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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070201/ap_ ... us_devices

Several illuminated electronic devices planted at bridges and other spots in Boston threw a scare into the city Wednesday in what turned out to be a publicity campaign for a late-night cable cartoon. Most of the devices depict a character giving the finger.

I guess I can see why people would get freaked out with mysterious, glowing objects on bridges. Personally, I can't wait for the Aqua Teen movie in March.

Trailer for the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJr8WRwQ83M

Yesterday was quite the day in Boston. I have to commute through Boston every morning and I'm usually on the double decker bridge (where the first "device" was found) around 7:45 AM. Yesterday I got a half hour late start. My normal 30-minute commute turned into an hour and 45 minutes. It was kind of scary seeing bomb squads, SWAT teams, and Federal law enforcement everywhere. I had no other way to go once I hit the traffic. Couldn't take a different route. Couldn't get off the highway and go home. All the info I could get from news radio was that there was a device believed to be an IED found under the bridge. It was pretty terrifying.

Granted, now that we know what it all was, I can look back on it and (a) be pissed at the people who put this together and (b) pray I don't have to live through something like it again because next time may not be a marketing ploy.

What do people think about criminal charges being brought against Turner Broadcasting, the marketing company, and the guys who put all the devices up?

i think we're all too paranoid.

although the charges against them are not good, think about how much more publicity they are getting for their movie now. a ton of my friends heard about this story this morning, and none of us had known before that they were coming out with a movie. cant wait!

"Paranoia runs deep.... into your life it will creep... it starts when you're always afraid....step out of line, and they come and take you away."

I wonder if all of the voice actors that did "War of the Worlds" were hauled away on felony charges?

I think its ridiculous that they were still crazy after they found the first one. I think there should be more of this creative Guirilla type marketing. I like ATHF but didnt know there was a movie coming out. Props to the marketing brain behind this. And there should be no harsh charges other than maybe a "littering" charge.

BTW one of the "devices" is on ebay someone snagged it before the bomb sqaud.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mooninites-Ignignokt-LED-Advertising-Bomb_W0QQitemZ130075321405QQihZ003QQcategoryZ363QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

"It had a very sinister appearance," Coakley told reporters. "It had a battery behind it, and wires."

It looks more like a light bright to me.

Thank god it wasn't an advertizment for Pretty Pretty Ponies, or GI Joe, or it could have been WW3.

Sounds like people are already charged.

"Peter Berdovsky, 27, a freelance video artist from Arlington, Massachusetts, and Sean Stevens, 28, were facing charges of placing a hoax device in a way that results in panic, as well as one count of disorderly conduct, said Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley. The hoax charge is a felony, she said. Both men were arrested Wednesday evening."

"placing a hoax device in a way that results in panic"? What the heck? Is that really something one can be charged with?

Remember folks, a terrorist is someone who has no sense of humor.

"Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis called it "unconscionable" that the marketing campaign was executed in a post 9/11 era."

What is unconscionable, is that it took 12 hours or so for the police to figure out this was a marketing ploy and quell the panic. No one stepped up and said, oh hey, that's just Iggnignar, maybe we are overacting?

Here's my favorite quote.

"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," Markey, a Democrat, said in a written statement. "It would be hard to dream up a more appalling publicity stunt."

So you are telling me that there are 12 hours worth of terrorist that the bomb squad COULD have been chasing around?

File this one under, "at least it was good practice for the Bomb Squad."

I simply can't believe how paranoid our society has become. Makes you wonder if this isn't exactly the type of climate Bin Laden was trying to create with his attack.

Maybe we haven't been hit again, not because of lack of effort, but because the ongoing damage is now self inflicted.

Nothing says World War 3 better than a Light Bright with Inignot on it.

It gets better,

"I just think this is outrageous, what they've done ... It's all about corporate greed." - Boston Mayor Thomas Menino

He is a genius. If there exists a poster child for corporate greed (aka "Da Man") it's gotta be Aqua Teen Hunger Force...perhaps the most mainstream and profitable shows of all time. I also hear that Aqua Teen Hunger force is written by Bin Laden, Benedict Arnold and Bill Buckner (slams face on keyboard).

"It had a very sinister appearance," Coakley told reporters. "It had a battery behind it, and wires."

It looks more like a light bright to me.

Thank god it wasn't an advertizment for Pretty Pretty Ponies, or GI Joe, or it could have been WW3.

Such retrospective expertise and wisdom is just mind-bending. I suppose if some ordnance were disguised in a GI Joe, placed on a bridge and eventually detonated folks would then be blaming government as not doing enough and not responding adequately.

GrayBear wrote:Such retrospective expertise and wisdom is just mind-bending. I suppose if some ordnance were disguised in a GI Joe, placed on a bridge and eventually detonated folks would then be blaming government as not doing enough and not responding adequately.

Im not an expert on military affairs...but I'll go as far to say that if someone were planning on attack I seriously doubt they'd do so with an illuminated sign telling you where to find it. I dont think the people in Iraq that produce IED's stick a picture of Homer Simpson in lights on it for our guys to find.

I see nothing wrong with sending in people to check out what in the heck it is...but I do personally see something wrong with them trying to convince the public (and themselves) after the fact that it is a play on people's fears with terrorism.

It's a friggin light bright with a cartoon character on it.

Perhaps his 5000 dimensions threw the bomb sniffing dogs off...

GrayBear wrote:

"It had a very sinister appearance," Coakley told reporters. "It had a battery behind it, and wires."

It looks more like a light bright to me.

Thank god it wasn't an advertizment for Pretty Pretty Ponies, or GI Joe, or it could have been WW3.

Such retrospective expertise and wisdom is just mind-bending. I suppose if some ordnance were disguised in a GI Joe, placed on a bridge and eventually detonated folks would then be blaming government as not doing enough and not responding adequately.

Nail, hammer, head. Far to easy to play Monday Morning Quarterback.

I think you've missed the point I was trying to make.

I have no problem with the bomb squad checking things out, that's their job. But why does it takes 12 hours to decide if something is a bomb, or a light bright.

I wonder why it was assumed it was an IED, and broadcast to the world, when there was no evidence of an IED.

A response was necessary, I won't argue that. But it quickly turned in to an overeaction by the authorities, and it indicates radical gaps in our ability to communicate and understand reality.

I am all for vigilance, but to assume these things were IED's, and to broadcast that publically, is an embarassing failure for the city of Boston.

I want to know why our governement is still not capable of determining what is a real threat within 12 hours, and what is not.

I'm tired of blowheart politicians decrying that the world changed on 9/11/01, and that we all must now live in fear every minute of every day.

Screw the fear mongering politicians, screw the terrorists both real and imagined, and screw any person who thinks "placing a hoax device in a way that results in panic" is a legitimate criminal charge, when the City of Boston itself was responsible for escalating the panic.

No one was driving the bus yesterday in Boston. You folks should save a little anger for the govermental institutions that failed miserably yesterday.

You should save a little anger for the politicians who continue to manipulate our collective fears, to keep us meek and servile.

They over reacted. Now they are trying to place blame on a clever marketing campaign.

adam, amen to that.