Originally Posted By Mr X I'm ashamed to be a Bostonian right now. Have you guys heard about this? <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0" target="_blank">http://www.foxnews.com/story/0</a>,2933,249110,00.html <a href="http://www.bostonist.com/archives/2007/01/31/new_aqua_teen_hunger_force_wreaks_havoc_in_boston.php" target="_blank">http://www.bostonist.com/archi ves/2007/01/31/new_aqua_teen_hunger_force_wreaks_havoc_in_boston.php</a> (hopefully that will all cut and paste nicely, but I doubt it lol...the second link was only to provide a picture of the "bomb" anyway) Okay, first of all, the mayor and the governer acting all pissed off is ridiculous. Secondly, a "hoax that causes a panic"??? Wha? I can't belive that Turner broadcasting actually apologized anyway. That's the stupid world we live in these days. If Boston makes them pay 3 quarters of a million bucks for the emergency response of stupidity...well, I suppose that too is the world we live in. Anyone else think this is just ridiculous? They shut down the CITY, for pete's sake. I swear, Osama and his buddies are sitting in their caves laughing, rolling on the floor, and celebrating the fact that they've reduced the great country of America to such stupidity.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper I've been thinking the same thing. Cities all over America had these little "bomb" like devices and Boston is the only place that went all ape-_ _ _ _ over it. I don't think the show caused the panic. I think the Boston officials caused the panic.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder <a href="http://mb.laughingplace.com/MsgBoard-T-83990-P-2.asp" target="_blank">http://mb.laughingplace.com/Ms gBoard-T-83990-P-2.asp</a> I agree. The judge in this case is already questioning the intent of the two guys charged, which means he's telling the prosecutor he's not sure they have a case. But that press conference- what a couple of dingbats. I don't care how amusing THEY think this all is. Yes, this was all a stunt, but my goodness, if you want to lose all public support in the fastest way possible, that was the way to do it.
Originally Posted By Mr X Sorry, I didn't realize that there was already an open thread! Wahoo, I'd have to say that I can not for the life of me see these as being "bomb" devices. I suppose ANYTHING could be, given a vivid imagination. But still...if that's the cause for a citywide panic!?!?
Originally Posted By wahooskipper That's what I'm saying. The Boston officials called them "bomb like", but no other cities took this extreme approach to them. Just about everywhere else they just picked them up and tossed them in the trash.
Originally Posted By DAR <<Wahoo, I'd have to say that I can not for the life of me see these as being "bomb" devices.>> Who knows what a bomb device looks like these days. It's not always the windup clock wrapped around with a stick of dynamite. That being said Boston officials did overreact. But these two guys that planted these were idiots too.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper I suspect they had lawyers that said..."act like clowns so this comes off as a big joke"...and that is exactly what they did. It was probably good legal counsel. (Though I don't think they had to stretch their acting skills to pull it off.)
Originally Posted By DlandDug Did you see the statement from the Chief of Police in Chicago? He laid out the severity of this situation in no uncertain terms. On a very simple level, what they did was almost certainly illegal in each municipality. You cannot place advertising without permits. The folks at Cartoon Network were looking for a different kind of publicity for Aqua Teen Hunger Force, but I doubt this is exactly what they had in mind. The larger concern, which I agree is valid, is that two guys could place small, sophisticated devices in various locations in a city without any trouble at all. If these had been explosive devices, the resultant panic could have caused real chaos. Frankly, I think this is a stunning indictment of our Homeland Security program.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Did you see what the items looked like? What was that toy we had as kids with the backlit board and the little pegs that made lit-up creations? Wast it called a Light-Bright...or something like that? That is what it looked like. It didn't look "sophisticated" to me. Heck, I could set up my kid's battery powered baseball tee and you could say it was an indictment of Homeland Security that noone noticed it.
Originally Posted By DlandDug It wasn't just the Lite-Brite aspect of the thing. What alarmed people was the battery pack wired in at the base. The placement was also unexpected. I really do think that one person overreacted, and set off a chain response as more and more of them became evident.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< The folks at Cartoon Network were looking for a different kind of publicity for Aqua Teen Hunger Force, but I doubt this is exactly what they had in mind. >>> Not that they planned it this way, but how much do you think it would have cost to purchase the amount of exposure for Cartoon Network and Aqua Teen Hunger Force that they've gotten this week? I'd bet it would be far more than the $750,000 that they're paying to the City of Boston.
