Watch Your Games/Gadget/PSP Addiction

sUnShInE · 08-25-2006, 11:30 AM

Just ran across this story on Digg about a dude sitting in his car in downtown DC playing with his PSP who gets accused of terrorist activity.

All I can say is that I'm totally embarrassed to live in DC right now.

johnnaryry · 08-26-2006, 11:48 PM

Wow! Thanks for the 'heads-up', I guess any kind of public handheld might be seen as suspicious by some...

--ryan

Bob Russell · 08-27-2006, 07:06 AM

That's unfortunate. I guess that sort of thing will happen anywhere police are nervous about illegal or dangerous activity. Probably all the more with someone parked near a federal building in DC in this current climate, using what looks like a communication device. They probably thought he was potentially the mastermind of some terror plot, and coordinating it with the PSP! And I suppose they will get all the more nervous when they see something they just don't understand or looks like it doesn't fit.

When I was in high school and grew my first (very scraggly) beard, I was driving next to a lake in my mom's car. I was stopped for a violation. The policeman was questioning me about stuff and said something about a problem with my front license plate. When he asked for license and registration, I started to reach for the glove compartment, he stopped me in the fear I was reaching for a gun. He asked me if that was pot in the middle console between the seats. (It was some cracker crumbs my mom had left, and had not cleaned out yet!) I finally insisted that I wanted to see the problem, and he walked to the front of the car with me and said something like "Huh, seems to look alright from close up." And then he let me go!

But I really attribute it to the fact that they had been having a problem with drug dealers in the area, and the fact that I looked pretty shady with that beard. Before I grew the beard, people would trust me for anything, and watchmen would let me into buildings, etc. etc. After the beard, people would look suspiciously at me for the simplest things. I'm sure the cops were just trying to protect the area from problems, and as long as they didn't waste too much of my time, lock me up or beat me up, I guess that's not a huge inconvenience. It's just too bad it's so hard to tell the bad guys from the innocent.

But it didn't take long for me to ditch the beard!

johnnaryry · 08-29-2006, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Russell

But it didn't take long for me to ditch the beard!

Unfortunately, I can't ditch being black and Native American. If I had a dollar for every time I've been stopped and questioned (and even detained) for "DWB ", I could buy everyone here a new LifeDrive...

--ryan

NatCh · 08-29-2006, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnnaryry

...I could buy everyone here a new LifeDrive....

Hey, now, no need to get nasty.

doctorow · 08-29-2006, 09:50 AM

Sarcastic humor, but I like it ;-) Let's see, a Palm LifeDrive is ~ $400, so buying every member here (~6'000) would cost around $2.4M. That's quite a lot!

08-25-2006, 11:30 AM	#1
sUnShInE Drama Queen Posts: 784 Karma: 11712 Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: United States Device: Palm Tungsten T\|T3	Watch Your Games/Gadget/PSP Addiction Just ran across this story on Digg about a dude sitting in his car in downtown DC playing with his PSP who gets accused of terrorist activity. All I can say is that I'm totally embarrassed to live in DC right now.

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08-26-2006, 11:48 PM	#2
johnnaryry Connoisseur Posts: 84 Karma: 194 Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Lexington KY, USA Device: 64GB Apple iPad 3 WiFi, 32GB Apple iPhone 4S	Wow! Thanks for the 'heads-up', I guess any kind of public handheld might be seen as suspicious by some... --ryan

08-27-2006, 07:06 AM	#3
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	That's unfortunate. I guess that sort of thing will happen anywhere police are nervous about illegal or dangerous activity. Probably all the more with someone parked near a federal building in DC in this current climate, using what looks like a communication device. They probably thought he was potentially the mastermind of some terror plot, and coordinating it with the PSP! And I suppose they will get all the more nervous when they see something they just don't understand or looks like it doesn't fit. When I was in high school and grew my first (very scraggly) beard, I was driving next to a lake in my mom's car. I was stopped for a violation. The policeman was questioning me about stuff and said something about a problem with my front license plate. When he asked for license and registration, I started to reach for the glove compartment, he stopped me in the fear I was reaching for a gun. He asked me if that was pot in the middle console between the seats. (It was some cracker crumbs my mom had left, and had not cleaned out yet!) I finally insisted that I wanted to see the problem, and he walked to the front of the car with me and said something like "Huh, seems to look alright from close up." And then he let me go! But I really attribute it to the fact that they had been having a problem with drug dealers in the area, and the fact that I looked pretty shady with that beard. Before I grew the beard, people would trust me for anything, and watchmen would let me into buildings, etc. etc. After the beard, people would look suspiciously at me for the simplest things. I'm sure the cops were just trying to protect the area from problems, and as long as they didn't waste too much of my time, lock me up or beat me up, I guess that's not a huge inconvenience. It's just too bad it's so hard to tell the bad guys from the innocent. But it didn't take long for me to ditch the beard!

08-29-2006, 09:50 AM	#6
doctorow Guru Posts: 914 Karma: 3410461 Join Date: May 2004 Device: Kindle Touch	Sarcastic humor, but I like it ;-) Let's see, a Palm LifeDrive is ~ $400, so buying every member here (~6'000) would cost around $2.4M. That's quite a lot!

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