Free Republic

BOSTON -- Four "hoax devices" were found at several Boston locations Wednesday, hours after officials detonated a suspicious package on an elevated structure above the Sullivan Square Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority station. The additional packages were found at the Boston University Bridge, the Longfellow Bridge and near the intersection of Stuart and Columbus streets. A device described by officials as a pipe bomb was found in the basement of the Tufts New England Medical Center at 185 Harrison Ave. A spokesman for the Boston Police Department said that all of the packages appeared to be similar. "Our device was not...

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...

Martians Attack Boston! By J. Neil Schulman It’s a history lesson worth remembering today. On October 30, 1938 on the CBS Radio Network, Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater of the Air presented a dramatic Halloween radio adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic science-fiction novel, The War of the Worlds. Howard Koch’s audio-play updated Wells’ classic story from Victorian England to contemporary America, and used the medium of radio to best effect by telling the story as if it were a series of radio news broadcasts. It was brilliant radio theater. Unfortunately, late-tuning-in listeners scanning across the radio dial and finding a...

As reported by CNN, "Assistant Attorney General John Grossman called the light boards "bomb-like" devices and said that if they had been explosive they could have damaged transportation infrastructure in the city." In case you missed that, the Assistant Attorney General said that "IF they had been explosive, THEY COULD HAVE damaged transportation infrastructure in the city." Right. Just like IF they were just lightboards depicting a cartoon character, THEY COULD be completely harmless; or IF I was a millionare, I COULD sit around watching Aqua Teen Hunger Force smoking cigars all day (well, I guess I could do that...