicious and kept initially quiet (i.e. probably lying about feeling ill, so she could alert the crew), they were obliged to investigate it further.tl;drGiven that the main witness/lady, was under stress, and may not be in a position to convey the full/correct story. They needed to play it safe. Otherwise they would have been risking hundreds of lives.E.g.If a bomb like box is found in a public/crowded building, they will probably clear the building and call the bomb squad. You don't want unskilled (as regards bombs) members of the public messing with suspect devices, and perhaps putting themselves and others in danger.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 03:14:38 am
content: On the other hand. If the equation wasE = M * C^2Then they may have had cause for concern.Which reminds me of this ...

author: LabSpokane
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 03:33:00 am
content: Quote from: MK14 on May 09, 2016, 03:14:38 amOh FFS, that equation is used in all kinds of calculations that have nothing to do with building a bomb.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 03:34:38 am
content: Quote from: LabSpokane on May 09, 2016, 03:33:00 amIt was meant as a joke.

author: daqq
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 04:20:11 am
content: QuoteOr atheist blogger(s) hacked to death by machete in a country full of the religion of peace:https://richarddawkins.net/2016/05/in-bangladesh-serial-killing-in-the-name-of-god/

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 04:35:41 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on May 09, 2016, 02:15:33 amYou're assuming that it was primarily what the guy was writing that set the lady off, that she made that clear to the authorities right off the bat, and that by the time she explained herself it was still the pilot's call to make.In the first place, dollars to donuts her reaction was probably less "that guy's writing funny, he must be up to no good" and more "that brownish-looking guy with the funny accent doesn't want to talk to me, AND he's writing funny" (yes, there are people who think like that, and yes that's worse than being afraid of math). Second, we don't know how much run around she gave the authorities when relaying her suspicions or how long it took to get past the illness charade. Finally, since the plane was on the ground, it probably wasn't up to the pilot, and since the lady wanted off the plane in any case, they had to go back to the terminal and that certainly meant dealing with terminal security.The fact that the guy was suspected of wrongdoing is certainly bullshit, but the way I read the article that's squarely the result of this paranoid and possibly xenophobic/prejudiced individual's actions which set the wheels in motion. This sounds to me like the story of one jackass shouting "fire" rather than airport security run amok. There are plenty of other stories for that.

author: Kilrah
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 05:44:16 am
content: Quote from: lapm on May 08, 2016, 11:37:13 pmThere was a time where intelligence was considered a good thing to share for the good of everybody, but nowadays it seems keeping it under "control" is required for a few to be able to keep their increasingly unjustified power.

author: jitter
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 06:40:02 am
content: Quote from: Homer J Simpson on May 08, 2016, 04:09:34 pmThis reaction to a professor's scribblings may seem absurd and over the top at first, but when you think of it more carefully, it would appear to me that the terrorists have achieved exactly and successfully what they set out to do: create terror.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 07:11:20 am
content: Ive been working on pcbs in altium on flights in the past.And circuit boards are probably even more likely to worry ignorant people than maths.

author: nogood
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 10:29:11 am
content: Quote from: Psi on May 09, 2016, 07:11:20 amI hope you are not designing clocks, then you are probably already on some watch list.Also: Writing a GUI to show a 60 second countdown in a menacing way probably won't make the pilot take off any faster *g*

author: StuUK
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 11:08:07 am
content: Quote from: nogood on May 09, 2016, 10:29:11 amDepends if it's based on a Microsoft progress bar then you've plenty of time as it'll sit on 1 second for a couple of hours....

author: Dave
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 11:15:44 am
content: Quote from: blueskull on May 09, 2016, 01:14:15 amYou missed a pretty clever math joke.l'Hopital's rule

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 11:25:06 am
content: Found interesting comment about this:We must be on guard against members of Al-Gebra. You can know them by their scruffy unkempt appearance.

author: Galenbo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 02:55:42 pm
content: 1) show me the actual paper, equitation, drawing. (We had an islamist clock that was designed to look like a bomb before)2) tell me what that women actually said to who, what that person did with the info, and why the local democratic consensus was to on-purpose delay the plane.3) blame everybody for not recognising some economic math, fire them all, hire mathematicians, physicists, engineers only.(I fail to blame the lady customer)

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 03:34:34 pm
content: During my Uni days, I flew from Sydney to Adelaide (student prices!) to visit a great aunt. I spent my time on that trip designing my very first PCB layout for a Wien bridge audio oscillator.Hate to think where that might get me these days......

author: dmills
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 03:39:47 pm
content: I got the stink eye big time for sitting in a public libraries study area with my laptop editing some code in vi in console mode (I was tunnelled into my home server over their public wifi), apparently running a computer with a dozen ssh and IRC windows open while typing pages of C quickly is enough to make me suspicious these days.'Tis enough to make you want to watch the world burn.Regards, Dan.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 03:46:07 pm
content: Quote from: dmills on May 09, 2016, 03:39:47 pmScorpion!Beware the Dark Side!!

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 03:51:13 pm
content: "You will be surprised to see how some common folks suck at science,,"More so amongst "experts" than common folks.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 03:57:35 pm
content: Few months ago we had here a terror attack by a Muslim couple. A neighbor that noticed suspicious activity didn't inform the police for the fear of being called 'racist'. 14 people died in that attack.http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2015/12/03/neighbor-didnt-report-suspicious-activity-of-san-bernardino-killers-for-fear-of-being-called-racist-n2088543

author: linux-works
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 04:23:16 pm
content: Quote from: zapta on May 09, 2016, 03:57:35 pmthe is ZERO FACTS in that 'news report'. they actually spend more time distracting you and talking about some other entirely unrelated incident.btw, never heard of 'townhall' before. checked what they are about. figures!"Townhall.com is the leading source for conservative news and political commentary and analysis."I should have included the usual graphic kids use, today. "stopped reading there". sigh. at least the site tells you what their bias is. and it aligned perfectly with the culture-of-fear that 'conservatives' ALL LOVE.let me put this out there: why the hell do we need stasi in america - and neighbors ratting on each other due to 'fear of foreigners'?don't we have the most spied-on culture, with the TLAs all snooping on our every single communication? and yet, they STILL want us to rat each other out?what does that say? it says, to me, a few things:1) the spy system is not doing anything useful, if it 'needs' neighbors and regular people to turn each other in2) if you really think that an 'average neighbor' is QUALIFIED to judge situations well enough to 'phone it in on someone', what happens when they are wrong? what happens if they SWATTED you and your dog was shot for some no-knock warrant that was served ONLY because some nosey busybody didn't understand your lifestyle?I would not want to have my record dirtied by some ignorant next door neighbor.but really, #2 is about keeping us in pepetual fear. when you turn up the volume and tell people that terrorists are hiding in every nook and cranny, you get shit like this where people fly off the handle over nothing.I don't want any neighbors being deputized, officially or unofficially. the ones in authority are not even well qualified to make judgement calls, what makes you think J Random Neighbor is any more qualified?maybe we need to remind ourselves of the not-too-distant past where 'communists are hiding under every bed', ready to pounce.we should bring back 'duck and cover' too. its works as well, keeping everyone scared, which suits the government's Agenda Of Fear(tm).

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 06:14:37 pm
content: Hmm, I will be flying next week. Perhaps I should dig out one of my old textbooks to read on the plane and start working out some Fourier transforms..... if algebra looks like 'terrorism' what will they think of integrals and matrix math?Now if I only actually still remembered how to do it...

author: 3db
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 07:08:38 pm
content: Quote from: blueskull on May 09, 2016, 01:39:10 amHe's the Pilot !!I think it's fair to say that he should be capable of gathering some information and making a judgment of the threat posed by equations.It could have been sorted out quickly with a bit of common sense.The woman is a moron.If the pilot can't decide this what the hell would he do if he has problems with the aircraft ?3DB

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 08:00:04 pm
content: Quote from: linux-works on May 09, 2016, 04:23:16 pmLW, Here it is in an ABC pieceBTW, with all due respect, your post is full of fallacies.

author: rolycat
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 08:43:38 pm
content: Quote from: zapta on May 09, 2016, 08:00:04 pmSo the 'evidence' from that ABC report is that most neighbours thought they were normal and friendly but someone noticed a number of packages being delivered and some work going on in a garage.Based on that metric, an awful lot of forum members are prime terror suspects and need to be turned in to the authorities immediately.Not only do we tend to receive frequent packages, often with funny foreign writing on them, but we typically spend a lot of time in sheds and garages building suspicious looking boxes full of wires and circuits.It's easy to be wise after the event. Particularly if you are a right-wing website desperate to make the racist garbage spewed by Trump and his idiot followers look less vile.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 08:52:13 pm
content: Quote from: rolycat on May 09, 2016, 08:43:38 pmOh snap, I had a chance being put behind bars a few times during the last week alone.

author: edy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 09:04:40 pm
content: Quote from: rrinker on May 09, 2016, 06:14:37 pmI'm planning on bringing some Fractals and Chaos theory books along... I better watch out who I sit next to!Plus I am getting stuff delivered in brown paper and plastic packages, wrapped in tape, with foreign languages scrawled all over them full of bits and pieces of strange looking hardware too.

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 09:36:45 pm
content: I am so sick of the uneducated masses causing so much trouble for everyone else. It is exactly what the rich and corporations want. Panic and fear makes the rich richer. Fear is the control of the masses. Always has been, always will be.The person who caused this panic should be FORCED to be educated, take a math class or two, take a class on scientific method. The people who followed up on her complaint and continued to make a mess for everyone else on that plane should be fired, their bosses fired, and all of them forced to watch, read and listen to every Sam Harris, Dan Dennett, Richard Dawkins and Richard Hitchens podcast/video/book that was ever published.The rich assholes win, the terrorists win, and we get dumber. As long as people are willing to believe the BS being shoved down their throats by commercials, alert levels, religion, and all the time being told they are better people for following this line of brain washing, the 0.1% ( less) win.Stop being sheeple people. Read, learn, question. Oops, that gets you killed in may places in the world or it means you won't want to have your three monster SUVs to pick up your children from the school every day, 1/2km away.Everyone on that plane should have refused to get off the plane and forced the idiots who "controlled" the situation to be fired.Maybe instead of education, the idiots who caused the problem and continued it should be forced to watch all of the speeches of Trump since he became a media clown.Oh sorry, did I rant?

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 10:03:58 pm
content: Quote from: rolycat on May 09, 2016, 08:43:38 pmName calling is a sure way to dodge an honest discussion.False positive come at a cost and so are false negatives. Striking reasonable balance between them is not that straight forward.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 10:20:12 pm
content: "Plus I am getting stuff delivered in brown paper and plastic packages, wrapped in tape, with foreign languages scrawled all over them full of bits and pieces of strange looking hardware too."You stand a very good chance of winning the Darwin award.Sometimes people are simply too smart for their own good.

author: SkyMaster
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 10:46:36 pm
content: Quote from: ajb on May 09, 2016, 12:17:06 am"Pretty quickly" led to a two hours flight delay.Since when working on differential equation is suspicious?Most flight crews are not engineers but they shown have known better.All the "airport security" that we have in North America is a farce. It is just a smoke screen to make people believe that everything is under control and safe.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 10:59:45 pm
content: The woman has the right to voice her fear, however irrational that fear may be to others.Once that fear is expressed, the crew has the obligation to investigate and evaluate, and to act on their evaluation, however burdensome it may seem. That is the social contract we have.If you disagree with it, tell your politicians to change the laws and regulations. That's how a democracy is supposed to work.Condemning the poor lady for excersizing her right and the crew for executing their suties is not the right thing to do.

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 11:25:22 pm
content: All true, however it does not change the fact that she is a complete idiot for thing algebra equations looked like Arabic writing or whatever she though. God forbid she ever sit next to a chemical engineer or a particle physicist who likes to work while on the plane.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 11:38:39 pm
content: QuoteIf you don't know what she thought of "algebra equations" look like, it is probably idiotic to call her a "complete idiot".As a frequent flyer, I would rather she raise her concerns and have the situation looked at, rather than the other way around and having to deal with a tragedy one day because people were fearful for being called a "complete idiot" by complete idiots.Again, stupidity isn't a crime (yet). So we should probably back off, and let the chips fall wherever they may.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 11:45:40 pm
content: Quote from: dannyf on May 09, 2016, 11:38:39 pmWhatever she thought, she is highly uneducated as minimum.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 12:12:47 am
content: QuoteSo what?no matter how "highly uneducated" she is, she has as much right as anybody else;conversely, no matter how "highly educated" you are, you don't have any more (or less) rights than she does.at least not yet.That's what "equality" and "equal protection" mean.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 01:00:38 am
content: Quote from: dannyf on May 10, 2016, 12:12:47 amAnd that's regrettable side of democracy. Any incurable idiot has the same rights as the smartest people. Because of this, governments always consist of shameless talkers whose only intention is to hide all of the growing problems under the carpet and pass them to the next government to deal with.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 01:10:45 am
content: QuoteThere is a considerable difference between "incurable idiots" and "highly uneducated", as well as "the smartest" and "highly educated".Not too long ago, a few individuals won the nobel prize by making that point loud and clear.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 01:58:49 am
content: Quote from: zapta on May 09, 2016, 03:57:35 pmThe price for civil liberty.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 02:21:22 am
content: I might take my copy of The Making Of The Atomic Bomb on my next flight

author: Fsck
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 02:22:45 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on May 10, 2016, 02:21:22 amamericans really don't like bomb jokes. but it could make for an incredibly amusing video.

author: edy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 02:28:56 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on May 10, 2016, 02:21:22 amJust don't apply your motto "Don't turn it on, take it apppaaarrrrtttt" on the in-flight entertainment system.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 05:14:59 am
content: Quote from: Brumby on May 10, 2016, 01:58:49 am.. or the price of being naive and politically correct.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 05:30:20 am
content: Quote from: zapta on May 10, 2016, 05:14:59 amIndeed.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 06:03:09 am
content: Back in the day,my Boss was the "Broadcast Operations Manager".We used to fly across the State on Emergency repair or Maintenance runs for remote TV & Broadcast sites.We would often refer to the "BOM" during conversation----nobody turned a hair!We also sent by Airfreight (often on the same flight we were on),several large "Roadcases" full of Test Gear,& one with Soldering irons,& other useful tools--this included spraycans of CRC.2.25.Imagine the reaction these days!!

author: Kilrah
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 07:18:09 am
content: Quote from: edy on May 10, 2016, 02:28:56 amI nearly did that on my last flight a week ago, given the darn thing was brokenFlaky network connection apparently, I was pleasantly surprised to see the thing was designed to handle those gracefully by switching into a "lite" offline mode where you still have basic data and environmental control and it would regularly ask you to switch back to full mode likely when connection was restored, but unfortunately while that worked it was only to fail again a couple of minutes later.I've seen some reboot and show the standard linux startup log quite a number of times over the years. Never saw someone freeak out becasue of it though...

author: BillyD
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 08:07:27 am
content: Quote from: dannyf on May 09, 2016, 10:20:12 pmWhat's the connection between getting the packages, etc and a Darwin award?

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 09:06:52 am
content: While the economist "was up to no good." with any formula, rather than breaking the entire world econimy (they do that sometimes). I really think that common sense is not so common anymore.But i have taken electronics into my cabin baggage. Even exposed PCB, Arduino with a bunch of shields. Every time it was pulled for security inspection. But you know, I will open source blow up my underwear??? I was working on code while on an airplane the other flight, reviewing code on my laptop, and noone suspected that I'm going to hijack the plane or hack the on flight payment system to get a free smoothie.So where is the line? We probably should not solder on the flight, or even dick around with electronics, because we can stab ourselves. But can we at least peacefully work?

author: nogood
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 10:20:35 am
content: Quote from: zapta on May 10, 2016, 05:14:59 amHow is that true ? Barely anyone noticed anything and those who did noticed packages and noise.So basically it comes down to: People doing things = not suspicious vs. "Brown" people doing the things = suspicious, or what ?Good thing that you can always differentiate between Muslim extremists and someone with Italian heritage or anyone from southern /south eastern parts of Europe right ? Otherwise that would not only be racist but pretty much inefficient and useless (see the amount of people fitting that description).There are reasons why politics stuff is banned on forums...

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 12:10:23 pm
content: QuoteThe kind of "brown" people you are talking about here are actually considered whites.Quotewe have seen the days when crimes were largely committed by people with italian heritage or other european heritage, and they were dealt with differentially as well. It is about fighting the crimes / hate not about fighting the ethnicity.

author: ciccio
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 12:17:12 pm
content: Quote from: Mechanical Menace on May 08, 2016, 05:40:03 pmI cannot understand when this happened, but I believe they must carry the newspaper in justice for financial compensation.I cannot be a supporter of free press when the press is stupid (at least).

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 01:33:46 pm
content: People got a little suspicious of me because I drilled a hole in my PC-AT at work and ran a Morse code training program with headphones on as I was writing random alphanumeric characters down. That was 29 years ago. I only did it for one hour each lunchtime for 2 weeks after which I could do 14 WPM RX when passed my full call exams. These days most people are completely ignorant of ham radio and Morse Code, especially immigrant engineers and fresh Australian graduates who have absolutely no idea.In Australia, all suspicious activity is encouraged to be reported. If I travelled on a train decoding Morse messages wearing a backpack, I would probably be detained by the authorities for questioning over suspicious activities. If it were in London, I would be shot in the head at point blank range by the Metropolitan Police and then questioned later.Well, with Cressida Dick running the show, that is.

author: dmills
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 01:37:09 pm
content: Quote from: Mechanical Menace on May 08, 2016, 05:40:03 pmWhat made this incident even more wonderful, was that just a few days previously, the wonderfully satirical magazine "Private Eye" had published a cartoon on exactly this premise.For context, there was a moral panic largely courtesy of the 'news'paper the "News of the world" (It is a newspaper in the sense of being a pile of paper with ink on it), following a particularly nasty child murder, and there had been some vigilante attacks.Regards, Dan.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 01:59:16 pm
content: QuoteThe similarity is the on the downside of ignorance.However, the lady on the flight didn't take the matter into her own hands and instead approached the right authorities about her concerns.Very different from the other folks in the guardian story.

author: rolycat
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 02:05:57 pm
content: Quote from: dmills on May 10, 2016, 01:37:09 pmHappily the News of the World is no longer a newspaper in any sense. It was axed by Rupert Murdoch in 2011 following the phone hacking scandal.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 11, 2016, 08:59:43 am
content: Hindsight is always 20/20.Had the woman complained and the crew did nothing, and something happened on the plane... it would be all over the news about how the imbecile flight crew allowed it to happen and abrogated their duty of care and diligence.Also, for people saying the crew were foolish for bothering to investigate - we don't know specifically what the woman said. How are the flight crew to know her qualifications? For all they know, she has some knowledge on the subject and recognized something troubling in the math.And at the end of the day, the only logical process is to investigate the claim and let the people who know what they are doing handle it. Yeah, that takes time and is a hassle, but it seems to happen very rarely so events like these continue to be "one in a million" type situations rather than everyday stuff.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 11, 2016, 09:18:05 am
content: Quote from: Corporate666 on May 11, 2016, 08:59:43 amWhat I see, USA is becoming not better than Soviet Union in it's worst times. Police state, non ending propaganda on TV, reporting your neighbors becomes something praiseworthy.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2016, 10:59:53 am
content: "What I see, USA is becoming not better than Soviet Union in it's worst times. Police state, non ending propaganda on TV, reporting your neighbors becomes something praiseworthy."The beauty of a free society is that no matter how idiotic, irrational or irrelevant others may think of your perception of the USA is, you still have the right to hold and voice that view.The same right should be extend to that lady, no matter how idiotic, irrational or irrelevant you may think her concerns are.

author: 3db
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2016, 11:15:23 am
content: "Something troubling in the math."I don't think anyone is questioning the womans right to be a moron.The main point in my opinion is that the pilot should have had the senseto realise that there was NO threat.AFTER ALL, WE DO KNOW THAT THERE WAS NO THREAT.3DB

author: tenthirds
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 11, 2016, 05:37:33 pm
content: Quote from: vk6zgo on May 10, 2016, 06:03:09 amAnd don't forget to never abbreviate "Bill of Materials" in normal conversation...

author: jitter
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2016, 06:22:10 pm
content: Quote from: tenthirds on May 11, 2016, 05:37:33 pmHilarious:But a little more seriously, I can understand wraper's sentiments towards the USA right now. Another Hollywood example that couldn't have put it any better how some of us might view the USA today:

author: GK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2016, 01:06:02 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on May 10, 2016, 02:21:22 amI think you'd potentially cause more people discomfort by bring along this book; by the same author, believe it or not.https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/09/19/specials/rhodes-love.html

author: rolycat
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2016, 02:42:48 pm
content: Quote from: GK on May 13, 2016, 01:06:02 pmThat's a very British review of what sounds like a very American book.Many citizens of the USA seem to have a generous inclination to share every detail of their lives with the general public. (This may have reached its apotheosis with the invention of social media, which has now infected every corner of the planet.)It's perhaps not too surprising that this particular example offends the refined sensibilities of a luminary of the British literary establishment.

author: GK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2016, 02:47:35 pm
content: Quote from: daqq on May 09, 2016, 04:20:11 amOh come on now; compared to the airline incident that or stories like it is hardly noteworthy news. Routine acts of mass murder committed by the most vile form of pious bigots imaginable aren't going to cause any lefty moral-retards to flinch, let alone go off on any unholy rants about what is truly right and wrong.As Islamofascism is obviously an excusable response to Western interventionism for which we should all be profoundly sensitive and apologetic, the true evil here is clearly everything that is embodied in the behavior of this silly (presumably Christian, white-supremacist and Donald Trump supporting) woman who caused such (barely newsworthy) chaos as having delayed one of 30,000-odd daily American passenger flights by a few hours. Yes, Islamofascists might be butchering infidels and apostates the world over, but it's dumb American Christian women who are sending society to hell in a handbasket!A bit strident, but on the money w.r.t. the moral retardation typical of the left:http://quillette.com/2016/05/05/free-speech-and-islam-the-left-betrays-the-most-vulnerable/Probably the most level-headed characterization of a typical Donald Trump supporter that I've read so far:http://quillette.com/2016/03/26/the-rise-of-donald-trump/

author: GK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2016, 02:53:50 pm
content: Quote from: rolycat on May 13, 2016, 02:42:48 pmHave you ever watched an English TV show calledEmbarrassing Bodies? ? ? ? ?I'll take re-runs ofThe Jerry Springer Showover full-screen close-ups of your countrymen's rotten teeth, aresholes and dangly bits any day of the week, thank you very much!

author: rolycat
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2016, 03:48:51 pm
content: Quote from: GK on May 13, 2016, 02:53:50 pmThese days British popular culture is as obsessed with celebrity, exhibitionism and vulgarity as that of any other Western country.However, I am not a fan of either programme, and I suspect that neither is Martin Amis.

author: Mechanical Menace
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2016, 04:27:12 pm
content: Quote from: GK on May 13, 2016, 02:47:35 pmFunny that they don't cause "lefty moral-retards to flinch" when the post you responded to linked one of them as the source and they are the only ones who call out most vile form of pious Christian, Jewish, Buddhist and, Hindu bigots for their acts terrorism too while everyone else refuses to call them terrorists or admit they are motivated by their faith.Want to see "political correctness gone mad?" Watch Faux News when they can't avoid reporting today's Christian right wing terrorist mass shooting. Where are the moderates fighting against that sort of thing?..FFS you can't get any more right wing than a religious bigot of any faith, so how come their actions are always the fault of left wingers and centrists?

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2016, 03:44:37 am
content: Quote from: Mechanical Menace on May 13, 2016, 04:27:12 pmThat intentional misspelling is childish.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 14, 2016, 05:50:58 am
content: Quote from: rolycat on May 13, 2016, 03:48:51 pmWhile I don't claim there aren't people like that in Australia, I think the appeal of 'exhibitionism' and 'vulgarity' is far less here - and even though 'celebrity' obsession is present, I don't believe it is quite as extreme.

author: GK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2016, 08:34:51 am
content: Quote from: Mechanical Menace on May 13, 2016, 04:27:12 pmErr, I wasn't taking aim at Dawkins and co and if you identify significantly with my outline of a "lefty moral-retard" then that, I must say, is unfortunate. However it is true that when it comes to politics in general Dawkins is a reliable buffoon, but that is an entirely different topic.The rest of your post is just head-stuck-in-rear gibberish. You might want to pay attention to a few of the most important/repressed voices on the issues of human rights today and to the agencies that generally provide for them a free platform to speak, as opposed to those that, for purely ideological reasons, unconscionably and tirelessly work to defame, silence and ridicule them.