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Aqua Teen Hunger Force Brings Boston to a Halt
An anonymous reader writes "An ad campaign for Aqua Teen Hunger Force featuring the Mooninites Ignignot and Err caused major security concerns in Boston, MA when magnetic light displays were mistaken for possible bombs. The displays included one of Ignignot flipping the bird (as hard as he could), but Gov. Deval Patrick was not amused."
...nerds get their pants pulled down and they are spanked with moonrocks.
Someone found one of the devices under a bridge last week and posted a few pictures to Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanderlin/tags/aquate enhungerforce/
-- Please insert another quarter
You're a fucking idiot
Actually these ads are illegal in the city of Boston. A company can't just put up bills on public buildings or structures with no permit. The 4 calls were probably due to citizens being vigilant after one of the subway lines was shut down in the morning when the first device was found. It is something to get indignant about when someone runs into your office telling you to turn on the news and the hospital where your wife works is on TV with freaking BOMB SQUAD trucks outside it. You might think its no big deal, but to many Bostonians it is a very big deal and something we're mad as hell about.
One of the articles I read said:
'Officials said it contained an electronic circuit board with some components that were "consistent with an improvised explosive device,"'
Okay, now, come on. These are really large circuit boards with a whole lot of LEDs soldered on to them. Nothing more, unless there are some other really messed up packages out there that haven't been reported on. Those officials sound like they have features consistent with smart police officers, in that they breathe and eat, but the similarities probably end there.
trying to sell it on eBay for $5,000 bucks! Unfortunately, I live in Boston (where I'm assuming all mooninites have been rounded up) but if you live in another city, go and steal yourself one! Then sell on eBay for big bucks....
0 078002362QQihZ011QQcategoryZ28009QQssPageNameZWDVW QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/Adult-Swim-LED-Ad_W0QQitemZ32
Why the hell should Ted Turner pay anything. He doesn't even own Turner Broadcasting any more, you idiot.
This is what gets me. It's well-established that despite all pretense, security (even airflight security) in the USA is poor at best. Given this, if terrorists really wanted to attack America, don't you think they would have, you know, attacked America? At all? In the last five years?
qntm.org
Bandwidth exceeded. Placed back onto YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doD_VpT_yAY
Our country is so screwed. We have a choice of two parties who are essentially the same. They both think of us as consumer units. I think the stock market bubble of the late nineties ruined our country. We went from an insane stock market bubble to a huge asset bubble combined with a huge stock market bubble. What are the powers that be going to do when all of the consumer units are all spent out, and completely saturated with debt.
Not to mention that people don't want to pay any taxes, however they want the government to protect us from the terrorists, and close any possible avenue of terrorism. That includes publicity stunts where people place light brights on overpasses. We're fucked.....
I want my rights back. I was actually using them when our government stole them after 9/11.
Sigh... A bomb...
I looked at the pics.
How many pounds of C4 (Which would be the most potent explosive you could lay hands on...) do you think you could put in there?
1?
2?
You MIGHT be able to hurt someone with it like you would with an anti-personnel mine, but damage the bridge or anything else
that would rate this sort of reaction? Nope.
In order to do something serious with the stuff- say take out armored vehicles, you'd need MUCH more than what could have
ever been deployed in something that size:
US M21 AT Mine: 11 lbs of explosive.
US M15 AT Mine: 21 lbs of explosive.
Type 72 non-metallic AT mine: 11 lbs of explosive.
AP mines have varying weights of explosive but usually it's something like 1.5-3 lbs.
To be sure, it might have been a risk if it WERE a bomb, but it didn't merit the reactions that we've seen. It's not like
a car-bomb where you might find hundreds of pounds of explosive in it...
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
1984, by George Orwell
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
The Art of Computer Programming, by Donald Knuth
There has actually been arrests made.
u spicious_devices
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070201/ap_on_re_us/s
There is a war going on for your mind.
And yet, you could check one and see that it's innocuous and then not make such a big deal about the others (though still check them).
Sure. But guess what? If you see one on a bridge and you think it's innocuous, but you still want to check them, it means you have to ***close off the roads*** for the safety of people who might be on ladders or lifts. That's pretty much what happened. It's not like the mayor ordered a mass evacuation.
I worked for a company that designed sound level meters and dosimeters. Government has many regulations to the time of day and the level of sounds that factories, aircraft and other things can produce. Our devices were purchased and used to monitor that noise creators were in compliance with regulations. The devices record events as the time, noise level and frequencies when they are over the levels (audio isn't recorded).
I do recall a story that as part of a monitoring campaign one of the devices was left strapped to a telephone pole. It was reported to the authorities and the bomb squad blew it up because it looked suspicious. It was a $5,000 device and this was maybe ten years ago - well before 2001.
Yep, you leave something in a public are expect it to be vandalized, stolen or blown up. People in charge should expect stuff to be placed or left in public places. It's the cost of doing business for both sides.
There was only 1 on a bridge/overpass, and we're not talking about an above water bridge here.
i on1.html
Link to pics of all the locations of these things: http://www.zebbler.com/friends/ATHF/mission1/miss
The thing is *obviously* not a bomb. It's a sign. It has big glowing flashing LEDs. Come on. Use your brain, people.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Peter Berdovsky, 27, of Arlington, and Sean Stevens, 28, of Charlestown, were arrested Wednesday night on one felony charge of placing a hoax device and one charge of disorderly conduct each, state Attorney General Martha Coakley said.
Boston Globe
Seriously this is pretty sad if there are felony charges for something as harmless as this. Intent should at least be considered.