[HN Gopher] 2007 Boston Mooninite Panic
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       2007 Boston Mooninite Panic
        
       Author : black6
       Score  : 94 points
       Date   : 2024-11-24 02:54 UTC (20 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (en.wikipedia.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (en.wikipedia.org)
        
       | alsetmusic wrote:
       | I remember this fiasco. We were peak see-something-say-something
       | (or maybe just beyond that) in post-9/11 USA. Absolute paranoia.
       | People who lived in the middle of nowhere were afraid of
       | terrorist attacks, as though high population urban centers
       | wouldn't be the real targets.
       | 
       | See also: Freedumb Fries[0]
       | 
       | 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_fries
        
         | garciansmith wrote:
         | Yep. The Mario question blocks put up by some teenagers in
         | Ravenna, Ohio, in 2006 was a similar situation.
         | https://www.eurogamer.net/news030406marioprank
        
       | tumnus wrote:
       | This really was peak marketing idiocy. I knew people who worked
       | at Cartoon Network at the time. Jim Samples' disconnect and
       | subsequent resignation reverberated down the ranks and tanked a
       | lot of careers and projects. Who would think that strapping
       | battery operated devices to bridges with duct tape in any
       | post-9/11 city would be a good idea?
        
         | miah_ wrote:
         | It was a LED moonite. It wasn't scary at all.
        
         | almostgotcaught wrote:
         | > battery operated devices
         | 
         | I love when people clutch pearls and say exaggerated things to
         | justify it. What does "battery operated" even mean lolol. Is
         | the phrase supposed to conjure images of IEDs or what? They
         | were battery _powered_ LED signs
         | 
         | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_Mooninite_panic
        
           | joemi wrote:
           | The very first sentence of the article you linked states that
           | they were mistaken for IEDs.
        
             | almostgotcaught wrote:
             | I'm aware and what we're debating here is whether it was a
             | _rational_ reaction (not whether it happened).
        
               | thih9 wrote:
               | I think in some ways it was - this was a marketing
               | effort, outside of legislation and not consulted with
               | authorities.
               | 
               | A disproportionate response here will discourage other
               | companies from similar guerrilla marketing.
               | 
               | I doubt anyone wants more marketing, and especially
               | unregulated marketing.
        
             | willis936 wrote:
             | Should I report every lighted billboard I see on every
             | block for potentially being an IED? Shall I call in every
             | car for possibly being a car bomb? I see people on cell
             | phones in the city constantly. Those could each be
             | explosive devices.
        
             | netsharc wrote:
             | Because if someone was planting IEDs, they should be
             | prominently visible, and have lights drawing attention to
             | it...
             | 
             | What IED handbook would these people be reading?
             | 
             | Oh wait, maybe it's the handbook that says "Make them look
             | like they're just for entertainment, so everyone will think
             | they're just harmless marketing gimmicks.". But if so, the
             | handbook should specify they should make it Mickey Mouse,
             | not some obscure TV show...
        
               | mcmcmc wrote:
               | From an attacker perspective, drawing victims closer to
               | the device before detonation would increase the
               | lethality.
        
         | bagels wrote:
         | It's outrageous that anyone resigned or was fired over this
         | other than city employees of Boston for lying about a stupid
         | sign.
        
         | KennyBlanken wrote:
         | I will never understand all the apologists.
         | 
         | They were crudely constructed.
         | 
         | There was no information attached to them (one of the things
         | MIT hackers always did was place clear contact information,
         | removal instructions, etc on anything they left somewhere
         | public.)
         | 
         | The devices had large cylinders wrapped in plastic. Sure, they
         | could be batteries. They could also be containers of
         | explosives.
         | 
         | Some of them the character is angry, and giving the finger.
         | Sure fits a "angry at the world" attitude of a bomb-maker.
         | 
         | It doesn't seem to occur to people that bombs can be _designed
         | to attract attention_ , and can be booby-trapped to try and
         | kill bomb disposal teams.
         | 
         | It doesn't seem to have occurred to people that if you are a
         | bomb squad or police commander, you don't have the luxury of
         | saying "oh yeah, that thing strapped to the bridge support for
         | an interstate, phsht, that _probably_ isn 't a bomb, that's
         | _probably_ just some weird vidyah game character " because if
         | you're wrong, _people die._ No. You get people away from it and
         | try to figure out what it is.
         | 
         | Oh, and it turned out there had been a hoax bomb left in a
         | hospital earlier by someone who was acting deranged, and
         | incidents in NY and DC right before all this.
         | 
         | Then a few years later, wouldn't you know...a few miles away,
         | two assholes left a bunch of pressure cookers at the finish
         | line of the marathon, killed a bunch of people and wounded
         | dozens, murdered a campus cop, and then led police on a
         | gunfire-filled chase through multiple towns.
        
           | almostgotcaught wrote:
           | > The devices had large cylinders wrapped in plastic. Sure,
           | they could be batteries.
           | 
           | They were bog standard D batteries:
           | 
           | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_Mooninite_panic#.
           | ..
           | 
           | > Then a few years later, wouldn't you know.
           | 
           | This has literally nothing to do with anything.
           | 
           | > I will never understand all the apologists.
           | 
           | Well some people are rational and some people aren't so it's
           | only natural that the latter don't understand the former (ie
           | that's usually how it goes)
        
             | KennyBlanken wrote:
             | > They were bog standard D batteries:
             | 
             | I'm well aware. How is a bomb squad member supposed to know
             | this, while looking at it stuck to the side of a bridge
             | I-beam, wrapped in layers of black plastic? Bombs are often
             | designed to blow up when disturbed, in hopes of injuring or
             | killing a member of the bomb squad.
             | 
             | I'd like to see _you_ work a bomb squad and see how brave
             | you are when you come across a package with some long
             | cylinders wrapped in black plastic and wires sticking out,
             | and how _you_ feel when some smarmy programmer tells you
             | "HAHA YOU'RE SO STUPID IT WAS JUST BATTERIES" after the
             | fact.
             | 
             | > This has literally nothing to do with anything.
             | 
             | Yeah, it does. It shows that Boston police thinking the
             | city might be a target of bombers _wasn 't so absurd and
             | paranoid after all_, and that appearance (the bombs were in
             | cooking pots) means nothing.
        
               | almostgotcaught wrote:
               | > I'd like to see you work a bomb squad and see how brave
               | you are when you come across a package with some long
               | cylinders wrapped in black plastic and wires sticking
               | out, and how you feel when some smarmy programmer tells
               | you "HAHA YOU'RE SO STUPID IT WAS JUST BATTERIES" after
               | the fact.
               | 
               | I'd really love to know if you've worked EOD or if you're
               | just a smarmy conservative condemning pranksters. Because
               | I believe we're both truly inexperienced (ie you haven't
               | actually done EOD) and we can only rely on common,
               | rational, sense to debate this amongst ourselves.
               | 
               | > Yeah, it does. It shows that Boston police thinking the
               | city might be a target of bombers wasn't so absurd and
               | paranoid after all
               | 
               | That's not how this works, that's not how any of this
               | works. Reasonable suspicion and probable cause and all
               | that don't operate like "we're justified in detaining you
               | if in the future someone _else_ commits the crime we want
               | to accuse you of ". No the police, the state, the
               | judiciary, etc have to have proof that _you 've_
               | committed a crime. I mean think about what you're saying:
               | the implication is basically most freedoms should be
               | abridged because it's a complete certainty that in the
               | future, someone, somewhere, will commit some tenuously
               | related crime.
        
               | KennyBlanken wrote:
               | Of course I haven't done EOD. I don't need to be to know
               | that bomb squads treat stuff like it's a bomb until
               | proven otherwise via x-ray or a tech inspecting it, or it
               | is disrupted by water cannon.
               | 
               | > we can only rely on common, rational, sense to debate
               | this amongst ourselves.
               | 
               | "common rational sense", riiiiiight. You implied bomb
               | techs should assume (or know) that cylinders with wires
               | coming out of them wrapped in black plastic attached to
               | critical transportation are _just batteries_ and could
               | not be a pipe full of explosives.
               | 
               | We're done here.
        
               | marcus0x62 wrote:
               | Being tightly wound must be an East-coast thing.
               | 
               | From the Wikipedia page on the "2007 Boston Mooninite
               | Scare":
               | 
               | No devices were retrieved in Los Angeles and Lieutenant
               | Paul Vernon of the Los Angeles Police Department stated
               | that _" no one perceived them as a threat".The many Los
               | Angeles signs were up without incident for more than two
               | weeks prior to the Boston scare._
               | 
               | Police Sergeant Brian Schmautz stated that officers in
               | Portland had not been dispatched to remove the devices,
               | and did not plan to unless they were found on municipal
               | property. _He added, "At this point, we wouldn't even
               | begin an investigation, because there's no reason to
               | believe a crime has occurred."_ A device was placed
               | inside 11th Ave. Liquor on Hawthorne Boulevard in
               | Portland, where it remains.
               | 
               | San Francisco Police Sergeant Neville Gittens said that
               | Interference, Inc., was removing them, except for one
               | found by art gallery owner Jamie Alexander, who
               | reportedly "thought it was cool" and had it taken down
               | after it ceased to function.
        
               | snozolli wrote:
               | You're right. We should always assume the absolute worst-
               | possible interpretation at all times and whip ourselves
               | into a frenzy over it. Just look at the long list of IEDs
               | with Lite-Brite-style, cartoonish characters on them. You
               | say Mooninite, I say Neon Osama bin Laden.
        
             | collingreen wrote:
             | Calling someone irrational for being concerned a random,
             | out of place device might be a home made bomb and then
             | dismissing some home made bombs as having "literally
             | nothing to do with anything" is pretty shitty.
        
               | almostgotcaught wrote:
               | > random, out of place device
               | 
               | I'll say it again: when people don't just say what the
               | thing was (an LED sign) and instead use vague scary terms
               | ("random out of place device") they are _intentionally_
               | aiming to deceive. As well, anyone is free to click the
               | links I 've posted and judge for themselves.
        
               | footrib wrote:
               | I think the Boston Marathon bombing really is damaging to
               | the case that the reaction was justified.
               | 
               | A lot is being made in this thread of a public art piece.
               | Meanwhile, the real attack that's been cited was executed
               | by leaving a nondescript backpack on the ground.
               | 
               | The other commenter raises a good point that the case
               | being made boils down to being intentionally vague.
               | "Random device." "Cylinders." And that really does fall
               | apart when you describe it as "an LED sign with
               | batteries."
               | 
               | It's reasonable for the bomb squad to investigate. But
               | the likelihood that this was a threat is being grossly
               | exaggerated.
        
           | NoMoreNicksLeft wrote:
           | I'll never understand the reactionaries. Did they really
           | believe that there were terrorists out there who'd build
           | bombs and then put a Lite Bright on it? Was it that they were
           | all dumb millennials who never heard of the toy? Anyone who
           | saw that and was over the age of 30 at the time should've
           | started laughing and called the whole panic off. When
           | reporters interviewed cops about it, they should've started
           | giggling, telling the cameraman to "pack it up, these cops
           | are retards".
           | 
           | It really was that bad.
        
             | a12k wrote:
             | > I'll never understand the reactionaries. Did they really
             | believe that there were terrorists out there who'd build
             | bombs and then put a Lite Bright on it?
             | 
             | Lots of wild stuff happening at that time. Would you
             | believe that there was a little reported incident where
             | someone put a bomb in their SHOE?? People were very on
             | edge, so I can completely understand having an additional
             | layer of paranoia about seemingly normal things being
             | potentially dangerous.
             | 
             | > Was it that they were all dumb millennials who never
             | heard of the toy?
             | 
             | In 2007 most millennials would have been late teens to
             | early 20s. According to the 2015 City of Boston Workforce
             | Report, the median age of the city workers at that time was
             | 45.25.[1] So I'm guessing it was probably people over 30
             | who responded to the calls and did not call the panic off.
             | 
             | > When reporters interviewed cops about it, they should've
             | started giggling, telling the cameraman to "pack it up,
             | these cops are r***".[sic]
             | 
             | Again, it's likely 18 year old Millennials weren't
             | reporters or police officer or firefighters, it's probably
             | people who had played with this sort of toy as kids and
             | knew what it was on its face.
             | 
             | I think the main thing I would point out is you should
             | consider having some grace for people at this different and
             | distinct time in the world, and that zeitgeist.
             | 
             | [1] https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/2015.04.1
             | 4%20F...
        
         | selimthegrim wrote:
         | I know somebody here in my city, who worked in audio editing
         | for Cartoon Network, and apparently what he heard was that the
         | FBI demanded somebody fall on their sword.
        
       | dmead wrote:
       | My steam icon is still errr from this incident. Never forget.
        
         | ganoushoreilly wrote:
         | "Obey the Moon and its mighty wisdom. Ignore it, and be
         | vaporized."
        
         | selimthegrim wrote:
         | My late freshman roommate and I made Mooninites out of clear
         | plastic blocks as one of the first things to decorate our room
         | at Caltech. We had moved on to different roommates by the time
         | this happened but we had kept the plastic Mooninites so
         | naturally, we thought it was hilarious.
        
       | lazystar wrote:
       | hah. the best press conference of all time was held by the
       | marketing guys after they were "caught". they refused to answer
       | questions about anything other than their hair, and i remember
       | some witty reporter asking them what theyd do about their hair if
       | they went to jail. caught them off guard, hah.
       | 
       | edit - here it is, beautiful
       | 
       | https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X2fGzmphx4U
        
         | miah_ wrote:
         | They had amazing hair. I loved all their hair commentary. Best
         | response to a literal media circus.
        
         | KennyBlanken wrote:
         | It was less beautiful if you spent two hours stuffed into a
         | subway car (because at first they kept trains moving toward
         | where the device was, but they were slowed, so we stopped at
         | two packed stations full of people who were going to be late
         | for work.)
        
           | marcus0x62 wrote:
           | Was that the fault of the kids at the press conference, or
           | the absolute morons who mistook small LED signs for bombs?
        
             | stouset wrote:
             | Yes but those signs had WIRES and BATTERIES, which are
             | clear indicators of sinister intent.
        
               | marcus0x62 wrote:
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Mohamed_clock_inciden
               | t
        
       | nirmal wrote:
       | I was taking a class around this time that involved programming
       | and Atari 2600. I made a game based around this event.
       | 
       | http://nirmalpatel.com/hacks/atari.html
        
       | ChrisArchitect wrote:
       | A previous submission from a year ago has an interesting comment
       | from someone involved:
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37105056
        
         | dang wrote:
         | Definitely one for https://news.ycombinator.com/highlights.
        
         | BonoboIO wrote:
         | Wow ... this escalated quickly.
        
         | skeaker wrote:
         | That interview is brilliant. The reporters trying to smear the
         | two made such fools of themselves. My favorite bit is when a
         | reported said "This isn't gathering much sympathy with the
         | public," but here we are looking back on it and laughing at the
         | moronic reporters instead. Love to see it
        
         | 8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote:
         | Holy moly, TIL it's the same Zebbler from Zebbler Encanti. Wow,
         | small world.
        
       | voidfunc wrote:
       | Never forget haha.
       | 
       | I remember my parents being mildly outraged about this. 18 year
       | old me thought it was fucking hilarious.
        
       | nlh wrote:
       | Heh. My roommate (in NYC) at the time was involved-enough in this
       | that one of the actual "devices" appeared in our apartment a few
       | weeks later and surreptitiously remained for many years, fully
       | working in its Lite-brite/LED glory.
       | 
       | It made for an excellent conversation piece for those that knew,
       | and a weird piece of LED art for those that didn't.
       | 
       | Edit: I found pictures! Sorry they were shot on a potatocam (2008
       | era) but here she is:
       | 
       | https://imgur.com/2DcutSE
       | 
       | https://imgur.com/H76RQq6
        
       | DonHopkins wrote:
       | In September 2007, several months after the Mooninite Panic, MIT
       | student Star Simpson was arrested at Boston Logan Airport for
       | wearing an electronic LED device and holding Play-Doh.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Simpson
       | 
       | >Shortly after arriving on the MIT campus, she met a student
       | group called MITERS (the MIT Electronic Research Society).[3]
       | 
       | >In September 2007 while a student at MIT, several months after
       | the Boston Mooninite Panic, Simpson created an electronic fashion
       | sweatshirt featuring a colored, glowing name tag.[4][5] While
       | wearing this sweatshirt during a visit to Boston Logan Airport,
       | Simpson was arrested at gunpoint and charged with the possession
       | of a hoax device, a charge that was dropped by prosecutors a year
       | later.[6][7][8] In an echo of MIT's official later treatment of
       | Aaron Swartz, the MIT media office released a statement
       | condemning and disavowing Simpson's actions before she was even
       | released from questioning.[9][10]
       | 
       | >Simpson studied at MIT between 2006 and 2010. She returned to
       | MIT in 2015 to speak about her experience at an MIT conference on
       | the Freedom to Innovate.[11]
       | 
       | >In 2017, MIT established a "disobedience" award to reward forms
       | of disobedience that benefit society, as demonstrated by Simpson
       | while a student at MIT.[12]
       | 
       | MIT Sophomore Arrested at Logan For Wearing LED Device
       | 
       | https://thetech.com/2007/11/13/simpson-v127-n40
       | 
       | >Star A. Simpson '10, wearing a circuit board that lit up and was
       | connected to a battery, was arrested at gunpoint at Logan
       | International Airport this morning and was charged with
       | disorderly conduct and possession of a hoax device. Simpson was
       | released on $750 bail earlier today; her pre-trial hearing is
       | scheduled for Oct. 29, 2007 at 9 a.m. in East Boston District
       | Court.
       | 
       | >Simpson (a former Tech photographer) was wearing the device,
       | which included green light-emitting diodes arranged in the shape
       | of a star, during yesterday's MIT Career Fair. Her defense
       | attorney said she was at the airport to pick up her boyfriend who
       | arrived at Logan this morning.
       | 
       | >Simpson approached an information booth in Logan's Terminal C
       | wearing the light-up device, Assistant Suffolk District Attorney
       | Wayne Margolis said during Simpson's arraignment today. Margolis
       | also said that Simpson had been wearing the art for at least a
       | few days.
       | 
       | >She "said it was a piece of art," Margolis said, and "refused to
       | answer any more questions." Jake Wark, spokesperson for the
       | Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, said that Simpson only
       | described the LED lights after she was "repeatedly questioned by
       | the MassPort employee." Simpson then "roamed briefly around the
       | terminal," Wark said. Margolis said this caused several Logan
       | employees to flee the building. As Simpson left the building, she
       | disconnected the battery powering the device, according to a
       | press release provided by Wark.
       | 
       | >Simpson had five to six ounces of Play-Doh in her hands, State
       | Police Maj. Scott Pare said in a press conference this morning.
       | The Play-Doh could have been mistaken for plastic explosives.
       | [...]
       | 
       | Star Simpson Receives Pretrial Probation
       | 
       | https://thetech.com/2008/06/06/simpson-v128-n27
       | 
       | MIT student Star Simpson gets probation in Logan security scare
       | 
       | https://www.bostonherald.com/2008/06/02/mit-student-star-sim...
       | 
       | Boston Airport Bomb Scare Should Scare Scientists
       | 
       | https://www.wired.com/2007/09/boston-airport/
       | 
       | Star Simpson, one year after Boston airport terror-scare:
       | unedited BBtv interview transcript
       | 
       | https://boingboing.net/2008/09/22/star-simpson-one-yea.html
       | 
       | She's also the genius behind Taco Copter:
       | 
       | https://tacocopter.com/
        
         | snozolli wrote:
         | _> Simpson had five to six ounces of Play-Doh in her hands,
         | State Police Maj. Scott Pare said in a press conference this
         | morning. The Play-Doh could have been mistaken for plastic
         | explosives._
         | 
         | From the interview, it wasn't even Play-Doh!
         | 
         |  _STAR: Sure. That was this little hand-sculpted flower I
         | brought to give my friend at the airport. (holds it up to
         | camera, it 's a bright pink rose, hardened clay)
         | 
         | XENI: Well did it look like that, or did it look like a wad of
         | C4?
         | 
         | STAR: This is exactly what it was. It wasn't strapped to my
         | chest, it was in my hand looking very much like a flower. It's
         | hard (taps it against desk and against fingernails). It's not
         | play-doh. (taps, audible) It's baked, hard. And this is exactly
         | how it looked on that day, it hasn't changed shape or lost
         | color or anything. They took it from me and kept it from me at
         | the time. It's been about a year since I had this in my
         | possession. But I chose not to show it to people until now._
         | 
         | I remember this incident and how infuriating it was. It's even
         | more infuriating now that I've read the follow-up interview.
        
       | Lammy wrote:
       | At least two versions of the lost ATHF episode "Boston" are
       | floating around out there. One of them was here:
       | https://old.reddit.com/r/adultswim/comments/13nibvz/the_lost...
        
       | Animats wrote:
       | A few decades ago, I was involved in the Neidorf hacking case [1]
       | as an expert witness. One minor item in evidence was something
       | marked "Tomobiki High School Torture Research Club". That's an
       | anime reference.[3] It's an allusion to the Japanese tendency to
       | have organized school clubs for everything, and in that anime,
       | this is the bullies' group. The prosecution logged the item as an
       | exhibit, as an indication of something bad, but never actually
       | brought it up in court, so it didn't matter.
       | 
       | [1] https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/102868.102869
       | 
       | [2] https://uruseiyatsura.fandom.com/wiki/Tomobiki_High_School
        
         | perihelions wrote:
         | Reminds me of the Cameron Todd Willingham case--an innocent man
         | Texas wrongfully convicted and executed. The prosecutors
         | brought his Iron Maiden poster into evidence in that trial, to
         | paint a picture to the (very conservative 1990's Texas) jury
         | that his heavy metal music interest was an indication of
         | "satanic" evil.
         | 
         | - _" At one point, Jackson showed Gregory Exhibit No. 60--a
         | photograph of an Iron Maiden poster that had hung in
         | Willingham's house--and asked the psychologist to interpret it.
         | "This one is a picture of a skull, with a fist being punched
         | through the skull," Gregory said; the image displayed
         | "violence" and "death." Gregory looked at photographs of other
         | music posters owned by Willingham. "There's a hooded skull,
         | with wings and a hatchet," Gregory continued. "And all of these
         | are in fire, depicting--it reminds me of something like Hell.
         | And there's a picture--a Led Zeppelin picture of a falling
         | angel. . . . I see there's an association many times with
         | cultive-type of activities. A focus on death, dying. Many times
         | individuals that have a lot of this type of art have interest
         | in satanic-type activities.""_
         | 
         | https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/09/07/trial-by-fire
         | (2009)
        
           | arcbyte wrote:
           | It doesn't seem at all clear that Willingham was innocent.
           | While his trial maybe shouldn't have happened because of
           | flawed evidence, there has never been another explanation of
           | what happened to leave his children dead under his care and
           | allow him escape relatively unscathed.
           | 
           | In fact, while he, in hindsight, probably shouldn't have been
           | executed for murder, he absolutely belongs in jail if for no
           | other reason than the refrigerator positioning which doomed
           | his children as much as anything else.
        
             | fsh wrote:
             | It is undisputed that Willingham's kids slept in the room
             | where the fire broke out, while he slept in a different
             | room. This is a pretty solid explanation for what happened.
        
               | arcbyte wrote:
               | I'm not following - explanation for his innocence or
               | guilt?
        
               | fsh wrote:
               | It's a very simple explanation why the fire killed his
               | children and not him.
        
       | sanj wrote:
       | At the time I lived next door to the "litebrite" bombers.
       | 
       | It was disconcerting to arrive home to that many news vans in
       | front of my house.
        
       | jmclnx wrote:
       | I happened to be there for a work activity. That night a bunch of
       | us were out and I saw one of those things. I asked if anyone with
       | me know what it was and no one new. We all though it was
       | interesting but strange and moved on :)
       | 
       | Never once did the thought of 'danger' entered any of our minds.
        
       | dang wrote:
       | I thought this was discussed on HN at the time but I can't find
       | it. Anyone?
       | 
       | Here's what I did find:
       | 
       |  _The 2007 Boston Mooninite Panic_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37105056 - Aug 2023 (3
       | comments)
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4003940 (May 2012)
       | 
       | https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
        
       | benjaminclauss wrote:
       | you and your third dimension...
       | 
       | what about it?
       | 
       | we have 5... thousand.
        
       | neilv wrote:
       | Wasn't the context that people were concerned about terrorist
       | attacks with bombs in high-impact locations, against
       | concentrations of people and key civil infrastructure?
       | 
       | And someone decided to be edgy, and intentionally use this
       | context, by placing something that could be mistaken for a bomb
       | made by a crazy person, exactly in those locations? (Or even do
       | those as decoys, to support a separate attack.)
       | 
       | Of course the early emergency responses were life-critical
       | urgent, with no one having complete information.
       | 
       | And once they did have information, you can see how a company
       | abusing fresh terrorism concerns like that, with what was
       | arguably a hoax attack, for commercial promotion purposes, would
       | still have a lot of explaining to do.
       | 
       | Random kids huffing "Chill out, it's just a prank" doesn't make
       | it all OK.
       | 
       | And all the dissing of emergency responders, who reasonably had
       | to act as if this might be another terrorist attack, didn't seem
       | very fair, nor thought-out.
       | 
       | It might help to look at another Boston terrorism incident, the
       | Boston Marathon bombing. Bombs went off, no one knew the extent
       | of the attack, and, while the crowd was rightly trying to run
       | away from the danger, emergency responders were running _towards_
       | the explosions, to help protect people.
       | 
       | Why mock that? We need that.
        
         | anon84873628 wrote:
         | Why do you believe "someone decided to be edgy, and
         | intentionally use this context"?
         | 
         | How do you know the specific intent? Why weren't they just
         | innocent hand made light up signs?
        
         | parodysbird wrote:
         | What evidence is there that someone intentionally used the
         | context that the installations would be seen as bombs? And on
         | what planet should the first reaction by police to seeing a
         | bunch of obvious LED street art installations as being a
         | massive bomb threat be seen as reasonable? If police think
         | something stupid, it does not mean that stupid thought must be
         | taken as legitimate and acceptable just because they are
         | police.
         | 
         | The police should have apologized and taken responsibility for
         | instigating an unnecessary panic.
        
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