[HN Gopher] 2007 Boston Mooninite Panic
___________________________________________________________________
2007 Boston Mooninite Panic
Author : black6
Score : 186 points
Date : 2024-11-24 02:54 UTC (1 days 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
| paulryanrogers wrote:
| A bunch appeared in our local park's hiking trail. Though I
| think it was an approved event based on some of the signage
| around at the time. It is a shame that unapproved ads can
| litter public spaces with little or no consequence, but not
| art.
| dghlsakjg wrote:
| You should read the article you are talking about. It
| wasn't an ad campaign.
|
| It was a bunch of teenage fans doing something creative for
| fun. Ya know, art!
| paulryanrogers wrote:
| Why do you think I didn't? I know the article is about
| art. My point was art like that should be welcomed or at
| least not prosecuted, as it seems advertising is today.
| alistairSH wrote:
| Somebody at my office printed and posted a pile of "Wombats are
| everywhere, if you see something, say something" posters, with
| an image of a wombat. People lost their shit over it and he got
| a reprimand. I thought it was hysterical. Wombats don't live in
| DC. People are so over-sensitive.
| bagels wrote:
| What's there to be upset about? Do they think this person
| controls the wombats?
| alistairSH wrote:
| Beats me. I guess some people have no sense for the absurd.
| astura wrote:
| This was dumb, but 2007 was many years past peak post-9/11
| paranoia. Almost everyone who wasn't Boston PD or the media
| thought this was a gross overreaction to what was basically a
| Lite-Brite at the time. Don't forget, they were placed in other
| major cities across the country without incident.
| vundercind wrote:
| > We were peak see-something-say-something (or maybe just
| beyond that)
|
| My recollection is we were pretty solidly past that period by
| the time this happened, and that's part of why it was so
| ridiculous. If this had happened in like '02 or maybe '03 I
| think folks wouldn't have thought it quite so silly that the
| authorities responded the way they did.
| 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.
| MBCook wrote:
| Marketing departments are not required to consult with
| the local police department in the United States to find
| out if their campaigns will be an inconvenience.
| thih9 wrote:
| But can they post ads anywhere and in any form in a
| public space?
| 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.
| MBCook wrote:
| But if it's placed on a bridge it doesn't really matter,
| your target is the people above on the bridge right? If
| anything in that circumstance it seems like it would make
| it more likely to be discovered and stop your plan.
| mulmen wrote:
| It also says "mistakenly".
|
| > On the morning of January 31, 2007, the Boston Police
| Department and the Boston Fire Department mistakenly
| identified battery-powered LED placards depicting the
| Mooninites, characters from the Adult Swim animated
| television series Aqua Teen Hunger Force, as improvised
| explosive devices (IEDs), leading to a massive panic.
| 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.
| almostgotcaught wrote:
| Ha I totally forgot they did this in multiple cities and
| Boston was the only place where the cops flipped out.
| joemi wrote:
| > Being tightly wound must be an East-coast thing.
|
| To some degree, yes. Boston is just 4-5 hrs away from
| NYC, where just 6 years earlier two commercial passenger
| jets (from Boston) crashed into the WTC in the deadliest
| terrorist attack in US history. If you think police
| departments in Portland or LA felt the 9/11 attacks as
| acutely as such a nearby place as Boston, then you'd be
| mistaken.
|
| (Please note that I'm not arguing that our freedom should
| go away because we need to be protected from terrorists.
| I'm just trying to show you the mindset of a law
| enforcement officer in Boston at the time, and that
| mindset was indeed to be suspicious of things that looked
| suspicious.)
| astura wrote:
| Give me a break, Lite Brites of a cartoon alien
| displaying a rude gesture were also placed in New York
| City without incident.
| mindslight wrote:
| As a Bostonian at the time, the _last thing_ I wanted to
| do was whine about terrorism like some New Yorker. But I
| can see how in the bigger picture this pointed to an
| increased disconnect between the citizens and the police,
| with the BPD still aspiring to feel important like their
| big brothers in NYC.
|
| At the time, the east coast culture felt very tech-
| backwards too. Tech was still everywhere, but as a
| counter / up-and-coming culture. There was a reason going
| to the west coast was liberating for so many. I think
| these two dynamics helped fuel the massive "WTF"
| dissonance of this incident, with the BPD coming off as a
| bunch of out of touch Keystone Cops massively
| overreacting and then just digging their ignorant heels
| in.
| 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.
| bagels wrote:
| It's problematic if the fire/police department cause a
| panic and shut down the city any time they see a battery.
| MBCook wrote:
| We can only hope they never go into a Walmart.
| 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.
| collingreen wrote:
| Totally agree with this
| 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.
| immibis wrote:
| Did you click on the link and see pictures of the devices?
| The cylindrical parts are obviously D batteries.
|
| > the Boston Police Department stated in its defense that the
| ad devices shared some similarities with improvised explosive
| devices, with them also discovering an identifiable power
| source, a circuit board with exposed wiring, and electrical
| tape.
|
| Ah yes. That guy has a 99.99% DNA match to Osama bin Laden.
| Must be a terrorist!
|
| The only way this makes sense is if you assume any
| unidentified object is a bomb, which may be logical if you
| live in Palestine, but seems pretty unlikely in Boston.
|
| You're suggesting the government is should treat every
| unidentified object as a bomb. I hope you realize how
| dystopian that is - anyone who creates some one-off or
| prototype object outside the list of legitimately creatable
| things will be treated as a terrorist. The Apple 1? Bomb.
| PiPhone? Bomb. Homemade LED name tag? Bomb. Google Glass
| prototype? Bomb. Mesh network air quality sensor? Bomb.
| Hitchhiking robot? Bomb. How do new types of things become
| approved and not be treated as bombs? Do I have to fill out a
| government form to declare that my hitchhiking robot isn't a
| bomb? (What if a terrorist fills out that form and declares
| their bomb isn't a bomb?)
| 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.
| mulmen wrote:
| Why would the FBI have that power?
| selimthegrim wrote:
| The point was the FBI combined with the rather inflexible
| security people in Boston were probably threatening
| repercussions to Cartoon Network along the lines of their
| broadcast license
| mulmen wrote:
| What repercussions though? That sounds like a threat to
| abuse power.
| yesco wrote:
| That's because it was.
| astura wrote:
| Excuse me? Cartoon Network is a cable channel, it doesn't
| have a broadcast license.
| selimthegrim wrote:
| I didn't ask for specifics but the government clearly
| wasn't playing.
| astura wrote:
| Your "friend" is just making shit up to sound important.
| Learn to have some critical thinking skills.
| mrkeen wrote:
| They should have just used a key to gouge "THE MOON RULZ" on
| the mayor's car instead.
| 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."
| dmead wrote:
| We have vast fields and amber waves of marajuana on the moon.
| 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.
| dmead wrote:
| yo watch out. you might get arrested
| 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
| stavros wrote:
| Brown: Check
|
| Unamerican name: Check
|
| Suitcase with wires: Check
|
| What more proof do you need he's a terrorist?
| foobarchu wrote:
| I'm sure it was, and it's pretty clear BPD is who your
| frustration should have been directed at.
| 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
| MBCook wrote:
| Wow. I've never seen that video before, I was laughing very
| hard.
|
| I remember when that happened and how incredibly obvious it
| was that it was a massive overreaction.
| gonzobonzo wrote:
| > 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.
|
| Here. I have relatives who are overly trusting of the
| mainstream media, and they were convinced that these people
| were intentionally trying to make the devices look like bombs
| in order to garner publicity. I tried to explain things to
| them, but to no avail.
| ethbr1 wrote:
| >> _" That's not a hair question, I'm sorry."_
|
| >> _Reporter: "Are you afraid that if... uh... you go to
| prison, you'll get your hair cut?"_
|
| >> _" Umm. That's a very good question. I think... I think...
| the laws in this country are still pretty comfy as to... as
| to that. I think there will... whatever happens, I feel like
| my hair is safe at the moment. So, any other hair questions
| are definitely welcome."_
|
| This reporter got the assignment.
|
| Also, what balls to be charged with trumped up terrorism
| charges and stand your ground on the "This is ridiculous, so
| we're going to be ridiculous" front in the face of reporters
| trying to make it seem like This Is No Laughing Matter.
| 8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote:
| Holy moly, TIL it's the same Zebbler from Zebbler Encanti. Wow,
| small world.
| mindslight wrote:
| They're lucky they didn't get summarily shot in the eye sockets
| with "non lethal" pepper balls. BPD was a bunch of
| unaccountable thugs, and this "incident" was yet another for
| the highlight reel. When the Sox finally won the Series and we
| were all out celebrating on Comm Ave only to be attacked by
| those juiced-up-on-federal-terrorism-propaganda paramilitary
| fuckers, I was hoping I was going to get to bat one of their
| grenades back at them with the broom I was carrying (sweep!).
| potato3732842 wrote:
| What you experienced is unfortunately the system working as
| intended. Putting the jackboot on the throat of anyone who
| gets ever so slightly of line (like some rowdy sports fans)
| is exactly what the people of MA want their bored and over-
| funded cops doing.
| bsenftner wrote:
| I lived in Boston through much of the 80's, the BPD has
| always been jackbooted thugs. We looked into it. The phrase
| originated at the start of the 80's and the BPD embraced it
| like their identity.
| voidfunc wrote:
| Never forget haha.
|
| I remember my parents being mildly outraged about this. 18 year
| old me thought it was fucking hilarious.
| christophilus wrote:
| 18 year old you was right. I was already a fan of the show
| before this stunt, but this put it into legendary status.
| 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
| dpifke wrote:
| For anyone who wants their own replica:
| https://wiki.evilmadscientist.com/Peggy_2
| 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.
| wombatpm wrote:
| Given that MIT was involved, she should thank her lucky stars
| that she didn't get the Aaron Swartz level of support. You
| know, where MIT buys the bus, runs you over, and drags you
| around for days.
| JadeNB wrote:
| > Given that MIT was involved, she should thank her lucky
| stars that she didn't get the Aaron Swartz level of support.
| You know, where MIT buys the bus, runs you over, and drags
| you around for days.
|
| That's mentioned in the quote from Wiki in your parent:
|
| > > 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]
| 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...
| mmmlinux wrote:
| Is there anywhere that these actually are available? or did the
| copyright monster win.
| Lammy wrote:
| This one appears to be identical in content to the older 2015
| leak I have but is also upscaled
| https://archive.org/details/aqua-teen-hunger-
| force-s-05-e-00...
|
| And here's the vertical video audience cam that was baleeted
| from that reddit thread https://archive.org/details/347815378
| -136606309415117-736687...
|
| The older version feels more (to me) like what an actual
| episode might have been like and is more poking fun at the
| context in which the panic took place. The 2023 one is a
| little too zany over the top directly referencing the panic
| itself including appearances from the artists.
| 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.
| mulmen 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?
|
| Yes, people were paranoid about terrorism in 2007.
|
| >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.)
|
| No. There's no evidence of this.
|
| > Of course the early emergency responses were life-critical
| urgent, with no one having complete information.
|
| Only in Boston. The signs were also placed in LA and Portland
| without incident.
|
| > 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.
|
| There's no evidence these were intended to be perceived as a
| threat. You have imagined this.
|
| > Random kids huffing "Chill out, it's just a prank" doesn't
| make it all OK.
|
| You say "random kids". I say "rational adults".
|
| > 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.
|
| Emergency responders have a responsibility to handle reality
| appropriately. Boston's response was inappropriate. Being
| scared doesn't justify overreaction.
|
| > 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.
|
| It doesn't help to make this comparison. One is a benign
| marketing campaign and the other was a terrorist attack.
|
| > Why mock that? We need that.
|
| The ends don't justify the means. First responders have a duty
| to protect the public which they failed by creating the
| Mooninite Panic.
|
| First responders are not above criticism.
| bagels wrote:
| I think the Boston city employees that were the ones to
| "intentionally use this context" to maliciously misinterpret
| something benign as a threat. It's a time honored tradition for
| them.
| astura wrote:
| Exactly - these were up in 10 cities across the US, and only
| Boston randomly panicked for no reason.
| ryukoposting wrote:
| > the ad devices shared some similarities with improvised
| explosive devices, with them also discovering an identifiable
| power source, a circuit board with exposed wiring, and electrical
| tape.
|
| Goodness, I'd better clean up my desk. Someone might think it's a
| bomb!
| int0x29 wrote:
| > On January 31, 2007, at 8:05 a.m., a civilian spotted one of
| the devices
|
| This phrasing makes it sound like the army that involved.
| MBCook wrote:
| No, just people who want to pretend they're military.
| gooseyard wrote:
| The closing on the sale of my house in Quincy was that day. I was
| moving far away immediately after the closing, had my car packed
| with most of my worldly goods and all I had left to do was to
| drive up to Reading to sign the papers. Not long before I needed
| to leave, I happened to check boston.com and saw that 93 was
| closed, and figured I was doomed as it had been tough selling the
| house.
|
| As it happened both parties arrived way late, and the deal went
| down. I'm still a little salty about it after all this time.
| lambda wrote:
| The even more frustrating part is that the Boston Police learned
| nothing from this and a few months later arrested Star Simpson
| for wearing a breadboard with a few LEDs on it to the airport:
| https://en.m.wikinews.org/wiki/Student_arrested_over_%22art%...
| immibis wrote:
| > she is lucky we did not use deadly force because we had
| machine guns on scene," said authorities during a press
| conference
| Simon_ORourke wrote:
| An overall truthful statement to be fair to the authorities.
| Perhaps less fair to those at the other end though.
| iseanstevens wrote:
| Post the 9/11 PATRIOT act (etc) led to dilution of America's
| ideals in various ways, IMHO. I felt like we were in the middle
| of it. I wanted to call attention to how ridiculous it was -
| since the attention ended up on me and my friend. Zebbler was in
| the USA on political asylum at the time and it was made clear
| he'd be kicked out if we made any more noise after this.
| iseanstevens wrote:
| I am at least very proud of our improv dealing with the press
| at least! Especially as I don't think either of us slept
| particularly well the night before in holding cells.
| Tade0 wrote:
| I wonder if the outcome would have been different if the
| displays featured the Plutonians?
|
| I'm sorry, that's not a hair question.
| mrkeen wrote:
| When Family Guy s21e11 (2023) parodies Sleepless in Seattle
| (1993), they make a point of mocking the fact that a kid left
| his backpack behind at the Empire State building, as if an
| unattended bag in a public area is an unthinkable idea.
|
| The show is usually pretty self-aware when it comes to jokes
| about terrorism and post-911 hysteria, so it was surprising to
| see this one played straight.
|
| It reminded me of the meme that went around in 2007 - "If it
| isn't an American flag, it's probably a bomb".
| nonameiguess wrote:
| I worked at Disneyland in September 2001 and we received
| instructions at some point warning us the FBI considered us
| to be the 4th most likely location in the United States to be
| targeted and telling us to report unattended bags as possible
| bombs.
|
| Left me wondering do they have any idea how many people every
| day set down a bag and forget about it at _Disneyland_? If we
| really cordoned and reported all of these, the Anaheim PD and
| local FBI would never again do anything else.
| pmarreck wrote:
| I was living in Boston at the time and have zero recollection of
| this, but I'm also Gen X and most of us missed the Aqua Teen
| Hunger Force train
| nickdothutton wrote:
| I learned a lot about the public mind in the USA when this
| incident broke. I mean this sincerely. Maybe we have not yet had
| our "Mooninite Panic" in the UK.
| jeffwask wrote:
| I was on an MBTA train on the way home way after my office closed
| in a panic. We were stopped halfway by the MBTA police and made
| to stand outside on the platform in the bitter cold while they
| spent 30-60 minutes running sniffer dogs through the train cars.
| The whole thing was surreal because I saw the device and knew
| immediately it was Aqua Teen Hunger Force and not a terrorist
| threat.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-11-25 23:02 UTC)