# Aqua Teen "hoax" in Boston **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 31, 2007, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326 "2007-01-31T21:29:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/181 "2007-02-01T20:13:44Z")
Personally, I hope Boston grinds the ad agency into dust. I hate viral and guerrilla marketing. Hate it hate it hate it. The streets of our cities are already littered with advertising. Except most ads are leased by the city or property owners, raising revenue and necessitating approval over their content and placement. This was vandalism. This was Turner trying to get out of paying for their ads like they’re supposed to, and incidentally showing material (a low-rez obscene gesture) that wouldn’t be allowed on most ads in a public space. The fact that they were misidentified as bombs just nails home how this is a really bad idea. Fuck Turner, fuck the ad agency that came up with this shit, and fuck their hired vandals. We’ve got enough ads, thank you, if you want to put up more, pay the city like everyone else. And by the way, it wasn’t just Boston. New York also shut down a street when it found one of those things. It apparently just wasn’t as major a thoroughfare or a precursor to finding a bunch of them all at once. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/182 "2007-02-01T20:21:31Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] **Fear Itself** , are you saying to me that having seen such a thing, you wouldn’t have reported it? [/QUOTE] Having seen various images of the signs on the web, I can say I wouldn’t have reported them. It’s not like it’s a box. It’s just a circuit board with lights and batteries. There’s no place for any explosives. Should I call the police and report the three pairs of tennis shoes hanging from the power lines next to my condo? After all, they could be bombs! They could go off and take out power for thousand of people! In fact, I’ve seen many of these devices in place throughout L.A.! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/183 "2007-02-01T20:21:52Z")
[QUOTE=lowbrass] Oh, in that case I defer to your superior knowledge. :rolleyes: My experience with Bugs Bunny cartoons is that bombs are spherical black things with big fuses sticking out of the top. [/QUOTE] The point is that neither of us is an expert in the area. Most people aren’t. If they see something that looks like a movie bomb, they can’t confidently rule out that it is one. > [@](#): > > I love the logic being presented in this thread. The Boston authorities didn’t overreact to something that didn’t look like a bomb, because if it didn’t look like a bomb they wouldn’t have overreacted. Can you say “circular reasoning”? I can, but I won’t. Here is my reasoning: A bomb expert looks at the device, and concludes that caution is prudent. You, with your extensive Warner Brothers background, see a web image and conclude it’s a Lite Brite. Whose expertise do you think I’m more comfortable with? ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/184 "2007-02-01T20:22:04Z")
[QUOTE=Apos] But plenty of people HAD seen them, and commented on them, and dismissed them. [/QUOTE] I don’t see much evidence that many people _did_ see them. And those who did didn’t tell the police. Nor, evidently, did they tell the person who glanced up at the subway station and saw what looked like a bomb. And if you agree that the police did the prudent thing – which involved shutting down a subway line and a highway – I’m not sure why you think the authorities shouldn’t be pissed about that and want to prevent a recurrence. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/185 "2007-02-01T20:23:01Z")
I would not have reported it. Now, the streetlight out front of our place has some wires sticking out of the base. I’m freaking out. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/186 "2007-02-01T20:26:08Z")
[QUOTE=Pochacco] Having seen various images of the signs on the web, I can say I wouldn’t have reported them. It’s not like it’s a box. It’s just a circuit board with lights and batteries. There’s no place for any explosives. [/QUOTE] First of all, how you’re seeing it on the web is not how it looked _in situ_. Plus your mind has been properly primed. Imagine that you don’t have any foreknowledge, never having heard of the viral advertising concept, and you merely look up and see a couple of D-cells and some wires, attached to a dark oblong. For me, just the fact of seeing D-cells and wires hooked to something on a highway support would set my alarm bells to ringing. I don’t know a damn thing about explosives, and the average American doesn’t either, thank God, so I’d have no idea how much explosive was actually dangerous to the structure. But I’d certainly say something to the police. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/187 "2007-02-01T20:30:16Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] Because maybe they weren’t brightly lit? If these things had genuinely been up and lighted for three weeks, I’d have seen them myself, because I walk by two of the locations daily – once in the morning when it’s light out, and once in the evening when it’s dark. These things were out in the open air and powered by D-cells. If the batteries ran down the first night, or the things shorted out almost instantly from moisture, I wouldn’t be surprised. [/QUOTE] Here is photographic proof that [they were brighly lit and in plain sight.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanderlin/358742603/) Are you telling me a cop couldn’t have seen that? Are you telling me the placement of this sign can be described as “hidden”? ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/188 "2007-02-01T20:31:34Z")
[QUOTE=Pochacco] Should I call the police and report the three pairs of tennis shoes hanging from the power lines next to my condo? After all, they could be bombs! They could go off and take out power for thousand of people! In fact, I’ve seen many of these devices in place throughout L.A.! [/QUOTE] Again, good point. No one could have forseen this. It’s no one’s fault, and people need to just get over it. The city should just take its toys and go home for the day. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/189 "2007-02-01T20:34:20Z")
[QUOTE=vibrotronica] Here is photographic proof that [they were brighly lit and in plain sight.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanderlin/358742603/) [/QUOTE] Except that’s not how it looked in the daytime. And if the guy saw wires and a battery, he wasn’t viewing it from that angle. Besides, how many things do you look at every day without actually seeing them? ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/190 "2007-02-01T20:35:06Z")
[QUOTE=vibrotronica] Here is photographic proof that [they were brighly lit and in plain sight.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanderlin/358742603/) Are you telling me a cop couldn’t have seen that? Are you telling me the placement of this sign can be described as “hidden”? [/QUOTE] Photographic proof that _one_ was in plain sight. The one that set off the trouble in the first place wasn’t. And as I mentioned before, I walk by two of the sites daily and never saw a thing. Besides, why are you asserting the things could have been seen, when they plainly weren’t? ---
**Author:** ![lowbrass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dc4da7/32.png) [@lowbrass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lowbrass)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/191 "2007-02-01T20:35:27Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] It _did_ look like a bomb. It had what looked like a triggering device, and the bomb itself can be shaped like damn near anything. [/quote] It had a _circuit board_. There are literally millions of things that have circuit boards that are not bombs. It did not look like a bomb. _Affirmation of the consequent_. You are in effect saying: -Some bombs have triggering devices that look like circuit boards Therefore all devices that have circuit boards look like bombs. > [@](#): > > Plus, there’s a process of elimination at work – you see something bomblike up on a highway support, and what else might it be? It wasn’t “bomblike”. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/192 "2007-02-01T20:36:04Z")
How many things do you see every day that could be bombs? ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/193 "2007-02-01T20:36:18Z")
[QUOTE=Apos] It’s no one’s fault… [/QUOTE] Um… yes, it is. ---
**Author:** ![Trion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/194 "2007-02-01T20:38:09Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] Besides, why are you asserting the things could have been seen, when they plainly weren’t? [/QUOTE] If they _weren’t_ seen, they’d still be there. If they _were_ seen, then they could have been seen. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/195 "2007-02-01T20:39:29Z")
[QUOTE=lowbrass] It wasn’t “bomblike”. [/QUOTE] Oh? So if you see something with a couple of D-cells and some wires attached to a dark object that suddenly appears on a highway support, what do \*you \*think it is? If one of the possibilities that passes through your mind \*isn’t \*“bomb,” then I bow down to your lamb-like innocence. And once the idea passes through your head that it \*may \*be a bomb – even if it’s only a 10% chance – do you do nothing? ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/196 "2007-02-01T20:41:08Z")
[QUOTE=Trion] If they _weren’t_ seen, they’d still be there. If they _were_ seen, then they could have been seen. [/QUOTE] But weren’t. What are you arguing, that the entire population of Boston should be pitted for not seeing something? ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/197 "2007-02-01T20:42:37Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] Photographic proof that _one_ was in plain sight. The one that set off the trouble in the first place wasn’t. And as I mentioned before, I walk by two of the sites daily and never saw a thing. Besides, why are you asserting the things could have been seen, when they plainly weren’t? [/QUOTE] Why are you asserting they were seen when I’ve given you proof that they were? Why would anyone hide an ad? The purposes of the ads were to be seen. Just because you didn’t see them doesn’t mean nobody saw them. Just because some dipshit thought they were a bomb doesn’t mean they were meant to look like a bomb. They were NOT hoax devices, because they weren’t meant to look like anything except Mooninites. There was no malicious intent here. This is paranoia run amok. ---
**Author:** ![Trion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/198 "2007-02-01T20:46:16Z")
**Sal,** Let me remind you again what you asked **vibrotronica** > [@](#): > > Besides, why are you asserting the things could have been seen, when they plainly weren’t? See that. You asked her why she was asserting that the things could have been seen. Maybe she was asserting that they could have been seen because they were, in fact, seen. At the very least by the people who called them in. So they could have been seen and your question to her makes no sense. Remember, above I said I had no problem with authorities checking such things out. But you’re going to need a better argument than that. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/199 "2007-02-01T20:48:35Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] Whether other cities saw these things or not is immaterial. [/QUOTE] Huh? The fact is that hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people in _ **15 MAJOR cities** _ saw these things for weeks and didn’t call the police to report a bomb. That alone should be a pretty strong indication that these things weren’t “bomblike”, despite what a few morons up in Boston would like us to believe. I’m not going to say fuck Boston, but fuck the mayor and the police chief. They should give up the hoax bullshit and accept the egg on their face. ---
**Author:** ![lowbrass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dc4da7/32.png) [@lowbrass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lowbrass)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/200 "2007-02-01T20:50:28Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] Oh? So if you see something with a couple of D-cells and some wires attached to a dark object that suddenly appears on a highway support, what do \*you \*think it is? [/quote] I have wires and D-cells at my house. Should we call the bomb squad? > [@](#): > > If one of the possibilities that passes through your mind \*isn’t \*“bomb,” then I bow down to your lamb-like innocence. And I bow down to your rabid paranoia. Gee, this computer I’m typing on has wires and a battery; I guess it must be a bomb. > [@](#): > > And once the idea passes through your head that it \*may \*be a bomb – even if it’s only a 10% chance – do you do nothing? You know, it’s not so much that the Boston authorities _did_ something - my first thought upon hearing the story was, “better to be overly cautious than not cautious enough”. Their mistake was to immediately start spewing idle threats and arresting people on bogus charges rather than just admitting they made a mountain out of a molehill. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326.md?page=11)