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Man found 'living in airport for three months' over Covid fears

bbc.com

81–90 of 90 posts

Re: Man found 'living in airport for three months' over Covid fears

#81
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Depends on interpretation of >> an unauthorised, non-employee individual was allegedly living within a secure part of the O'Hare airport terminal No, it doesn't depend on intepretation. There is absolutely no way you could interpret that sentence as meaning "he used a stolen badge to get into areas not open to the public". He may or may not have accessed additional areas, but the article certainly does not claim he…

Apparently it does depend on interpretation since we're having this disagreement. There can't be absolutely no way to interpret in that way, since that's how I interpreted it. Perhaps you're right, & there's absolutely no way I exist

Funny :D In all seriousness though, if we detach these two claims:

Claim A: The man used the stolen ID to access additional areas besides the arrival area.

Claim B: The article claims that claim A is true.

Do you genuinely believe that claim B is true? If you say "yes", I will concede and accept that the article can be interpreted that way. Otherwise I will assume that there was some confusion between claim A and claim B.

Re: Man found 'living in airport for three months' over Covid fears

#82
post #10

Poor guy must be living a life riddled with anxiety. Also, an airport is about the last place I'd want to be in the middle of a pandemic

a defense of temporary insanity seems reasonable to me. Otherwise they're going to have to establish another motive. And I bet any other motive will still have a reasonable doubt.

Re: Man found 'living in airport for three months' over Covid fears

#83
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently it does depend on interpretation since we're having this disagreement. There can't be absolutely no way to interpret in that way, since that's how I interpreted it. Perhaps you're right, & there's absolutely no way I exist

Funny :D In all seriousness though, if we detach these two claims: Claim A: The man used the stolen ID to access additional areas besides the arrival area. Claim B: The article claims that claim A is true. Do you genuinely believe that claim B is true? If you say "yes", I will concede and accept that the article can be interpreted that way. Otherwise I will assume that there was some confusion between claim A and cla…

The issue is I considered "secured area" to be non public areas as opposed to "place people wait to board flights after security". Presumably he went through security so I wouldn't consider that penetrating a secured area unless he had items on him which shouldn't get through security. Part of this is due to me being over zealous in attempting to piece together why he'd steal a badge

Overall just affirms that I'd need to see case details to know anything. Hence I started out saying "sounds like" to signal my uncertainty

Re: Man found 'living in airport for three months' over Covid fears

#84
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am sure he stole the badge because he just enjoys collecting quirky things.

The most likely explanation for stealing the badge is that it provides cover for hanging out in the arrivals area 24/7. The article claims that the man stayed in an "area" (as in, a single area, rather than multiple areas). Have you ever been to an airport? They typically have security cameras everywhere. You don't think the investigation would have caught him walking into the flight control HQ to perform evil maid a…

No, I’ve never been to an airport. Could you condescendingly tell me more about them?

Re: Man found 'living in airport for three months' over Covid fears

#85
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The most likely explanation for stealing the badge is that it provides cover for hanging out in the arrivals area 24/7. The article claims that the man stayed in an "area" (as in, a single area, rather than multiple areas). Have you ever been to an airport? They typically have security cameras everywhere. You don't think the investigation would have caught him walking into the flight control HQ to perform evil maid a…

No, I’ve never been to an airport. Could you condescendingly tell me more about them?

Sure, no problem! Airports are these places where sarcastic internet commenters can go and fly away.

Re: Man found 'living in airport for three months' over Covid fears

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it fine for the judge to say false things in the court if it's a part of the protocol?

If 'danger to the community' is a term of art that sets a standard for imprisonment/bail, then it's not so cut and dried as to say that the guy seems harmless so the judge is lying. Clearly this guy exploited a security problem that endangers the community, and clearly he didn't physically harm anyone during his time in the airport.

Well, if "danger to the community" is a requirement to set bail, and this guy was not a danger to the community, then the judge could have simply... not required bail?

Re: Man found 'living in airport for three months' over Covid fears

#87
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny :D In all seriousness though, if we detach these two claims: Claim A: The man used the stolen ID to access additional areas besides the arrival area. Claim B: The article claims that claim A is true. Do you genuinely believe that claim B is true? If you say "yes", I will concede and accept that the article can be interpreted that way. Otherwise I will assume that there was some confusion between claim A and cla…

The issue is I considered "secured area" to be non public areas as opposed to "place people wait to board flights after security". Presumably he went through security so I wouldn't consider that penetrating a secured area unless he had items on him which shouldn't get through security. Part of this is due to me being over zealous in attempting to piece together why he'd steal a badge Overall just affirms that I'd nee…

My comment might be pedantic nitpicking, but what the heck, we've come this far...

> Hence I started out saying "sounds like" to signal my uncertainty

Yes, your original comment "sounds like X happened" was fine. I replied to that comment with "The article does not make such claims", to clarify that -- although X may have happened -- the article does not claim it did. At this point you said "Depends on interpretation", as if the article could be interpreted to claim that X happened. You explained that one might interpret "secured area" to mean area accessible only to staff. That's a plausible interpretation, I guess.

> I considered "secured area" to be non public areas as opposed to "place people wait to board flights after security"

Nitpicks:

The place where people wait to board flights after security is a non public area (it is restricted from the public; you can not enter that area unless you have a special permission to be in that area).

The area where this man lived was apparently the arrivals area (not the departure area that you're talking about). The arrivals area is also a non public area.

Re: Man found 'living in airport for three months' over Covid fears

#88
post #39
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

he lived there almost 18 years - incredible

What about this 18 stay in an airport is incredible? Incredibly sad perhaps. From reading the Wikipedia he seemed to be quite stubborn as both Belgium and France offered residency, but for whatever reason he wanted to go to Britain?

More than that, he refused to acknowledge his legal name when he was granted access. It's quite a strange story.

Re: Man found 'living in airport for three months' over Covid fears

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True normally but the airports and planes I've seen lately were deserted so it is probably pretty safe. I was on a B737 this summer with scarcely 20 people on it. The closest one was 4 rows away. But yeah poor guy.

Planes are safe because they have excellent air cleaning systems. Airports, being inside without great air circulation, are totally unsafe. Just one encounter is enough to get sick - you can't stay distanced forever.

But they have huge open spaces with really high ceilings in many cases.. There's lots of air for it to dissipate in. And they're made to handle so many passengers, only a fraction of whom are there now. When I flew around in summer you could hear a pin drop :)

I feel a lot less safe from covid in the metro or bus here even though it's not as busy as it was before, than in an airport, plane or office. Even a taxi.

Still, I'm not going to live in one though :) My house is even better.

Re: Man found 'living in airport for three months' over Covid fears

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Downvoted. I don't see why you would assume that.

Hey, to all the people downvoting my comment: the article paints a pretty clear picture that this person was staying in the arrivals area which is accessible to passengers, and the reason for his arrest and prosecution was that he was embarrassing airport security. At no point does the article claim or even hint at the possibility that the person used the stolen badge to enter other areas besides the arrivals area. S…

> So why are you just "assuming" that the person entered other areas with the badge?

Because, as far as I know, it’s not illegal to spend as long as you want in arrivals or departures. So I find it hard to believe someone would arrest him over that.

I agree we don’t know for certain based on the article.

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