<p>On the local news, they showed some of the devices, and they did not look like advertising at first glance. They were hanging in a strange way beneath some bridges and freeways, and near hospitals. I think they should charge the cost of the response to Turner Broadcasting.</p>
<p>JeepMom - </p>
<p>I see they planted them in Austin, but I haven’t heard a word about them here. Is it possible they are not yet activated in the other cities?</p>
<p>IDMOM - they have not been noticed yet is what was reported.</p>
<p>DEAN J - and that e-bay auction originates in BOSTON - uuummm how interesting - probably by the same kid who is being questioned now - who has alot of knowledge about this and pics on his web site of all the 17 sites in the Boston area.</p>
<p>
I imagine that he and his friend are fans of the cartoon and thought it’d be cool to have it. Now that it’s news, they’re trying to make some money.</p>
<p>Am I the only one who feels concerned that the powers that be are not savvy enough to distinguish between LiteBrite and something that actually poses a threat???</p>
<p>Well since the first one was actually wrapped in black tape and found under a highway - a big differnt from the others found - it was treated as a potential incendiary device.</p>
<p>As folks who where interviewed stated - with the battery pack and wires - first thought - bomb - so again - they were treated as such until proven to be a hoax.</p>
<p>Cartoon promo gives Boston the finger, triggers bomb scares</p>
<p>BOSTON (CNN) – Electronic light boards featuring an adult cartoon character triggered bomb scares around Boston on Wednesday, spurring authorities to close two bridges and a stretch of the Charles River before determining the devices were harmless.</p>
<p>Turner Broadcasting Co., the parent company of CNN, said the battery-operated light boards were aimed at promoting the late-night Adult Swim cartoon “Aqua Teen Hunger Force.” The devices had been placed around Boston and nine other cities as part of an “outdoor marketing campaign,” a company statement said.</p>
<p>The devices displayed one of the “Mooninites,” outer-space delinquents who make frequent appearances on the show, greeting passersby with a raised middle finger.</p>
<p>“Parent company Turner Broadcasting is in contact with local and federal law enforcement on the exact locations of the billboards,” the company said. “We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger.”</p>
<p>Turner said the devices had been in place for two to three weeks in Boston; New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Atlanta; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; Austin, Texas; San Francisco; and Philadelphia.</p>
<p>A Turner Broadcasting source said the displays were a component of a third-party advertising campaign conducted by a New York advertising firm, Interference Inc. That company had no comment on the incident.</p>
<p>“While the concern is lessened as a result of the investigation, I’d like to remind citizens to treat any suspicious devices with care and to call 9-1-1 if any such device is found,” Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said.</p>
<p>The discovery of nine of the devices around metro Boston led state, local and federal authorities to close the Boston University and Longfellow Bridges and block boat traffic from the Charles River to Boston Harbor.</p>
<p>In addition, the Pentagon said U.S. Northern Command was monitoring the situation from its headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., but said none of its units were dispatched to assist.</p>
<p>Davis said police “are going to fully investigate this and get to the bottom of it.”</p>
<p>The first suspicious device to be reported was at the Sullivan Square commuter rail station, near the suburb of Somerville, Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon, four other devices were reported – near the Longfellow and Boston University bridges over the Charles, at New England Medical Center and near the intersection of Stuart and Columbus avenues in the city itself.</p>
<p>Mayor Thomas Menino’s office said a total of nine had turned up around metropolitan Boston.</p>
<p>“I want to be certain that we take all of these reports very seriously,” Menino said in a written statement. “The coordinated response by all departments proves the system we have in place works.” – CNN Correspondent Deborah Feyerick contributed to this report. (Posted 5:35 p.m.)</p>
<p>Word on the street is that the person who called in the original report had seen the “bomb” every day for the past week or so, but decided to call it in today.</p>
<p>I missed the drama – I didn’t get to check the internet all day and the bridges were back open by the time I caught the bus home – but apparently many people had an absolutely horrible commute this afternoon.</p>
<p>It’s just kind of amusing to all of the college kids and twenty-somethings who are familiar with the TV show – the character is immediately recognizable, and if there were college kids in the Boston police department, nobody would have been worried at all. :)</p>
<p>One arrest has been made!! - the guy with the website with all the info - more news at 11 :)</p>
<p>Well, I don’t know whether to cheer because the Boston police was so quick, or to groan because the Boston police was too quick.</p>
<p>Molliebat – your logic that the character on the device should have made everyone know it was harmless makes no sense. Doesn’t it occur to you that a terrorist might try to disguise a real bomb as a harmless toy – easy enough to put a picture of Mickey Mouse or Big Bird on the outside. Better yet, they can simply open up the casing of a real kid’s toy and put the detonating device inside.</p>
<p>Well, I don’t think the existence of the particular character was an indication that it was necessarily harmless – just that the sight of the character would lead college-aged kids to look for the joke.</p>
<p>I think it’s perfectly reasonable that the police treated the first one they found as a bomb. I think it’s slightly reasonable that they treated the second one they found as a bomb. I think it’s verging on ridiculous that they continued to treat them as bombs after they knew that the first two were just circuit boards with batteries and LED lights.</p>
<p>“Okay…maybe I’m slow but why did this not cause the same level of uproar in all the other major cities where these little light signs were located?”</p>
<p>Maybe because Bostonians aren’t the brightest bulbs on the Lite Brite tree.</p>
<p>This is from CNN, kind of funny. Berdofsky is the guy arrested after placing the thingies all over Boston. </p>
<p>“Berdovsky told The Boston Globe earlier Wednesday that he was an artist and installed the devices for an advertising company hired by Turner. He described himself as “a little kind of freaked out,” the Globe reported.”</p>
<p>A little kind of freaked out – I bet!</p>
<p>I’m still wondering why there was one in the basement of a hospital…?</p>
<p>That baffles my mind. I doubt there’s a high flow of traffic down there anyway</p>
<p>My husband works at MGH and there was one under the Longfellow Bridge. The police closed Storrow Drive making access to the hospital very difficult. I believe it was partly the location of these devices that increased the concern - they were placed under bridges where cars might be able to see them from below - key bridges, but also high volume bridges for marketing, I guess! Some of them had 4 C or D batteries wrapped completely in black duct tape attached, given the board a suspicious look. They looked handmade and not necessarily like slick marketing products. The police closed access to the Charles River and they stopped the subways. It really was kind of a wild response that might have been prevented had someone recognized the nature of the character. My l7 yo immediately recognized it and said it was not a main character but one that was on occasionally, known for pulling pranks. The show is on at 11 pm here. OTOH, is it legal to display marketing materials on public property without requesting permission or alerting someone? One would think Turner Industries would be up on that issue!</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.komotv.com/news/5439061.html[/url]”>http://www.komotv.com/news/5439061.html</a>
im sure we probably thought it was * statement* art</p>
<p>While I certainly sympathize with the fears of terrorism, I do think it’s a bit absurd that some posters were calling for 20 years of jail time for what was just viral marketing.</p>
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<p>Wait a sec. Is it really? I mean, aren’t we constantly being told that the whole point of “winning the war on terror” is to carry on like nothing bad is happening? If we call out Jack Bauer and CTU every time something even remotely suspicious occurs, doesn’t it mean that the terrorists met their goal?</p>
<p>After the first two were figured out to be harmless, calling out every law enforcement agent in the nation to ferret out the rest, for fear that all of a sudden one of them WILL be dangerous strikes me as a bit paranoid.</p>
<p>I agree with UCLAri and Mollie.</p>
<p>One report said these things had been in place for several days and no one paid attention until recently. Could the “emergency” response have been handled differently? Did officials over-react? Seriously speaking, remember we are talking about public accountability in Boston, the home of the ‘Big Dig’ fiasco.</p>
<p>I know this is uber-serious, but it does remind me of Carl Spackler biting into the Baby Ruth bar at the bottom of the swimming pool.</p>