Posted on 02/01/2007 5:02:47 AM PST by Puppage
BOSTON -- Nine blinking electronic devices planted at bridges and other spots in Boston threw a scare into the city Wednesday in what turned out to be a marketing campaign for a late-night cable cartoon. At least one of the devices depicts a character giving the finger.
Highways, bridges and a section of the Charles River were shut down and bomb squads were sent in before authorities declared the devices were harmless.
"It's a hoax -- and it's not funny," said Gov. Deval Patrick.
Turner Broadcasting, parent company of Cartoon Network, said the devices were part of a promotion for the TV show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force."
"The packages in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger," Turner said in a statement. It said the devices have been in place for two to three weeks in 10 cities: Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Ore., Austin, Texas, San Francisco and Philadelphia.
"We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger," the company said.
Police said only that they were investigating where the device came from. The Department of Homeland Security said there are no credible reports of other devices being found elsewhere in the country.
An angry Mayor Thomas Menino said a stiff penalty will be pursued against whoever was responsible for the devices.
"It's about keeping a city on edge. It's about public safety," he said.
Authorities said some of the objects looked like circuit boards or had wires hanging from them.
The first device was found at a subway and bus station underneath Interstate 93, forcing the shutdown of the station and the highway.
Later, police said four calls, all around 1 p.m., reported devices at the Boston University Bridge and the Longfellow Bridge, both of which span the Charles River, at a Boston street corner and at the Tufts-New England Medical Center.
The package near the Boston University bridge was found attached to a structure beneath the span, authorities said.
Subway service across the Longfellow Bridge between Boston and Cambridge was briefly suspended, and Storrow Drive was closed as well.
Wanda Higgins, a 47-year-old Weymouth resident and a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, heard about the threat as she watched television news coverage while preparing to leave work at 4 p.m.
"I saw the bomb squad guys carrying a paper bag with their bare hands," Higgins said. "I knew it couldn't be too serious."
Messages seeking additional comment from the Atlanta-based Cartoon Network were left with several publicists.
"Aqua Teen Hunger Force" is a cartoon with a cultish following that airs as part of the Adult Swim late-night block of programs for adults on the Cartoon Network. A feature length film based on the show is slated for release March 23.
The surreal series centers on a talking milkshake (Master Shake), fries (Frylock) and a meatball (Meatwad).
The cartoon also includes two trouble-making, 1980s-graphic-like characters called "mooninites," named Ignignokt and Err -- who were pictured on the suspicious devices. They are known for making the obscene hand gesture depicted on the devices.
Wrong on both counts? Do you mean someone actually noticed, and stopped the 9/11 terrorists? Darn, I didn't hear about that. Here all this time, I thought they succeeded.
I'd agree with that. Certainly not something that could be or should be stopped, or worth worrying about.
But there's a fine line between vigilance and paranoia. Sometimes a vigilant public is going to report false alarms. They just will. But we have to be careful before we start discouraging people from reporting things that they see that "just don't look right". Of course it's a completely subjective standard, and different people will look at the same thing and have different instincts about it.
But its not paranoid, nor is it somehow giving victory to terror, for people to be able to decide that something looks out of place or suspicious... and to report it to those who can take a closer look. The overwhelming number of reports *will* be false alarms. That's just the game of numbers. Eventually, though, it will be the real deal. Then the person that was observant enough to react correctly will be called a hero. That's just the way of things.
You're exactly right.
I should have added in my previous answer that, in addition to the State Code, the City of Boston has numerous restrictions (size, height, etc.) that seem to vary by neighborhood, and -- frankly -- I got tired of looking.
I'm thinking Shake actually put Meatwad up to it.
I'm sure Turner would think it would be hilarious if anti-Turner "marketing devices" were placed in selected movie theaters showing his movie.
Nope - just the stuff that looks like tee vee bombs.
"It used to be, if a terrorist wanted to bring a whole city to its knees it would take a group months of planning. ... Now days, all a terrorist has to do is leave some boxes lying around with some flashy lights, and suddenly the whole city is brought down. Terrorism has gotten so easy, people everywhere are doing it by accident."
What an overreaction. 9 other cities including New York have these things up and there is no incident. In Boston, of course, it becomes a logistical nightmare. They should arrest the nitwit who called 911.
We have 2-3 murders per week here and they buy some stupid gunshot locating system, when they find blinking lego sets they call in the SWAT team and make everyone's life miserable for 4 hours.
Then they say that people should take solace in the fact that they found such devices. Um, the things have been up for 2 weeks!
Who was the last bomb builder to make a bomb with a bunch of blinking lights and place it in the open for everyone to see?
Menino is a buffoon.
(Chorus 2x) Check it out y'all!
Check it, Check it out!
Don't be afraid when I turn the party out
cause I come from the moon and I carry all the clout.
I got a quad-laser, it will amaze ya.
My gizzat is phizzat, so won't you just step back
(chorus 2x)
We're the Mooninites and you know that we're back.
Everybody else in the house know that they wack.
Three in the morn, I'm looking for the porn.
Know that we free so get on your knees.
(Chorus 3x)
We don't give a damn yo this is who we be.
Just like the old school Rapper Schoolly D.
Mooninite one I'm a hard rap singer.
Mooninite two Yo, I'll flip you the finger
(Chorus 11x)
I might think differently if the "ads" were not so blatently cheesy. Sure, if I wanted to plant bombs over a wide area I am going to make them stand out with blue lights and put them in plain sight so that they are easily identified.
Although I certainly enjoy seeing Ted Turner and his org squirming, it was not them who ran the advertising campaign. It was a small marketing agency without too many brains. The catch is that the marketing firm does not have deep pockets and Turner does. In addition, there are already plenty of people laughing at the overreaction of Boston to the immediate media hype and the village idiots up there want to look like adults again.
No, he's right, it was an overreaction.
The advertisers aren't the only ones who need to know better in a post 9-11 world.
My opinion might be different if i didn't have to sit in traffic for 3 hours yesterday.
I have an idea for how to place a bunch of bombs around Boston and be pretty certain that the bomb squad won't come and disturb them...
It wasn't a very good idea before, but it sure is now...
:-)
You directed that at me.
"people like you would have laughed them out of the room"
Not the 911 event.
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