How stupid is this?

In my profile on AOL, I have auto racing listed as one of my favorite hobbies. Here’s an email I received. < shaking head > how stupid is this? (edited for name, address and phone number information)

EXCLUSIVE & NEW!!! First time offered
Imagine having the ability to remotely convert red traffic signals
into green, covertly from your vehicle!
How many times have you sat impatiently at a red traffic signal wishing
you could snap your finger and turn your red light into a green light?
Now you can! “Go Box” the size and weight of a small garage door opener.
Works from a distance of up to 100 feet. Same technology used by
emergency response vehicles, and similar technology as seen in the
Hollywood action film “Ronin” starring Rober De Niro, if you missed the
movie it is out on video, then you will have a clearer understanding
regarding the merit of this offer!

This is an exclusive internet offer as the Go Box apparatus is not
available in any store. We will only sell to 10,000, on a first come
basis! Need a compelling reason to order? Consider this… There are over
160 million passenger cars on the road and over 50 million commerical
vehicles, we will ONLY offer 10,000. This is called responsible vending.
Obviously everyone cannot have the ability of the Go Box.
This is more useful than ANY radar detector!

Go Box apparatus is only 69.00, This represents a HUGE price concession!
4 AA batteries are also required for completion. 12 month gurantee comes
with purchase. If this offer interest you, you MUST sign the disclaimer
below and send a copy of it with your order.

Apparatus Sold on a first come first served basis. Sold for scientific
study and educational purposes! All orders MUST accompany a copy of the
signed disclaimer below: By offering this via mail order we can keep the
price low!!, no overhead no high american price, no bank fees from credit
card transactions, no employees to pay for answer the same questions. We
pass saving to you.

I am purchasing this apparatus for scholastic, scientific, or information
purposes only. I do not hold the seller liable in any way whatsoever
for it’s use. I am of legal age to endorse this agreement. By signing
this disclaimer below I am stating that I will not hold XXX, Inc. Data
XXXX XXX Supply, XXXX, XXXXX engineers, Marketers, or resellers liable in
any way for it’s application once items are delivered. ***Designed to work
on US & Canadian Traffic Signals. Also when your light is turned GREEN all
other lights are switched over to RED, if there is traffic comming from
multiple directions!

Sign Here: __________________________
Date of Signature: _______
<s-l>
PLEASE NOTE: Due to the nature of our products, ALL SALES ARE FINAL.
All orders will be shipped 48 hours via certified or registered mail upon
receipt of payment. In addition, products ordered using checks will be held
for 3-5 business days or until check clears bank. We accept personal checks,
corporate checks, and money orders.
There is a 24 hour 1 page fax-on-demand server available by calling
1-XXX-XXX-XXXX:

You will be prompted to enter a document number, which is: 861505

            Frequently asked questions:

Is it illegal to use the Go Box? As of yet there is no known law regarding
the use of the Go Box. In the future, it is possible that such a law will
be created. Just as some states have banned the use of radar detectors.
Is it immoral to use the Go Box? Perhaps, however this depends on your own
morality. That is why everything we offer is for “educational purposes” only.
How you use what we give you is your decision, not ours.

Make checks or money orders payable to:

XXX Inc.
XXX XXXXXXXX Ave Suite 51
XXX XXX Miami Fl XXXXX
Attn: Chang Moon

Like I would send them money #1 on something I have never seen. #2 I am not gullible even if my spelling sucks.

< rolling eyes >

Who would actually fall for this?

Oh, my God. I’m dying over here. This is absolutely hilarious!

I’d give anything to find out how many morons will actually buy this little box consisting of a battery and a couple of LEDs.

Citing Ronin as proof the thing really works? Then why don’t I just cite any other freakin’ movie as proof of aliens, God, or whatever you want…?

That is the stupidest thing I’ve seen all week.


“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.”
-H.P. Lovecraft, “The Call of Cthulhu”

Uh-huh. Why only 10,000? They figure that’s how many suckers they can take before the postal authorities get wise to them?

Even if this thing works as advertised (and you live in a city that has installed the system), what’s going to happen if you and an emergency vehicle are approaching the same signal? Dueling traffic lights?

Oy.


Shared pain is lessened; shared joy is increased.

Ahem. Sorry to spoil the fun, but these things actually exist. They’re called chrome boxes and they work by flashing a strobing light at the traffic light. Police cars have them (only they’re legal then). If you look in the middle of their lights, you’ll see em. Why anyone would pay $69 for them, I don’t know, since they cost maybe $10 or less in parts.

Gimme some time and I could even find you instructions for it. Hmm, I think I still have them…

Hmm, I didn’t download the instructions for that (I was incredulous too, but they really work), but I’ll be back in a jiff with 'em.


I sold my soul to Satan for a dollar. I got it in the mail.

Hmm, not instructions to build it, but the next best thing…
http://www.berlin.ccc.de/Library/HPA/Boxing/chrome.html

I apologize now for the chance that this might mess up the length.

Hmm, I looked up what the actual page is, and it’s just a hacking site and info on it.

Basically (and it seems to be a very popular site, based on my search, copied all over the place) you just need a strobe light, and maybe to modify the length and timing of the strobes.

There you go. Chrome Boxes are real, but not worth 70 dollars.


I sold my soul to Satan for a dollar. I got it in the mail.

To my knowledge, they haven’t worked in years… because people did just this. I know they haven’t worked around here since I was in 8th grade at least… not that I was a teenage hacker and enjoyed building crap like this just to see if it would work. Oh, hell, statute of limitations is up anyways… yeah I was.


http://www.madpoet.com
I’ve got a little black book with me poems in. I’ve got a bag, toothbrush, and a comb.

      • I would have to ask, but me thinks that it would be illegal to have one on your own vehicle; for the same reasons you can’t have sirens or rooftop lights. Also in my town, emergency vehicles do have & use the system but they slow down to 20 or 25 mph actually going through the intersections; they don’t fly through doing 75.
      • Shining a laser pointer on a streetlight’s sensor will temporarily turn it off, the same way that a bright flash of lightning will. Someday when it’s warm outside and I’m bored I’ll try to do it to stoplights also, and report back what happens. - MC

This is hilarious. What’s really stupid isn’t that it exists, but that they’re people dumb enough to buy it.

From what I understand and have observed around here, emergency vehicles don’t havea magic button to turn red lights green. When they arrive at a red-lighted intersection, they slow down–sirens blaring–to make sure everyone is following the rules and giving them the right of way. When it is apparent the vehicle/fire engine/etc. won’t get hit, they barrel on through the (red) intersection.

Side note: I dated a paramedic once. While stuck in traffic, his '74 Duster badly overheated and we needed to get out of traffic. “Time for some Code 4 driving,” he said. We promptly sped up over the curb, onto the shoulder and sidewalk, and sped along. It was neat!


formerly known as LauraRae

I’m a Raggety Ann in a Barbie Doll world.

Laura’s Stuff and Things

What’s really stupid is not that these devices do exist, nor that people are dumb enough to buy them, but that they are totally unecessary, the lights do change back to green of their own accord honest, i’ve seen it.

I’m just imagining what would happen if everybody had one.


An infinite number of rednecks in an infinite number of pickup trucks shooting an infinite number of shotguns at an infinite number of road signs will eventually produce all the world’s great works of literature in Braille.

Its called the Opticom system, made by 3M. There is a strobe light mounted to the fire engine/ambulance/police car, that flashes at a specific rate. Sensors on the traffic lights see this coming, and change the light to green for the oncoming emergency vehicle.

More info on it here:
http://www.3m.com/market/trans/its/prod_priority.html

Jeremy…

Nobody ever calls me after they’ve done something smart.