Posted on 01/31/2007 6:45:54 PM PST by tobyhill
BOSTON - More than 10 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. Most if not all of the devices depict a character giving the finger.
Boston police said Wednesday night that one person had been arrested, and authorities scheduled a news conference to provide details.
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, who said he'll speak to the state's attorney general "about what recourse we may have."
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, issued a few hours after reports of the first devices came in.
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. As soon as the company realized the problem, it said, law enforcement officials were told of their locations in all 10 cities.
The marketing firm that put them up has been ordered to remove them immediately, said Phil Kent, Turner chairman.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
"Wow, you're rather easily influenced aren't you? You see one television show and you're an expert on what may or may not be an IED?"
I thought the same thing when I read that post. I've seen several of those kind of shows. I watch the history channel a whole heck of a lot. I still have a sense of humor though.
Do you find yourself wanting one of these Err signs for your own home? Cartoon Network could make a bunch of money selling them now.
Just what I thought you'd do. You've been proven wrong repeatedly and you refused to admit it. Your only tactic right now is attempting to make little quips to make yourself look clever.
It's not working.
You insisted they were concealed. I posted multiple sources proving they weren't. I used logic to show they wouldn't be concealed because they are ADVERTISING!!! Still you insist you're right. And your only tactic is to dismiss one source and ignore the other.
You know why I posted the E online story? Because when I did a google search for Aqua Teen Hunger Force, it was the first news story listed. It's still true.
I'm guessing you made your friend even more hysterical. You probably told her these were wrapped up because you heard the word "package" and couldn't comprehend that "package" also means "item" and doesn't have to equal a package that's wrapped up.
Here's an idea: Since you seem to live in boston, call the cops tomorrow. Ask if the items were concealed. Then when they tell you they weren't, blame them for making you and your friend hysterical by calling them "packages".
But I guess any further attempts at logic will be met with quips that, to you, prove how superior you are in your own mind.
Just as I suspected.
Have a good cry along with your friend. Perhaps you can go on oprah together and all three of you can cry.
You're wrong. You know it.
Turner probably didn't recognize their handiwork in the news reports. Blame the newsies for that.
And blame Mumbles Menino and Together-We-Can Patrick for the expense and inconvenience incurred by their unique in the nation overreaction.
Be quiet. I am asleep.
In the first pic in the upper left, that is a pencil next to the "harmless little circuit board with harmless wires" and "little bags".
It appears to be AT MOST 1/2 the size of the "harmless cartoon advertisements" found today.
The plastic thing laying on top of the armrest, is a garage door opener, about the size of a pack of regular size cigarettes, which gives a perspective to the realatively SMALL size of this IED, compared to your "harmless" cartoon "advertisement".
So as long as someone takes the plastic explosive, and shapes it into a cartoon figure with a few LED "Brite-Lites" that is "hip" and recognizable to people like you,( which CAN be done )you would IMEDIATELY think it's "OK" because it's just a "harmless advertisement".........
YOU TWO are the ones who "don't get it".
did you cry yourself to sleep, or did you crying friend help you out???
if you need help getting back to sleep, golden girls is on lifetime right now. Or is that too much excitement for you?
Dear Ted Casablanca:
Seek help. If you dare to mention my friend one more time, I will contact the moderator, something I have never done.
Do not reply again. It will be considered stalking.
Well, there's your response time! ROFLMAO
"Do not reply again. It will be considered stalking."
Wow.
so you can respond to me but I can't respond to you without it being considered stalking? You can do whatever you like but I can only do something if you approve of it.
On a public discussion board?
Can I reply to your posts if it's not a ping to you? Is that allowed on YOUR board?
You can stop posting to this thread and TO ME at any time you'd like. You don't have to keep posting. You're the one who said you're going to sleep but kept coming back.
If a moderator agrees with your claim that I'm "stalking" you simply by posting on a thread, then there's something very wrong.
Go ahead and ask them. Make sure you have them read all your comments on the thread as well.
There's a box on my street some one alert the bomb squad! All this over some stupid lite-brites. It was a poorly concieved stunt nonetheless, although they got a lot more publicity than they could have ever gotten with some stupid boxes though...perhaps they hoped this would happen? Number one in the hood G.
So, the logical conclusion is to knock down all buildings, and bulldoze the entire city completely flat so that anything suspicious will stand out.
And you'll have to put the people somewhere else too. Simply making them go naked won't work, since they might carry illegal things in their behinds.
Let me ask you, though -- why monger fear, when what is more needed is common sense.
Thanks for the pic.
You're absolutely right. This is a total CYA effort by the local government to distract from their idiotic overreaction.
Here in Boston, there's a bunch of head-shaking going on.
Wow... Holy buckets. (sarc)I think I just pooped myself I'm so scared looking at that...(/sarc)
They mistook that for an IED? WTF is in the water up there anyway?
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