Boston under attack?

[vegeta rocker]

For those of you who don't watch the news, two guys ran around tossing Aqua Teen Hunger Force light ads onto walls and bridges in Boston. This isn't the only city it has happened in.

Now they are actually in court over the whole thing, I personally don't see the big deal. I attached an article in full.

I mean it didn't hurt anybody and they had Turner entertainments permission.

[URL=http://news.com.com/2061-10796_3-6155806.html]ARTICLE[/URL]


So what do you think? Was it a big overreaction or do you agree with the action Boston has taken?

Honestly, we have better things to worry about.

[eleanor]

[color=dimgray] It's ridiculous. A bunch of lite-brites go up and some people are even freaking about terrorism. Seriously, why, Boston? Why? And who the hell made up the term infernal machine to describe damage to life/property?

Conclusion: NYC is still cooler than Boston. [/color]

[demonboy]

I'd say Boston was more under an immense bout of FAIL, rather than an attack. Seriously, LiteBrites? Since when has that friendly childhood toy become a weapon?

Also, you failed to mention that these things had been up for WEEKS, and nobody did anything, and that Boston was the only city to obviously care.

Their lamest excuse was that "It had batteries, and wires." WIRES for God's sake! I sure as hell hope no Bostonian opens up their computer or they might think it's a bomb, in fact, I hope none of them open up ANY electrical device, since they will see WIRES.

I agree, huge overreaction, but funny. I wish that there was a law that allowed the euthanization of stupid people.

[Allamorph]

[FONT=Arial]I'm still crackin' up over the "infernal machine" bit. I mean, come on. Isn't that like making a law that says "Thou shalt not place Doomsday Devices in our state or thou shalt be severely punished"? :rotflmao:

Good grief.

As for the case itself, I'm not that concerned about it. I might be a little suprised and irritated if the guys are convicted of placing their "infernal machines" around, but I don't think the prosecutors have a case.

[quote name='Declan McCullagh]For the hapless duo to be convicted under this statute, prosecutors [U]must prove [B]each[/B] of four things:[/U] (1) Stevens and Berdovsky were the ones who placed the Aqua Teen Hunger Force devices (2) [U]"with the [B]intent[/B] to cause anxiety, unrest, fear or personal discomfort."[/U] (3) A person must [U]"reasonably"[/U] believe that it's (4) a [U']"device for endangering life or doing unusual damage to property, or both, by fire or explosion."[/U][/quote]

Right. So, the prosecutors have to prove each of the four points. Number 1 is a given, but it's the only point the prosecutors can prove without getting ludicrous or abandoning point #3.

The whole thing's just loony.[/FONT]

[Shinmaru]

Yeah, it's pretty silly. The guys should've received clearance from the city beforehand just in case (even though, as mentioned earlier, the damn things had been up for weeks in other major cities with no problems), but still, I don't know how anybody can look at those things and think "BOMB." They sure as hell don't look like bombs to me.

[url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070201/ap_on_re_us/suspicious_devices_32][b]Here's an article on Yahoo! News with a picture of it in case someone here has yet to see it.[/b][/url]

Also, has everyone seen the news conference that aired on Fox News? Hilarious stuff. The two guys completely blew off the media lol. If I were there, I would've played along with them. They're not going to answer questions, anyway, so why the hell not? Let's talk about hair!

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx2ytr2Oyv4][b]Here's the news conference.[/b][/url]

"I feel like my hair is pretty perfect..." :animesmil

[desertphoenix]

Oh, those guys are my heroes. I'm just wondering did anyone youtube the press interview? It was pretty funny. The guys basically didn't answer any question that had nothing to do with hair (which had nothing to do with the whole [I]terrorist[/I] scare).

Once again, I'm very surprised that [adult_swim] has found a way to point out people's stupid......again. I have no idea how the law works for a situation like this, but it's really more the city's wrong for overreacting i think.

[Johnny Justjohnny]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=Gray]The terrorists aren't winning at all! :animestun :animestun [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[vegeta rocker]

I think its awesome that when they show the one flipping the bad finger they blur out the pixels.

I will never get that, they can show us corpses on the news but we can't see a finger? He doesn't even have real fingers!

[Goodbye, Face]

[font=arial][size=1]Actually, on a lot of places they didn't block the finger, which was awesome. It was a big "**** you" all over the media. And then of course you add the press conference to this. XD

"I really hope they can see this because I'm doing it as hard as I can."[/font][/size]

[Dragonboym2]

[COLOR=Blue]I'm from Boston. I've heard about a "bomb scare" on my way back to school from my job. There were some delays on the Orange Line, for some reason, and sure enough IT WAS A JOKE! Geeze, I don't know why our mayor is making such a big deal. Oh no! Look out, he's got a LITE-BRITE! Get a sense of humor, Mr. Mayor.

Speaking of my hometown, I just saw "The Departed". Boston, your my home.

"KAMEHAMEHA!"


Dragonboym2[/COLOR]

[Ikillion]

[COLOR=#0e1030][SIZE=1][FONT=Trebuchet MS]Lets just wait till the other members of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday show up to torment Boston. Then and only then can we call it a terrorist attack.

At least they didn't attack with the Quad-Glacier, then they'd all be pretty screwed[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[vegeta rocker]

[QUOTE=Dragonboym2][COLOR=Blue]
Speaking of my hometown, I just saw "The Departed". Boston, your my home.

"KAMEHAMEHA!"


Dragonboym2[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Seeing as how The Departed is a remake of the Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs you may have to move.

[SunfallE]

[COLOR=RoyalBlue]As stupid as this whole thing was, it?s not like the city could see that the devices were harmless, real terrorists aren?t going to make devices that are clearly marked bomb or other such things. And the person who installed the device did nothing to let the police know they were not real, staying completely silent.

If the information is correct about e-mails that were sent in regards to this, Turner Broadcasting waited over three hours before they could be bothered to disclose that it was a marketing campaign gone awry. Giving the impression that the creators of the marketing blitz were trying to hide their involvement.

And even then they called Cartoon Network instead of alerting any of the law agencies in Boston. If any of those allegations about the e-mails stating they delayed revealing what was happening are true, Turner Broadcasting needs a swift kick in the rear when they could have prevented most of the scare by simply letting the authorities know what was going on.[/COLOR]

[Raiyuu]

I think the broadcasting company were justified in saying nothing to the authorities, considering they used the same marketing technique in nine other cities without incident. And the idea that the two men that installed the devices should have let police know they were 'not real'? Not real what? They were real LiteBrites and the installers had no reason to think anyone would see them as anything else.

[Morpheus]

The charges against them should be dropped immediately, because the police incited this whole thing, not the guys that put them up.

[Aaryanna]

[COLOR=DarkRed][quote name='Raiyuu']I think the broadcasting company were justified in saying nothing to the authorities, considering they used the same marketing technique in nine other cities without incident. And the idea that the two men that installed the devices should have let police know they were 'not real'? Not real what? They were real LiteBrites and the installers had no reason to think anyone would see them as anything else.[/quote]Uh, no they weren?t. It may have caused no problems in nine other cities, but in this case it was misunderstood. How is it justified to knowingly sit back and allow people to panic when a simple phone call would have ended it?

I read the article Raiyuu, if those e-mails are true about Turner Broadcasting knowing what was happening and they still did not coming forward once they realized what a terrible miscommunication had happened. That?s beyond irresponsible since people are like sheep when they panic and someone could have gotten hurt.

I agree with SunfallE, if they knew that it was being taken the wrong way, they should have said something instead of sitting on their lazy butts and laughing at the authorities who were doing what they are trained to do, save lives. If not those who put them around the city, Turner Broadcasting definitely should not have sat by and done nothing. It shows a definite lack of maturity on their part to not respond and put an end to simple misunderstanding.[/COLOR]

[vegeta rocker]

Well the situation has come to a head and Turner has to pay for the huge inconvenience.

[URL=http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=75b91b08-6682-47a1-9593-738fc3a5a1cf]ARTICLE[/URL]

[Rachmaninoff]

I noticed in the article that the city has no real plans to go after the two guys who placed them around the city in the first place and I agree. They were just doing their job and nothing else. [quote name='Raiyuu']And the idea that the two men that installed the devices should have let police know they were 'not real'? Not real what? They were real LiteBrites and the installers had no reason to think anyone would see them as anything else.[/quote]It doesn?t take much brain power to figure out that if the police are bringing in a bomb squad that they?ve mistake the devices for something else. Something that these guys supposedly told Turner Broadcasting was happening if the reports about e-mails being sent are correct. So it still falls back to both the two guys and Turner Broadcasting doing nothing to let the city know what was really going on.

I?m in agreement with both SunfallE and Aaryanna, it doesn?t matter that other cities did not get upset or mistake the advertising for something deadly. What does matter is that they could have ended a simple misunderstanding and they did not.

Whether or not the police?s response was stupid is irrelevant, Turner Broadcasting had the chance to step in and do damage control and failed the people of Boston by not being decisive in doing so. Resulting in them wasting resources that are needed should something really happen.

I?m a bit surprised that so many people are acting like the police were stupid when they were doing what they were trained to do. And in the end even Turner Broadcasting seems to have realized it as they put up no fuss over paying for the damage they did. Probably to save the company from further embarrassment over failing to do something when they could have.

[Raiyuu]

Okay, yes. I stand by the point that Turner were not at fault for not notifying the Boston authorities [b]in the first instance,[/b] but I concede that once they realised things were getting out of hand words should have been exchanged.

All in all though, massive publicity for Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Though who knows if it'll be enough to offset the fines.

[vegeta rocker]

Maybe Turner was so shocked but the stupidity of the situation they thought it would just die down.

I mean they had them in other places and there was no problem, they probably just thought it was all a big misunderstanding.

Or they could have just been waiting for it to blow over.

But now that i really think about it, what if they were consulting lawyers and stuff? I mean the situation was unprecedented everywhere else they tried it. Maybe they seriously didn't know how to react and what to do.

[TheShinje]

[QUOTE=demonboy]
Their lamest excuse was that "It had batteries, and wires." WIRES for God's sake! I sure as hell hope no Bostonian opens up their computer or they might think it's a bomb, in fact, I hope none of them open up ANY electrical device, since they will see WIRES.
[/QUOTE]

It's not lame when you think about it. Terrorists looking to threaten American interests are trying interesting things to get around security failsafes, remember the airliner alert last year, where the extremists tried to use a liquid compund remote detonated by something innocent like an mp3 player?

It's not above them to disguise their bombs as a Shake flipping the bird. The authorities were absolutely justified in the action they took and shame on Turner Broadcasting for not letting the city know what they were doing with these lite brites.