Quite honestly, though, terrorists are winning when people are filled with terror. That's the terrorists' job. Everyone needs to stop overreacting.

andyc52042

It was a little more than water cooler talk. The odor wasn't a case of stink bombs being dropped (That was sarcasm) but a smell from New Jersey (a joke in itself) and to quote a news report the smell covered "Much of Manhattan".

first off, fuck off dickwad, People still dont know where the smell came from, some say the Meadowlands (a natural marshland we still have and you dumb shits filled in over in Boston) but no one is sure so you dont fucking have a right to make a Jersey joke, you city is enough of a joke as it is in this thread.

Second people collapsed from it, we are not talking about a inept bombsquad mistaking something you could build in a highschool for a bomb here, but something that was actually making people sick.

and third the city went on as normal, except for the initial hour or two nothing more happened that day, they didnt even block the roads after they realized it wasnt harmful, it was reported as nothing more than some weird smell and thats it, sure it got some coverage, but they where not calling it a hoax or a terroristic plot or anything like that.
And finally, last I looked, everyone else had no problems taking down the signs without a bombsquad.

So in short, STFU.

Falconfire

Mistoffeles

gemino

trunk666

bvicarious

bitfactory

It was a little more than water cooler talk. The odor wasn't a case of stink bombs being dropped (That was sarcasm) but a smell from New Jersey (a joke in itself) and to quote a news report the smell covered "Much of Manhattan".

Do a google search on "Odor Strange New York" and see how "little" coverage it got. The PATH transit was shut down, numerous schools and buildings were evacuated and 12 people went to the hospital.

Since the odor kept moving across Manhattan official were blocking off areas as the responded to emergency calls coming in.

Do you consider that an over-reaction? I'm sure there are as many people in NY that thought it was than not.

It was the right way to handle the situation. No matter how ridiculous it may seem after the fact.

iPhoneGroupie

nikko1221

most if not all of the stuff bush read to the public, someone else wrote it.

wetworker

Time Warner, oops, I mean CNN, covered every rambling word... no doubt because of the upcoming March release of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie.

TW definitely got their money's worth out of the publicity on this one.

nikko1221

while a great quote, you need to read this...

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/dubiousquotes/a/caesar_qu...

nzruss

The citizenry, infused with fear and blinded with patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader, and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar."

wetworker

wetworker

LIke if Boston shuts down because of this today, next week, a real terrorist might just put up another hoax device, and get the city shut down regularly. Economic terrorism. With a few dollars of parts at Radio Shack, you can get a whole city in a frenzied terror is a lot more cost effective than months of recruiting, training, and finally bomb building.

The backyard anarchist is going to have a lot of fun with things like this.

Things like this is the price to be paid for freedom, and honestly, I'd suspect a lot of people would rather prefer it this way than a police state.

While we're on this topic, doesn't some common behaviors, like say, smoking, drunk driving, etc. cause more deaths (first and third party) yearly than 9/11?

Worf

Nice straw man. First, this has never happened. So the implication that it did is false. There has never been any such incident where New York City was shut down, FDR drive closed, subways stopped, etc. in a comparable way to the lock-down in Boston, due to stink bombs or any other similar false alarm.

Indeed, the closest incident to what you're implying was a couple weeks ago after a few people were overcome by fumes and a lot of people could smell it. The police investigated, but there was no lock down. The city didn't come to a halt. It was nothing more than a topic of discussion over the water-cooler.

Second, nobody said Boston was the only city that _can_ overreact. Rather, Boston was the _only_ city to overreact to this ad campaign, and it was done all over the country. This is one of the main reasons Manino and his defenders look particularly pathetic.

A_B

just trying to keep it entertaining.

Bumper sticker idea:

"What Terrorists?

nutbastard

pepe the king prawn

"It had a very sinister appearance," [Attorney General Martha] Coakley told reporters. "It had a battery behind it, and wires."

Gizmodo: What is with all the sinister gadgets you post? Most of them have wires and a battery!!! Why do you hate our freedom?

The people running this country are retarded.

nzruss

get a bunch of alka-seltzer and fake blood capsules, and about 20 people, plus the most muslim looking guy y'all know. arrange for all of you to be in the same general downtown area - both sides of the streets, walking, stnanding, in groups, solo... then mr muslim runs into the street, yells something, and throws a small, empty glass vial to the ground... he goes first, spewing bloody foam out his mouth. then the other 20 people start a wave of this... dropping to their knees, grabbing their throats, and spewing bloody foam... BTW i came up with this before 9-11, thought it'dbe great for highschool.

I rest my case.

bitfactory

voodoodle

get a bunch of alka-seltzer and fake blood capsules, and about 20 people, plus the most muslim looking guy y'all know. arrange for all of you to be in the same general downtown area - both sides of the streets, walking, stnanding, in groups, solo... then mr muslim runs into the street, yells something, and throws a small, empty glass vial to the ground... he goes first, spewing bloody foam out his mouth. then the other 20 people start a wave of this... dropping to their knees, grabbing their throats, and spewing bloody foam... BTW i came up with this before 9-11, thought it'dbe great for highschool.

nutbastard

there are no goddamn terrorists.

This place will never be confused with a Think Tank.

bitfactory

iPhoneGroupie

KRONK370

I agree with most of your points, the traffic light joke was just drawing attention to the fact that bombs dont usually have big flashing lights on them, some common sense should have been used by the officers at the scene

KRONK370

in the daylight, from afar, these look suspicious. up close, not so much.

would this have even been a problem if the 'artist' had enclosed the thing in a case without the batteries, wires, and circuit board exposed?

pic of the 'artist' - "On the moon nerds get their pants pulled down and they are spanked with moon rocks" -Err

omfgitsdon - RUN

"Finally, Turner deserves to get sued for this, it was irresponsible behavior."

"They were stupid to have put these under bridges."

1. The police knew they weren't bombs after examining the first one. The "panic" should have stopped there but the "political" police wanted a story to get people upset over nothing.

2. You're right. A bomb can look like anything. Next time, I'll tell the judge, "I couldn't put quarters into the parking meter. It might have detonated!!". See #1.

3. Obviously, they were placed where commuters would be sure to see them. Bridges provide visibility without covering up road signs. Dumb in hindsight, but how many of us would expect police to see a cartoon character as a danger. Bombs are planted to look invisible, these were set to be very obvious.

4. Sue Turner, because the Boston police didn't use a modicum of sense (who in Boston does?). Let the two guys go, grab a beer, and laugh about this.

VBDon

The Lab

2 possibilities:

there are terrorist cells all over america, and every single attack attempt for the last 5.5 years has been thwarted, without news coverage, by our government, perfectly, because, they're just that good and competent.

OR

there are no goddamn terrorists.

nutbastard

The reaction of the police and of people here and elsewhere who see this as a proportional response is the product of irrational fear. What the authorities (not the guys in the field doing their job) did was behave like ignorant and incompetent cowards. It was an incredibly sad display. It revealed their inexperience dealing with these situations and their fear of the unknown.

This is an all too common reaction of people who simply don't understand the threat and behave irrationally when confronted by it.

By contrast, look at NYC, a city that actually was attacked by terrorists, more than once, and has an incredibly sophisticated terror response group. Nothing happened. These signs were up for, as I have read, weeks.

Indeed, it also demonstrates the ability of New Yorkers to differentiate between legitimate causes for alarm, and lite-brite-like objects intended to bring attention to themselves.

As a former Bostonian, it's incredibly embarrassing to watch people cower in fear over this situation. It's further distressing to watch people rationalize their own fears and defend the authorities' overreaction.

Mayor Menino, instead of trying to stir up a defense of his over-reaction, should be contrite and admit that Boston has a very long way to go before it is in a position to adequately protect itself from legitimate threats.

A_B

I think the flaming was a bit unnecessary:

"Dude, you sicken me. Never mind. You dimwits deserve what you get. Go sit in your locked room, and keep phoning 911 about those out-of-state license plates."

Deserve what exactly?

I care too much about my family, friends, and my future to lose it because of cockiness. I'll take 50 false alarms if they prevent 1 bomb from going off.

The Hoff

watersketch

If a terrorist wanted to bomb a target, they probably wouldn't do so using a highly visible, illuminated sign containing no explosives, which were in place for weeks without exploding. They'd probably do it as they have every time so far, with an innocuous device that actually contained explosives, exploding minutes after being left at a target. This makes me think that this is the reaction of someone who doesn't know anything about terrorists or bombs, but is reflexively scared of anything "weird".

If this decision was made at the federal level, why was the reaction so different in Boston than the nine other cities with these signs? Perhaps the other cities knew better than to report the "mysterious" appearance of common LED signs to the fed's?

laird

Like others have noted this was an unknown device, with no other markings on it, with wires hanging out if you had never heard of ATHF, I don't know what else you were supposed to think. Its not the same as someone spray painting a stencil on the bridge.

The idea was beautiful, but it was executed quite poorly. Both Turner and their marketing firm should be called to task. I hope that this does not discourage similar public displays, but encourages a public discussion of how to execute these events responsibly.

mr_c0w

Skylar

James

What terrorist in their right mind attaches a 1 foot lighted sign to their bombs? This thing is totally ridiculous. It's the Boston officials that caused this scare and they are the ones that need to be called to task.

you're right. you'd have to be crazy to think a terrorist might take a symbol of american culture and uses it to level a bridge or a building.

please be sure to forward your copy of the terrorist playbook to the appropriate authorities.

Paradise

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130...

Tony C

srw

andrew

What you should all realize is that a bomb does not usually have the words "THIS IS A BOMB" written all over it. It can be placed in a baby stroller, a backpack or a giant stuffed SpongeBob toy.
One scenario if this were to really be a threat: These are just the first round in a larger plan. Say, tomorrow, with the news out about these just being advertising hoaxes, more of these are deployed, however they really ARE bombs. No one calls in because they are complacent and say, 'Oh its one of those hoax things" they go to retrieve it and BLAMMO! your head blows off. It could happen.

papasmack

What should people have done in Israel, Indonesia, Thailand, Spain, and England? Just said - oh it is probably a marketing prank? Would *you* want to be the police captain who told people to ignore the bag with the wires coming out of it ... after the explosions went off?

We pay these people to be cautious and to protect us. The fact that they didn't connect the dots quickly only shows the weakness of government efforts on anything.

Most of the comments sicken me.

amccann

"We need to distinguish between "viral" marketing and "guerilla" marketing. The reality is that no agency can create viral marketing, this is the sole domain of the consumer. Viral marketing is what happens when a campaign works - when we allow their message to travel via our own superefficient conduits." (C) Penny-Arcade 13-Dec 2006

Guerrilla marketing aims to advertise and create interest in something without using extravagant TV ads/billboards/etc.

And yes, Turner has a responsibility to pay for the costs to the city because they hired the men to put up the signs, and they admitted that the signs were part of their ad campaign

Suspicion of these devices is warranted, for the reasons put forth by pipeline a few posts above this, but I think the situation went completely out of control.

And blowing them up with that water jet thing was pretty cool :-)

excaza

You all should be THANKING us for Haravard AND MIT, who by the way has a NUCLEAR REACTOR pretty damn close to where some of this stuff was found.

Dont be jealous cuz even our crappiest university (UMASS) has a nobel prize winning prof.

Also I second what pipeline says. If you've never heard of Aqua Teen (and believe me, plenty of people havent, including a lot of teenagers) then these would look pretty suspicious.

This story would look very different if they were bombs and Boston was the only city to catch them. Do you really lose anything that important by spending a couple hours investigating?

ganjjjj

I'll tell you, it was unnerving being stuck in traffic, in a tunnel under the city, with the only news being released saying that "Suspicious packages containing components that would be used to make an explosive device" have been found all over the city.

I certainly don't blame the individual artists. It's a friggin' neon sticker. I don't even blame Turner. Sticker ad campaigns are nothing new. I blame the city of Boston, federal officials, and the local news media. Absolutely disgusting.

jmb127

Or maximum visibility... I'd have thought of maximum visibility first, but hey, i'm just an european, not like we have terrorism around here.
*cough*ETA*cough*IRA*cough*...

Drezio

You may have never been here, but every airport has hundreds of signs everywhere announcing that if you leave your bag unattended, you don't get to claim it back and it'll be destroyed.

It's very different than finding something on the street and suddenly panicking.

Drezio

Mogbert

Maybe I'm splitting the follicle here, but there's "an unclaimed bag at the airport" and there's:

A device
- with visible wiring
- leading to a pack of unknown content
- with an unfamiliar character on the front
- displaying an obscene gesture
- no other visible corporate logos
- posted
- at major bridges
- at major roadways
- at a hospital

..Once you put all of these pieces together, it makes you wonder if they were really trying for the "bomb/terror angle".

Pipeline2112

Second, Turner Broadcasting probably had NOTHING to do with the items in question beyond owning the show they were advertising. Instead, the advertising agency should be held responsible for its probably misdirected campaign.

Uh, do you think the network didn't approve materials created/designed by an agency? Of course they did. As someone who's worked on both sides of that equation, I can tell you the agency responsible for designing/creating/distributing these items had the absolute approval/go-ahead from the network.

First, people here don't need to hate on Boston; Since 9/11 the city has, rightfully considering the planes used in the attacks originated there, taken all remotely suspicious items as potential terrorist threats. The city probably overreacted, but it was doing its job (and obeying the feds, by the sound of things).

Finally, it's pathetic that something out-of-the-ordinary has to be assumed to be dangerous. Way to go U.S.A!

I don't think I have to comment on the disconnect between those two statements.

bitfactory

maori54

plumbag0

Second, Turner Broadcasting probably had NOTHING to do with the items in question beyond owning the show they were advertising. Instead, the advertising agency should be held responsible for its probably misdirected campaign.

Third, it's shameful that the cops in Boston didn't look around for other reports of these things in other cities because I've known of their existence for over a month (after seeing a post on Make). Seriously, I live in a small town in the midwest -- there's no reason the authorities couldn't have checked this out.

Finally, it's pathetic that something out-of-the-ordinary has to be assumed to be dangerous. Way to go U.S.A!

P.S. Blowing up suspicious things is actually more of a British response than an American one -- they've been blowing up weird stuff left around in public places since the early 80s or even before due to terrorism associated with the IRA... Americans shoot random things, sure, but we only blow up medical facilities and abandoned rail cars in other countries.

geosteve

phelander

That being said, those two shouldn't have been arrested and Turner should have to pay the cost to the city for the deployment of law enforcement. I do think Turner should have notified at least the city that the ads were gonna be put up, but how were they supposed to know this would happen? It amused me that these things have been up for weeks and only just now had the media flipping out.

The one thing that bothers me is that even after the boards were acknowledged by Turner as guerrilla advertising...this was still the top news story for hours. I was watching it on tv and there was coverage of this, then..."in other news an ACTUAL terrorist plot was thwarted in London."

"oh, and I guess some lady was found burned to death in the woods, BUT SUSPICIOUS LITEBRITES!!!"

this whole thing is ridiculous

excaza

That is exactly why Turner and the 2 artists should both be held liable. This is essentially the equivalent of yelling "fire" in a full building and then saying it was just a marketing ploy.

The Hoff

The hand is being blurred because it looks like Err is displaying an obscene gesture.

@KRONK370 says:

"though i like the cops very american reaction, if you dont understand something, blow it up"

you forgot the second-half of the statement "..before it blows you up."

If Turner Inc., Peter Berdovsky, or Sean Stevens can produce their outdoor advertising permit (http://www.sec.state.ma.us/cis/ciscig/k/k1k44.htm#k35), then we'll call off the lawyers. If not, asbestos-underwear won't save them.

The water-cannon was so cool.

Pipeline2112

But go after them for doing what? Making them look like panicked fools?

The two guys were charged with "placing a hoax device and disorderly conduct." Clearly, they didn't intend to fool anyone into thinking these were IEDs, so I fail to see how a "hoax device" angle works. As for disturbing the peace, I think the government did a far better job of that than anyone working for Turner Broadcasting.

Drizzten

nzruss

But are we going to jump every time we see a loose wire? and would any terrorist in his right mind really put flashing led's on his bombs in the first place. looks like we'll end up destroying ourselves from sheer paranoia before the terrorists ever get started

KRONK370

If a woman on the street get knocked down because she was distracted by an advertisement is it the advertisers fault? Not in my opinion. People are responsible for their own reactions to it.

KRONK370

I don't think its the people who spotted the devices who are in question. Its the authorities who over-reacted to these devices. How incompetent are these first responders that they couldn't look at a device that simple and figure out that its not threatening? So now everyone is being scolded, and the old "this has no place in a post-9/11 world" line is being trotted out -- 'cos, you know, that changed everything -- and the net result is: there is more terrorism being perpetrated by these idiot "authorities" than those scary foreigners could have ever hoped to carry out.

Rant over. I'm just so sick of this idiocy.

andrew

KRONK:
The problem is that a bomb can look like anything, and circuit boards coming out of a bag may be a sign of one. I would much rather be safe and be 20 minutes late to work than end up having another 9/11 in Boston. There is a fine line between paranoia and exerting caution, and I think Boston cops acted on the right side of that line. If these in fact had been bombs, and if Police had just waved them off as hoaxes, then things would be a lot worse. Creating an analogy to traffic lights is ignorant.

Finally, Turner deserves to get sued for this, it was irresponsible behavior. I also think that the artists should be held responsible as well. If a large company hires you to break the law, you're still breaking the law. They were stupid to have put these under bridges.

The Hoff

"Da Moon Rulz," indeed, my friend, da moon rulz.

But seriously, getting arrested? These looked like dangerous packages? What, with the glow-in-the-dark middle finger?

As Ignignokt would say, "Our liability coverage is zero. Our balls, however, are enormous."

I admit, I'm a fan of the early ATHF, but I'm a Venture man now (well, and the Birdman ... and the Dingo's not bad either).

OneZero

xtol7

slowreader

KRONK370

FlashSandbox

homerjay

Felony charges are a bit steep, I think."It had batteries... and wires..." was this comment taken just before he got on the short bus?

"Scaring an entire region, tying up the T and major roadways, and forcing first responders to spend 12 hours chasing down trinkets instead of terrorists is marketing run amok..." so they are constantly chasing down terrorists in Boston?

This wasn't even a hoax or prank... it was a marketing campaign. Why aren't they arresting the terrorist Chuck Norris for chasing two men down in a Mountain Dew commercial? They looked pretty panicked to me.

Forestbear

KRONK370

-People who when they see something suspicious make authorities aware of it.

-People who are oblivious to everything around them.

I'll side with the cautious people.

And when you say the people in Boston overreacted, are losers, etc.. It was the federal authorities that directed the local authorities to shut down traffic as a precaution even though they knew after "neutralizing" the first billboard they found that the rest were harmless. They had to make sure. That is their job.

iPhoneGroupie

T-man says:

If something like this "results in panic," the terrorist have us exactly where they want us. Living in fear.

Sunatic

it was definitly out of control yesterday...i had a teacher cancel one of my classes because he was afraid to leave the house...

why arent more people furious with the fact that the two people who are IN JAIL and going to take the blame for all of this were just artists who got paid to put the devices up

The city of boston needs to go after Turner Entertainment not these poor guys...

Musykchyk

DogToy

RaKku

2. if anything with a battery and wires in it makes it sinister and scary, i think we should all take it upon ourselves to protect each other from those tricky terrorists and take down all the cross walk signs, traffic lights, parking meters, light bollards, LED billboards, tvs, the sun, and anything else in public that has lights on it and is scary.

meatwad

KRONK370

Panic!!! Panic!!!!

Losers.

aDuh

T-man

Maybe in Boston we watch too much Jack Bauer and not enough Adult swim.

iPhoneGroupie

I was watching a thread about this on the SA forums when the news reports first hit the air. That thread took all of 10 minutes and one page to identify the joke and find articles about the 10 other cities that this stunt was carried out in. It's shameful that it took safety officials many hours and thousands, maybe even millions of wasted dollars to realise what a bunch of internet nerds worked out in 10 minutes.

Instead of being sensible, scaremongering officials turned a harmless joke into an absolute circus. I remember when something like this might get a laugh and appear the next day in the local paper!

I applaud those folks who risk their lives to protect us from dangerous threats but we're getting completely paranoid. I hope this helps people realise that the irrational "Post 911" fearmongering has gone too far.

CrunchyMush

athena2703

B. The ebay auction is outta control: 3000+ at posting.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mooninites-Ignignokt-LED-Advertising-B...

DaveExile

safetyt3rd

Eh, that show lost its humor and "edge" years ago.

BlindsidesDork

I guess I can understand some of the alarm - these things were seen in daylight, unlit. They could look suspicious.

James

scrag

tamaudio

They were talking about it on the radio this morning.

BlindsidesDork

Paradise

Princess Sparkle Pony

The Philadelphia newscasts were talking about it too.

Marketing, shmarketing.
If I was still the scrounging hardware hacker I used to be I'd be trying to find 'em for al the free LEDS!

-but that's me.

strider_mt2k