peripathetic

"Don't make jokes," Student Warns
From the UK newspaper Independent:

A British student apologised yesterday for joking that she was taking three bombs on board a flight in the United States.

Speaking after she was released on bail from a Miami jail, Samantha Marson, 21, said she "wasn't thinking" when she made the comments.

Police said she told a member of the airport security staff during a baggage check: "Hey be careful, I have three bombs in here." Asked to repeat herself, she allegedly made the same statement two more times.

Ms Marson, who was arrested before boarding a London-bound British Airways flight at Miami airport on Saturday, said the claims were a "mistake" and warned other people not to make jokes.

I thought for a moment that I was reading The Onion. You can just see the treatment they'd give it: Students and other young people are to be warned against irony before boarding domestic or international flights, after lighthearted comments were heard. The departures hall was cleared as police carried out a search. A student later apologised. Cassie Gibbon, 23, said: "I was asked if my baggage could have been tampered with, and told them that it certainly could have been, at any time. I'm sorry it was so lame." A security official commented that "Air travel is a serious business. I'm serious".