# 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:** 19
**Author:** ![Kokopilau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Kokopilau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kokopilau)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/361 "2007-02-02T18:52:35Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] **Lute** , you missed the critical point in your last cite: “_Once authorities were alerted_…” [/QUOTE] That wasn’t the relevant point. He was addressing the claim that the advertisements in other cities were not on infrastructure like they were in Boston, to explain why Boston freaked out and the other cities didn’t. And that’s false. The relevant point was the listed locations of the advertisements, which is the exact same kinds of places that the advertisements in Boston were placed at. > [@](#): > > And how is what a train crew in Yakima does at all relevant? The situation could obviously be different in a million ways. And I doubt the Boston bomb squad’s first thought in any given emergency is to say, “Hey, let’s call the Yakima Department of Public Works and see what they think!” Because the transit crew told the cops, and the cops investigated. And, unlike Boston, the cops in Seattle recognized the advertisements as harmless. You’re not making the Boston authorities look any better here, by constantly pointing out that no other authority in these other cities did not issue a mass bomb alert upon encountering these things. In other words, EVERYONE but Boston’s “experts” were right, and Boston was wrong. How does this speak to the expertise of the Boston authorities again? ---
**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 2, 2007, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/362 "2007-02-02T18:52:44Z")
[QUOTE=Hal Briston] And that’s perfectly understandable. However, when you flat out lie to the national media and paint the situtuation as a “bomb hoax”, then you’re going to get a ton of well-deserved flack for it. [/QUOTE] Whether or not it’s a bomb hoax is a matter for the courts to decide, now that charges have been filed. I wouldn’t have used the term myself, but I make allowances for the fact that the mayor was pissed and kind of ranting. But at this point we’re reduced to quibbling about the imprecision of a famously inarticulate mayor’s language. ---
**Author:** ![Kokopilau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Kokopilau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kokopilau)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/363 "2007-02-02T18:55:54Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] Doesn’t matter. When there has already been one bomb scare, finding more of them will just escalate the panic. [/QUOTE] Except they didn’t find any more pipe bombs. They found [these](http://www.outcastgaming.com/yuu/ATHF.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/364 "2007-02-02T19:05:34Z")
[QUOTE=Kokopilau] You’re not making the Boston authorities look any better here, by constantly pointing out that no other authority in these other cities did not issue a mass bomb alert upon encountering these things. In other words, EVERYONE but Boston’s “experts” were right, and Boston was wrong. How does this speak to the expertise of the Boston authorities again? [/QUOTE] This is a very salient point, I would like to hear **Sal** address it. Either the other bombs squads are incompetent and endangered the public through their inaction, or Boston demonstrated hysterical paranoia. Which is it **Sal**? ---
**Author:** ![lowbrass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dc4da7/32.png) [@lowbrass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lowbrass)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/365 "2007-02-02T19:08:17Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] Whether or not it’s a bomb hoax is a matter for the courts to decide, now that charges have been filed. [/QUOTE] Bullshit. It wasn’t a bomb hoax. A child of six could see that. There isn’t a chance in a million any judge with more than two functioning brain cells is going to rule that it was a bomb hoax. If he does, then he is simply wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/366 "2007-02-02T19:10:21Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] **Lute** , you missed the critical point in your last cite: “_Once authorities were alerted_…” [/QUOTE] Once authorities in Boston were alerted they went into panic mode and are now covering their collective ass. ---
**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 2, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/367 "2007-02-02T19:23:14Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] This is a very salient point, I would like to hear **Sal** address it. Either the other bombs squads are incompetent and endangered the public through their inaction, or Boston demonstrated hysterical paranoia. Which is it **Sal**? [/QUOTE] Neither, of course. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/368 "2007-02-02T19:24:38Z")
Well at least my posting got some responses. 😃 Yes, you’re right folks. Something like a remote bomb trigger is a mechanism of such infinite complexity that it would be beyond the scope of mere mortals even to imagine such a contrivance. :rolleyes: Well it seems another hot topic in this debate is whether the 2 clowns who planted the “LiteBrites” are guilty of anything. Some “Dopers” have brought up the question of intent. I’ll re-post a link from a few pages back. [Stolen traffic signs.](http://www.wisecounty.com/themuse/Column11.htm) Oh I’m sure some Dopers will say it’s an unwarranted comparison. But heck - what do you folks think? Does the ‘stolen traffic sign’ incident have any similarity to what occurred with the “LiteBrites” bomb scare? I think it does. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/369 "2007-02-02T19:24:53Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] Neither, of course. [/QUOTE] Elucidate. ---
**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 2, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/370 "2007-02-02T19:27:00Z")
[QUOTE=lowbrass] Bullshit. It wasn’t a bomb hoax. A child of six could see that. There isn’t a chance in a million any judge with more than two functioning brain cells is going to rule that it was a bomb hoax. If he does, then he is simply wrong. [/QUOTE] I agree that it’s unlikely, but as I said, not impossible. Imagine the following scenario: suppose it comes out in court that one of the device-planters made jokes to his friends beforehand about the devices being taken for bombs. At that point the fellow will be a lot hotter water than he is in presently. ---
**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 2, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/371 "2007-02-02T19:28:14Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] Elucidate. [/QUOTE] Elucidate? I’ve spent eight pages elucidating. I don’t know what you mean by “bomb squad inaction.” They acted, and I think properly. And there was no hysterical paranoia in Boston. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/372 "2007-02-02T19:30:47Z")
[QUOTE=Kokopilau] Except they didn’t find any more pipe bombs. They found [these](http://www.outcastgaming.com/yuu/ATHF.jpg). [/QUOTE] They found two (fake) pipe bombs, just after 1pm. They looked nothing lie what you posted. I’m not sure what “more” you think I’m talking about. As the moon bombs were being dealt with, the pipes were found. One in a hospital, and one on a major bridge. Is it really hard to see that if there was a general feeling of panic already, the new discoveries would heighten the tension? ---
**Author:** ![Kokopilau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Kokopilau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kokopilau)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/373 "2007-02-02T19:32:34Z")
[QUOTE=wolf\_meister] . Some “Dopers” have brought up the question of intent. I’ll re-post a link from a few pages back. [Stolen traffic signs.](http://www.wisecounty.com/themuse/Column11.htm) Oh I’m sure some Dopers will say it’s an unwarranted comparison. But heck - what do you folks think? Does the ‘stolen traffic sign’ incident have any similarity to what occurred with the “LiteBrites” bomb scare? I think it does. [/QUOTE] I don’t think there’s any comparison at all, any more than there would be if a person forgot their lunchbox in a crowded park and the bomb squad evacuated the park thinking it was an explosive. There were no deaths in Boston as a result of this, nor did any of the advertisements cover, replace, or otherwise involve the removal or concealment of street signs. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/374 "2007-02-02T19:35:33Z")
[QUOTE=wolf\_meister] Well at least my posting got some responses. 😃 Yes, you’re right folks. Something like a remote bomb trigger is a mechanism of such infinite complexity that it would be beyond the scope of mere mortals even to imagine such a contrivance. :rolleyes: [/quote] That’s not what people said in response to your post. No one claimed that sucha scheme would be impossible, they just pointed out that it would be stupid. It’s needlessly complicated, doesn’t give you any advantage over a conventional explosive device, and increases the odds of the device either being found before detonation, or malfunctioning and not going off at all. > [@](#): > > Oh I’m sure some Dopers will say it’s an unwarranted comparison. But heck - what do you folks think? Does the ‘stolen traffic sign’ incident have any similarity to what occurred with the “LiteBrites” bomb scare? I think it does. Well, for one thing, stealing traffic signs would be theft, so you’ve got an actual crime there to charge them with. Further, removing traffic signs has the rather obvious outcome of people not obeying the sign (because it’s not there anymore) and getting into an accident (which is why the sign was there in the first place.) I don’t think that “massive bomb scare that shuts down the entire city” is an obvious outcome from “putting up lighted signs.” And the fact that, in all of the cities where these signs were placed, only one of them had a massive bomb scare would seem to bear that out. So, no, I don’t think there are very many parrallels between the two cases. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/375 "2007-02-02T19:42:32Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] Elucidate? I’ve spent eight pages elucidating. You gave me two alternatives that don’t represent an either/or, and I reject both of them. [/QUOTE] You’ve spent a good part of your posts accusing other posters of presuming to know more than professional bomb squads. Now that we have two widely different responses by bomb squads in several cities to the same devices, it is entirely reasonable to be curious about which response you find appropriate, and what you think of the professionalism in those bomb squads that didn’t react like Boston’s. Now it is apparent you find answering that would expose the weakness of your argument, and so you are taking the fifth. So be it, but let’s hear no more about “you guys think you’re better than the bomb squad”, 'kay? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/376 "2007-02-02T19:42:34Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] That’s not what people said in response to your post. No one claimed that sucha scheme would be impossible, they just pointed out that it would be stupid. It’s needlessly complicated, [/QUOTE] So what you’re saying is that we’re going to see it as a plot device on 24. ---
**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 2, 2007, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/377 "2007-02-02T19:44:24Z")
**Fear Itself** , I misread your previous post – twice, even. I finally figured out what you are getting at. And my answer is, the situations were different. From the Boston Globe: “In six of the nine other cities where the Turner Broadcasting System guerrilla ads were installed, they were not placed on or near major highways, bridges, or transit hubs, as they were in Boston. Law enforcement officials in other cities and in Boston said yesterday that the difference helps to explain the vastly different responses.” Moreover, police departments in other cities agreed with the actions taken in Boston. From Atlanta: “I think Boston reacted the way they did because someone noticed the devices and rightly thought that they might be dangerous,” Atlanta Police spokesman Joe Cobb said in a telephone interview. “I would think that we would have reacted similarly.” From Chicago: “Just by the appearance of the wires and the lights, it’s enough to alarm someone into thinking that it could possibly be an explosive device,” said Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond…" In short, the circumstances were different, and I’m sure sheer chance played a role. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/378 "2007-02-02T19:45:31Z")
Speaking of the two clowns who did the device-planting and then smirked their way through their court appearance and “press conference”, [some more info is emerging](http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/02/02/turner_broadcasting_accepts_blame_promises_restitution/): > [@](#): > > friends of a local artist involved in the guerrilla advertising campaign said he was told by a New York marketing executive five hours into the scare not to tell anyone. > > According to an e-mail one friend provided to the Globe, the executive at Interference Inc. told the artist, whom the agency had hired to install the small, battery-powered light screens in Boston, to remain silent, even as dozens of police officers collected the devices and shut down highways, subway lines, and part of the Charles River. > > The executive asked Peter Berdovsky to “pretty please keep everything on the dl,” slang for down low, or hush-hush, according to the message Berdovsky sent to his friends . The Globe was told by two of Berdovsky’s friends about the e-mail they say he sent at 1:25 p.m. Wednesday, three hours before Turner Broadcasting, an Interference client, disclosed that the scare was a marketing campaign gone awry. > > [snip] > > “Peter was terrified at this point,” one friend, Toshi Hoo, said in an interview yesterday. “He was expecting them to handle it, but they weren’t handling it. They let the entire country stay on terror alert.” > > “That’s pretty much when he started” e-mailing us, said another friend, Travis Vautour of Cleveland Circle. “He said he was respecting their wishes at first, to an extent. . . . I kind of wished that they didn’t ask him to be quiet about it at first. Timing was everything, yesterday. We may have missed our chance to really bring the light on everything.” > > The e-mail suggests that the creators of the marketing blitz were trying to hide their involvement and doing nothing to stop the scare. > > When they decided to speak out about two hours later, they called their client, the Cartoon Network, rather than alerting any of the numerous law enforcement agencies involved, further delaying notification about the marketing campaign ---
**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 2, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/379 "2007-02-02T19:46:26Z")
And as a by-the-way, this is one of those instances where my use of the “edit” function has screwed up the space-time continuum, as astute observers will note. I do apologize. And no, there’s no money in it for anyone. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/380 "2007-02-02T19:55:19Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] I do apologize. And no, there’s no money in it for anyone. [/QUOTE] So it was a hoax edit? Jail for you! This whole thing confuses me because I can’t picture a timeline on it. Here’s what I know: 8:00 am – It all starts 1:00 pm – Pipe bombs found 4:30 pm – Turner Broadcasting cops to the “hoax.” As well, at 3:44 and 5:22, I got work e-mails, both of which said it was a hoax but to expect traffic delays. I suspect **Sal** got something similar. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326.md?page=20)