Boston: 10 "Devices" Found, 5 are fake.

[News Is Broken]

So... did you guys send any of your camerakids out to go look under bridges in YOUR town? Wondering how many ND's out there are looking for the local tie-in.

HA: This update - CNN saying that it's parent co. Turner is issuing a statement that the "devices" are a publicity stunt for a show on Cartoon Network. Freaking wild - you can't make up stuff like this, folks.

For those asking in another thread what makes ex-newsies still long for the biz, it's seeing stuff like this unfold. Awesome. I'm getting popcorn.

[ January 31, 2007, 01:28 PM: Message edited by: News Is Broken ]

[Clever Login Name]

Well ... COULD it happen here?

[NewsMom]

UNBELIEVABLE--- this was a marketing effort to promote some Turner movie that comes out next month.

You knew those radio guys who came up with the water-drinking contest were going to get a new job, but they really landed this gig quickly.

[News Is Broken]

Well now...

According to Turner:

"They have been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Parent company Turner Broadcasting is in contact with local and federal law enforcement on the exact locations of the billboards. We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger"

TWO WEEKS?! How come no one noticed until TODAY? This is farking surreal.

Well, don't just sit here reading
Medialine boys and girls. Go find 'em! :D

[Spike]

Originally posted by News Is Broken:
TWO WEEKS?! How come no one noticed until TODAY? Here's what the thing looks like:

http://news.bostonherald.com/images/localRegional/ltpAdImage013107.jpg

The little "Lite Brite" looking LEDs light up, so that you see one of the mooninites giving you the finger. You probably would only notice it at night, when it was lit up.

This whole thing is retarded. Sure, call the bomb squad if there's really a question about them, but they should have been able to tell pretty quickly that these things weren't bombs. This was a huge overreaction. It cost them $750,000? That's because they're idiots. Turner should pay them nothing.

[Signature on File]

Boston devices a cartoon marketing ploy By KEN MAGUIRE, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 28 minutes ago


BOSTON - Ten 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 publicity campaign for a late-night cable cartoon. At least one of the devices depicts a character giving the finger.

ADVERTISEMENT

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, a division of Time Warner Inc. and parent of Cartoon Network, said the devices were part of a promotion for the TV show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," a surreal series about a talking milkshake, a box of fries and a meatball.

"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.

The marketing company responsible for the campaign, Interference Inc., had no immediate comment. A woman who answered the phone at the New York-based firm's offices on Wednesday afternoon said the firm's CEO was out of town and would not be able to comment until Thursday.

Police said only that they were investigating where the device came from, but 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.

Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke praised Boston authorities for sharing their knowledge quickly with Washington officials and the public.

"Hoaxes are a tremendous burden on local law enforcement and counter-terrorism resources and there's absolutely no place for them in a post-9/11 world," Knocke 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. A similar device was found Wednesday evening just north of Fenway Park, police spokesman Eddy Chrispin said.

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 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.

Ted Turner says all the employees involved will be terminated. "They are all just young punks that were raised by cable music channels and they found this to be humorous."

[Spike]

Originally posted by H R Puff&Stuff:
Authorities said some of the objects looked like circuit boards or had wires hanging from them.I just glanced over at one of my computers, which has the cover off. Hey, there are circuit boards there. And wires! OH MY GOD! THERE'S A BOMB IN MY HOUSE!

Idiots.

[Desert Rat]

I wonder if the old saying of "There is no such thing as bad publicity" will hold up in this case.

[Spike]

Here's a link to detailed photos of the thing (http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanderlin/tags/aquateenhungerforce/). There are pictures there of the thing hanging under a bridge.

It was also featured on the website of Make Magazine (http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/01/aqua_teen_hunge.html), a craft and electronics magazine for people who like to make things.

[Randy Steinman]

Any other 40-somethings having flashbacks to a 1960's toy called Lite-Brite?

http://x2d.xanga.com/a13816e7d85b831251442/z21786436.jpg

[ February 01, 2007, 11:47 AM: Message edited by: Randy Steinman ]

[AstroDiaper]

A friend in LA told me he had wondered what the hell these things were. He forgot to totally panic and call homeland security when he noticed it.

Nice job Boston. Morons

[Vulcan]

I can see the story now...

NEWSMAX - BILLIONAIRE LIB TURNER TO BLAME FOR NEW TERROR STRATEGY

(Atlanta) Turner Networks founder Ted Turner, who once polluted the minds of our children with the weak-kneed insipid eco-warrior "Captain Planet," has inadvertently given Islamofascists a new method for delivering nuclear devices to major U.S. cities.

Thanks to a promotion by Turner's Cartoon Network, Al-Qaeda deputies of Ayman al-Zawahiri are planning to disguise "suitcase nukes" as Lite-Brite-like advertising devices. Sources in the intel community tell NewsMax that al-Zawahiri's planners have been feversishly researching the method.

Ever since the admission that several metropolitan areas completely ignored the ads for "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," Muslim clerics have leapt at the opportunity to strike where they see a vulnerability in security protocols. The ads in question are of digitally simple shapes called "Mooninites," whom you can quite easily see prefer to use a gesture honoring the Third Pillar of Islam.

Operatives from MI-5 have traced a significant increase in the downloading of episodes of "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" traced to internet connections in Iran. It is believed that Muslim clerics are studying in detail a character named "Meatwad." The concern for Muslims is the exact nature of Meatwad's composition, as the presence of pork would immediately render the project suspect.

Sources tell NewsMax that Turner once had a string of carnal relations with Jane Fonda, a known Communist sympathizer, who gave comfort and good vibes to the Viet Cong, and also appeared in a Photoshop mosaic of a war protest with known waffler John Kerry.

[sports_hustler]

Based on an arrest tonight and the video I've seen, it seems to me like the displays have been out in conspicuous places for two weeks -- put there by the company Turner hired. It sounds like this person moved the displays under bridges and such - which someone saw, thought it looked suspicious and panicked. Overreaction, perhaps, but they weren't where they were supposed to be. At least, that's how it seems to me.

[Spike]

Originally posted by sports_hustler:
It sounds like this person moved the displays under bridges and such - which someone saw, thought it looked suspicious and panicked. They were under the bridges from the beginning. The one currently on eBay came from under a bridge. That guy found it two weeks ago and joked on the Adult Swim forums that he was thinking of auctioning it off.

Panic my ass. If someone reported something suspicious, then yes, the cops should have sent the bomb squad. But one look at the thing should have been able to tell them that it wasn't a bomb. The cops are the ones who caused the panic by overreacting, bringing in the Federal government, setting up a "command center," and telling the city it was under attack.

A few weeks ago someone left what was called a "hoax device" near my college campus. The cops rolled in, cordoned off the area and brought in the bomb squad to examine it. It was made to look like a bomb, but somehow they managed to figure out that it wasn't and dispose of it without locking down my whole city and causing a panic.

And here's another thing that's gotten lost in all this. The first devices that were reported in Boston yesterday were not Adult Swim advertisements (http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=180349). They were simulated pipe bombs placed at a medical facility. The cops know who made those (a disgruntled employee) and have NOT arrested him. They're not paying attention to the real bomb hoax at all.

Why? Because they overreacted. They started with a real hoax and went into a panic themselves, mistaking a bunch of harmless ads for bombs. To cover their own stupidity, they're trying to blame the panic on Adult Swim.

[cinehead]

Originally posted by Spike:
Panic my ass. If someone reported something suspicious, then yes, the cops should have sent the bomb squad. But one look at the thing should have been able to tell them that it wasn't a bomb. The cops are the ones who caused the panic by overreacting, bringing in the Federal government, setting up a "command center," and telling the city it was under attack.I just wish the media would hold the incompetent mayor and police accountable. Instead, everyone (particularly CNN) is avoiding asking any hard questions to those that let the situation get out of control.

If I were one of the people stuck in traffic while this mess was going on, I’d be demanding some answers.

[Clever Login Name]

Keep in mind that Boston was where the 9/11 terrorists hopped on their planes ... that the police would overreact is understandable, given that they've been faulted (rightly or wrongly) in the past for the lapse in airport security.

[Kace]

Those who didn't know a thing about Adult Swim before probably do now.

[Spike]

Originally posted by Clever Login Name:
that the police would overreact is understandable...No it isn't. Not even New York, which seems to have a target painted on it for terrorists, overreacted the way the cops in Boston did. The NY cops just went around and took them down rather than driving their city into a panic.

If anything, whatever experience they have with terrorism should have helped them respond with less panic and chaos, not more.

[Sultanosurf]

Cinehead, if the 'media' is supposed to hold authorities responsible, then you'll get pissed if we grill 'em.

Actually, the best part on this was watching CNN get whipped into a frenzy, then see the backtrack when somebody from their sister channel finally ambled down the hall to let 'em in on the gag.

The anti-terror expert de-fusing the litebrite on-air was minutes away...

[ewink]

I was just watching ABC News OnDemand online and I saw a report from GMA where they used the word 'hoax' not once, not twice, but at least 7 times.

Does anyone in this business own a dictionary?

[Picture This ...]

http://www.geocities.com/california_state_unfair2002/athf_boston_cnn.gif

[Head Janitor]

My favorite thing about this whole event: the blurring of the 'middle finger.'

It is a line of lights, people! Is that really something considered offensive?

[cinehead]

Originally posted by Sultanosurf:
Cinehead, if the 'media' is supposed to hold authorities responsible, then you'll get pissed if we grill 'em.No, I really won't.

I gotta give Menino some credit, he came out and said that the two guys they arrested aren't responsible for this mess.