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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.
Why do people find it acceptable that valuable packages are just left on the doorstep ? Where I live, the delivery guys ring the door bell, hands over the package, and takes my name and signature as proof of delivery.
What happens if the package gets stolen ? Does UPS pay you back ?
he could always claim he left it out as a prank for a friend, and the thief got in the way
Not any more he can't.
He should sell these on Amazon.
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
Where I live, one neighbor has gotten better. He put a package connected to a wire with a perimeter alarm on it. Thieves tend to run when they hear a gunshot when they try to boost a package, and it gets neighbors to see what is going on. The alarm is harmless but loud, and legal in all 50 states.
He has 4.4 million subscribers. He is a YouTube star, he's not just attempting to be one.
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".
Maybe shouldnt be stealijg peoples packages then.
What if the package that was stolen had peanut butter in it and the person was deathly alergic ? Think they are going to be able to sue then ? No. THEY STOLE IT !.
You break the law, live with the consiquences.
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.
More booby-trapped packages in general might dissuade casual thieves. Ditto for law enforcement.
Meanwhile, thanks for doing the hard work and getting the publicity, Mark. Now, all I have to do to discourage theft is to put up a sign that says "Warning: packages may explode" with suitable graphic.
Seriously, what happened to the police's "broken windows" policy? I thought they were now supposed to investigate and prosecute small offenses like this to a) create a culture of obeying the law, and b) make citizens feel like the cops have their backs so they don't go vigilante. Which is what happened in this case.
The real genius of this device is that it was designed to be funny without causing any kind of serious injury or damage. In fact you can hear some of the thieves on the video laughing. The glitter spreading mechanism is pretty lame; it's like shaking a box of litter around the edge of the box. He could have used a can of compressed air or some kind of pyrotechnic squib to distribute the glitter, and it would end up everywhere, but that includes peoples' eyes.
There are going to be the inevitable suggestions for how to make the device more damaging or dangerous; and the reason this guy didn't do anything like throwing dye or shrapnel isn't that he wasn't clever enough to see the possibilities. He was clever enough to see the weak point in his plans: the thief-turned-victim has your home address. Get too nasty and he might return the favor with a molotov cocktail or even a bullet.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
What law do you claim he violated? I can't think of a single law that states that it is illegal to spray theives with glitter. In some states it is legal for him to shoot and kill the theif. Also, this is a design, which is protected by the first amendment. He could design a nuclear bomb and post it and be well within his rights ,(I am assuming US jurisdiction because NASA is a US agency.) IOW, do you put any thought at all into your words before you write them?
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
These people have already been beaten, or they wouldn't have wound up as thieves. Let's find a way to help them before they fall to this level instead of beating them down afterwards.
Bull fucking shit. A lot of people are just bad regardless of what happened to them (or didn't), their socio-economic status, etc. Some people would rather steal than earn something. Quit pretending that everyone who does this was somehow a victim first -- that's naive nonsense at best. This isn't anywhere remotely like the "stealing bread to feed my starving family" cliche -- it's opportunistic twats cowardly stealing from others who are out working. Anyone who does this absolutely deserves a solid ass kicking, at a minimum.