Not Much Brotherly Love for Robot in Philadelphia

Salam Patch ^ | Aug 1 2015 | Adam swift

[conservativehusker]

Let’s be honest, whether fair or not, Philadelphia has a certain reputation.

It’s a city where football fans booed and threw snowballs at Santa Claus. Baseball fans once threw D cell batteries (the big ones) at visiting outfielder J.D. Drew.

And now, it’s where an adorable robot who was only counting on the kindness of strangers to hitchhike across the country was vandalized, effectively ending his summer trip.

hitchBOT’s trip came to an (Friday) night in Philadelphia after having spent a little over two weeks hitchhiking and visiting sites in Boston, Salem, Gloucester, Marblehead, and New York City.

Unfortunately, hitchBOT was vandalized overnight in Philadelphia; sometimes bad things happen to good robots, according to the latest post on hitchBOT’s Facebook page.

[null and void]

Luddite Amish?

[Paladin2]

Brotherly Anarchy Love.

[conservativehusker]

Its a shame. This is a neat idea and someone decided to vandalize it. It made it through New York and Boston, Philly that bad?

[Aut Pax Aut Bellum]

Filthadelphia....

[BenLurkin]

Send Niska...

She'll fix their wagons.

[vladimir998]

Philly is pretty bad.

[Tired of Taxes]

Further details about the hitchhiking trip and the vandalism will be available by August 5.

If you hear more about what happened, please let us know! Having always lived in the Philly area - and lived and worked in it for a while - I'm curious.

I just checked further, and another article says the robot was "damaged beyond repair," and the battery is dead so the researchers can't track its location:

http://www.cp24.com/lifestyle/technology/hitchbot-damaged-beyond-repair-by-unknown-assailant-in-philly-1.2498652

I'm surprised it was able to travel as far as it did.

[FredZarguna]

Yes. It's pretty much the worst city in America.

• In front of her children, Willow and Piper, former Vice Presidential candidate candidate Sarah Palin was booed, as she was introduced to drop the first puck at the Philadelphia Flyers' home opener.
• Eagles' fans, including future governor Ed Rendell, pelted Dallas Cowboys' players and coach Jimmy Johnson from their arrival until game-time with snowballs.
• Eagles' and Phillies' fans are both known to violently attack visitors in the stands and parking lots who dare to display their own teams' gear. Rather than hang their heads in shame over this despicable behavior, Filthydelphia "sportsmen" actually brag about it.
• They've physically attacked a visiting hockey player as he sat in the penalty box.
• They threatened and rocked the car of then Eagles' head coach Dick Vermeil's wife and daughter as they tried to leave a game.
• They threw D-batteries at a center fielder who refused to resign with the Phillies when he returned as an outfielder for the Cards.
• Criminal acts at Veterans' Stadium were were so common that the city installed a court, magistrate and a jail inside the stadium.
• On Oct. 11, 1999, Dallas Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin suffered a career-ending neck injury at Veterans' Stadium. While Irvin lay motionless on the ground, Eagles fan cheered. As medical staff treated and restrained Irvin for transport off the field, the cheers and catcalls grew louder and until louder as Irvin was driven off the field.
• In addition to Santa Claus, Philly fans have booed children performing dance routines, children throwing ceremonial pitches, and a half-time sky diver who broke his legs landing awkwardly on the field.
• In response to violence, vandalism, and a number of deliberate vomiting episodes where Eagles' fans threw-up on visitors, young children, and even police officers, the city banned all beer sales during games and all tailgating for the 1989-1990 season.

[Ransomed]

I recall ex-Phillie Jayson Werth broke his wrist in 2012 sliding for a catch in the outfield as a National, they cheered.

Freegards

[Williams]

There is a bit of mythology here and other cities have bad fans as well.

They claim they did not boo Santa Claus, that his sleigh had an advertisement on it and they were booing the commercialization of Santa.

They also threw snow balls at him.

[UncleSam]

Sodomized, urinated on, lunch money stolen, knocked unconscious or something heinous and dastardly like being called “racist”. The “brothers” don’t have brotherly love.

[Larry Lucido]

adorable robot who was only counting on the kindness of strangers to hitchhike across the country

Great. Now even the hobos are being replaced by robots.

[Yardstick]

Further details about the hitchhiking trip and the vandalism will be available by August 5.

---

It takes time to write politically correct verbiage.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Wonder how the program was supposed to work. Unlike a person, if you picked up and then left off a robot, you’d be littering.

[FredZarguna]

I had a girlfriend at Temple in the early seventies. In the eighties, I lived on City Avenue right off the Expressway, and later in Phoenixville. I know Philly well: it is a sh!thole.

I've worn my Pirates' gear in the home stadiums of many hated rivals including St. Louis, Cincinnati and Chicago and never felt the least bit unsafe. In NYC, on the Lex up to Pelham to the South Bronx and on many trips over to Flushing I have never felt anything but goodwill from Yanks and [much more often] Mets' fans. Not so -- EVER -- in Filthydelphia, and I've been going to games there since Connie Mac Stadium.

Philadelphia's legendary lack of sportsmanship is no myth. They're the worst fans in the country. Period. No other team that I know of has ever installed a District Magistrate and a jail in their facility. Do you know of one?

Western PA hates Eastern PA for a reason. Philly should be called West Camden, and annexed to "The Garden State." They'd be much more at home there.

[piasa]

If we behaved badly in St. Louis Jack Buck would shame us for dishonoring Stan the Man. No one wanted to get called unsportsmenlike by Jack Buck.

[The Antiyuppie]

As a former Chicagoan, I can tell you that our impression of Philadelphia came from their sports teams and their fans - the teams consisted mostly of thugs and dirty players and their fans made the behavior of Chicago team fans look like that of opera patrons. And their fans actually HATE their teams when they lose, and hate them somewhat less when they win.

[FredZarguna]

Any time I’ve had the experience of sitting near the crews of Cubbie fans they routinely send to PNC park the experience has been very positive. Don’t know about Bear fans, but the baseball crowd travels well.

[Tired of Taxes]

Philly should be called West Camden, and annexed to "The Garden State." They'd be much more at home there.

That depends on whom you talk to. Many around here say Camden should be part of Philly, PA.

I've always lived either around or in Philly. Outside Camden, South Jersey is very rural, and the people are laid-back and friendly. There are some crime-ridden areas, but they make up a very small part of it.