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Former NASA Engineer Designed Glitter Bomb Trap To Avenge Amazon Delivery Theft Victims (cnbc.com)
They say revenge is a dish best served cold. But for Mark Rober, it's much sweeter served smart, smelly and covered in glitter. From a report: The former NASA engineer-turned-YouTube star has received plaudits online after designing a booby trap to avenge all those who've fallen victim to a new wave of neighborhood crime: doorstep delivery theft. Rober spent six months combining GPS tracking, cameras, fart spray and glitter in an elaborate and amusing mechanism after discovering thieves had stolen an Amazon delivery from his doorstep.
In a video posted on his channel, the 38-year-old, who helped design the U.S. space agency's Curiosity Rover, said his engineering experience left him well-placed to "take a stand" after dismissive police left him feeling "powerless." "If anyone was going to make a revenge ... package and over-engineer the crap out of it, it was going to be me," said Rober, who spent nine years with NASA.
In a video posted on his channel, the 38-year-old, who helped design the U.S. space agency's Curiosity Rover, said his engineering experience left him well-placed to "take a stand" after dismissive police left him feeling "powerless." "If anyone was going to make a revenge ... package and over-engineer the crap out of it, it was going to be me," said Rober, who spent nine years with NASA.
Well... given he’s attempting to be a YouTube star, he probably thinks that any publicity is good publicity.
I have to admit, when I see a “YouTube star” claiming to be a “former NASA engineer”, my first assumption is he actually shlepped technical drawings around between departments - or was in charge of keeping their monitors clean.
#DeleteChrome
If it is Amazon they will refund you or ship you another item. Sometimes they reship only to an Amazon locker though or require a signature on the reshipped item. Another reason that Amazon is taking over: better customer service.
The device he created for distributing the glitter was a work of genius. Watch the videos, it is an amazing and beautiful creation.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
Hah! Where I live, I can be standing at the window looking at the FedEx guy as he runs up, puts a "no one home" sticker on the door and scurries away. That's assuming he got the right house in the first place. UPS just drops the package at the front door. My girlfriend's present was left like that. We're in the house and later I step outside for something and there's the package :)
[John]
Shit better not happen!
Having not RTFA, I'm wondering where this guy used to work years ago. Seems like that'd be relevant and they could repeat it over and over to get a ton of mileage out of it.
I have to admit, when I see a “YouTube star” claiming to be a “former NASA engineer”, my first assumption is he actually shlepped technical drawings around between departments - or was in charge of keeping their monitors clean.
His Wikipedia page suggests he's a proper engineer: he has a Mechanical Engineering degree and a Masters (presumably in a related field), and he worked at JPL for 9 years, 7 of which were spent working on Curiosity.
Prior to this video, my wife and I had stumbled on a handful of his videos over the years. He's clearly a smart guy who is interested in making science and technology more fun and accessible to a wide audience. The sort of person who is capable of inspiring kids to pursue STEM. While we don't subscribe to his channel or seek his videos out, we've enjoyed the videos of his that have popped up as recommendations.
It's not always because nobody is home. Some delivery drivers are either too lazy or too overworked to ring a doorbell and wait for an answer. I've been home many times knowing that a package was going to be delivered only to receive a "delivered" text message without a doorbell ringing. I look outside and the package is there, easy prey for a package thief.
Occasionally, I've had things delivered that require signatures. With some delivery companies, this will result in an automatic "sorry we missed you" note on the door and me needing to drive down to the local center to get the package - even if I was home at the time. No ringed doorbell or anything. The driver just prints out a quick "missed you" note and sticks it to the door rather than "waste time" ringing the doorbell and waiting the 1 minute for me to get to the door and sign his pad. (Yes, we've complained and no nothing changed.)
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Except if you watch Rober's other videos, he actually debunks other fake videos on YouTube that go viral. I guarantee you this video is legit. He is an engineer superhero.
Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
Why the fuck would anyone live in a neighbourhood where you have to lock your door or worry about stuff being stolen in your yard? If you live somewhere that dangerous and read slash dot I'm guessing you can afford to move to a first world nation.