Ivy League economist ethnically profiled, interrogated for doing math on American Airlines flight

tracecom

Joined Apr 16, 2010
3,944
I had previously read that article, and wondered if the woman's suspicions arose more from the math or from the man's social ineptitude. It's a shame that she mistook calculus for a foreign language, but to many of us, one is as inscrutable as the other. A simple "hello" and a smile from the academic might have told her all she wanted to know about him. Having said that, I do agree that the "See something, say something" doctrine is dangerous to personal liberty, and I wonder how much good it really does.
 

Thread Starter

bertus

Joined Apr 5, 2008
22,270
Hello,

I know that scientists, engineers and other technical people can be not the most social types.
I often have to do work for and with those in my job.
Some are very focused on their work.
(I also have sometimes the urge to do so).

Bertus
 

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
Easy.

In the movies anyone who does a bunch of scribbly stuff that sort of resembles math but has more of the alphabet and some long dead hieroglyphics symbols in it than actual numbers is making a bomb or weapon of mass destruction because at some point all that scribbly gobbledygook just magically transforms into a solid tangible device of some sort before the movie ends. :rolleyes:
 

jpanhalt

Joined Jan 18, 2008
11,087
Easy.

In the movies anyone who does a bunch of scribbly stuff that sort of resembles math but has more of the alphabet and some long dead hieroglyphics symbols in it than actual numbers is making a bomb or weapon of mass destruction because at some point all that scribbly gobbledygook just magically transforms into a solid tangible device of some sort before the movie ends. :rolleyes:
Have you ever seen shorthand from a real secretary (now "assistant")? I always wrote notes to myself in a somewhat undefined script, but to my secretary, I tried my best to use English. That woman on the airplane is crazy and a xenophobe. I can't understand why she is being characterized as the victim.

John
 
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