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Macbook Saves Man's Life During Fort Lauderdale Airport Shooting (chron.com)
A 37-year-old credits his MacBook Pro laptop with saving his life during a shooting at the baggage claim of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. An anonymous reader quotes WPLG Miami:
He placed it in his backpack, but didn't think of it when he felt an impact on his back during the shooting... When the bloodshed was over, he said he went to the men's restroom and saw a bullet hole on the laptop. He gave it to FBI agents. And he was in shock when they found a 9 mm bullet in his backpack. That was when he realized a gunman aimed to kill him, but the laptop took the bullet for him. "If I didn't have that backpack on, the bullet would have shot me between the shoulders," Frappier said.
Good thing he didn't have the new MBP - would have been too thin to stop the bullet...
I've often thought the metal on the MacBook Pro was thick enough to stop or seriously slow a bullet...
Where are all you Ive haters now? Six feet under, that's where.
On a side note, it shows why you always make sure you have a full backup before traveling...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
For those that didn't read the article or summary, apparently the gunman hated the new MacBook Pro so much that he shot that instead of the man.
The news organization (see the video in relevant link) correctly pointed out it's a Laptop, not a "macbook" which they can't verify since it doesn't even connect to iTunes anymore. Advertising for Apple would give them an air of impropriety, not that /. knows anything about it.
Didn't he know you can only put Apple approved bullets in a Mac? Same as regular bullets, but a proprietary shape and size, double the price, and needs a dongle to connect to the shell.
It are the same kind of (bullshit)stories as the deck of cards stopping the bullet, or the cigarette case stopping the bullet, or the bible stopping the bullet.
How many other people at the airport which got shot did have their macbook with them and didn't get the chance to use it as a shield?
bash$
Sure - anyone would feel safer with one of the older, thicker MacBooks on their back. But to face a gunman with only a paper-thin new MacBook? That takes courage. And at Apple we will always have the courage to take those risks for you.
TC
It are the same kind of (bullshit)stories as the deck of cards stopping the bullet..,
How is it bullshit if it worked?
What the MacBook has over most of those items is a greater area it offers protection for.
How many other people at the airport which got shot did have their macbook with them and didn't get the chance to use it as a shield?
Probably most, but think of it this way - it offers a concrete reason to sling your backpack over your back if you are running away from a shooting (or slinging it in front of you if you are running towards one).
It might even save someone life hearing this story if they think to do the same in the future...
I've often wondered if it would be a good idea to have a backpack made from kevlar... apparently that is a real thing (I espceially like how the results include a QuickClot bandage in case you go too cheap).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
a direct shot with a 9mm at reasonable range would mean they were surgically removing macbook pro bits from the bullet wound on his shoulder/back
It was only handgun ammunition probably from a good distance, and it's not like we have not seen a MacBook stop a bullet before...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Impacts with objects decelerate projectiles. Hardly news.
And here I thought Oracle was supposed to be "bulletproof". {rimshot}
No need to thank me, just throw money!
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
A man credited the bible he always carried for one day saving his life by stopping a stray bullet. Religious zealots repeated the story ad nauseam as a potential benefit to new recruits "one day it may save your life too"
The new one requires a dongle....
It still comes with a reality distortion field as standard equipment.
CNN cropped out the ISIS finger salute and Jihad scarf from the Fort Lauderdale attacker's picture, and made it black and white. FAKE NEWS! Photo proof here.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
"If I didn't have that [laptop there], the bullet would have shot me between the shoulders,"
I've often thought the metal on the MacBook Pro was thick enough to stop or seriously slow a bullet...
Where are all you Ive haters now? Six feet under, that's where.
On a side note, it shows why you always make sure you have a full backup before traveling...
On another side note, this guy just voluntarily gave the FBI his laptop. Now they can rifle through his files and see if he's likely to have committed any crimes.
If he hasn't, and if there's nothing personal or interesting on his laptop he's OK, but they might just start a file on him and squirrel away the data for later use, "just in case".
He might have thought to remove the hard drive before giving it to them, but you tend not to think of these things in a tense situation.
maybe it went through something else first or he was far away because I am pretty sure that my 9mm would go through that like butter....
Seriously, did we have to hear the exact brand and type? A solid object that happened to be a laptop in a backpack is what stopped the bullet. In fact, a textbook or a small stack of magazines would have stopped the bullet equally as well. -_-
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
They could fix the issue by applying some dragon skin around the shell. That might even be a design point for other reasons. Form and function, always together is the better.
Now, had he had a Nokia with him, the bullet would have been bounced back to the shooter, and he would have been hailed as a hero!
Whenever I read a story like this it makes me consider getting one of those bulletproof clipboards to put in my bag, or get one of those bags with a Kevlar liner.
It also makes me think of how we've disarmed good people in "gun free" zones so that they cannot defend themselves against someone that violated that law on not bringing in guns. I'm glad that people are waking up to this and arming school staff, allowing armed citizens into more places, removing impediments to firearm ownership. It saddens me though that we need to see shootings like this make the news for the change to happen.
With Republicans in control of the government we can expect shootings like this not to be more prevalent but to make the news more often. We don't hear about shootings in Chicago, partly because it's not news any more and partly because the people there keep voting Democrat. If we had an honest news media then we'd have seen a much larger margin in the US elections. I attribute many of the Republican wins to alternative media, which has gained so much more readership since the last election.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
Actually, they should buy a Lenovo, which would be thicker AND cheaper, and do a better job saving lives
Now his nightmare begins; trying to get a replacement from the school he works for and not getting charged for breaking it.
...laptop won't boot, man ditches laptop during flight
Man reads slashdot item re Apple in decline. Smiles permanently.
Am I the only one to sense that the OP was subliminally hinting that had it been a Chromebook, Dell or an Asus, (not to even think of what might have been different with a Microsoft Surface) the owner might not have been so lucky...?
And if this was not the intent, why did they have to use the laptop's brand in the title rather than just say it was a portable computer of some sort with an aluminum body?
IBM keyboards have been able to stop bullets for about 40 years now.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
and the bullet stopped at the signature of Steve Wozniak on the inside of the case.
So what. A thinkpad might have saved his life. Or a hardcover book. Or just about anything one might find in a backpack. This isn't some testament to the quality of macs.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
They've always suspected body-armor — if you have one, you must be up to no good. And laptops always took extra scrutiny of their own — easy to conceal a bomb in one.
Now it is going to be double-trouble for anyone traveling with it...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
This is why I should purchase extended warranties.
"Love is a familiar; Love is a devil: there is no evil angel but Love." --William Shakespeare ('Love's Labors Lost')
Really this just demonstrates the only good use for a macbook.
This actually isn't the only such story from this particular incident.
Although the police haven't admitted it yet, eyewitnesses reported the situation was neutralized when a single heroic bystander lobbed his Note 7 at the gunman. He was incapacitated by the resulting explosion, allowing the police to quickly make an arrest.
I wasn't a danger to anyone. They still locked me up till I stopped making with the crazy talk.
I thought Lenovo switched to just using plastic for the chassis?
I'm starting to think GNU is the problem with "GNU/Linux" these days.
Shit, should have invested in a Toughbook. Or will plastic's viscosity slow bullet down to survivable speeds?
New MacBook continues to take flak...
Tempted to say: "and nothing of value was lost".
On the other hand, looks like we finally found a use for Mac hardware!
(I have on my asbestos underpants...waiting for the Apple fans to show up...)
Comment removed based on user account deletion
wtf noob, there are no "upvotes" on /.
Someone needs to remind Apple they're in the business of making computers.
Well, perhaps they're not. It's all consumer electronics nowadays and with recent iterations that means the Macs as well. Say what you will about OS X and Apple's marketing before, but Macs *were* computers.
And back then, Pro meant pro. It meant something you could switch out the RAM on, upgrade the storage on, connect a bunch of shit to [without dongles], etc. The style crowd at Apple may not comprehend this, but people still want to do all of that.
Oh, and some of us crazy ones want actual touchscreens... like the Windows users.
Saved his life and trashed the MacBook
I guess he's lucky the bullet didn't short the lithium ion battery and cause a fire...
...the prosecution plans to use the gunman's slaughter of a Macbook as proof that he's sane enough to stand trial.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
If there's any consolation be glad we no longer have insane asylums.
Praise the Saint Steve Jobs. A miracle, I tell ya, a true miracle!
I might buy 2 macbooks, one for the back, and another for the torso.
Fun fact, handing over his computer, though evidence, is a consent to search; this also includes handing your phone to police with the "Geico Insurance App." The FBI looks through his hard drive...soooooo much porn. ðY
For those that didn't read the article or summary, apparently the gunman hated the new MacBook Pro so much that he shot that instead of the man.
Airports... One of the few places on Earth where the Apples' are separated from the fan boys, BAM! the distorted anodised aluminium body of a Macbook Pro slams to the floor, a T420 preloaded with linux thrust into the shaking hands of the owner by the gunman, BAM! the spindly casing of a MacBook Air splits into layers and cartwheels down the x-ray conveyor belt like paper plates, a Dell XPS 13 is dropped into the now empty tray, BAM! BAM! BAM! a myriad of traumatised fan-boys litter airport security clutching their replacements in the fetal position, conflicted with the void of their precious and the strange non aluminium chassis of their new device.
This is what happens to your brain after being exposed to South Park for too long.
The shooter was going after Macbook users.
Who was shot on the way to giving a speech as a candidate of the Bull Moose Party, the bullet was slowed by the pages of the speech in his pocket, but Teddy still gave a more than an hour speech, saying that he was shortening it a bit, as the blood loss was making him faint. Most of the pages were still readable, albeit blood covered. Colt .38 cal revolver from 4-5 ft away.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-speech-that-saved-teddy-roosevelts-life-83479091/
The shooter, just as the case here, had some mental illness issues.
Let's see you give that powerpoint (excuse me Apple Keynote) presentation after your macbook stops the bullet. Or will it just be an online Prezi?
Flight UA 93 was everyone dead, but on the good side their bravery prevented a bigger tragedy.
Now think about this when you're about to buy some of this crappy plastic made windows laptops.
Shit, if it had been my laptop it would have taken the bullet and still be in working condition.
First time a Mac has ever been used for anything useful.
So what you're sayin is that Steve Jobs came down from heaven and stopped these motherfuckin bullets?
"Get a Mac."
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
Replace his MacBook for free, with an upgrade even.
Hang the damaged one, framed, in an Apple Store or in the Apple Campus at Cupertino captions "A Macbook can save your life."
Chear PR and good PR at the price.
People need to stop getting bullet theory from movies, you might stop a .22, but even a 9mm will penetrate the average school textbook.
The Macbook didn't stop a bullet fired at him, what it did was catch a bullet that had ricocheted off of one or two things first. This is how cards and Bibles and cigarette lighters and such have been doing it for generations.
High end Thinkpads still use magnesium last I saw, only the cheaper went plastic.
It's hardly a bullet stopper, and should it ignite you have a new problem.
Doesn't matter, a typical laptop will not stop a directed shot at you, the Mac caught a ricochet.